April 28, 2024
Graduating from Shawnee State University in 2009 with a degree focused on Visual Communications, Sam Bowman has continuously moved his career up in the marketing world.
“I quickly moved into the brand management side of my industry just because I love the creativeness through marketing,” said Bowman. “It made perfect sense.”
With many years of experience in the industry, Bowman is now the Senior Vice President of Marketing for Amify – a Cincinnati-based Amazon agency that works for brands like Dr. Squatch, Proctor & Gamble, Ruggable, and more.
“When I first started at Amify a couple years ago, we had little to no marketing,” explained Bowman. “Fast forward two years, I've tripled our revenue. I have taken our MQL and SQL and increased them by over 500 percent. Last year alone marketing generated almost $5 million in new revenue, which is big. And our company was just acquired the other day by Cart.com, which is one of 44 Unicorn companies from last year. So, I’m being pulled in to lead all of their marketing.”
In his upcoming role at Cart.com, Bowman will oversee marketing operations for a global e-commerce company with over 1,500 employees, 13 fulfillment centers, and a $1.3 billion valuation. As his career has taken him to new heights, he is thankful for the education he received at SSU and the impact from his hometown.
“Portsmouth is my hometown, born and raised,” he said. “I grew up on Micklethwaite Road, went to Notre Dame High School, and graduated from Shawnee. And I'm very proud of that. I will never lose sight of that, no matter how big I make it in life.”
During his time at SSU, Bowman found his education molded by a supportive environment and his close relationships with professors.
“Most of my life I was told I would never amount to anything, and when I went to Shawnee, I had people who empowered me, who believed in me,” he said. “Matt Cram and Chuck Davis's classes are some of my fondest memories of my college years. They were great role models for me, and I attribute much of my success to them. They would have us look at projects holistically and I think that is what really correlates to my direct experience now. I look at a project now the same way I did 20 years ago in class. And Matt and I are close friends now, which, you know, doesn’t really happen at bigger universities.”
With his career sights set on taking his skills to a larger company and more responsibility in the future, Bowman wants to promote his alma mater through his work. He is currently a member of the university’s College of Arts & Sciences Advisory Board and is constantly looking for ways to give back and grow SSU’s brand on a national level.
“I got my wings from Shawnee State,” he said. “I want the notoriety for Shawnee that it deserves because it truly is an amazing school.”
To students in similar positions as him at SSU, he encourages them to expand their knowledge by diversifying the skills they gain in their education.
“Soak up as much as possible while you’re in school,” he said. “I took programming classes. I took public speaking classes. I took design classes. Learn as many different things as possible because when you graduate and you have that diverse background, you become much more employable over somebody who just has their mindset on one thing.”
To learn more about opportunities within the College of Arts & Sciences at Shawnee State University, visit shawnee.edu/cas.
For more alumni and engagement opportunities within Shawnee State University Alumni Association and Development Foundation, visit shawneestatealumni.com or givetossu.com.