Education Sector
Before SMC Marketing was founded in 1996, Betsy Vavrin managed corporate funding for high school and college programs through major corporations. Between 1985 and 1993, Betsy managed corporate funding for Anheuser-Busch’s community and college programs, to include UCLA; Southern California high schools for Coldwell Banker Residential Real Estate; and, upon joining Great Western Bank in 1993, she directed the Bank’s corporate funding for college programs throughout California and Florida.
Upon founding SMC Marketing in 1996, Betsy continued her association with many of these organizations, particularly statewide California college and high school programs.
CALIFORNIA COMMUNITY COLLEGES
Maintaining the relationships developed at Great Western Bank, Betsy continued to work with Bob Seagren, Olympic Athlete and graduate of Mt. San Antonio College, after founding SMC Marketing. Bob introduced Betsy to Dr. Stuart Van Horn, then Director of the Commission on Athletics (COA, predecessor to the CCCAA), where she directed sponsorship development in the financial services industry.
With Betsy’s experience in the banking industry, SMC Marketing contacted major financial institutions regarding the sponsorship opportunities to support the student athletes in the COA Program. Over the years, SMC Marketing successfully developed and managed the sponsorships of Citibank and U.S. Bank for COA athletics. Sponsorship fees for these programs produced over $500,000 in fees for the COA and its student athlete programs.
CALIFORNIA INTERSCHOLASTIC FEDERATION
In 2015, Betsy widened the direction of SMC Marketing’s involvement in statewide California student athletics to include sponsorship development for the CIF. From 2015 until 2017, SMC Marketing was responsible for all areas of financial services sponsorship. This relationship changed when the CIF hired a national media company to manage their sports sponsorship.
Presently, Betsy has introduced new funding methods to further advance the CIF Program, separate from funding through sponsorship.