2008-6c

BUSINESS MANAGER The Daily Vidette Brief Job Description • • • •

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Add all new account information making sure all new accounts are prepayment only.

Add contract information to any account with new contract.

Check all credit references for clients requesting credit.

ATS o Print aging report monthly and contact all past due clients. o Update all clients accounts receivable before printing statements. o Print statements and mail as soon as possible. o Close month by posting entries for student salaries, professional salaries, classified credit cards, classifieds batch summary, trial balance transactions, previous month’s receipts, unapplied cash to correct ads, and all P&P Printing transaction.

Complete bank reconciliation and make adjusting entries to ATS. Help business and ad staff with any questions or problems daily.

Respond to clients by answering questions and sending any requested information daily.

Check point deductions and make sure all prepayments and invoices are turned in weekly.

The Daily Vidette is a highly respected and very well-known college newspaper throughout the nation. What makes the Daily Vidette so great is that the staff is hard-working and dedicated year after year. Consequently, my management philosophy as the business manager has been to maintain that ongoing reputation every single day by completing my responsibilities, valuing the entire staff and their abilities, and being proud of the opportunity to work at such an outstanding organization.

My management philosophy began the day that I was hired for the position in the early spring of 2007. The only request that the Daily Vidette Publication Board, members who choose and hire each student manager, asked was that I serve the Vidette to the best of my abilities and knowledge. I had no doubts about either and knew I would serve as a solid business manager.

However, I immediately saw the opportunity to rise above the work of previous business managers the first day I began my job in May of 2007.

I came into an extremely overwhelming position having over sixty percent of outstanding accounts receivable at least thirty days past due, several inactive and delinquent accounts, and some of our largest customers owing over $20,000. I took action right away working directly with Christy Harrison, Assistant General Manager and Business Adviser of the Daily Vidette, to conquer each task. Christy had just been hired into her position the previous summer and was not entirely accustomed to the operations of the Vidette yet, so she was unaware that these issues had become so large during the year. The problems arose out of losing the previous business manager in December of 2006, and hiring another person for the remaining spring semester.

The Daily Vidette currently has thirty-eight percent accounts receivable outstanding past thirty days. In the past eight months, I have made several efforts to work with each client in order to collect such a large majority of the money, most of it being collected within the first three months. Those that were unwilling to send payment or work out a payment plan were immediately turned over to the ISU General Counsel and currently make up eighty-five percent of the thirty-eight percent past due, while the remaining fifteen percent has been contacted and payment has recently been received or is expected as soon as possible. I spent several days and many long hours searching for every single invoice and proof of each ad for each account to be accurately turned over to the ISU General Counsel. Now, only three accounts are being pursued by the Office of the Attorney General.

I have also collected over $100,000 within three consecutive months during my first six months as business manager. This has only been documented thirty times within one hundred and twenty years of operation at the Daily Vidette. I achieved this accomplishment in September, October, and November of 2007 earning the fifth, nineteenth and twenty-third spots on the “$100 Grand Club� list. I am also very proud to say that on January 8, 2007, the financial position of the Daily Vidette was -$37,540 and as of January 8, 2008, the Daily Vidette has a much stronger position at $55,493. This is a $93,033 change in just one fiscal year and I could not be more pleased with the effects of my efforts so far.

My greatest accomplishments thus far in my experience have come from my attempts to learn as much as I can outside of work and bring it into the office to help the Vidette run more smoothly each day. Each week the Management Council, consisting of the Daily Vidette’s three professional staff members and three student managers, meet to discuss new ideas and how to better the environment that we share with many other staff members. I enjoy using my experiences as a student and employee of the Vidette to try and come up with new ideas or suggestions in order to generate higher revenues within the organization. We have had a few successes from those meetings alone. One example of a new idea that the Council contributed ideas to was to add a new supplement guide for the basketball season before it began at ISU in order to involve the athletics department more with the Vidette and to also make students more interested in the activities we have on campus.

I believe that I am a strong candidate to be considered for Business Manager of the Year because I have changed the entire financial position of the organization through my hard work and dedication to the Vidette reputation each day. I am a full-time student and work twenty to twenty-five hours each week in the office. I maintain a solid schedule and manage my time very

successfully with my work at the Vidette while completing my Bachelor’s of Science degree in finance at Illinois State University this spring.

I believe my management philosophy has proven strong and rewarding to the Daily Vidette in the time that I have served so far and will continue to do so in the spring semester. I have high hopes that my hard work will impact others and make a difference to the future employees of the Vidette so that the newspaper continues to thrive as a strong contender nationwide as it does now.

January 16, 2008

Esteemed CNBAM Judges, Erin Yepsen has asked me to write a letter of nomination for the Business Manager of the Year award for CNBAM 2008. It is with great pleasure that I do so.

Erin started at The Daily Vidette in January of 2007. She was hired as the Billing Manager, in charge of making all deposits, two times a week. She was also responsible for posting money to advertising accounts.

In March of 2007, Erin informed me she was interested in running for the position of Business Manager. I did not know her very well at the time, and frankly was a little concerned that she would be tough enough to handle the position. The Business Manager has a lot of responsibilities, including making collections calls and docking advertising sales reps when they fail to turn in signed invoices or pre-pays. I was confident that Erin would do well with the accounting aspects of the job but I was very concerned about her ability to stay on delinquent customers and stand up to pushy sales reps. She just seemed too nice to do the dirty work.

My fears could not have been less well-founded. Erin has surpassed my expectations on every level. She reminds me of a snapping turtle – once she gets hold of something, she will not let it go! She has been incredibly persistent in cleaning up bad debt. You see, I started as the Business Adviser in August of 2006. I have been in college media for many years as an Advertising Director, but have never been in charge of the business department. When I started, there was a senior in Erin’s position who graduated in December 2006. Next came a young man who only held the position for a semester. Nice kid, but didn’t do much to collect revenue for us. So by the time Erin became Business Manager, she had her work cut out for her. She inherited a lot of delinquent accounts. We had over $20,000 that was almost a year old! So far she has collected 25% of that and turned 75% over to a collection agency.

The Daily Vidette is truly a student-run organization. Granting a student the responsibility to maintain over $1.2 million in accounts would scare many advisers. But Erin is committed to the Vidette. Her monthly statements are always mailed on time. Advertising reps know she will hold them responsible for pre-pays and signed invoices. She balances all our cash and credit card accounts. She maintains our general ledger and accounts receivable. She has implemented a system that helps us hold reps more accountable; before I do rep payroll she gives me list of prepays not turned in, or invoices not signed. From there, I deduct commission for those ads. This system has given us much better control.

Finally, in her first semester as Business Manager, Erin has made the “$100 Grand Club” three times. The $100 Grand Club is for Business Managers who have collected more than $100,000 in a month. In September 2007 she collected $104,674. In October 2007 she collected $132,714.

In November 2007 she collected $107,626. Since 1994 we’ve only had two Business Managers make the $100 Grand Club three times in one semester.

For these reasons and more, Erin Yepsen deserves the Business Manager of the Year award. I hope you agree!

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Christy Harrison Assistant General Manager and Business Adviser

January 16, 2008 To Whom It May Concern: I am writing regarding ErinYepsen. She has asked me to write a letter of recommendation, and I am more than happy to do it.

Erin joined the Vidette in January 2007 as the billing manager. Even though she was new to the staff, Erin did not shy away from anyone or anything. It was clear from the beginning that she was destined to be the business manager.

From the moment Erin took office, she quickly concentrated all of her efforts on collecting money that was past due. It takes a certain amount of gumption to be able to call people and demand thousands of dollars. Even though she was presented with several difficult clients throughout her collections frenzy, she never backed down and remained persistent. One case in particular showed me just how committed Erin was to her job and to the Vidette. Every newspaper has difficult clients and of course, we are no different. One of our clients, a real piece of work, owed us a considerable amount of money, roughly $6000. While in the midst of discussion, this client told us that he knew he owed us money, and he did not care. He proceeded to tell us that we were the last company that he planed on paying any money to. Eventually as the conversation came to a close, he offered us $2000 and told us that was the best he was going to do and that we should consider ourselves lucky to get that much. Well, needless to say, Erin told him where he could shove his $2000 and collected all the necessary evidence to prove how much he owed us. Around a month later, this client called the attorney general begging them to make a deal with him because he knew that he was in trouble. Erin deserves all the credit for persuing this client and not taking the easy way out.

Another great thing about Erin is that she is always willing to work with my ad staff. Every sales representative feels comfortable going to Erin and asking her questions. A lot of past semesters, the sales representatives were not always comfortable talking to the business manager and instead asked the ad manager questions that he really couldn’t answer. So, the ad manager would have to go ask the business manager and then get back to the sales rep. Thankfully, Erin has changed all of this and it creates a lot less confusion and a lot less work for me. I am always grateful for the latter.

Mike Kinane Daily Vidette Advertising Sales Manager

ERIN N YEPSEN Current Address: 207 West Locust #14 Normal, IL 61761 61356

Ph. #: (815) 878-5508

Permanent Address: 208 North Main Street Princeton, IL

E-mail: enyepse@ilstu.edu

Career Objective

Motivated finance major seeking a professional career position in the financial field where my academic preparation and applicable work experiences along with my initiative and organization can achieve company and individual goals.

Education

Illinois State University.

Bachelor of Science, Finance

Relevant Work Experience

Additional Work Experience

Normal, IL Graduation: May 2008

The Daily Vidette Normal, IL Business Manager (May 2007 – Present) ❧ Manage over entire business staff and advise over 20 sales representatives on advertising staff ❧ Involved in Management Council and Daily Vidette Board of Directors ❧ Manage several different client accounts daily through Advanced Tech Systems (accounting system) ❧ Print monthly financial reports to evaluate our company’s status ❧ Provide credit approval for customers requesting billing privileges ❧ Send out monthly statements/make calls to collect all current and past due amounts The Daily Vidette Normal, IL Billing Manager (December 2006 – May 2007) ❧ Worked daily with 20-25 sales representatives in order to receive payments on time for display advertising ❧ Learned how to manage money and accounts through ATS accounting system ❧ Deposited over several hundred thousand dollars into ATS and bank ❧ Posted deposited money into correct customer accounts Watterson Fitness Center Normal, IL Front Desk Attendant (September 2004 – May 2006) ❧ Greeted students daily and kept attendance to only those allowed ❧ Helped maintain a good, positive atmosphere by communicating with other students Bureau County Metro Center Princeton, IL Lifeguard (March 2003-August 2005) ❧ Responsible for each life in and around pool area ❧ Certified in all first aid and safety training in order to save lives

Skills & Abilities ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧ ❧

Excellent organizational skills Motivated, hard-working, and very dependable Effective team player and communicator Excellent time management skills Great Word and Excel capabilities

Awards & Accomplishments ❧ Business Manager of the Year nominee – March 2008 - College Newspaper Business & Advertising Managers, Inc. (CNBAM) conference ❧ Retrieved over $100,000 in three consecutive months at Daily Vidette in 120 years of business (September, October, November of 2007) ❧ Received Brett Fuller Scholarship Fund in October 2007 for outstanding work at Daily Vidette

Dave Sharp 9 W University Dr. #61 • Flagstaff, Arizona 86011 • 623.687.7596 • dave@sinizine.net OBJECTIVE

To obtain a position consistent with my experience and abilities with an organization that rewards my ability, dedication and performance.

SKILLS OVERVIEW Leadership Guiding and motivating students with little and no work experience to succeed in a professional environment and gain practical application to complement their academic pursuits. Identify student employee needs.

Orchestrating the communication between divisions, managers and employees and using employee input to determine company goals. Identify needs of student employees to maximize their success and education experience.

Business Accepted ultimate responsibility for company or organization. Identifying needs of an entire organization to set Management goals. Delegate tasks and execute strategies to achieve company goals. Intimate experience in executing daily activities involved in operating a business. Study and implement action plans according to profit and loss statements, income statements, aging summaries, payroll accounting, collection policies, marketing research, business plans, bylaws, and various government policies. Developing, marketing and maintaining new products.

