Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern Announces Promotions Within Marketing Department
1/6/2005 12:00:00 AM | General
Jan. 6, 2005
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EVANSTON, Ill. - Northwestern recently announced the promotion of Tracie Hitz, Brian VanAcker and Beth Cunningham within its marketing and sponsor services department. All three had been serving on an interim basis, but have officially been named to their respective positions, announced today by Associate Athletic Director for External Affairs Chris Boyer.
Hitz will take over as the assistant athletic director for marketing, VanAcker is now the assistant director of marketing and Cunningham is officially the Wildcats' marketing assistant.
"I am very happy with the new makeup of our marketing, promotions and sponsor services staff and am excited to see them address the new and continuing challenges that department faces," Boyer said. "Tracie, Brian and Beth each bring a strong creativity, work ethic and vision to their respective positions, and they all complement one another very well."
Collectively, the marketing, promotions and sponsor services staff is responsible for the advertising and marketing of all 19 Wildcat athletic programs, gameday promotions and entertainment. The staff is also in charge of servicing the department's $1,000,000-plus corporate sponsorship program.
Hitz, now in her eighth year with the Wildcats, has been promoted three times within Northwestern's marketing department. Prior to being named associate director of marketing in 2002, she was the assistant director for three years. She got her start in collegiate sports marketing when NU offered her the marketing assistant position in July 1997. Hitz received a master's degree from Northwestern in 2003.
VanAcker has been a part of Northwestern's marketing department since July 2002 when he accepted the marketing assistant position. He received his master's in sports management from Western Illinois University in 2001 and worked as an intern at Marquette University from 2001-02.
Cunningham graduated from Northwestern in 2002 with a bachelor's degree in communication studies and economics. After graduation, she took a corporate sales internship at the University of Miami (Fla.) before landing the marketing assistant position at Learfield Sports in Dallas, Texas from April 2003 to July 2004. She returned to her alma mater in August 2004.
