Michigan Tech College of Business Newsblog

Category: Seminars and Events

Denny Socha ’86 to Share Time and Talent with Marketing Students

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Michigan Tech alumni Denny Socha ’86 (BS in Mechanical Engineering) will present a lecture on Thursday, October 10, 2024, at 9:30 am in ChemSci 101. The talk is part of a Principles of Marketing (MKT3000) class instructed by Junhong Min, Associate Professor of Marketing.

In his talk, Socha will discuss STP marketing—Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning— a marketing model that helps businesses identify and target their audience, and position their products to be more effective.

Also, on October 10, Socha will share his career success journey with the American Marketing Association (AMA) student organization at 5:30 pm in AOB 101. Pizza and drinks will be served.

Socha’s visit to campus is part of the Time & Talent initiative of the Michigan Tech Office of Alumni Engagement, which aims to connect successful MTU alumni with students, faculty, and staff through guest lectures, presentations, and learning opportunities.

Socha worked in consumer research and product research throughout his 26-year career at General Motors. He retired as Senior Manager, Global Product Research.

Denny Socha is a marketing professional with over three decades of experience working in the automotive industry. Most of his experience, which also included four years in Switzerland with the GM Europe marketing team, supported Chevrolet with Brand and Advertising Research. Providing the customer insights behind such memorable campaigns as An American Revolution, Chevy Runs Deep, Find New Roads and Real People/Not Actors, his efforts were recognized by the Advertising Research Foundation with the prestigious David Ogilvy Gold Award. Denny is a member of the Advertising Research Foundation and Association of National Advertisers. Denny has been married for 35 years to Kristi and they have three children. He enjoys traveling with family and snowboarding.

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Rajath Nagaraj ’21 to Present Talk on Project Management in Data Science and AI Innovations in Insurance on Sept. 23

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Rajath Nagaraj ’21 MS in Data Science will present a talk by on Monday, September 23, 2024, from 12-1 pm, in MEEM 403. His talk is titled, “Nagaraj will discuss, “Navigating Project Management in Data Science and Exploring Al Innovations in Insurance.”

The talk is presented by the Institute of Computing and Cybersystems’s Center for Artificial Intelligence.

Rajath Nagaraj is a senior data scientist at Liberty Mutual Insurance, working with Al and ML, including LLMs. In this session. Rajath will first dive into the essentials of industry-level project management in data science, exploring best practices for successfully managing complex projects from initiation to execution. The second part will focus on the transformative role of Al in various domains, with a deep dive into how Al is revolutionizing the insurance sector through applications like claims processing, fraud detection, quoting, underwriting, and personalized customer experiences.

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Jaxon Verhoff and Samantha Ludwik of Dow to Present Sales and Marketing Talk

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Jaxon Verhoff ’22 and Samantha Ludwick ’24, both with Dow, will present a sales and marketing talk, “Navigating the B2B Landscape: Dow’s Approach to Sales and Marketing,” on Thursday, September 12, 2024, at 2 pm via Zoom online meeting. All College of Business students are invited to attend.

The lecture is presented as part of a Sales and Sales Technology class (MKT 4100) instructed by Junhong Min, Associate Professor of Marketing and the Richard and Joyce Ten Haken Faculty Fellow in Business.

Join the Zoom meeting.

Jaxon Verhoff, a senior marketing specialist, started at Dow two years ago as an intern on the digital experience team, where he focused on digital marketing and search engine optimization. In summer 2023, he joined the marketing function at Dow through the Marketing Development Program (MDP). During the first eight months in the MDP, Verhoff focused on aircraft deicing fluid, building a market guidance dashboard in Power BI for Dow Industrial Solutions (DIS), piloting the digital improvement team for Dow’s Crop Solver tool, and leading the market segmentation effort within our sustainability decarbonization team.

Verhoff is now a senior marketing specialist at Dow with market management responsibilities within oil and gas in North America with various global responsibilities. He graduated from Michigan Tech in December 2022 with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from the College of Business. During his time at Tech, Verhoff enjoyed exploring the Keweenaw, participating in the American Marketing Association (AMA) club and competitions, and spending time tossing around a football on Walker Lawn.

Samantha Ludwick

Samantha Ludwick graduated from Michigan Tech in 2024 with a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry. Upon graduation, she joined Dow with the Commercial Development Program (CDP) as a sales specialist. Through the CDP program, Ludwick is gaining state of the art sales training and the networking and project management experience required to become a successful sales professional.

Ludwick’s background is largely technical. At Michigan Tech, she worked with the Tanasova Research Lab conducting undergraduate research in novel organic compounds, specifically with novel anti-tumor drug candidates. In the Department of Chemistry, she coached students in general, organic, and physical chemistry in the Chemistry Learning Center. Ludwick gained professional experience in pharmaceutical manufacturing through internships at Pfizer.
She is passionate about giving back to the Husky community and is excited to provide insight into sales at Dow, a leading innovator in material science.

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Bob Doyle to Share Advice for Thriving in Today’s Job Market

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Bob Doyle, president and CEO of the Michigan Association of Certified Public Accountants (MICPA), will shares insights from his extensive career at a talk on Monday, September 16, 2024, at 5 pm in the Pavlis Collaboration Space in M&M 722. The talk is sponsored by the Pavlis Honors College.

Doyle will discuss the key employable skills he values in employees and peers, offering practical advice for thriving in today’s job market. The title of his talk is, “Unlocking Success: Essential Employable Skills for Today’s Competitive Job Market.”

With a diverse educational background, including a B.S. in Environmental Engineering, an M.S. in Engineering Management, and an M.A. in Public Relations & Organizational Communication, Doyle brings a unique perspective on the intersection of human and technological challenges.

His career, which includes a previous role as Vice President of Marketing, Communications, and Advocacy at the Association for Advancing Automation (A3), highlights his ability to navigate complex industries and drive success.

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn from a leader who has successfully leveraged his skills across various sectors. Everyone is welcome.

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