Communication Communication between independent and government agencies (specifically universities). Implement numerous action plans to strengthen internal communication and gauging strengths and weaknesses of internal communication on a daily basis. Develop relationships for networking, idea-building and marketing and promotional needs. Working with teams to identify problems and find solutions. Extensive experience in working public events, promoting media and public speaking. Reports and presentations to boards, internal and external entities. Experience in new and digital media including radio broadcast, web development and out-ofhome advertising.

Sales Accurately and creatively perform needs analysis for clients. Identifying and organizing marketing initiatives with client organizations. Communication with individual clients to meet their needs, establish goals create a strong, long-lasting relationship.

Writing Extensive and intense knowledge of editing and writing journalistically and conducting interviews. Strong skills in business writing and interpreting reports. Also, knowledge of business communication: memos, emails, minutes, agendas and other documents.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE August 2004 – The Lumberjack Newspaper Flagstaff, Arizona Present General Manager Weekly newspaper, circulation 10,000. Promoted from Opinion/Editorial Editor to Managing Editor to General Manager within one year. As Opinion/Editorial Editor, managed 6-8 staff columnists, produced sections in Qwark Express and Adobe Indesign, and wrote weekly column. As Managing Editor, handled payroll and personnel management for editorial division, edited and wrote news stories as needed. As General Manager, manage seven divisions: sales, editorial, marketing, circulation, web, creative/production and administration.

Increased net revenue by more than 100% from $150,000 in 2004 to 272,000 in 2007. $300,000 projected for 2008. The company won 13 national journalism, sales and management awards June 2007 – Grenax Broadcasting Flagstaff, Arizona Present On-Air Talent/Production Assistant Voice-track weekly on-air shift for The Wolf 96.7FM. Download and records syndicated shows in CD format and streaming. Operate sound board for remote broadcasts including promotional events and hockey games.

Experience with Cool Audio, June 2006 – KSLX 100.7FM Phoenix, Arizona September Promotions Assistant 2007 Interacted with listeners by answering questions, promoting the station and conducting contests and giveaways.

Represented radio station at large events. Communicated with clients at remotes and events. Set up and break down displays for events. Very team-oriented.

April 2002 – Sinizine.net Flagstaff/Phoenix, Arizona August 2005 Publisher/Editor Founded webzine and successfully networked with established record labels and publication relations firms.

Managed five staff writers and one graphic artist. Edited, wrote, interviewed, marketed and performed web development.

EDUCATION

Bachelor of Science Journalism Minor Business Administration Northern Arizona University, May 2008

March 23, 2013

Chris Richert VP/A wards CNBAM w A ards Contest c/o Columbia College Chicago 600 S. Michigan A ve.

Chicago, IL 60605 Dear Meredith and the Selection Committee: Please accept this letter as my e r commendation of Dave Sharp for the Business Manager of the Y ear award.

Dave is the first General Manager of The Lumberjack Newspaper. The position was designed to act as a student Publisher in the implementation of the mission of the independent student press and to lead the management of the six divisions of the student newspaper.

Upon Dave’s arrival, The Lumberjack was composed of only two divisions, sales and editorial. Dave orchestrated the complete re-structuring of the entire company into six divisions to include; editorial, sales and marketing, web, creative production, circulation and administration. He developed an aggressive recruiting campaign and engaged over 40 additional students to populate his organization chart and implement the newspapers vision.

Dave was critical in establishing a training program for each division and worked with each division manager to set the goals and timelines for each department. He created an administration division and brought in Quick Books accounting to first get a handle on the expenses. He hired and trained two student employees to handle the Human Resources and Bookkeeping functions. He personally trained both of these individuals and quickly developed processes to hire new students which included an 11 page hiring package, sexual harassment training, conviction disclosure notification, email usage policies and time tracking procedures for payroll. W orking with the new student bookkeeper, he implemented Quick Books and reviewed every financial transaction from the previous year to create an accurate Accounts Receivable and aggressively collected from the 90+ past dues.

Securing e r venue was Dave’s second priority . Dave worked with his new Sales Director to establish list territories for the sales representatives instead of the traditional geographical territories. He created the lists from last year’s revenues and positioned the advertising representatives against last year’s revenue. He then restructured the commission plan to award high producing reps that succeeded in 20 to 30% increases and penalized reps who did not reach last

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March 23, 2013

years numbers. W orking with the Sales Director, Dave was able to increase the sales revenue for $143,000 to over $250,000 in just one year.

The creation of a Creative Production Division represented a major shift in the operations/management of the creative content. He hired and trained a Creative Director whose department was now in charge of all elements of production. In the past, the editors produced their own pages and the production artists created all the ad copy. The new procedure put the creative artists in charge of all pagination design and ad design, but more importantly, this division maintained responsibility of the product until completion of the digital prepress and press proofs. The major result was a clean consistent design of the editorial content and a significant decrease in credits due to mistakes in ad design.

A Circulation Director was hired and Dave personally trained him and established the immediate and long term goals for this new division. He inventoried all racks throughout campus and the entire community. The Circulation Director and Dave developed an Excel document to begin auditing our own circulation. They monitored 15 racks per week and ran 24 hour checks on the number of papers moving in each rack. This information was calculated and was used to move racks into more high profile traffic areas, but more importantly, he tabulated the traffic patter ns and communicated the results to his sales division and was able to directly increase advertising e r venue.

Under Dave’s leadership, the editorial division introduced two new sections and also started a specialty publishing division. The Lumberjack has doubled the page count due to the increase of sales revenue. This allowed for additional students to be hired to fill the news hole. He also was able to bring on two staff photographers and an assistant photo editor. Right before Dave’s tenure as the new General Manager, we had severe editorial problems due to a scandalous sex column that had run in the paper. Dave orchestrated a full re-build and was able to direct his management teams focus to ensure that we published news worthy content and last semester we won seven regional and two national SPJ editorial awards. The Lumberjack also won one Arizona Newspaper ward and five CNBAM awards.

A The leadership qualities that Dave has exhibited within The Lumberjack have literally created a Phoenix rising from the ashes. He took a student newspaper on the brink of shutting its doors and has personally ensured the future success of a 92 year tradition on the campus of Norther n Arizona University .

If there was ever a person who deserved the recognition of this prestigious award, it would be Dave Sharp.

–3– Sincerely ,

Steve Saville Business Development Director Norther n Arizona University 928-523-5007 Steve.saville@nau.edu

March 23, 2013

January 31, 2008 Dear Chris Richter and Selection Committee: I have worked at The Lumberjack newspaper for four years and no one has impressed me more than our Business Manager, Dave Sharp.

Throughout our time at the newspaper we have dedicated thousands of hours to the betterment and longevity of the publication. Dave has built an empire, a self-sufficient business that was on the brink of caving in before he arrived.

In only four years we have gone from a publication hanging on by a thread to one that has maintained a high quality of journalism, sufficient advertising revenue and increased the business from two departments to five.

Dave has had every say in where we went and how we got there. He is in charge of all hiring of managers, and is the only student I know who shows up to work everyday in a suit and tie.

David is highly professional and works so hard at all hours of the day and night to see this newspaper become a success.

Through the long hours of the night, Dave has dedicated himself and consistently worked on improving the newspaper. Dave is respected by every person who meets him and has gained the respect of many of Flagstaff’s leaders and met several times with the President of our university. Few students can say they’ve completed a professional presentation in front of the most influential man on the Mountain campus, however Dave has.

In addition, to working closely with all the managers, David has maintained our annual budget and created new positions within the company.

Dave is approachable and loyal. As my manager, he has reflected upon my successes and weaknesses and shown me how to become a better manager. He maintains the professional relationship with us all, however he has also befriended every employee at The Lumberjack newspaper through his humble attitude and approachable demeanor.

There is no question that Dave Sharp should receive this award as he is the most dedicated person I have met and has had such an enormous impact on The Lumberjack newspaper, JackCentral.com and the entire company at Northern Arizona University.

Thank you for you consideration.

Sincerely,

Michelle Gardner Sales Director Michelle.Gardner@jackcentral.com 928-523-4921

Dave Sharp In 3 years as General Manager at The Lumberjack • • • • •

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Increased total revenue by: o 123% FY2006 ($119,299 in FY2005 to $266,457 in FY2006) o 2% FY2007 ($266,457 in FY2006 to $272,283 in FY2007) 59% revenue increase YTD relative to FY2007 YTD ($107,000 in fall semester 2006 to $170,000 in fall semester 2007) Managed expenses to bring printing costs and payroll expense down and create a positive profit margin.

Expanded the company from two divisions (Editorial and Sales) to seven divisions (Editorial, Sales, Special Projects, Circulation, Administration, Creative and Web).

Increased positive relationships with Northern Arizona University by entering in to mutually beneficial agreements with NAU Athletics, the School of Communication, Associated Students of Northern Arizona University (ASNAU), and other departments, clubs and organizations.

Restructured billing process and retrospectively billed and nearly $60,000 in uncollected accounts receivable.

Launched and marketed new website, JackCentral.com Introduced new products: AdRax rack posters, online advertisement and special publications.

Awards received by The Lumberjack: o College Newspapers Business Advisers and Managers (CNBAM) ❧ Best Display Ad Color – 3rd Place (2006) ❧ Best Display Ad Campaign – 2nd Place (2006) ❧ Best Class Group Promotion – 1st Place (2006) ❧ Best Newspaper Promotion Ad-Black & White – Best of Category (2006) o Arizona Newspapers Association Better Newspapers Contest ❧ Best News Feature Story – 2nd place: Curtis Cartier “Prescription stimulants” o Society of Professional Journalists ❧ Regional • Editorial Writing – 1st: Thomas Keating • Editorial Cartooning – 1st Place: Wes Saxton • General Column Writing – 3rd Place: Patrice Farrell • Sports Column Writing – 3rd Place: Thomas Keating, “TKO” • General News Photography – 1st Place: Amy Martin, “Proposed immigration laws ignite fiery protests and student walkouts” • Feature Photography – 2nd Place: Jeffrey Murray, “In the Ring” ❧ National • Editorial Writing – National Winner: Thomas Keating, “Political Commentary” • General News Photography – National Finalist: Amy Martin, “Proposed immigration laws ignite fiery protests and student walkouts”

January 31, 2008 Re: Management Philosophy Dear Chris Richert and the Selection Committee: If I were to sum up my management philosophy, it would be represented by three attributes: surround yourself by good people, remove roadblocks and always make decisions for the benefit of the company.

I truly feel that the exponential success The Lumberjack has experienced over the past three years is due solely to the people that have come in and kept the wheels turning.

They have lent their time, thought, ideas and emotions to the company. It is my job, as General Manager, to identify which applicants are most valuable to the program by weighing strengths and weaknesses against their peers. Although, I have made mistakes in my tenure by hiring employees that did not have the basic qualities of initiative and constructive thought, I believe I have become professed at hiring talented, matching individuals to enhance our program. It is also a strategy to place them where they would have the most impact. At times, I have created brand new positions for students, because I feel their talent would best be fitted there, and it would fill a need of the company.

When the right people are in place, they also challenge and motivate each other. Lastly, when our management team is made up of top-notch people, the daily operations become less of a worry for me and I am able to focus on forward thinking.

