Marketing & Hospitality receives donation from Northwestern Mutual

A team of 11 financial representatives from the Northwestern Mutual Financial Network, along with the Northwestern Mutual Foundation, recently committed to donating $250,000 to sponsor a sales and research training laboratory for the Department of Marketing and Hospitality. The lab is one component of the comprehensive Professional Sales and Research Program the department plans to launch in the 2012-2013 academic year. The lab facility will be located on the main floor in Moody Hall.

The Professional Sales and Research Program will include the improvement of physical and technological instructional and research resources. According to Dr. Gwen Fontenot, head of the department, “The main goal of the program is to better prepare our students for successful careers. We believe we can accomplish this by providing technology-enhanced, flexible learning environments that facilitate continuous improvement and innovative teaching.”

UL alum and Northwestern Mutual’s Managing Partner Steven Dugal put together the team of donors, most of whom are UL alumni. Dugal spoke of his close ties to UL saying “UL Lafayette has meant so much to Northwestern Mutual as six managing partners are alumni as well as several of our financial representatives. Personally, UL provided my mom a beloved 35 year career starting with no work experience. This allowed her to raise and support 6 children as a single mom.”
The team of donors includes Dugal, former Managing Partner Bill Hornsby, Stuart Cestia-Managing Director of the Lafayette office, and financial representatives Paul Nick, Taylor Davis, Stacy Russo Nichols, Bill Cunningham, Kenny Begneaud, Cindy Gunawan, Bill Bowers, and Elizabeth Gessner. In addition to a five-year sponsorship of the sales and research lab, the Northwestern Mutual donation will also endow two scholarships for students in the Professional Sales and Research Program. With regard to donation for the sales lab, Dugal said, “We all know selling traits are used in most professions and not just in the profession of selling. Having the students learn these traits while in school versus after college will benefit the students, university and local employers. As an organization known for its top sales force, Northwestern Mutual of Louisiana is proud to align with ULL in building and developing the sales lab. This will be a working partnership we are excited to watch flourish.”