The National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) has announced three marketing and agricultural leaders as winners of the 2021 Professional Development Awards of Excellence.

The NAMA Professional Development Awards of Excellence honor members of the organization based on outstanding achievement in each of the Professional Development Areas. The awards will be presented in conjunction with the NAMA Fall Conference, October 4-6, in St. Louis.

This year, NAMA recognizes Susan Carney, Corteva Agrisciences, in the Marketing Communications area; Amy Bradford, Growmark, in the area of Public Relations; and Nicole Bechtel, National Cattlemens’ Beef Association, in the area of Sales.

Susan Carney has been improving and impacting marketing communications at Corteva Agriscience (legacy Dow AgroSciences) for more than 31 years. Although she has held various project management, sales and marketing roles, Carney has built the bulk of her career in marketing communications. During the last 11 years, she has been a marketing communications leader. She manages and directs a team of up to 15 people and oversees agency partner selection and relationships. Carney manages one of the largest marketing communications budgets in U.S. agriculture. An early adopter of new channels, she constantly guides her teams to innovate, test, optimize and learn.

Amy Bradford has drawn attention to GROWMARK in the national conversation. Moreover, she has aligned GROWMARK to be packaged as a company with an expanding future – demonstrated by the expansion of the GROWMARK footprint into all of Canada and Mexico. Bradford has made sure that GROWMARK is always a sponsor of NAMA events and activities, further advancing the fact that GROWMARK is a major player in the U.S. Agribusiness. She has been instrumental in GROWMARK sponsoring a number of other agriculturally-based organizations, including Young Farmers and Ranchers, FFA, Women in Agribusiness and Student NAMA, among others. Her presence also has heightened the visibility of GROWMARK – increasing business and personal networking opportunities.

In a year full of uncertainty, Nicole Bechtel led her team in media sales and contributed greatly to sponsorship sales for the 2021 Cattle Industry Convention and the Winter Reboot. She was instrumental in brainstorming new sponsorship ideas for the 2021 Cattle Industry Convention such as a “Keeping You Safe” sponsorship that provided soap, hand sanitizer and sanitizing wipes to all attendees and our large equipment manufacturers. She ensured that that all signage had sponsor representation and that the sponsorship was marketed heavily to increase ROI for the sponsor. Bechtel was instrumental to her team in creating new sponsorships and ended up selling 30% of total Winter Reboot sponsorships.