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Alumni, Marketing Pros To Give December Commencement Addresses

Nov. 30, 2012
SHSU Media Contact: Jennifer Gauntt

 

As more than 1,500 Sam Houston State University seniors prepare to enter the workforce this December, they will be faced with an economic situation that has been recovering slower than many have projected.

Two Sam Houston State University alumni who have worked to expand on the brands of some of Houston’s most prominent entities will share with the university’s winter graduates the importance of marketing oneself in an uncertain economic climate as this year’s commencement speakers on Dec. 14-15.

Addressing an estimated 1,517 degree candidates—including 1,274 receiving bachelor’s degrees, 220 receiving master’s degrees and 23 receiving doctoral degrees—will be David Brady, chief marketing officer for the Houston Zoo, and Brenda Love, president of Love Advertising.

Brady will speak to Friday’s graduates from the Colleges of Business Administration and Criminal Justice at 7 p.m. Love will speak during Saturday’s two ceremonies, at 9:30 a.m. for the Colleges of Education and Fine Arts and Mass Communication and at 2:30 p.m. for the Colleges of Humanities and Social Sciences and Sciences. All three ceremonies will be held in the Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum.

Since graduating from SHSU in 1989, Brady’s brand has extended to both the Houston Zoo, as well as the sports world.

Now in his fifth year at the Houston Zoo, where he serves as chief marketing officer and vice president of advancement, Brady oversees the marketing, development/fundraising, public relations, interactive marketing, graphic design, membership, group sales and special events departments for an entity that reaches an annual attendance of more than 2 million guests and 46,000 member households. Both figures represent high water marks for the zoo’s 90-year history.

Brady has also spent the past seven years as the stadium voice/public address announcer of the Houston Texans, with whom he rounded out a 20-year career in sports marketing and broadcasting.

As a full-time employee with the Texans, he was responsible for securing and managing major events at Reliant Stadium, including not only professional games but college football, concerts, soccer and other entertainment events.

In this position, he oversaw several major events at Reliant Stadium including the U.S. vs. Mexico soccer match, which generated the highest revenue of any soccer match in U.S. history, and he helped create and served as the director for the first two Texas Bowls, currently known as the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas.

Brady began his career in the Group and Season Ticket Sales Department of the Houston Rockets and then the Houston Astros before embarking on an eight-year career as a sports broadcaster.

He currently serves as president of the Channelview ISD Education Foundation board of directors, as a member of the Center for Houston’s Future (Think Tank), and has served on the board of directors or committee for The Texas Bowl, NCAA Final Four Host Committee, Gold Cup Host Committee and Greater Houston YMCA.

Brady and his wife Annie have three children: Peter, Maggie and Jack.

Love, a 1973 SHSU graduate with a degree in journalism who also holds a master’s degree from San Diego State University, founded Love Advertising in 1979 with $500 and a simple purpose—to create an agency that helped others succeed.

Since then, Love Advertising has made it possible for hundreds of clients to grow their companies, and as a result, the agency has grown to become No. 1 in Houston with annual billings in excess of $35 million.

Love has won numerous awards, including multiple “Agency of the Year” designations from the Media Alliance of Houston, Houston Business Journal’s “Top Houston Advertising Agencies” and “Top 50 Women Owned Businesses in Houston,” Working Woman Magazine’s “America’s Top 500 Women Owned Businesses,” and, most recently, the 2010 SHSU Distinguished Alumni award.

Love has served on numerous boards including The Better Business Bureau, Citizens for Animal Protection, The National Board of Chuck Norris KICKSTARTKIDS Foundation, The Peace of Mind Foundation and Memorial Hermann Hospital Foundation.

She is also a member of the SHSU President’s Circle.

For more information, or to see the commencement schedule breakdown by majors, visit
shsu.edu/~reg_www/destination/destination_commencementschedule.html.

 

 

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