When I sat down with a one-on-one with a sales manager at The Arizona Republic, I asked him what the most important idea to keep mind is as a manager. He told me to remove roadblocks. This task includes two actions: solve problems as they arise and give employees the tools necessary to avoid future problems. As General Manager, I am constantly involved in, what we refer to at The Lumberjack as “putting out fires.” When a manager or division is having a specific problem they don’t have the tools to solve, I step in and manufacture those tools. Oftentimes, those tools are unrefined and created hastily out of an immediate need. It is the task of me and that employee or division to critically evaluate the situation after the fact and refine the tools so they serve the best purpose further down the road. When I meet weekly with all of our managers, we brainstorm what problems may arise and what tools are missing. It is my job to have the foresight to identify those tools and create them for our managers. When I do this, it shows that I have their backs and motivates them to make good on the effort that I have put it. There is nothing more dangerous than distancing yourself from an employee’s problems. Tools could be a revised needs analysis for our sales team, a directive for our creative staff to critique the newspaper as an entire staff, or researching more efficient uses of our resources (like reduced spending or purchasing software that could enhance out production efficiency), among many other items.

The first bit of advice I received when I started as General Manager from our Business Development Director, Steve Saville, was to make decisions that are in the interest of company. He said that if I keep that line of thought, I will garner respect and keep everyone in line with the goals of the company. This has proven to be extremely true. It is based in the idea of letting facts speak for themselves. If I prove the benefit of a move, managers respect and buy-off on that decision, as does our Publication Board that oversees The Lumberjack. It is also a fresh, clear way for me to think, without getting personal matters wrapped up in anything. If it would hurt the company and give me or someone else some sort of satisfaction, it is not the correct decision.

Statement of Management Philosophy

There is never a day at The Daily Collegian that is exactly the same as another and as a manager of about 100 peers there is no management style that works well with everyone. I believe the key to my successful management style is my ability to be adaptable to the daily, weekly, monthly and future demands of The Daily Collegian and our staff.

One of the first things I quickly learned as business manager is that advertising that ran in the past is not guaranteed for the present. In previous years the housing market provided the paper with a large stream of advertising revenue. However, Penn State University did not consider advertising revenue when deciding to accept a record high amount of students, which forced older students off campus and into the apartments. With apartments being sold out in October for the following year Realtors pulled the majority of their advertising and one of my first goals I set for myself as business manager was to beat the amount of advertising sold in the previous year. I wanted to accomplish this by keeping past and current advertisers running but by also finding new advertisers.

I believe that best way to keep past and current advertisers running is by keeping our account executives actively selling by increasing motivation and office morale. If an account executive enjoys what they are doing it will show when they are dealing with their clients.

We also create contests to encourage the account executives to go the extra mile. For example, we gave a $25 gift card to the student who sold the most ads for the Valentines Day special section. To recruit new advertisers I had the sales staff break into teams with their manager and search through phone books, local newspapers and coupon booklets to hunt down companies that do not advertise with us. Each team then had two weeks to see which team could get the most amount of new advertisers in the paper. The winning team got a pizza party and the Collegian got multiple new advertisers.

I also know that the success of the sales staff weighs heavily on their managers and holding them accountable. It has always been in the job description for sales managers to accompany their account executives on their sales routes. However, this year is the first time sales managers are being held accountable for their jobs. I made it mandatory that each manager accompanies every account executive on a route once a week. I think this is important because it allows the manager to see what skills their account executive needs to improve on. It also makes the client feel important to have a manager visit them and provides an opportunity for the account executive to see first hand how to deal with certain client rejections.

The Daily Collegian has had a lot of successful projects in the past. However, I never take success for granted and always look to see how we can improve a successful product even more. For the past three years we put together a THON puzzle book. The puzzle book consists of crosswords and sudokus and each puzzle has an advertising sponsor. The book is donated to the Penn State dance marathon, inserted in the daily newspaper and 20% of the profits are donated to THON. This is a popular publication because everyone loves sudokus and crosswords, especially during class. This year instead of just selling advertising spots to local advertisers I emailed the Interfraternity Council (IFC which organizes THON. This idea has opened a window to every organization that participates in THON to place a sponsorship showing support for THON and their individual dancers.

Along with increasing display advertising I also wanted to keep up with the current trends in the advertising industry and be able to compete in the online advertising industry.

This was a challenging goal because I did not want to pull display advertising to increase web revenue, ideally I wanted the newspaper advertisers to also advertise on the web. I decided

start developing, with the help of a recently selected web intern, an online business directory.

The directory is currently in the works but when completed will provide students with a list of businesses, divided into categories, in the surrounding State College area. This will not only drive student traffic to our website but increase web revenue because businesses can pay a fee to have a link to their website or even have us create and host a website for them.

Along with the business directory we also will be able to create ads with Flash and accept ads from national clients that we were unable to advertise in the past due to not having a Flash program. Lastly, after a lot of research we added Google ads to our website which was a simple way to increase web revenue.

It is essential that every department has a strong leader. Departments that lack leadership not only weaken the morale and productivity of that department but have a negative impact on the entire staff. Our accounting department for the past couple years has continuously lacked leadership, not only setting a poor example for the other managers and peers but also hurting our relationship with national advertising rep firms and local clients who relied on the accounting department to process payment and credit request. As business manager I decided to streamline my departments and retire the accounting department.

However, I strongly believe that the Collegian is not only a business but an educational opportunity for the students. I divided the responsibilities of the accounting department within the customer service and sales departments. The distribution of work has kept the accounting education still at the Collegian but also enhanced the learning atmosphere for customer service who is responsible for national rep firms, insets, credit request, etc but also made the sales managers accountable for their account executives grants. I am also confident that national and local clients are being serviced efficiently and correctly.

Communication is key within every department and between all the departments. I have organized bi weekly board of manager meetings to discuss issues within each department. The meeting also provides an opportunity for managers to discuss concerns they are having with other departments and how the departments could be functioning better together. For example, if advertising sales drop we utilize promotions to organize client testimonials to provide proof to other advertisers that The Daily Collegian is the best way to hit their target audience. These meetings are the best way to make every department aware of the bigger picture and what their department should be doing to aid in the success of the other departments and the Collegian as a whole.

Lastly, lets face it, if the students, faculty and staff at Penn State did not pick up the paper, we wouldn’t be able to have one. As business manager I realize the importance of circulation and making sure that, ideally, mostly everyone picks up a copy of The Daily Collegian. During the first week of classes every semester I make the whole staff accountable for participating in two hours of paper pass outs. I believe by physically putting a paper in a student’s hand it puts them in the habit of always picking up a paper. Also, a high circulation is powerful when selling an ad to a local client; it means more people will see their ad.

I believe I have had a successful term as business manager because of the guidance from the professional staff, the managers and everyone on the business side of The Daily Collegian. I feel that if I entered into this position with a preconceived management philosophy I would not have been so successful. I needed to be adaptive to my surroundings, to manage individuals in a way that worked well for that individual and to have a future plan for the Collegian and what I wanted to accomplish but to also take one day at a time.

Jan. 21, 2008 Dear CNBAM Judges: Carolyn Yanoff is an extraordinary nominee for CNBAM’s Business Manager of the Year. Her efforts have led us to record-breaking circulation and excellent advertising sales. Staff morale is high and Carolyn’s approachability creates an environment where new ideas are welcome and implemented. In fact, she is never in her own office; she spends all her time out in the business office with the staff.

As the student executive in charge of the Business Division, Carolyn leads a staff of about 100 student staff members and trainees. She has a 12-member Board of Managers who run the Advertising Sales, Customer Service, Creative, Layout and Promotions departments. Carolyn makes sure her managers are performing and giving our students the most benefit from their Collegian experience.

Carolyn’s successful year is truly the product of her charismatic personality and endless positive energy. She has a wonderful innate management style – somehow she manages to be taken seriously by her staff while maintaining a light touch. Peer management is the #1 concern for student business managers, and Carolyn made sure her staff knows her goals for the year and her expectations for staff performance. I personally really appreciate that she asks for advice regularly; she doesn’t think she “knows it all.” She’s here to learn. She is absolutely not afraid to make huge decisions for the betterment of the paper.

One example: Carolyn totally “gets” that maintaining and increasing circulation (20,000 per day) is critical for our success. Even though the paper is free to students on campus, it is still a challenge to make sure Penn State students pick it up every day. Freshmen are not predisposed to picking up a Daily Collegian every day. Carolyn made it mandatory for each member of the Business Division to spend two hours physically handing out papers during the first week of every semester. She held people accountable, too, by going to each scheduled distribution point herself to make sure the job was being done and to hand out papers herself! By reaching out in this aggressive way for the first week, we have maintained a recordhigh circulation all year. We absolutely credit Carolyn’s determination to this increase.

Another example: The very first day of the summer session, Carolyn’s first “official” day on the job, she went with an account executive to visit a client who needed to finish an advertising contract by the end of the summer. This was a serious sales call and our summer depended on us having the client comply with the contract. Carolyn and the account exec returned not only with an ad plan for full page ads for the whole summer, but with a pizza they were allowed to make themselves in Papa John’s kitchen. This is the kind of person Carolyn is – tough enough (and then some) to get the job done, but able to have fun and keep clients happy at the same time.

I would love to see Carolyn’s great year rewarded with her being named Business Manager of the Year. She has given a lot to make sure The Daily Collegian is successful, and when she graduates in May, her legacy will be that hard work is rewarding and a whole lot of fun! And it’s OK to be tough!

Sincerely, Candace W. Heckard Business Adviser The Daily Collegian Penn State University

January 25, 2008 Dear CNBAM Judges: This letter is in regards to Carolyn Yanoff. For the past two years I have had the pleasure of working with Caroyln. Last year, when I was an Account Executive, Carolyn was my Sales Manager, and this past year she has served as my Business Manager. Working closely one-on-one with her everyday gives me unique incite into the impact Caroyln has had on the Collegian. Her enthusiastic attitude, innovative ideas, and approachability make her an excellent nominee for Business Manager of the Year.

Being a full-time student while running a multi-million dollar business, especially one that is supported entirely by students, is an incredibly difficult feat (especially in light of the fact she is on the post-college job hunt). All year she has worked extremely hard, both to gain support, and build mututal respect with her Board of Managers. As one of those managers, I have witnessed her commitment to creating an office that operates on the principles of teamwork and open communication. Caroyln is both very open to offering and accepting help and advice.

She is constantly leading by example, especially when it comes to thinking inventively about selling. She consistenly makes it her priority to participate in client meetings with the sales staff and is always willing to offer her knowledge and experience. When the sales staff has difficult or problematic clients, she is always willing to personally work with them to rebuild and/or strengthen relations. I think it has been this attention, almost obsession, to client communication (whether they be a client who ran one 1x2 advertsiment or our highest contracted client) that has had the clearest impact on our impressive sales statistics for both the summer and fall.

Carolyn has been a great help and resource for the sales staff as a whole, however her impact extends much further then my department. For example, her implementation of staff-wide “Paper PassOuts” skyrocketed our circulation. At the beginning of each semester she requires every staff member, from every department, to pass out papers on campus. Not only does this unify the staff into understanding the importance of distribution and readership, but it inceases overall circulation. I myself was among those originally skeptical of the effects this massive promotional event, yet, her instincts were correct. As a result, our circulation remains at a benchmark high.

Carolyn is dedicated to The Daily Collegian and its productivity as a whole. She is always ready to encourage and assist, no matter what it may be, from the most menial task to the most difficult ones.

Nothing is above her; she realizes the importance of every action and/or duty and its importance to the paper as a whole. Carolyn makes it her job to know her staff, and understand the balance of management. Personally, her management style has brought out the best in me and has had great influence on my development as a manager. She allows the various managers departmental independence, but also knows when it’s time to step in to assist, whether it be in discipline or praise. Her overall attitude, commitment, and fresh ideas, make Carolyn Yanoff a great candidate for CNBAM’s Business Manager of the Year.

Sincerely, Stef Kemmler Advertisng Manager The Daily Collegian Penn State University

January 9, 2008 CNBAM Award Selection Committee: I am recommending Chase Nifong for the CNBAM Business Manager of the Year Award.

Chase has continuously proven his excellent leadership and management skills. As a sales manager working under him and previous co-worker, I have seen first hand his extraordinary selling and leadership skills. I am very thankful to be working with Chase, he is a very good teacher and very helpful with any problems I present to him.

