Member Spotlight - Heather Petry

Hello! My name is Heather Petry. I am a WISC Member and very excited to meet you all. Throughout my 15 year career, I have held various positions in marketing and sports marketing. Currently I am working as the Director of Strategic Business and Brand Management for Evernham Management and Evernham Motorsports, a professional motorsports organization competing in NASCAR.

I began my career with various advertising agency internships and immediately knew I wanted to manage all aspects of a brand and work on an international playing field. I initially sought out an international company (close to home) with a premier status in their industry, STIHL. Early in my career I held progressive positions in advertising, sales promotion and marketing at Stihl Inc. and their US headquarters in Virginia Beach, VA. My work at Stihl evolved into the development and management of the STIHL Timbersports Series, an evergreen program for more than 20 years on ESPN. I developed the sports marketing platform for STIHL including athlete representation, endorsements and grassroots marketing programs, integrated promotions and leadership positions in outdoor sports and NASCAR. In addition to these responsibilities I developed retail merchandising and sales promotion programs in addition to working cross-functionally in corporate media relations.

My exposure to NASCAR while at Stihl led me to my current environment in Charlotte, North Carolina. In 2001, I was asked by Ray Evernham the CEO of Evernham Motorsports to come and build his newly formed NASCAR organization as the Director of Marketing Services. This was the team that would return DaimlerChrysler’s performance brand Dodge brand back to racing after a 20+ year absence from Cup racing. We built the infrastructure and partnerships which today boasts a blue chip family of partners, top drivers/athletes, and a multi-million dollar licensing business.

My position now allows me to be more forward thinking, develop, alongside the CEO, a corporate social conscience, manage a charitable foundation and explore paths for diversification and growth for the organization.

I have a B.B.A. with a major in Marketing, and a concentration in Advertising. I completed my undergraduate work in Paris, France. I have traveled all over the world, and due to my family’s work, I have been exposed to creating change in developing nations through education and culture development. I am training for my second marathon in 2005 and will run the NYC Marathon on November 6. My family now lives on the west coast – so ultimately I’ll be westward bound.

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