NAMA announces award winners.

NAMA has announced the 2007 Professional Development Awards of Excellence recipients. The Professional Development Awards of Excellence recognize NAMA members for achievement in the areas of Marketing Communications, Product/Species Management, Public Relations and Sales.

Congratulations to the recipients of this year's awards:

Marketing Communications Pete Kovac, Nicholson Kovacc, Inc. Pete Kovac has served as the CEO of one of the country's top 100 ad agencies, one of the top BtoB agencies, and one of the top agricultural agencies for going on 26+ years. The agency now is almost $100 million in capitalized billings, employs over 125 individuals and continues to serve agricultural clients, most notably FMC Corporation.

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As CEO of NK, Kovac is the ultimate marketing communications professional. He uses his expertise to serve a wide range of clients, as well as for training and development of NK professionals, many who have created stellar careers in agricultural marketing communications themselves.

Kovac has been a longtime member as well as supporter of NAMA. In fact, many NK staffers have served in multiple leadership roles for NAMA, and the agency continues to promote the value of NAMA and encourage membership and leadership.

Pubic Relations Greg Smith, Padilla Speer Beardsley

Greg Smith has over 20 years of communications management experience. At Padilla Speer Beardsley, he leads the company's agribusiness practice which was recently recognized as one of the nation's largest independent public relations agribusiness agencies by the O'Dwyers Directory of Public Relations Firms.

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Smith is responsible for leading the public relations efforts for BASF Professional Vegetation Management, BASF Turf & Ornamental, Global Ethanol Services and Agri-Business Solutions at Padilla Speer Beardsley.

As the VP for Padilla's agribusiness practice, Smith is responsible for the growth and development of the practice area and staff, including client management, PR counsel, strategy development, measurement and evaluation of programs and professional development of those in the agri-business practice.

Greg serves as an adjunct professor at St. Thomas University and at Bethel University, teaching communications management and business communications, both in St. Paul, MN.

Smith is very active in NAMA, serving most recently as president and past president of the North Central Chapter. He has served in various other North Central Chapter leadership roles.

Product/Species Management Klaas Okkinga, Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica, Inc.

Okkinga is responsible for managing the marketing department in the swine division of BIVI. He has also been given the opportunity/challenge to launch a new circovirus vaccine into the swine market--Ingelvac CircoFLEX.

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Okkinga successfully launched Ingelvac CircoFLEX and quickly achieved the market leader position. This is an especially remarkable feat, in that Ingelvac CircoFLEX was actually the third product to market and the disease pressure and competition amongst competitors was (and is) intense.

Okkinga has had many achievements throughout his career. Over the past 18 months specifically, he achieved double digit million dollar sales and profits in year three of a product's life, by reaching 30%+ market penetration in competitive US markets.

The swine industry is a relatively small category, however, Okkinga is not one to let this limit his creativity ... be it a viral email campaign, television call-in program or utilizing decoder glasses at a trade show, Okkinga embraces his category and pushes the envelope with regard to communications strategies and tactics for swine producers and veterinarians.

In addition, Okkinga was instrumental in the development of the BIVI PCVAD Research Award. This is an annual $75,000 award, shared amongst three winners in North America, to fund research projects related to circovirus.

Okkinga, although living and working in St. Joseph, is and has been an active member of the MOKAN NAMA chapter.

Sales Bill Heffron, Book & Associates

Bill Heffron is wrapping up a very successful selling career in 2007. He has excelled in achieving high levels of customer satisfaction and professionalism.

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Heffron is a consummate salesman. He knows his publication, the details of the market segment served, his competitors and, most importantly of all, his customers' position in this market. This allows him to design advertising proposals using all appropriate publications and related products and always with the customers' budget and objectives in mind. Research such as Starch FARMS and USDA Census of Agriculture reports were pored over by Heffron. He frequently used several sources of data to explain a marketing position and to justify a communication proposal.

Today's marketplace is a multi-media marketplace. Heffron grasped this concept with enthusiasm and is a leader in integrating new media products such as website advertising and e-newsletters into customers' proposals. His strong relationships with customers have been deepened through the years because his work has kept their needs on the top of the priority list.

Heffron's NAMA involvement has focused on supporting local activities. He has been actively involved in both professional improvement/recognition events like the annual Best of NAMA awards and the more social activities such as the summer golf outing. Heffron states, "NAMA is extremely important to us as a networking tool. Many of us greatly benefited early in our careers from the added boost NAMA gave us in getting to know our customers on a more social level."