Although Chase was not the first employee I met at the University Times, he was the first I heard about. I was constantly hearing about him, and how he repeatedly exceeded sales goals. My superiors at the time were encouraging me as well as my other co-workers to be like to Chase. Once I met Chase I realized why.

Chase is a great leader, organizer and sales person. He has showcased these skills by leading our team in exceeding sales for the fall semester of 2007. As a leader Chase has personally shown me as well as the sales team helpful techniques to retain clients and attain new clients. Chase also sets sales goals and organizes our weekly meetings. When there are problems, our team is very confident that we can come to Chase for help and he will help to find a solution.

I feel confident that Chase deserves this award. As Marketing Director, Chase has continuously showcased his skills and that he deserves this award. These are skills that I hope to one day be able to use in the near future.

Sincerely,

Lakishia Cooper Sales Manager

Chase Nifong November 2006 VS 2007 $20,000.00

$18,000.00

$16,000.00

$14,000.00

$12,000.00 Nov 06' Sales

$10,000.00

$8,000.00 Sales in Dollars

Nov 07' Sales $18,811.87

$6,000.00

$4,000.00

$2,000.00

$0.00

$13,357.67

Chase Nifong Fall 2006 Vs Fall 2007 $90,000.00

$88,000.00

$88,796.66

$86,000.00

Fall 2006

$84,000.00

Fall 2007 Sales in Dollars

$82,000.00

$81,763.66

$80,000.00

$78,000.00

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S T U D E N T M E D I A : i n v e s t i G a t e T H E p o s s i b i l i t e s

January 8, 2008 CNBAM Award Selection Committee: I am honored to recommend Chase Nifong for the Business Manager of the Year award given by CNBAM to honor outstanding student achievement.

It seems like only yesterday that Mr. Nifong was hired as an account executive for Student Media Marketing. He started in March of 2006 and immediately was very serious about sales. Throughout his first semester, he proved to be a very conscientious, reliable and dedicated member of the staff who was always looking for creative ways to improve sales and work flow.

In only his second month of employment, Mr. Nifong brought in more than $13,500 in sales. This is rare, as some of our most seasoned sales representatives bring in between $3,000 and $5,000 of advertising in a typical month.

It was only natural that Mr. Nifong climb the ranks, and he did so rather quickly. After being employed in Student Media for less than a year, his peers elected him to be marketing director. If you were to work one day with Mr. Nifong, you would see why this decision was made.

Mr. Nifong started in his new position of marketing director this past summer.

Historically, we have four summer issues in addition to our Survival Guide and our Parent’s Survival Guide. This year, that all changed. The student media board voted on two new, special sections in addition to the Survival Guide and Parent’s Survival Guide.

The success of the summer then depended on our only summer sales rep and incoming marketing director – Mr. Nifong.

As usual, he did not stress. He simply took the flyers and hit the streets. He singlehandedly sold more than $26,500 in advertising for the summer, surpassing the year before. And his successes did not end there. He sold over $18,000 in ads for the Welcome Back issue, surpassing the previous year’s total by more than $3,000.

As you can see, Mr. Nifong is an exceptional salesman. His management approach is superior as well. In the first sales meeting this year, he opened up with a question. He asked the three new account executives the dollar amount of the largest paycheck they

had ever received. He vowed to them, at that time, he would do everything in his power to help them make more than that check in a month at the University Times. That’s a big promise to make. Two out of three of those account executives have brought home that check he promised them.

Since then, he has bonded with the sales staff, as well as production, and gives 110 percent to the department. He schedules regular contests, including the “Saddle Up for CNBAM” contest, and holds regular meetings at area restaurants that advertise in the paper. He’s a role model to the account executives, both those who have been here for three years and those who have been here for three months. He’s a valuable resource to them, and they look to him to share his expertise and knowledge. He readily makes himself available to help at any time.

And Mr. Nifong’s efforts have not gone unnoticed. In April of 2006, after only two months of employment, he was recognized by Student Media with the Rising Star award, for showing amazing promise as a member of the Marketing staff. In April 2007, he was awarded with the Top Seller Award and the Emerald Award for selling over $40,000 in revenue in the 2006-2007 academic year. He was the recipient of the September 2007 Employee of the Month Award and won the Live Copywriting Contest at the 2007 Southern University Newspapers Conference.

Mr. Nifong is not only committed to Student Media, but also to Baptist Campus Ministry here at UNC Charlotte. A member since 2005, he has served as the captain of intramural softball, volleyball, flag football and soccer. He has also worked on hurricane relief efforts during spring break in Florida in 2005, and in Mississippi during Christmas break in 2006. This only demonstrates that Mr. Nifong is not only a natural born-leader, but also an upstanding citizen.

In closing, Mr. Nifong is an asset to the Student Media Marketing Department and to UNC Charlotte. He is very well-deserving of this most prestigious award, as he certainly fits the bill. I ask you to give strong consideration to his achievement and nomination.

Sincerely,

Kelly Merges Marketing Adviser Assistant Director of Student Media

Personal Management Philosophy Chase Nifong The University Times – UNC Charlotte

My philosophy of management begins by realizing that everyone is on the same team and that team is working for one goal - success. Everyone gets separate checks and those paychecks only depend on what an Account Executive does independently, but we all succeed or we all fail together. I am happy to say that we have all succeeded this year.

The first way I encourage a team-like feeling is by having personal contact with my staff everyday in their office. I go to them to let them know that I want to see what they are doing and I want to give praise or instruction in front of everyone else so that the whole staff knows when one of their co-workers has made a great sale or has a large task before them.

Secondly, I get updates from each Account Executive every Friday about all the work they have done that week and what they expect to work on and achieve the upcoming week. Occasionally, we will have these meetings away from the office at business locations that advertise in The University Times, so that I can say thank you to my staff and to the client.

I feel that in order to run a successful business, you must the two things encouragement and responsibility. Management needs to see that they have responsible

people on their staff, and those people like to be praised and told that they are doing things correctly. Believing in these two concepts, have made my time as Marketing Director successful, and more importantly fun.

JOB DESCRIPTION Spring 2007 MARKETING DIRECTOR Student Media Marketing The Director shall oversee all components – production, sales, promotion, and circulation – of Student Media Marketing.

Distinguishing Features of the Job: The Director will handle all national advertising. He/she shall also handle all communications, rate changes, billing, etc. concerning ACM, American Passage, and CASS, and shall oversee circulation and placement of newspaper boxes, which will be placed both on and off campus (within a ten-mile radius). The Director will be the representative from Student Media Marketing on the Media Board. The Director is responsible for generating revenues that meet or exceed budgeted expectations.

Responsibilities and Duties within Student Media • Lead by example by maintaining 20 posted office hours weekly between the hours of 8 a.m. and 5 p.m.; if unable to attend work she/he must notify the Marketing Advisor • Hire Creative Director, Sales Manager and Circulation Manager • Proactively assess working environment to determine need and/or coordinate with the sales team extra training or development needed • Meets with the production and sales staff in order to make announcements and work out any problems that may arise • Attends weekly meetings with sales and production staffs to discuss problems and make suggestions • Meets weekly with the Sales Manager to discuss sales performances, problems, and operations o Will enforce deadlines and clarify policies o Will make sure call sheets are turned in to the Sales Manager • Meets weekly with the Media Advisor to report performance of department and discuss staff ideas • Serves as liaison to publication staffs concerning ad placement, deadlines, and problems with space • Works with Advertising Sales Manager and Marketing Advisor to determine makegoods • Makes sure marketing staff payroll is finalized by last day of the month • Work with Marketing Advisor to establish using approved rate card • Monitor circulation and evaluate effectiveness • Works with Creative staff to develop and coordinate publicity, special events promotions, etc.

• Maintains high professional standards and high profile • Works at festivals, award ceremonies, parties; stimulates interest in Media Marketing in particular and Student Media in general.

• Make decisions on controversial ads • Monitors and services Trade agreements with Marketing Advisor to promote UTimes • Coordinate sponsorship /partnerships with campus groups, advertisers, and community Responsibilities and Duties in Training • Responsible for training incoming Marketing Director and preparing the department prior to school starting; • Conducts training sessions and workshops. These will be held at the beginning of each semester unless otherwise scheduled by the Director • Oversees training and development programs of Media Marketing managers and staff Responsibilities and Duties in Training • Serve on Student Media Board as Marketing Department Rep • Determines any departmental policy changes to be presented to Media Board • Develops the budget for Student Media Marketing Required Knowledge, Skills, Experience and Abilities: • Knowledge of policies and procedures of SM Marketing and Student Media Board Constitutions; • Knowledge of sales methods, rate structures and budget reports; • Skills in sales, production, financing and managing department; • Ability to work well with and direct activities of others; • Ability to prepare and present comprehensive reports on the workings of the Marketing Department.

• Must be a student currently enrolled at UNC Charlotte; • Must possess and maintain a minimum GPA of 2.5; • Must be in good disciplinary and academic standing with UNC Charlotte • Must have been an employee of Student Media Marketing the semester prior to, as well as the semester of selection; • Must secure nomination of Media Adviser and majority approval of the Student Media Board to serve in accordance with procedures developed for operation of the Media Marketing Dept.

The Marketing Director reports to the Student Media Board. Questions about this position and its responsibilities should be directed to your supervisor. Grievances may be taken to the Student Media Board and/or Student Media Marketing Adviser.

For further information, contact: Kelly Merges, Student Media Marketing Adviser, Cone University Center, UNC Charlotte, Charlotte, NC 28223-0001. Phone 704/687-2663 The University of North Carolina is composed of the 16 public senior institutions in North Carolina An equal opportunity employer

By signing below, I acknowledge that I have read and understand the above job description which outlines the responsibilities as well as qualifications for the position stated. I also understand that by not fulfilling the responsibilities listed above, I can face termination from the position stated. _____________________________________________

_________________________________________

C h a s e Current Address: 1326 Valleydale Rd. Charlotte, NC 28214

A l e x a n d e r

N i f o n g

(336)-682-9833 canifong@uncc.edu

Goal Education

To obtain an entry level position in marketing/sales

August 2004-Present University of North Carolina at Charlotte Charlotte, NC Pursuing a B.A. in Political Science with a concentration in Public Policy August 2003-May 2004 Appalachian State University

Advertising/Sales Experience

Permanent Address: 1195 Meadow Lane Lexington, NC 27292

Boone, NC

May 2007-Present The University Times Charlotte, NC Marketing Director • Promoted to Marketing Director after first full year.

• Increased revenue in the top-selling publication by 23%.

• Trained new sales reps who each sold over $6,000 in ads in their second full month.

• Oversaw sales team which increased sales by 23 percent.

• Lead a team of 3 Account Reps and sales manager, all with no prior experience.

• Winner of on-site copywriting contest at 2007 Southern University Newspapers Conference.

• Named Employee of the Month for September 2007.

• Represented Marketing Department at Student Media Board Meetings March 2006-May 2007 The University Times Charlotte, NC Account Executive • Nominated for National Sales Rep of the Year in 2006.

• Achieved highest sales in a single month, selling $13,600.00 in April 2006.

• Received the Rising Star award after two months.

Summer 2005 Vector Marketing Cutco Cutlery Sales Representative • Sold $9,250 of Cutco Cutlery in three months.

• Promoted three times with pay raises.

• Repeatedly in top 5 of weekly sales reps.

Winston-Salem, NC

Summer 2004 Christo’s Restaurant Lexington, NC Waiter • Called in to work another persons shift before my training was complete.

• Earned over $1000 in tips.

Activities

Skills

2005 - Present Baptist Campus Ministries • Captain of intramural softball for four years, volleyball and flag-football teams for three years, and soccer for one year.

• Coordinated events and programs for group at large.

• Worked on hurricane relief efforts during spring break in Florida in 2005, and Mississippi during Christmas break 2006.

