Richard Meese (’76 MA L&S, ’78 PhD L&S)

Kraft Helps Center Get 'Best of the Best'

When it comes to building a campus community that “looks like the world,” the University of Wisconsin-Madison has work to do.

The state’s population is more homogenous than the nation as a whole, so diversifying the campus demands recruiting strong candidates of differing backgrounds. When these students do enroll, they make the campus experience richer – and bringing more diversity to the University is essential if it wants to stay on job recruiters’ radar.

The leadership at Kraft Foods recognizes all of these points and has made gifts through the years to help diversify the student body in the School of Business.

Historically, the company, which has a strong Madison presence thanks to its local Oscar Mayer operations, has contributed to efforts that have awarded scholarships and fellowships to minority business students. A current gift supports recruitment to the Center for Product and Brand Management (CPBM), and the Kraft boost proved crucial in crafting packages that attracted two “best-of-the-best” candidates to the program this fall.

Ato Micah and Terry Thomas had other lucrative offers for MBA programs, but the creative scholarship and support that the CPBM offered helped sway them to choose Wisconsin.

“The Center for Brand and Product Management is very grateful to Kraft Foods/Oscar Mayer for this generous gift to support our diversity recruiting efforts,” said Amy Schmidt, director of the CBPM. “The Center’s goal is to turn out the best-prepared MBAs who will be sought after by major corporations for brand and product management positions. As part of that goal, we recognize the need for marketing organizations to increase the diversity within their own workforces, and we want to help them with that mission.

“While there are many talented minority applicants seeking an MBA degree, at the same time, these students have a great deal of choice,” she said. “Kraft Foods’ scholarship gift will enable us to offer more competitive and generous merit awards to underrepresented candidates and encourage more of them to come to Wisconsin for their MBA degree. In the long run, this will make us a better MBA program and allow us to develop stronger relationships with our corporate partners.”

From Kraft’s point of view, the effort is a needed one.

"The U.S. is not becoming a multicultural society; the U.S. is a multicultural society and becoming more so every day. Wisconsin, Dane County and Madison are no exception,” said Rick Searer, GVP & President, Kraft North American Convenient Meals Sector. “As a business, it is in our best interest to create a work environment that embraces diversity and to create programs and processes that result in the recruitment, development, promotion and retention of people of color. The changing demographics of the job market require it.

"At Kraft, we want the people who staff our businesses to reflect and understand this changing marketplace,” Searer said. “The creation and continuation of these scholarships at the University of Wisconsin-Madison further demonstrates our commitment to diversity within our businesses and in our community. It is our hope that these contributions will further enable the University to recruit the country's best and brightest to our area."

So far, so good, according to this year’s recipients.

“The financial assistance made a huge difference – with no financial burden I can pursue my entrepreneurial ventures,” said Ato, who was born and raised in Ghana. After moving to the United States, he earned a BA in economics from Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio. When he graduated, Ato was hired by Millward Brown as an assistant research executive.

Within four years, he was promoted to run a new business unit specializing in multicultural research consulting and then was promoted again to manage a large real estate client’s research needs. Ato spent five years with Millward Brown, where he paired up with a vice president to establish and run the firm’s multicultural practice, before he was hired by IPSOS-ASI, where he has spent the last couple of years consulting with a large pharmaceutical client.

Ato chose the CPBM program after receiving several other lucrative offers from such programs as the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management Fellowship at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business, the Consortium for Graduate Study in Management Fellowship from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University and the William E. Simon Fellowship at the Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester.

“Wisconsin’s program was a perfect fit for me,” Ato said. “The specialized brand management curriculum, its practical approach, the recruitment record and industry connections all played a big part in my choice.”

He added that he’s already felt the strong reach of the Badger connection, having fielded several calls from alumni encouraging him to come to Madison. “I continue to be amazed by the outreach of alumni over the past couple of months,” he said.

Terry comes to the program from New York, where he was born and raised. He graduated from York College with a BBA in marketing and a minor in economics. He spent three years with a start-up brewing company in New York, first as promotions manager and then as regional director of operations. Most recently, Terry was the director of operations for KEA Capital (a financial research boutique), where he worked for six years.

“While it wasn't the biggest reason, the financial package I received was certainly helpful in making the decision to attend UW-Madison,” said Terry, who had offers from Kelley School of Business at Indiana, The Johnson School at Cornell University, the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University and the W.P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University. “The ability to pursue an MBA without having to worry about debt is an absolute blessing. I was also offered substantial financial packages at other institutions; however, the connection I made with the UW-Madison community and my talks with the center director were factors that swung the pendulum towards the CPBM.”

Terry had spent months researching top MBA programs. “I was initially drawn to the CPBM after receiving a box of marketing/informational material from them in February,” he said. “I decided to dig further, and Amy Schmidt was there to answer any questions I had, and arranged for me to visit Madison in order to get a feel for the community.”

He said he choose the CPBM for several reasons in addition to the financial package. “The small class at the center was very attractive, because it lends towards having a more tight-knit and collaborative community,” he said. “This will allow me to build stronger relationships with a group of peers who will be entering the same career field.

“The placement numbers at the CPBM are outstanding,” he said. “I love the fact that I can seek career advice from our center director (Amy Schmidt), and I also have access to the advisory board.

“And the University of Wisconsin's connection with the Consortium for Graduate Studies in Management was another compelling reason to attend the CPBM,” he said. “I was able to attend an orientation program back in June that put me in the position to interview with several major companies before their recruiting season officially begins. Through the consortium I was also able to build a network of peers from 12 other top tier MBA programs.”

Ato and Terry have shown initiative and imagination in their studies and professional work so far. The sparks they’ll bring to the CBPM program are anticipated and appreciated.

As for the future, Ato said one thing that will receive his marketing focus is the CBPM itself. “I plan to work to publicize the program, through interactive marketing initiatives,” he said. “I also will work toward boosting enrollment, especially minority enrollment.”

Terry said, “While at the center, I look to be involved in as many leadership roles as I can effectively manage. This is a two-year period of my life where I'm looking forward to being shaped, molded and refined.

“I couldn't be happier about the decision I made to join the CPBM,” he said. “I'm a fiery and intense New Yorker, and I really wasn't sure about how the transition to the Midwest would be. My visits to Madison and the interactions I've had with my future classmates have gone a long way toward validating the decision.”