Robert Biesterfeld Family Marketing Scholarship

The Robert Biesterfeld Family Marketing Scholarship is created to encourage and support Marketing students who demonstrate an entrepreneurial drive and spirit. Students must have declared and been accepted into the Marketing program.

Criteria

1. Each recipient must be enrolled full-time and in good standing at Winona State University.
2. Each recipient must have declared and accepted into the Marketing program.
3. Each recipient must be a student entering their Junior year at WSU.
4. The spirit of this award is to help an average student with a minimum g.p.a of 2.75
5. Preference will be given to a student who has demonstrated entrepreneurial interest and has demonstrated leadership either within the university community or outside of the university.
6. As part of the application process for this scholarship, the student must submit an essay describing the following:
a. Describe what “entrepreneurial spirit” means to you; how have you demonstrated this in your college career and why is it important to you in your future professional career.
b. Explain why you chose to major in Marketing at Winona State University and what you feel the greatest take-away will be from your experience at WSU and how it will impact you professionally.

Biography/Motivation

Bob, a native of the Twin Cities area and 1993 graduate of Orono High School, came to Winona State in the fall of 1995. He attended WSU from the fall of 1995 through spring of 1999 and focused his studies on the Marketing discipline. While at Winona State, Bob was active in the American Marketing Association and other campus groups. While a student, Bob also ran a small business, which paid for his education.

After leaving Winona State in 1999, Bob accepted a sales position with CH Robinson Worldwide; a fortune 500 global supply chain company based in Eden Prairie, MN. Today Bob serves as an Executive Vice President for CH Robinson.
My experience at Winona State was nothing short of exceptional. While I appreciated the education and commitment from the professors while I was at WSU, it was not until I got active in my professional career that I really started to appreciate just how great the WSU experience was. What I had taken for granted was the small class sizes, the access to professors as well as the constant focus on working in a team based environment. Over my career, I have interviewed and hired many recent college graduates across the country and have found very few that had the same dynamic learning opportunities that were afforded to me at Winona State.

Admittedly, I was probably not the most dedicated or gifted student at the University, but the professors in the Marketing department seemed to sense my passion for business and invested personally in my development serving as great mentors and role models; never afraid to embrace an opportunity to provide guidance or real-life examples of how business theory had applied for them in real life situations.

The advantages I gained at WSU in the areas of technology utilization, business analytics and overall real-life business practices, were all contributing factors in securing the job I wanted as well as setting the foundation for future professional growth. I hope that by creating this endowment, I am able to assist students who share my passion and entrepreneurial spirit, as well as making it easier for students to focus on graduation by easing the financial burden of college tuition. I was not able to complete my degree in the traditional manner due to financial constraints and my hope would be that this scholarship helps to make it just a bit easier for some students to do so.