ICC 2025

UMD AMA sent six executive board members to the International Collegiate Conference this past weekend in New Orleans! Attendees learned so much from insights from employers and top chapters. Mathew Calderon and Giana Colonna won First Place in the Marketing Strategy Competition, making UMD AMA so proud!

Day 1

Deloitte Workshops

Show up. Speak up. Stand out.

• Speaker: Kori Green

• Attendees learned how to stand out during the ever so competitive hiring process.

  
  

Personalization

It’s a value exchange between brands and customers

• Speaker: Fahad Ahmed

• Attendees learned about the benefits of personalization for companies and individuals.

Student Agency Networking Blitz

Attendees representing their respective student marketing consulting agencies shared their strategies and experiences. Three representatives from UMD AMA RedBlack attended.

Chapter Social Scramble & T-Shirt Exchange

All the attending chapters met up to network and swap shirts. Chapter members mingled and made new friends. A spirited game of musical chairs was then played with 2 representatives from UMD. Isabella and Giana made it through three rounds of the competition!

Parade of Chapters

The tradition of the chapter parade continues this year! UMD AMA’s own Mathew wore a crab suit and MD flag as a cape to show his Maryland Pride!

Marketing Playbook Keynote

After the parade, attendees heard from EVP and CMO of the Minnesota Vikings, Martin Nance. Nance shared his journey from being a Super Bowl winner to the CMO of an NFL team, along with his marketing playbook for the Vikings!

Day 2

Competitions

Perfect Pitch

Participants: Isabella Guggino & Maeve Smarick

Competitors pitched themselves for the Gartner Sales Development Program in a 90 second Perfect Pitch!

Marketing Strategy

Participants: Mathew Calderon & Giana Colonna

Competitors were given a case and had 30 minutes to create a marketing strategy for the client. Mathew and Giana were selected as finalists to compete on day 3.

Sales Competition

Participant: Anjali Sharma

Competitors competed head-to-head in attempt to close a sale for competition sponsor, Insight Global

Chapter Leadership Presentations

Members had the opportunity to hear from other chapters about a variety of topics such as: communication, marketing week, professional development, chapter planning and more!

Marketing Ed: What is Brand Management?

Speaker: Jay Gleba, Senior Associate Brand Manager at Nestle

Attendees learned all about consumer packaged goods. Topics such as different retail channels and the importance of product shelf performance were covered.

Keynote: New Orleans and Company

The Keynote was delivered by Mark Collins Romig the Senior VP and CMO of New Orleans & Company, the tourism board for the City of New Orleans. Romig shared the vision and creative marketing strategies the organization uses to market the city to prospective travelers.

Day 3

Marketing Ed: The Future of Storytelling

Speaker: Miri Rodriguez, Storyteller at Microsoft & CEO at Empressa.ai

Attendees learned about the science and art of storytelling. Miri showed attendees the power of using AI to strategically reach customers with customized storytelling.

Sales Showcase

This networking event started off with tips and tricks to succeed in sales from event sponsors. The biggest takeaway was that sales is all networking.

AI in Marketing Panel

Speakers:

• Clay Sharman, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Dude, Krateo.AI

• Dyani Marvel, VP of Marketing Strategy & Operations, Wondr Nation

• Catherine Richards, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Expera Consulting

• David Armano, Digital Solutions & Innovation Lead, Launch by NTT DATA

• Efe Abugo, Technical Senior Product Marketing Manager, Microsoft 365 Copilot

Panelists shared their thoughts on the future of AI and how they believe it will touch all parts of the marketing industry. They also emphasized the importance of the creator’s ideas and marketing fundamentals and that AI should only enhance humans.

Final Ceremony & Awards

UMD AMA received recognition for excellence in Professional Development, Community & Social Impact, and Membership.

First Place in Marketing Strategy Competition

Mathew Calderon and Giana Colonna placed First in the AMA ICC Marketing Strategy Competition. We are so proud of them and all of their hard work in the competition.