Superior Organizational Skills • Computer Skills • Leadership Skills • Highly Goal Oriented

2006-2007 Summer Issue Comparison

$4,950.00 $5,000.00 $4,500.00 $4,000.00

$3,524.00

Two Special Sections

$3,500.00 $3,000.00

Four Summer Issues

$2,500.00 $1,426.00

$2,000.00 $1,500.00 $1,000.00 $500.00 $2006 Issues

2007 Special Sections

Difference

Chase Nifong Welcome Back 06 VS 07 $20,000.00 $18,000.00 $16,000.00 $14,000.00 $12,000.00 2006 Sales $10,000.00 $8,000.00 Sales in Dollars $6,000.00 $4,000.00 $2,000.00 $0.00

2007 Sales 2007 Goal $18,587.00

$15,106.16

Chase Nifong Aug 2006 Vs Aug 2007

$30,000.00

$25,000.00 $26,047.63

$22,000.00

$20,000.00 $20,861.98

Aug 06' Sales $15,000.00

Aug 07" Sales Aug 07' Goal

Sales in Dollars

$10,000.00

$5,000.00

$0.00

Jackie Schaffer The University Daily Kansan Business Manager of the Year CNBAM 2008

Dear CNBAM Judges, It is with great pleasure that I nominate Jackie Schaffer for the award of Business Manager of the Year. The fall semester of 2007 was Jackie’s first as business manager at The University Daily Kansan and it has been a tremendously successful one. While the newspaper industry itself has struggled at times throughout this past year the University Daily Kansan has performed at a very high level bringing in $90,000 over the previous year this past semester. There are numerous reasons for this success but they all come back to Jackie in one way or another through the environment that she has fostered at The University Daily Kansan and through the plan of action that she has executed for the paper at the same time.

The spring semester of 2007 was a tremendous time period for The University Daily Kansan with revenues that far exceeded expectations and was a great turnaround after several years of down revenue at the paper. When Jackie was appointed to the position of business manager she game planned from day one that The Kansan would continue to follow that momentum by building off of what had been responsible for the paper’s success and also identifying areas that The Kansan could improve on.

Specifically she set her sights on branding the paper as best possible to the student body.

She also recognized that the returning staff from the previous semester did not know failure and she vowed to make sure they would not know it for the next semester and therefore that the contagious atmosphere of success would continue to thrive.

There is a great sense of community amongst the ad staff which comes from Jackie herself and is passed down to the individual managers on her staff. The managers interact on a daily basis with their ad reps working together to solve problems with accounts and to help pass on fundamentals of the job of selling. Success that an ad rep has is never taken for granted and is applauded openly. In addition Jackie makes sure that other ad reps learn from these successes by handing out a weekly “Hawkstar” award which recognizes two top performers from the past week, allows the nominees themselves to explain what has been key to their success and then allows the staff to vote for the top performer. It is touches like this that has allowed the atmosphere of success to continue to prosper and that has also allowed the staff to constantly learn on the job.

There is also a great environment of creativity and that has been an important element to The Kansan’s success this past semester as well. Jackie has urged our staff to think outside of the box to how The Kansan has traditionally promoted itself to both the student body and to the businesses that advertise in the paper. This had led to unique promotions this past semester such as the “Sex on the Hill” party where The Kansan tied this award-winning special section in with a massive event at a local advertiser that resulted in a doubling of revenue of the section for The Kansan and record attendance for the advertiser. Over 700 students attended the event and were exposed to consistent branding of The Kansan’s name throughout the evening. At the end of the evening all departing students received a bag of items from local merchants including copies of the “Sex on the Hill” special section creating even more branding opportunities for The Kansan on the way out the door.

The Kansan this past semester also partnered with the Athletic department to create a more acceptable slogan for t-shirts for the student body to wear to the traditional rivalry game of Kansas vs. Missouri. Jackie encouraged her promotions manager to work with the athletics department on this and in the process helped create a campaign where over 100 separate students entered slogans for the contest and over 1300 students visited The Kansan’s web-site to vote on the entries. In the end over 2200 shirts were printed and handed out to students with the winning slogan and with the paper’s logo on the back.

The t-shirt was even featured on ESPN Gameday prior to the Kansas-Missouri game. The staff as a whole has picked up onto this environment and passed this out of the box thinking onto their accounts leading to better results for the advertisers and higher revenues for the paper.

Jackie has also found ways to improve in areas where the paper has underperformed. The basketball preview and schedule poster for the paper have performed below expectations for the past two years where given The University’s reputation in that area they should have been bigger performers. Jackie first worked to improve the quality of the poster from standard newsprint to glossy to improve its shelf life and therefore provide better results for the advertisers. When she heard that this year would be the 110th anniversary of Kansas Basketball she worked with both her adviser and her management staff to plan for a special glossy commemorative section. She then created special bundled rates if clients bought all three products but she also made sure to emphasize why each product was unique and how each represented a different opportunity for each advertiser. The results? A tripling of revenue for the preview, a 33% increase for the poster and a generation of $20,000 in incremental revenue for “110 Years of Kansas Basketball” when it publishes in February of 2008.

All of these ideas and success stem directly from the environment that Jackie has created at The Kansan and through her direct leadership. She makes the management staff that works with her better through her open mind and through the choices she makes for the paper. The staff looks to her for leadership and she provides it to them directly.

She recognizes when certain reps are under-performing and communicates quickly with the individual rep’s manager to find the reason and offers solutions for moving the rep in the proper direction. The strong work that she has done on the paper this past semester has allowed The Kansan to build off of its previous success and position the paper for a very bright future. Her hard work has created a solid base that will allow the paper to prosper for many years to come. She also created a staff that has developed such a great skill set that once they graduate will help insure that the industry itself thrives for decades to come. Talent like hers is not easy to come by and is definitely worthy of this prestigious award.

Sincerely, Jon Schlitt Sales and Marketing Adviser The University Daily Kansan

Toni Bergquist 4101 W. 24th Place Lawrence, KS 66047 tbergquist@kansan.com (785) 864-4358 To Whom It May Concern: It is with great privilege and excitement that I recommend Jackie Schaffer for Business Manager of the Year.

I have had the pleasure of getting to know Jackie for the last two years. When I started on this staff, she automatically took me under her wing. From day one, Jackie has been my role model and mentor. She has shared with me her keys to success and her wisdom in so many areas of the Kansan. I owe a large portion of my success at the Kansan, and my success in the future, to the qualities she was able to instill in me and the inspiration she has been.

In the beginning of this semester, as Business Manager, Jackie was unsure what to think.

I know this because of how close we are. However, from day one, Jackie made it clear that she believed 100 percent in the staff she had hired, and even more in the management staff she had appointed. There was never a day during the semester in which we didn’t all feel like we played a crucial part in our success as a staff. Jackie does that for people. She is selfless. She credits all of the Kansan’s success to the people under her, even though she is the reason we are driven to succeed.

When I was appointed Zone Manager in Fall 2007, I was very excited. I couldn’t wait to succeed at the job like I knew I could, but more importantly, like Jackie believed I could.

However, after the semester got started, my numbers were much less than I had hoped. I started to lose motivation. I was convinced that there was no way I could lead a zone of five girls to break their numbers when I couldn’t even do it. The number one piece of advice I have ever received, and one I will forever remember Jackie giving to me is that if I focus on each individual member of my zone by helping them to succeed and being someone they can look up to, they won’t care, nor will they even remember the amount of revenue I brought in individually. I eventually realized that Jackie was exactly right.

The impact that I had on my zone and the leader I was, enabled my zone to succeed, and that’s what mattered. This is a huge part of the success Jackie has had each and every semester on staff. To Jackie, being a leader has never been about her being number one.

For her, it is about making the people around her feel like they are number one and pushing them to accomplish what she knows they can. Not a day goes by that we aren’t made very aware of the fact that Jackie is unequivocally proud of each and every one of our individual accomplishments.

To add to the list of reasons Jackie should be awarded Business Manager of the Year, I will touch on the growth of the Kansan as a business this semester. Following such an amazing semester, everyone was worried about how we could live up to the standards

that were set in Spring 2007. At the times when all of us were worried, Jackie knew there was no reason whatsoever that we couldn’t do it. She knew what it would take, and she pushed us all to achieve it. This semester Jackie made sure we capitalized on every single opportunity that came our way. This is proven in the huge promotions we created, the much larger presence The University Daily Kansan had with KU students, the 110 Years of Kansas Basketball special section coming out in February and the multitude of incentives that were created to motivate our staff. Jackie had a hand, if not two, in each and every one of these accomplishments. She oversaw the process, and it never faltered.

Our success in Spring 2008 and in the future will be largely attributed to the bars Jackie set for each and every person to walk through the door of the Kansan in the future. Her leadership and management style is something we could all learn from.

Again, I highly recommend Jackie for this honor.

Thank you for your time in reading this letter, Toni Bergquist

Jackie Schaffer Business Manager of the Year – Management Philosophy The first announcement I made to the advertising staff as its Business Manager was that the Kansan was their product to love and to sell, and that all of the accomplishments in the coming semester were theirs to take ownership of. I explained that I was simply there to show them how to do it.

The main element of my managerial philosophy is based on simple math. I believe that there are equations that build successful managers, flourishing salespeople, and innovative products that amount to lucrative staffs and inevitably profitable semesters. In my two years on staff prior to becoming the Business Manager, I observed the achievements and failures of the staff, and strategized how and why these events were unfolding. I then built a series of hypothetical formulas to make sure that the Kansan could only prosper as a result of these events, and could have a solid foundation of business fundamentals to grow from. As the Business Manager of the University Daily Kansan in fall 2007, my true success as a manager was based on being able to realize these equations and ensuring that everything fell in its proper place to build the Kansan’s most successful fall semester in almost a decade.

I am first and foremost a dependent manager. I surround myself with people I can trust to help me make the best decisions for the Kansan; thus, I rely heavily on a talented management team.

A mistake I have seen made time and time again by Business Managers is building a management staff of people who possess the same qualifications as the Business Manager herself. In reality, the first trait of my own that I shed when I became a manager was the imaginary comfort zone barrier. I am able to build and be apart of successful sales teams because I look at the diverse traits that all people have the potential to bring to the table as managers, and more importantly, I help the managers realize them. This is actually a rather selfish act, because I am helping each manager realize what sets them apart from the rest so that they can use those qualities to help me make better, more strategic, well rounded decisions, and to help me become a better manager. However, it also builds confidence within the managers to find their abilities to make a difference and tactically use their strengths and weaknesses to become better managers and bigger contributors.

Another thing that I learned in my two years of observation as a salesperson and middle manager were that numbers do not motivate salespeople. Salespeople motivate salespeople. I always found it painfully redundant when managers were pushy about breaking revenue, and trying to use budgets and revenue goals as motivational tactics. We are a commission-based business; clearly, salespeople are interested in being paid for their hard work. However, we are constantly in need of further motivation to go the extra mile and to get to the next commission level, etc.

The quality that I possess is that throughout the semester, I understand that an individual’s motivations change. A good manager should always be on top of the specific incentive element that will push each individual salesperson to make it to the next level; understanding individual motivation is not a one-time deal. To accomplish this, my desk was a lonely place, because during business hours, I never sat at it. I was constantly moving about the ad office, asking the salespeople questions about each of their clients, their grades in school, what they thought about that month’s special sections, what their next month looked like revenue-wise, and always giving

them a genuine pat on the back for their efforts. I am proud to say that by avoiding motivation by numbers, and instead using individual tactics, our staff was 120 percent to budget or more each month of fall 2007.

Finally, I used my diverse management staff and motivational tactics to innovate products. From three semesters of selling ads, I knew precisely what enthused me about selling individual sections, but in order to grow revenue, we needed to optimize the products and find ways to make each salesperson excited to sell. I brainstormed with several of our top salespeople, our promotions team, designers and all of the managers, and found creative new solutions for special sections that were going to be better for the students and the clients. These solutions included a release party for our biggest special section of the year, Sex on the Hill, which more than 1,200 students attended, a discounted bundle for a series of basketball products resulting in almost tripled revenue over the same sections from the previous year, and completely sold-out advertising spaces of our Weekly Specials product.

