Annual sales forecasting conference to be held at UT
KNOXVILLE, Tenn., May 2 /PRNewswire/ -- A University of Tennessee, Knoxville (UTK) student is the first scholarship recipient of an endowment established by a major sponsor of the College of Business Administration's Sales Forecasting Forum.
Meredith Wright of Baton Rouge, La., is the winner of the Amway Endowed Scholarship in Sales Forecasting. The Alticor Inc. subsidiary is establishing a $50,000 endowment to support UTK students who either study sales forecasting or who have a specific interest in a sales forecasting career.
Wright will graduate May 2009 with a bachelor of science degree in business administration. She is majoring in both logistics and marketing with a collateral in international business.
Wright is a member of the Dean's Student Advisory Counsel, Alpha Kappa Psi professional business fraternity, and Phi Eta Sigma honors fraternity. She has been a Clarice and Orville Smith Scholar, J. Wallace and Katie Dean Scholar, and 20th Century Endowed Scholar.
"I am honored that I was chosen as the inaugural recipient for the Alticor scholarship," said Wright. "My career ambition is to excel in the supply chain field, and Alticor is helping my dream come true."
Wright will receive a $2,000 Amway scholarship during events at the eighth annual Sales Forecasting Management Conference being held May 13-15, at UT. The conference is organized by the Department of Marketing and Logistics in UT's College of Business Administration and draws forecast management practitioners from companies and organizations worldwide.
"Companies with sophisticated, highly developed sales forecasting processes have documented returns on investment of more than 200 percent," said Tom Mentzer, the forum's executive director. "It's important for forum participants and our students to learn about methods that affect an organization's bottom line."
The event enables participants to gain a better understanding and appreciation of sales forecasting, demand planning practices, market analysis, and improving forecasting methodologies. Amway is among 27 organizational sponsors.
"Sales forecasting is an important and growing business discipline that we want to support," said Dave Pocklington, director of sales forecasting and analysis at Alticor. "Growing numbers of companies worldwide rely on sales forecasting methods to project an outlook on the future and to gauge corporate performance. We are helping the University of Tennessee, Knoxville prepare for the rising demand."
The Amway scholarship cements a five-year mutual relationship between Amway and the University of Tennessee's College of Business Administration. Most of Amway's forecast analysts have achieved Sales Forecasting Management certification through the UT program, and the company each year has provided a mutually beneficial summer internship for a UT student.
In addition, the research gained through the relationship has been greatly valuable to Amway through access to sales forecasting articles and research published by the UT professors and graduate students. "UT's expertise in this area is evident in our bottom line," said Pocklington. "It is the only university we are aware of that has a forecasting curriculum. We think combining our forces to help future supply chain professionals is a win-win for the entire profession."
For information on the Sales Forecasting Management Forum, persons may contact Forum Managing Director J. Paul Dittmann, 865-974-9413 or jdittman@utk.edu; or Dianne Marshall, manager, at 865-974-0569 or dkmarsh@utk.edu. Information also may be obtained by visiting http://forums.utk.edu/.
About Alticor
Alticor (http://www.alticor.com/) is the parent company of Amway Corp., Quixtar Inc., Access Business Group LLC, and Alticor Corporate Enterprises. Headquartered in Ada, Michigan, USA, Alticor and its affiliates offer products, business opportunities, and manufacturing and logistics services in more than 80 countries and territories worldwide. For further information, please contact Alticor's media information line at 616.787.7565 or e-mail Alticor's media relations staff at mediainfo@alticor.com.
About The University of Tennessee College of Business Administration
The mission of the University of Tennessee College of Business Administration in Knoxville, Tennessee, is to provide innovative leadership in management research, education and practice. The College consistently breaks new ground with both its scholarship and award-winning, integrated curriculum that is taught within its undergraduate, graduate and nationally recognized executive education programs. The College is accredited by AACSB International - The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. For more information about the University of Tennessee College of Business Administration, visit http://bus.utk.edu/.
Alticor
