Feb. 17, 2020

Northwest alumni sweep Ad 2-Kansas City’s Member of the Year nominations

By Leah Newell, communication assistant

When the Ad 2-Kansas City Member of the Year Award was announced at the Feb. 15 American Advertising Awards show in Kansas City, one thing was certain – the name called would be an alumnus of Northwest Missouri State University.

All three nominees for the award – Catie Drummond, Matt Meier and Brooke Purvis – were Northwest graduates. Drummond received the honor for Ad 2-Kansas City, which is a community of up-and-coming advertising professionals aged 32 and younger and an affiliate group of the American Advertising Federation Kansas City chapter.

The success of the three nominees comes as no surprise to Jacquie Lamer, a Northwest senior instructor of mass media and the co-advisor for AdInk, Northwest’s advertising, marketing and design club. Lamer said the drive, determination and positive outlooks of Drummond, Meier and Purvis have propelled them in the advertising field.

They’re keeping a good thing going as Northwest alumna Kirstie Mulligan won the Member of the Year award last year. Furthermore, Northwest alumnus and Kansas City pop marketer Joe Cox emceed the event.

“To me, it’s no surprise that these three ended up here, because you can see them doing the same thing when they were on campus as students,” Lamer said. “You can see them being involved, taking on responsibilities, being proactive and taking leadership roles.”

 

Drummond, who earned her bachelor’s degree in mass media with a broadcast production emphasis in 2015, is Ad 2-KC’s professional development coordinator. She helps create and maintain relationships between Ad 2-KC and colleges and universities throughout the Midwest. She planned Spark KC, a conference connecting students with advertising and marketing agencies in the Kansas City area, and helped organize Match KC, a networking event for advertising or other industry companies looking to hire entry-level positions and internships.

Drummond is employed as a project manager at Signal Theory. At Northwest, she worked as general manager of KNWT TV, which, she says, taught her valuable lessons.

“I remember working so hard to get that position and how much it meant to me,” Drummond said. “I've always had a high capacity for work and success. But, as general manager, I learned how to lead a team for the success of the organization. I wouldn't be where I am without that experience.”

Meier, who earned his bachelor’s degree in interactive digital media with a new media emphasis in 2013, is Ad 2-KC’s director of fundraising and works to boost the organization’s revenue. He coordinated a raffle for an annual trivia event and led a headshot session for Spark KC. Meier is currently preparing two more fundraising events to support Ad 2-KC.

Meier, who works as an analyst at Intouch Solutions, says the networking opportunities he found as a Northwest student and as a professional have made a big impact on his career.

“Those early connections not only geared me toward what to expect in the Kansas City advertising community but also launched my involvement into Ad 2-KC,” Meier said. “Those early professional connections helped me on building my résumé, the job search in my post-grad life and even gaining some very good friends along the way.”

Purvis, who earned her bachelor’s degree in marketing in 2018, is Ad 2-KC’s virtual agency co-director. For the past nine months, Purvis and her colleagues have worked with Green Works, an organization providing environmental and economical programming for Kansas City youth, to develop a local advertising campaign.

Purvis says she would not be in the position she is in today without the coursework and experience she gained at Northwest. She works now as project manager at Propaganda3 and was a member of the Alpha Delta Pi sorority and AdInk.

“Northwest empowers you to jumpstart your career by hand delivering you the tools to do so, and that's not something you'd receive at another university,” Purvis said. “I became bold, conversational, talented and skilled because of the staff and community at Northwest. Becoming a Bearcat was one of the best decisions I ever made.”