I expected, after I finished my tenure as Business Manager, to look back and be proud of the revenue achievements that I led my staff to make. Instead, I am proud of the relationships I have made with each individual member of the sales staff, and a genuine ability to find unique motivations to build the equations that amount to earning 120 percent of revenue budgets.

I thank you for your time and consideration with my application for CNBAM’s Business Manager of the Year.

Sincerely,

Jackie Schaffer University Daily Kansan Business Manager

APPENDIX .

Jackie Schaffer – Business Manager of the Year Productivity Reports For the first time in more than 8 years, the Kansan generated more than $500,000. The following chart is a breakdown of the Kansan’s fall budget as compared to the actual revenue generated.

The total budget for fall 2007 was $429,013, and the actual revenue generated was $519,058.34, or 120% to budget.

Through core product innovations and consistent motivation tactics, monthly revenue surged in fall 2007 as compared to 2005 and 2006.

Jackie Schaffer – Business Manager of the Year Productivity Reports, continued Through innovative new promotions surrounding existing products, and optimization techniques and bundle packages to create more value, special section revenue increased dramatically in fall 2007.

*

Jacqueline Leah Schaffer

1812 Maine Street Lawrence, KS 66044 281.723.4103 jackie.schaffer@gmail.com

[Education]

University of Kansas

William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications Bachelor of Science in Journalism, emphasis in strategic communications Graduation Date: May 2008

Lawrence, KS Journalism GPA: 3.72 Cumulative GPA: 3.60

[Experience]

The University Daily Kansan Advertising Staff Advertising Director - Continuously trained a staff of 32 sales managers, account executives, graphic designers, classified sales representatives, and online programmers to reach a semester revenue budget - Conducted a week-long sales training program involving interactive sessions on objection handling, campaign development techniques, and other valuable sales tools - Exceeded semester revenue budget of $419,000 by more than $90,000

Sales Manager - Led the sales team to surpass semester revenue goal of $490,000 by $225,000 (145 percent to goal) - Compiled client and revenue goals for sales staff using 400 local and national clients - Awarded Manager of the Month in May 2007 Zone Manager - Managed a team of eight account executives, senior account executives and a graphic designer to collectively reach a semester goal of more than $125,000 in print and online advertising revenue - Created an effective needs-based campaign for Kansas University Endowment Association that is currently generating a database of more than 750 future donors Senior Account Executive/Account Executive - Exceeded fall 2005 revenue goal of $7,000 by more than $9,400 (234 percent to goal) - Honored as Account Executive of the Month in August 2005 and Senior Account Executive of the Month in May 2006

Socialight.com Marketing Intern - Introduced diverse marketing tactics for a start-up social-networking company to capture multiple audiences

Hungry Man, Inc. Production Intern - Assisted commercial pre and post-production for a variety of advertising agencies including BBDO, Ogilvy & Mather and Publicis

Mark Seliger Studios Production Assistant/Intern - Assisted photo shoot productions for a major celebrity photographer for CondĂŠ Nast Publications including Vanity Fair, GQ and British Vogue - Coordinated with national and international personnel to complete pre-production, production and post-production tasks

Lawrence, KS August -December 2007

January-May 2007

August-December 2007

August 2005-May 2006

New York City, NY June-August 2007

New York City, NY June-July 2006

New York City, NY June-August 2003-2005

*

Jacqueline Leah Schaffer

1812 Maine Street Lawrence, KS 66044 281.723.4103 jackie.schaffer@gmail.com

[References] Jon Schlitt

Sales and Marketing Adviser The University Daily Kansan

jschlitt@kansan.com 785.864.4358

Diane O’Byrne

Associate Professor University of Kansas William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications

dobyrne@kc.rr.com 913.362.8478

Scott Kendall

Business Developer Socialight.com

scott@socialight.com 603.219.4021

Marisa Kaplan

Producer Hungry Man, Inc.

Ruth Levy

Producer Mark Seliger Studios

mkaplan@hungryman.com 212.925.5600 boomboomlevy@aol.com 212.929.7550

Lindsey Shirack The University Daily Kansan 6C: Business Manager of the Year CNBAM 2008

January 3, 2008 CNBAM Selection Committee Business Manager of the Year To Whom It May Concern, I could go into the basic reasons why I believe Lindsey Shirack deserves the award of Business Manager of the Year. I could go into detail on how her strategic thinking propelled The University Daily Kansan to new heights by challenging past practices and encouraging the people she led to think creatively. I could also tell you how she hired one of the most superb staffs in Kansan history by qualifying people’s strengths and understanding their weaknesses and seeing the potential in every person that walked into an interview. The problem with me telling you these things is that there are probably many candidates for this award who have done these same things. What makes Lindsey stand apart from these people are what some people might view as little things that don’t matter much. To Lindsey, and to the unbelievable success (the most successful in history) that occurred last spring, they are what made all the difference. They are why I believe Lindsey deserves this award the most.

So what are these “little” things? There are a few I’d like to share: First, Lindsey saw her job as not just the top management position on the advertising staff, but a management partnership with the editor-in-chief. As long as I worked on the Kansan, Lindsey is the only business manager I have seen actively involved with our editorial department. Why is this important?

Because Lindsey saw that in order to increase revenue, we had to first increase the value to our readers, which in turn increases the value to our advertisers. In weekly (and sometimes more) meetings, Lindsey and our editor worked hand-in-hand modifying, transforming, and/or creating new products to better suit our customers and strengthen our brand. An example of this lies in our apartment guide products. They transformed a struggling product, usually only four to six pages full of display ads, into four easy-to-use guides with editorial content about apartment hunting, student recommendations, how-to’s on reading a lease and dealing with difficult landlords, and a checklist of things to do to find the dream apartment.

Without this business manager-editor partnership, we wouldn’t have had this incredible series that increased revenue. This partnership also formed a bond between two departments that are usually kept separate at most newspapers, and it made the learning experience for our employees even greater.

Second on my list is Lindsey’s uncanny ability to not be that “behind the desk” boss. In fact, the only time I ever saw Lindsey behind her desk were the many times she was in the office past midnight. In such a demanding position, it is so easy to get stuck behind the desk doing paperwork, answering emails, and making calls. But you’d never know by watching her that this was even part of her job. Some people might think “Big deal? She sat at the conference table instead of her desk to eat lunch.” But it is connections like these that helped Lindsey build trust with her staff. She wasn’t the unapproachable boss. People could freely express concerns and ask questions. It made everyone feel like they were on an even playing field, and for the first time, it made all of the new members of our staff feel equally in-

vested in our organization as those of us who had been on the Kansan for years. Lindsey recognized she is only as good as the people who work with her, and for this, we shot to success.

Finally, as Lindsey worked tirelessly throughout the spring semester last year, she did something that most business managers in the past never even thought of. For most business managers, their job is done once that last paper of the semester is published. This was not Lindsey’s mindset. She not only worked for the success of her semester, but she thought long-term in every decision she made. She incorporated the future effects of every new product, staff change, and budget decision into everything she did. For this, the fall semester of the Kansan continued down the road of success that Lindsey paved and has continued to far exceed revenue goals and attain significant growth.

As the recipient of this award last year, I feel strange writing this letter for Lindsey. I feel strange because I compare myself to Lindsey, and there is no comparison. Lindsey is by far the best business manager the Kansan has seen in years. You’ll see in her other materials those measurable qualities and incredible accomplishments that I didn’t touch on in this recommendation. But in considering the person most deserving of this award, think of those “little things” that make all the difference; that helped Lindsey make an unbelievably positive mark on the face and history of The University Daily Kansan.

Sincerely,

Kyle Hoedl Former Business Manager The University Daily Kansan

January 4, 2008 CNBAM Selection Committee Business Manager of the Year To Whom It May Concern: I am writing to recommend Lindsey Shirack for Business Manager of the Year. I firmly believe that Lindsey exceeds all of your qualifications for this award. I was lucky to work with her for three years as her sales and marketing adviser at The University Daily Kansan. In her time as Business Manager, she was able to achieve results that strengthened the core of the Kansan, and her strategies prepared the Kansan to continue its success beyond her tenure. Lindsey achieved this level of leadership by using three of core competencies: An unusually well-developed ability to think and act strategically. By nature, Lindsey is a thinker. She critically analyzes opportunities so that she is prepared with an in-depth “360-degree” view. Furthermore, she is able to use her analyses to make decisions rooted in sound strategy and supported by critical thought. She sets clear objectives, develops plans to achieve those, and then manages her time and resources effectively to deliver upon those goals.

A strong example of this is in the changes that Lindsey made to the Kansan’s hiring processes. It was evident that our hiring processes were ineffective; some new hires were leaving the Kansan after a short time, others were struggling to manage the work though their “interviews” would indicate that they should have been excelling. Lindsey analyzed the processes, through observation, discussion with me and her management team, and an audit of peer programs’ hiring processes. She then developed a goal: to identify candidates with both the talent and the passion to excel in their roles at the Kansan, thereby reducing turnover and increasing general morale. She created a hiring plan that included clearly defined hiring criteria and more effective interviewing processes.

First, rather than interviewing all applicants, Lindsey taught her managers how to critically evaluate resumes to narrow the consideration set to include those that best fit the Kansan’s needs. Second, she created a case interview process, by which candidates given a case beforehand and were expected to make a sales presentation in their interviews. Third, Lindsey taught her managers how to evaluate (in real-time) the candidate’s sales talent. She realized how critical this insight was: the Kansan could teach anyone its rates and products, but if the candidate did not posses the underlying raw talent and passion for the job, he or she would likely fail. Previous interview processes did not enable managers to evaluate these things in real-time or objectively across candidates. Lindsey taught her peers how to be more strategic in hiring so that they could identify and incorporate the right new talent into the team.

An unwavering focus on employee development. Related to the above comments, Lindsey realized that it was not enough for her to recruit the best talent for the Kansan. She knew that she had to develop that talent. The Kansan prides itself on, and has been recognized for, world-class sales training, but Lindsey realized that that was not enough to make world-class salespeople. She knew that in addition to sales skills, she had to teach salespeople and managers how to set more strategic goals for themselves and align their activities to those goals. I was impressed by her ability to discover and subsequently fix this weakness in the Kansan’s training model.

A relentless dedication to self improvement. Like any natural leader, Lindsey understood that her talent for visionary leadership would only go as far as she was willing to take it. She made concerted efforts to overcome her challenges and further hone her skills. She did this by proactively engaging mentors in regular coaching meetings in which she sought feedback, insight, and resources for additional learning.

An example of this is dedication to improvement is a struggle Lindsey encountered with her “#2,” Jackie. Lindsey took a calculated risk in choosing Jackie for the position; Jackie had tremendous leadership potential but was still developing the confidence to excel in top management at the Kansan. Early in their relationship, Lindsey became frustrated because she felt she needed time to strategize, but she wasn’t sure she could trust the Kansan’s daily

activities to Jackie. Jackie became concerned about Lindsey’s reluctance to step in and provided much-needed direction. A dangerous conflict could have ensued, but Lindsey was able to help stop it. She realized that she had been so focused on high-level strategy that she forgot how desperately Jackie wanted and needed her coaching.

So, Lindsey sought some advice from Kansan advisers, and then prepared herself to admit her mistakes and repair the relationship. Lindsey and Jackie proactively worked out their differences in a mediated discussion, and the effect was almost immediate. The two began “clicking,” and the Kansan progressed on to a very successful semester. Lindsey undoubtedly considered this lesson to be her most challenging but most impactful of her time as Business Manager; she is a better leader after it because she was able to understand the learning opportunity and improve her skills in a critical way.

