INTELLIGENTSIA
Centurion Sales winners — front row from left: Joel Hinton; Leo Fernandez (Stetson alumnus and program benefactor); Stetson President Wendy B. Libby, Ph.D.; Marilina Fernandez; Kristen Lipcsey; Carli Legere; Cody Sprague. Back row: Jamieson Craske; Valan Tune; Suzette Watson; Morgan Tarala; John Riggs, D.B.A., Centurion Sales Program director; Dillon Galloway; James Fyles; Neal P. Mero, Ph.D., dean of the School of Business Administration. The victory occurred at the 20th Annual National Collegiate Sales Competition, an invitation-only event.
Centurion Moment Stetson’s Centurion Sales Program, in its first year of existence, earned the title of best 2018 Rookie Sales Program at the 20th Annual National Collegiate Sales Competition this spring. The invitation-only event gives students from 73 elite sales programs worldwide an opportunity to exhibit and enhance selling skills in the longest-running university-sales role-play competition. The event was described as the Super Bowl of collegiate sales competitions by John Riggs, D.B.A., executive director of the Centurion Sales Program. Students were tasked with a practical role-play simulation, where their sales skills were observed and evaluated by faculty and sales executives from various industries. During the elimination-style tournament, students are allocated 20 minutes to complete a sales call with fictional customers. Judges included faculty, as well as actual sales managers and sales executives from various industries. With the win, the Centurion Sales Program also secured an automatic invitation to next year’s competition. — Marie Dinklage 14
STETSON | Summer 2018
DID YOU KNOW? Giovanni Fernandez, Ph.D., has been appointed executive director of Graduate Programs in the School of Business Administration. The appointment, according to Dean Neal P. Mero, Ph.D., is part of Stetson’s ongoing efforts to build on traditional strengths in undergraduate business programs to then create distinctive graduate programs that prepare graduates to meet the challenges of leading business organizations in an increasingly complex global marketplace. Fernandez arrived at Stetson in 2012 from Florida International University in Miami, where he was born and raised. In his new position, Fernandez will oversee the creation of those graduate programs by integrating traditional and technological methods and developing new teaching practices.