This year, I have had the amazing opportunity of being one of the 16 members of the inaugural class of CCIMS Marketing Fellows. When I came to McCombs, I immediately joined the Graduate Marketing Network, because I knew it would provide me with wonderful opportunities to learn from my fellow marketing classmates as well as to gain access to marketing leaders. Soon an opportunity was brought to our attention that a new organization, Marketing Fellows, was in the works – driven by four second year students who were already emerging as marketing leaders of their class.
The program, modeled after the concept of some of the other selective organizations at McCombs like Venture Fellows and the MBA Investment Fund, was designed to provide a unique opportunity to select students committed to a career in marketing. As it is a brand new organization, it has not been without its developmental kinks and issues to iron out. That said, the inaugural class of Marketing Fellows is all excited about the mission of the organization – to further our own marketing understanding and to further enhance the marketing program at McCombs.
Because Marketing Fellows has both curriculum and practicum components, this semester all of the Marketing Fellows took a course together that featured different guest speakers each week (in addition to working in teams on projects for four different companies throughout the semester). A couple of weeks ago, we were lucky enough to host Walmart CMO Stephen Quinn during our weekly Monday night class. He spoke about Walmart’s new branding initiatives and spoke candidly about CMO life and career changes. He presented to such a small group of us – our class plus a few students that will begin working for Walmart in the fall – which really lent itself to an intimate experience. Interacting with executives like Stephen Quinn is just one advantage of being a Marketing Fellow – and I really look forward to continuing to shape this great organization. It will be amazing to see how it evolves in the coming years.