Using these core competencies, Lindsey was able to lead her staff to impressive results in her time as Business Manager. The results of her efforts are most evident in four areas: • Superior performance against aggressive revenue goals during her semester.

• Impressive balance of Kansan and academic goals, as demonstrated by her strong performance in her classes during her tenure.

• Improved recruiting processes that brought in more of the right talent, reduced turnover and increased students’ passion for the Kansan.

• Exceptional leaders that took over after Lindsey’s departure, and, using what they learned from her, have been able to continue to set performance records.

In conclusion, I believe that for all the critical analysis and strategic thinking Lindsey does, her leadership philosophy is, fundamentally, simple: leadership is having the vision to realize that true growth in an organizations comes through empowering others to think and act as leaders, too. Lindsey empowered others by teaching them everything she knows, pushing them to exceed their goals, and helping them make strategic changes that better enabled to the Kansan staff to exceed its clients’ expectations.

I highly recommend her for CNBAM’s Business Manager of the Year award. Please contact me at your convenience if I can answer any questions regarding Lindsey’s candidacy. Thank you for your time!

Sincerely, Jennifer Weaver Advanced Strategic Communications Analyst, 3M (785) 393-4770 jweaver@mmm.com

Lindsey Shirack Business Manager of the Year Statement of Management Philosophy I ask you to bear with me here, because this is going to sound a little rudimentary: my management philosophy is to surround myself with incredibly talented, incredibly driven individuals and then to not get in their way. That sounds simplistic even to me and a part of me is tempted to beef it up, but I promise there’s more strategy in it than it seems on the surface.

So let’s break down part one, which is surrounding myself with incredibly talented and driven individuals. Step one was hiring my sales manager, the number two position- and suddenly, my philosophy seemed difficult. Although both candidates were qualified and capable of handling the duties of the position, I went with the candidate who was less experienced, but that I needed as my partner. Jackie has this uncanny ability to look at someone underachieving and pinpoint exactly where they’re going astray and to what heights they should be attaining. This is effective not only in the duty of sales manager in coaching the sales team, but also helpful to me as a leader. I’m an extremely analytical person and in the midst of breaking down a situation, I can get caught up in the details. Even though I’d always been above Jackie in management ranks, she’d never hesitated to yank me back down to reality when necessary. So the first offshoot of my management philosophy is to hire someone who works with you regularly who has strengths that better your own limitations.

Step two was to hire returning staff members and put into new management and sales roles. The main challenge that arose out of this was hiring an online sales manager. Namely, no one applied for the position. Since this was an area of our revenue stream that I felt we needed to grow exponentially, not having an online sales manager would make that difficult. Kansan.com was becoming drastically improved every semester, but we were struggling to leverage that into ad sales. Our sales teams would competently develop campaigns for our advertisers that blended a mix of our different products, so why was Kansan.com so rarely included in the mix? I considered that maybe our clients didn’t have websites to which they felt comfortable directing our audience, but after looking at the websites of our top 30 clients, I felt that could be ruled out. The investment levels for the website were just as reasonable as Jayplay, our weekly entertainment magazine, but didn’t come close to meeting its revenue level. Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that online simply wasn’t as integrated into our sales training as our other products.

So I decided to appoint a three member Online Convergence Team, with one member in each zone, who would be the touchstone for online proposals and selling for that zone. In the previous semester, we’d broken our online revenue goal in the last week of the semester; in Spring 2007, we broke the online revenue goal in the first week of selling, before a single paper had been printed (and continued to break it several times over for the semester).

In step three, hiring new staff members, I felt I was taking the biggest risk. In my previous semester as sales manager, I’d played a hands-on role in hiring the new staff with the business manager that semester. We’d introduced behavioral questions into the interviewing process and felt confident about our decisions. But as the semester started, I was flabbergasted by what I saw. Out of the four new account executives we hired, an individual who’d seemed full of raw talent but lacking in true sales ability came in and stole the show. Two individuals who’d seemed standouts during their interviews struggled all semester to make an impact and the management team grappled with how to assist them. The last individual had the ability to do the job, but it seemed the expectations we had for her in committing to the job were more than she’d anticipated and she quit midway through the semester. Although that semester ultimately proved successful in reaching our revenue goals, I hated the impact on morale as we struggled and hated repeatedly asking our veteran sales members to pull additional weight to make up for the struggles. Additionally, since we needed to hire 11 new account executives, these new staff members had to per-

form from day one if we were going to succeed. I wanted to hire a staff where all positions, from the New Business Account Executives to the Major Accounts Representatives would all contribute their share toward succeeding. The previous hiring system had consisted of an interview in which we’d thrust an object at the interviewee and ask them to sell it to us. Although this could be fun, I felt that it resulted in us seeing an infomercial-esque sales pitch instead of the consultative selling style practiced by our most successful sales people. So I decided that sales training for potential new hires would begin even before they were hired. I held informational meetings at the beginning of hiring and had one of our top salespeople do a mock client call to show them what we’d expect. I sent them a case study, outlining what we’d expect to see in the interview and telling them they’d do best if they researched the Kansan.

Before we started hiring, I was extremely nervous about this approach; I’d received mixed reviews from my management team, many of whom were sad to see the fun, laid-back style of the previous interviews go away. However, after the first interviewee walked out the door, Jackie and I just stopped and stared at each other. I can’t relay to you how clear cut our decisions were, how blown away we were by the hard work it was obvious they had put into their preparation (those same individuals went on to become the hardest working for the entire semester) and how well so many of them were able to sell when we’d given them only high level training on the Kansan. And for the semester, all but one of the new hires broke their semester goal (and the last came it at 85%), so not only was our staff successful, we were successful on all levels.

Now part two of my philosophy, to not get in this incredibly talented and driven staff’s way, sounds lazy or rather low-reaching. But in actuality, it’s extremely hard work and strives only to work for the staff’s ultimate success. I contemplated, “What would be things that would get in the way of our staff achieving?” I decided that products that weren’t desirable to our audience or our advertisers would be difficult to sell. So I revamped several products, including Apartment Guides, Jayplay and Insider’s Guide, by working closely with the editor. All of these products increased revenue over the previous year and Insider’s Guide went from a $28,000 publication to a $40,000 giant. I decided that if my reps had a problem they needed my assistance with and I wasn’t around to help them and they got stalled for the day waiting on me, that would be me getting in the way of their success. So I scheduled my classes for early in the morning or late in the afternoon, so I’d always be in the office during the peak selling hours.

Additionally, any work that I needed to complete on my own to keep up on managerial aspects of my job, I worked on after office hours so that I was as available as possible. One of my biggest pet peeves with upper management previously was that if I asked a question they didn’t know, they’d send me on a wild goose chasing asking the accountant, who’d refer me to the adviser, who’d send me back to the business manager, and so on. So I decided that if an individual had a question I didn’t know the answer to, it was beneficial to me to know that answer as well, so every single time someone came to me with a question, I’d go with them to find out the answer. Another aspect of this management philosophy is that I expect all members of management to convey expectations to all members of the staff. If we’re going to discuss how a certain rep hasn’t sold well to a client, have you specifically told that rep you’d like them to focus on that client? If not, they shouldn’t be graded against that (so get out of their way). Not getting in the way of an incredibly talented staff is much more about anticipating roadblocks in their way and making them realize their own potential. I constantly sought advice from my management staff and advisers on what they felt the staff needed and sat down with my Sales Force Management professor one-on-one to gain his insight. Essentially, I reminded myself that unless the entire staff was successful, I myself would have no success. I would honestly tell myself, “You cannot understate your own importance,” not because I felt that what I was doing wasn’t important, but because if what’s important to me is that our account executives get better everyday, the managers thrive, and the Kansan becomes more relevant to students and more valuable to our clients, then my own success would be taken care of. And at the end of the semester, we broke goal every single month and finished the year $165,000 over the previous year of $450,000, and I was voted Manager of the Semester by the staff. It’s still incredible to me what we were able to achieve and I am truly honored to be considered for this award.

Lindsey Shirack Business Manager of the Year Job Description

Business Manager • Coach the entire advertising department on skills, initiatives and products that grow Kansan revenue, develop the staff's abilities, improve the paper's position in the market, and create a positive work environment.

• Implement an initial training program and on going training that focuses on sales and management skills, product knowledge, market knowledge, service/fulfillment, and effective territory management.

• Track and evaluate the team's performance to quota and budget via monitoring sales reports, regular follow up with managers and staff, and going on sales calls as needed.

• Coach the management team to support their team members and to improve their skills as effective managers.

• Develop and execute on long-term strategies for revenue growth and staff development, including new products, more sales training, new business development, and nontraditional revenue streams.

• Manage the daily business operations of the Kansan, including regular meetings, resolving client concerns/errors, answer or route questions, make ad acceptance decisions, and addressing any other operational issues.

Lindsey Shirack Business Manager of the Year Performance In Spring 2007, the Kansan beat 2006 revenue by $165,000. $650,000 $487,500 $325,000 $162,500 $0

January

January

February

February

March

March

April

April

May

Semester

May

Semester

2006 Revenue

$28,795

$114,363

$98,356

$127,114

$81,716

$450,345

2007 Revenue

$51,601

$140,864

$131,617

$172,546

$118,581

$615,210

Lindsey Shirack Business Manager of the Year Performance In Spring 2007, the Kansan beat the 2007 budget goals by $125,000. This was the first time revenue goals were broken for every month in over 5 years.

2007 Budget Goal

2007 Revenue

$650,000 $487,500 $325,000 $162,500 $0

January

January

February

February

March

March

April

May

April

Semester

May

Semester

2007 Budget Goal

$33,788

$115,581

$118,486

$121,211

$102,256

$491,323

2007 Revenue

$51,601

$140,864

$131,617

$172,546

$118,581

$615,210

Lindsey Shirack Business Manager of the Year New Hire Case Study Dear Potential Kansan Addie, A few things you need to know about the interview. We will be dressed in business professional, so we will expect similar attire. During the interview, we will ask you a few questions and then you will have a mock client call (similar to what you saw in the Informational Meeting). All total, the interview will be under 30 minutes, with about ten minutes for questions, and the rest for the client call.

Oftentimes as an addie, you will get a new client and be expected to fact find about the client to go meet with them the next day. So, your client meeting is during your interview and the following is the information you’ve been able to find so far.

As the newest member of the Kansan Advertising Staff, you’ve been assigned UDK Coffee Shop, an established store in Downtown Lawrence. You find out from your coworkers that UDK used to consistently advertise in the Kansan, but suddenly stopped advertising a few semesters ago. The next rep to have UDK never followed up on the problem. You also find out the coffee shop may be under new ownership and has recently been remodeled.

You dropped by the coffee shop yesterday to look around. The new remodel has partitioned the store into two partsan open communal area with music playing and comfy chairs and a quiet back room with tables and no music.

While there, you met the owner, gave her a Kansan, and she reluctantly agreed to sit down to meet with you tomorrow. She mentions that when she bought the business, she cut back on advertising after a few opening ads. The owner says she isn't sure that she saw any real difference in day-to-day traffic after she stopped advertising, but that she believes that most of her consistent traffic is from local Lawrence residents that live near the shop.

She says that she is now trying to attract more than just the morning crowd. When you leave the store, you notice some fliers for musicians and singers that come to play at the coffee shop, which you never knew about. Later on, you visit the coffee shop’s website and find out that the shop has different musicians scheduled for every week.

So now, during your interview client call, you need to find out more information that will help you make the Kansan the best fit for them. For example, you know they have musicians scheduled, but finding out what nights they primarily play will help you decide which product is best. Any questions you ask will help you decide what to recommend that she advertise to best reach the student population.

You don’t need to have the coffee shop information memorized, but you need to be familiar with it, and it’s okay to bring questions that you think will help you find the information you need (and you will need more information).

Remember our different products. Our regular paper is Monday through Friday and reaches the most students, faculty and staff of an medium and is great for building the client's brand and getting information out to the public.

