Jan. 6, 2010
EVANSTON, Ill. - Old Hat Creative named Tracie Hitz its director of business development effective February 1. Hitz will leave her post as associate athletic director after almost 13 years in the sales and marketing department at Northwestern University.
During her tenure, Hitz was part of a team that set records for season tickets and single-game attendance in every admission-charging sport, as well as won eight national marketing awards in the last seven years.
"We've been very fortunate to have the opportunity to work with Tracie as a client over the past few years," said Zac Logsdon, owner of Old Hat Creative. "We're very excited to have her talents and experience applied to assisting in Old Hat's growth."
Since starting at NU as a marketing assistant in 1997, Hitz contributed to the creation of several initiatives, including the Wildcat Kids' Club, Women's Sports Weekend, the Sports Marketing Club, the Randy Walker 5K Walk and the Women's Reunion Weekend for former student-athletes. Through the years, Hitz kept up with the changing technology from being part of the creation of NUsports.com to producing the gameday content on the videoboard in Ryan Field. In 2008, Hitz worked with Coach Fitzgerald to become one of the first college coaches to have a Facebook page and in 2009 she led the charge to get 5,000 Facebook fans for the Northwestern Athletics page in less than three weeks. She also created a web video series with super back Mark Woodsum called "What Wouldn't Woody Do?", which chronicles Woodsum's adventures off the field during his final year at Northwestern.
Since 2000, Hitz has been an active member of the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators (NACMA), which included being a presenter at the national convention, the Big Ten Conference representative and a mentor for women at other institutions. Hitz was named to the NACMA Board of Directors in June 2008 where she served on the Public Relations Committee and the Convention Planning Committee. She continued to serve on the Convention Planning Committee in 2009 and was named the chair of the Board Development Committee.
"Being part of the Athletic Department at Northwestern University has been an amazing experience that has prepared me for this incredible opportunity to work with dozens of universities that are clients of Old Hat Creative." Hitz said. "I was fortunate to be part of the lives of the most respected student-athletes in the country who have achieved success on and off the field with integrity. I will miss being on campus, but am happy that I can stay involved with the `Cats in my new position."
For the last three years, Hitz served as a teaching assistant, guest lecturer and first reader for the Northwestern University Master's of Sports Administration program. She also is a frequent panelist for sports symposiums and conventions throughout the country and is a member of the National Association of Collegiate Women Athletics Administrators (NACWAA) and Women in Sports and Events (WISE).
For a few seasons during her time at NU, Hitz worked gamedays in the Stadium Suites Department for the Chicago Bears and in the Marketing Department at the Chicago Fire.
"Very directly, Northwestern University is losing an extremely talented and dedicated administrator," said Jim Phillips, Northwestern's director of athletics. "Since being named to her current post in 2004, Tracie has led some creative marketing initiatives, many of them award-winning at the national level. We will certainly miss her talents and expertise, as well as her passion for Northwestern's athletics program. On behalf of our entire department, I want to wish Tracie the best as she enters this new phase of her career. She will always be a Wildcat!"
Hitz received her bachelor's degree in communication (journalism) from Truman State University in Kirksville, Mo., in 1997 and her master's degree in integrated marketing communications from Northwestern University in 2003.