College of Business Wins Big at Regional Sales Competition

On October 25, 2025, the College of Business sales team, comprised of Rick Barnes, Natalie Ory, Scott Smith, and Laura Mendez-Flores, made history by taking first place in the “Blue Turf” Sales Contest — beating some of the biggest names in the industry including BYU, Boise State, Weber State, Utah State, California State-Chico, and Oregon State.

College of Business Sales Team History
In 2023 the College of Business proudly opened the doors to a new Sales Center (BA 216), made possible by the generous support of Mike Ruettgers, an esteemed alumnus of our college who went on to become the CEO of EMC. Under his leadership, EMC transitioned from near bankruptcy to impressive growth. Mike named our Sales Center in honor of his Harvard roommate, Walter Brown — who was his MBA classmate and served as EMC's Chief Sales Officer, later becoming CEO of Starbucks. Walter has passed away, but Mike’s tribute in his honor means a lot to us. 

Around the same time, the college developed a dynamic sales curriculum, allowing students to earn a Sales Certificate by completing three courses:

1. Intro to Professional Selling (MKTG 4405)
2. Advanced Sales B2B (MKTG 4406) 
3. Sales Strategies and Tactics (MKTG 4407)

Each semester, the college hosts internal sales competitions that are generously supported by over thirty business partners, including Federated Insurance, Aflac, Northwestern Mutual, and Farm Bureau, offering fantastic cash prizes to winners.

In the spring of 2024, ISU hosted the inaugural State of Idaho Sales Competition, collaborating with BSU, U of I, and BYU-I.

Last spring (2025) the COB launched its first competitive sales team, which traveled to the Pacific Northwest Sales Competition in Corvallis, Oregon, hosted by Oregon State University. They also competed in the National Collegiate Sales Competition (NCSC) in Georgia and the Western States Sales Contest in Boise. The team’s (Jackson Dahlstrom, Kaleb Jex, Amenzie Ernhumwunse & David Shore) top finish to date was 5th place out of 12 universities at the WSSC, with student Amenzie Ernhumwunse placing 5th out of 48 competitors.