Jayplay comes out Thursday and is billed as our lifestyle and entertainment magazine. It focuses on going out, things to do in Lawrence, and what students do outside of class. Kansan.com is a way to improve the marketing mix, and reinforce the message seen in print. An ad on our website can link to a client’s website or click through to a coupon or offer (“Mention this ad and get…”). Remember that we have an ad creative team who will design ads for the clients for free.

(For those of you applying for Classifieds, this isn’t aimed at that, but selling for the Kansan is all about these same ideas: talking with a client, finding problems or opportunity areas, giving a solution (how the Kansan can help solve the problem or capitalize on the opportunity), talking about WIFM (the client wants to know, “What’s in it for me?

Why should I spend money on advertising?”), and closing the sale (get us to say yes to what you propose- this means you have to ask for the sale).

Now, I know you may have questions about this. If they are questions about this process itself, feel free to contact me. If they are questions about the client, bring them to your interview (just as you'd do as an addie!).

Best of luck to all of you, we are very excited to have you interview!

Best, Lindsey Shirack The University Daily Kansan

Lindsey A. Shirack Experience Advertising Director, The University Daily Kansan, Lawrence, Kan. Exceeded January- May budget by 36% for a $165,000 surplus over previous year-to-date Coached and developed sales team of 35 to achieve $491,000 goal Led product strategy innovations to better serve audience interests and client preferences Sales Manager, The University Daily Kansan, Lawrence, Kan. Mentored and coached staff of 31 to exceed $420,000 semester goal Achieved revenue of $40,000 over previous fall Designed and implemented a more acc urate revenue forecasting system Sales and Marketing Services Intern, The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va. Coordinated sales leads for reps using cooperative advertising Researched co-op advertising opportunities to aid in reaching $60,000 of funds used Zone Manager, The University Daily Kansan, Lawrence, Kan. Led and developed sales staff of two senior account executives, four account executives and one designer while managing my own list of clients Created Semester Incentive program to reward reps for reaching semester goals Account Executive and Senior Account Executive, The University Daily Kansan, Lawrence, Kan. Achieved a combined 144% to goal in first two months of selling Sold over $17,000 of advertising by developing local and regional clients Created and implemented campaigns and advertising objectives for over 20 clients Customer Service Associate, Panera Bread Company, Lawrence, KS Developed customer service skills, enhanced patron relations, learned the value of consistent service

Leadership Experience

Student Philanthropy Committee, University of Kansas Endowment Chancellor, Delta Sigma Pi Professional Business Fraternity Student Leadership Representative, Undergraduate Business Council Vice President of Chapter Operations, Delta Sigma Pi Professional Business Fraternity Education The University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kan. Bachelor of Science in Strategic Communications Bachelor of Science in Marketing

Jan. 2007- May 2007

Aug. 2006- Dec. 2006

June 2006- July 2006 Jan. 2006- May 2006

Jan. 2005- Dec. 2005

May 2004- Aug. 2005

Aug. 2006- present Jan. 2006- Dec. 2006 Dec. 2004- May 2006 Dec. 2004- Dec. 2005 Graduation Date May 2007

Relevant Coursework Strategic Campaigns: Developed an integrated marketing campaign, from research to final recommendations, for the nonprofit Audio-Reader.

Skills Proficient in Microsoft Excel, Powerpoint and Word. Experience using Microsoft Access and SPSS.

Honors and Achievements

Voted Manager of the Semester, May 2007, The University Daily Kansan Watkins- Berger Scholar, The University of Kansas Kansas State Scholar, Kansas Board of Regents

Adviser to prepare an annual budget for the business department. The Business Manager will collaborate with the Editor in Chief and the Student Media Adviser to prepare a budget for the newspaper.

11. The Business Manager must approve all discounted advertising.

12. The Business Manager is responsible for developing and monitoring a pay scale for the newspaper.

13. The Business Manager is responsible for creating and maintaining a cooperative relationship with the editorial staff of the newspaper.

14. The Business Manager must maintain regular office hours, which must be on record with the Office Manager.

15. The Business Manager must work a minimum of 20 hours per week at the newspaper.

16. The Business Manager must attend and vote at all Board of Managers meetings.

17. The Business Manager will answer all correspondence relating to business or advertising matters in a prompt and efficient manner.

The Pitt News Business Manager – Job Description The Business manager oversees the business and advertising departments of The Pitt News, and in conjunction with the Student Media Adviser, has fiduciary responsibility for the newspaper.

1. The Business Manager has the authority to overturn or alter any decision made by a member of the business staff including any decision of the Board of Managers relating to advertising or business practices.

2. The Business manager acts as a liaison in business matters between the business staff and the Publications Board, the Student Media Adviser, and other groups including the student body, the faculty, the administration and the community. All disputes or problems with an advertiser will be handled by the Business Manager. If necessary, the Business Manager will consult with the Advertising Adviser and the Student Media Adviser.

3. The Business Manager has the responsibility for supervising and managing the business staff of the newspaper.

4. The Business Manager is responsible for delegating responsibilities to his/her appointed business staff. As such, the Business Manager, in conjunction with the Production Manager, will establish procedures for production deadlines and enforce all such policies.

5. The Business Manager has the power of appointment for all business positions with do not require the approval of the Student Publications Board.

6. The Business Manager has the authority, provided there is reasonable cause, to remove anyone from a business or advertising position. The Business Manager is required to give the person being removed from office written notification within 48 hours of the decision to remove. All such decisions can be appealed to the Student Publications Board.

7. The Business Manager will collaborate with the Advertising Adviser and establish a formal recruiting program for all members of the business and advertising staff and will coordinate these activities with the incoming Business Manager.

8. The Business Manager will coordinate all sales and collaborate with the Advertising Adviser and Account Manager in the collection of all revenue.

9. The Business Manager will represent the organization in an official executive capacity when necessary or when requested to do so.

among his peers. I cannot imagine a more qualified or deserving nominee for CNBAM’s Business Manager of the Year. He has proven himself in sales figures and also in the lessons that will be his legacy at The Pitt News for years to come. I consider myself lucky to have learned so much from him in the years I have worked with him. Thank you for your consideration and the opportunity to recommend Dennis Hazenstab for CNBAM’s Business Manager of the Year.

Sincerely,

Siobhan Mulkerrin Sales Manager The Pitt News

January 29, 2008 Dear CNBAM Judges, As the business manager of The Pitt News, Dennis Hazenstab has been a mentor, leader and friend to the entire staff. I have known Dennis since I began working at The Pitt News in January 2006. Dennis was extremely friendly and helpful when I first began working at The Pitt News and has continued to be a great mentor to me. It is with great pleasure that I recommend Dennis Hazenstab for CNBAM’s Business Manager of the Year Award.

Even before being placed in a leadership position, Dennis was a leader in the office.

When I was a new sales rep he went on calls with me and coached me through presentations, cold calling and other essential aspects of sales. The lessons I learned from observing his sales style have been essential to my success and the success of our entire team. One of his most admiral traits is his ability to lead by example. Dennis works many more hours than is required of his position, he assists the office staff in billing, filing and other tasks and he is always available to go with reps on sales calls. These traits and his versatile personality make him extremely relatable and approachable, a key to success in leadership.

Numerically, the sales numbers are undeniable evidence of Dennis’s success. As of the end of December 2007, our overall revenue was up 5% and local display revenue was up 4% despite national advertising being down significantly for the year. To make up for this deficit, Dennis has implemented online and color promotions. These promotions have proven to be extremely successful as we are now 51% up in color. Undoubtedly, the success of our entire team comes from Dennis’s hard work, dedication and commitment to training and helping to improve each and every member of our sales team.

Although Dennis makes a point to be involved in every aspect of the business, he is extremely respectful of every member of the team. He consistently references us as a team and he works to keep a positive team mentality in the office. Though he is very involved with all of the reps and other staff members, he is open to new ideas and willing to give the reins to anyone in order to achieve success. When a new idea is presented to him, he listens and does his best to help everyone reach their goals.

As a senior and a three-year member of The Pitt News team, Dennis has much experience that he is able and willing to share. Most of the account executives are underclassman and they all turn to Dennis for curriculum advice, resume help and interview tips. As an honor student, Dennis also helps with homework and test preparation for anyone who approaches him. I can attribute much of my academic and professional success to the help he has provided me in the years I have known him.

More than his success and hard work, his dedication and personality make him a great friend, mentor and leader to everyone who is fortunate enough to meet him. His strong work

the first day of work. Office conduct is strictly monitored, and the staff has a healthy respect for their management. He re-tooled the newspaper’s image to the marketplace and internally by creating one uniform logo for our letterhead, our thank-you notes, our return addresses, our trade agreements, our internal memo templates and our proposals.

Underage and binge drinking is a major problem on college campuses throughout the country. As the business manager of a newspaper that accepts alcohol advertisements, Dennis is sensitive to this problem.

He created a long-running marketing campaign with drink coasters that are supplied to independent local bars and restaurants that promote the newspaper’s stance on responsible drinking.

Dennis is very pragmatic in setting goals. He created user-friendly spreadsheets that will be passed down from business manager to business manager, which assist in setting quotas, monitoring color charges which are not currently integrated to our system and tracking sales territory progress. These reports are critical tools in assessing where we truly stand in relation to last year’s revenues after adjustments, so we approach quotas much differently than we have in years past.

I think Dennis would be an excellent choice for “Business Manager of the Year.” I highly recommend him. Should you have any questions, please feel free to call me at 412-648-7976. Good luck in your decision-making process.

Regards,

Terry Lucas General Manager

January 16, 2008 Dear CNBAM Judges: It is a true pleasure to write this letter of nomination for Mr. Dennis Hazenstab for CNBAM’s “Business Manager of the Year” award.

As the general manager and chief adviser for the daily student newspaper at the University of Pittsburgh, I have had the extreme pleasure of working with Dennis for the past three years.

As the business manager of The Pitt News, Dennis currently oversees approximately five managers and a sales staff of approximately 20 salespeople. He consistently encourages his staff to do better. His motivation has produced a highly productive sales force generating well over $1 million in advertising revenues. Despite producing three less issues than the previous year due to the University’s academic calendar, overall advertising revenue is up 5%.

Dennis is both liked and respected by his staff. He is able to get the best results out of them, and at the same time is able to relate to them on a peer basis. He hired a strong management and sales staff and retained that same staff throughout the entire year.

Dennis has implemented several creative promotions to readers and advertisers. For example: Advertisers received a free 1/16th page advertisement on a Sudoku puzzle promotion if they bought more space in the Welcome Back issue than they had the previous year; readers had the opportunities to win iPod Shuffles for the new toy drive at Christmas, free tickets to the Pittsburgh Zoo for answering trivia questions about animals, and free tickets to the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball games; and advertisers were offered 25% discounts for buying bundled packages of special issues.

His interpersonal skills are shown in the way he relates successfully with a wide range of people on the staff and with our advertisers. His staff is loyal and highly motivated. By example, he is able to communicate the need for commitment and professionalism. He worked 60-70 hour weeks without exception (required to work 40 hours) throughout the summer of 2007. He currently works at least 40 hours per week during the academic year (required to work 25 hours) while carrying 18 credits and holding a 3.7 grade point average. He also has an excellent rapport with our advertisers.

Dennis is a hands-on manager and is in the trenches with his people. He went out in the field with each and every sales representative every week to model superior sales skills. This is one of the main reasons local revenue is up nearly 15% over last year. Dennis even challenged the advertising adviser to a sales territory duel, where they competed for how many reps they could take out in a given month. Dennis goes on new business calls with the sales reps. It takes a high level of self-confidence to do this. During these sales calls to new businesses, you never know what kind of response you will get from the prospective advertiser. With this in mind, Dennis has the ability to deal with uncertainty.

Because the newspaper is run entirely by students, student publications must constantly dispel the myth that they are not professional. Dennis cultivated a professional environment in the business division. He