Meet the Sales Faculty

Timothy C. Heinze, Ph.D.

tcheinze@csuchico.edu

Tim is currently a Professor of Marketing at California State University, Chico. He has worked in academia since 2003, and has been a Lecturer, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Professor, Department Chair, and Executive Director. His industrial background includes marketing management positions at Ford Motor Company and various marketing roles within the advertising and international sourcing industries.

Tim founded the Seufferlein Sales Program at Chico State and served as the program’s Executive Director for over a decade. During his tenure with the program, he founded and managed both regional and national university sales competitions, including the Western States Collegiate Sales Competition. He was selected as Educator of the Yearby Vanguard Innovate North State and also received the College of Business’ Extraordinary Faculty Achievement award.

On the research front, Tim has recently focused on both sales ethics and salesperson authenticity. He has published and/or presented over 40 peer-reviewed articles and has won multiple best paper awards.

Youngsu Lee, Ph.D.

ylee54@csuchico.edu 

530-898-5327

Youngsu Lee is an assistant professor of marketing and a faculty member of the Seufferlein Sales Program at CSU, Chico. He received his Ph.D. from the Ivy College of Business, Iowa State University. After earning his Ph.D., he worked at Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington.

Prior to coming to academia, he worked with LG Electronics (LGE) and LG Economic Research Institute (LGERI) for nine years as an analyst and consultant specializing in telecom and electronics industries.

He has been teaching several marketing and sales courses, including Sales Practicum, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Marketing Research, Marketing Principles, and Marketing Management.

His research areas include CRM/sales management using big data, social media marketing, marketing channels, B2B marketing, and marketing strategy. He has published several articles in Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Services Marketing, Journal of Marketing Education, Journal of Selling, and Journal of Managerial Psychology.

Thomas P. Villa

tpvilla@csuchico.edu

916-223-2171

Tom has worked in the telecommunications industry for over 31 years holding Vice President, General Manager and Director role’s in Sales, Customer Service, Marketing, Program Management, Product Development, Engineering and IT. Tom has extensive international experience, leading the global IoT supply chain initiative for Verizon Communications.

Tom was the Head of Program Management for both the Spanish (AirTel) and USA (Primeco-AirTouch/Bell Atlantic Mobile) wireless launches.  He has served on the Board of the Wholesale Application Community (WAC), co-chaired the Verizon Education Council and was a member of the Joint Innovation Lab (JIL) partnership representing Verizon Communications as a partner member with China Mobile, Vodafone and SoftBank.

In the community, he has served as a Board member for the Boys & Girls Club of Sacramento and the Roseville Chamber of Commerce. He served as Chair of CSU, Chico’s Business School Advisory Board and the Board of Governors.  In 2011, Tom was acknowledged as the CSU, Chico Business School Alumni of the Year.

Tom graduated from the University of San Francisco with an MBA in Finance and from CSU, Chico with a BS in Marketing and currently holds a 2^nddegree black belt ranking in Kenpo, Karate.

Tom is the Executive Director of the Seufferlein Sales Program; Lecturing at CSU, Chico and Consulting (Fresh Eyes LLC).

Drake L. Brown

drake.brown@gmail.com

530-570-3768

Drake worked at 3M and Hewlett Packard in roles of increasing responsibility and then joined a startup software business, (Bi-Tech Software). At Bi-Tech, as Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Drake lead the company in revenue growth that averaged 43% per year for over 15 years.  Ultimately, Bi-Tech was acquired by SunGard Data Systems and Drake continued there in executive roles including participation in the acquisition of 4 other businesses. Drake was especially involved with negotiating complex business contracts, assembling and leading very productive sales teams, implementing CRM systems, and initiating new product offerings. 

Drake graduated from the Colorado State University with an MBA and from Idaho State University with a BS in Marketing.

Kevin Kimbell

kdkimbell@csuchico.edu

 Kevin brings real-world business experience to the CSU Chico sales program. His significant business, marketing and sales knowledge give him a strong strategic perspective and the ability to thoroughly understand business issues. This includes over 30 years business experience with 12 years in Marketing and Brand Management with The J.M. Smucker Company, Del Monte Foods, The Learning Company and Mattel. In 1999 Kevin joined Vitalink Business Systems as Vice President where he created the marketing and sales support functions for this Crosspoint VC funded startup.

In 2001, Kevin founded TKG Consulting which is an independent consulting company specializing in marketing research, marketing strategy and sales planning. Kevin continues his consulting practice today as an adjunct to teaching Sales and Marketing courses and CSU Chico.

Kevin earned a BS in Marketing and an MBA from CSU, Chico. In addition to CSU Chico, Kevin has taught marketing courses at Golden Gate University in San Francisco and for the UC Berkeley Extension program.

Bill McGowan

bmcgowan@csuchico.edu 

530-520-4793

I graduated from Cal State San Bernardino in May 1972 with a BA in Business Admin along with a minor in Economics with an MBA following in 1981. Shortly thereafter, I went to work in the petroleum industry with Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO). My last job was Manager, Petroleum Coke Sales also responsible for our two world-wide export facilities in Longview, Washington and Rotterdam, The Netherlands. I ended up retiring from ARCO in 1995 and moving to Chico

I was hired by Dr. Dick Davis to teach Mkt 170 in 1999. I became the Advisor for the AMA and won the prestigious National AMA Faculty Advisor of the Year award in 2002.

Over the years I’ve been involved in all our successful “Sweet 16” internal sales competitions, as well as our external Western States Collegiate Sales Competition (WSCSC). My proudest accomplishment was having Pi Sigma Epsilon (PSE) chartered as a sales and marketing business fraternity on October 21, 2015 with 60 students being initiated.

I was the Administrative Director of the SSP from August 2014 until I retired from Chico State on June 1, 2017. I returned to teaching Mkt 473 spring semester 2020.

Courtney Richter

crichter1@csuchico.edu

916-471-8784

Courtney is currently a District Manager for Frito-Lay, PepsiCo managing a wide span of territory with nine routes and 250 customers.  She is currently on the board as lead marketer for the Women Inclusion Network at PepsiCo. Courtney also is the Cascade West touchpoint for technology and retention. Courtney has extensive experience in change management as she was the lead on rolling out Performance Pay and GEOtab. She also has a passion for people development and has mentored interns at Frito-Lay for the last three years.

Courtney started as an intern through our recruitment program here at Chico State. During her three-month internship, Courtney increased large format sales by 5%. After being flown to Dallas, Texas, and reporting the results, she was offered a full-time sales associate position. After vigorous training driving a truck and delivering to stores, she was promoted to District Manager. Before Frito-Lay, Courtney worked in the lumber industry at Western Woods, a wholesale lumber yard. There she obtained her forklift driving license loading trucks and developed skills for sales. She grew both efficiency and sales for Western Woods eBay account and its customer Home Depot.

Courtney obtained her MBA degree through Lynn University Business School with a focus in Marketing. She collaborated on a consulting project for the town of Boynton Beach, working under Palm Beach County. She is a Chico State alumni with a BS in Marketing and a minor in International Relations. A fun fact, Courtney has her deep-sea diving license and recently dove a 100ft shipwreck in the Bahamas.

Nichole D. Shuba

nshuba@csuchico.edu

530-354-0853 

Nichole has worked in the Sales and Marketing field for over 10 years. She has held positions as Sales Trainer, Marketing Consultant, Marketing Manager and Sales Manager. She has dedicated over ten years building and cultivating close relationships with local business owners in Butte County handling their print and radio advertising campaigns.

Nichole has also worked with Local Dealership running their Marketing Department, overseeing their annual campaigns, budgets, and purchasing of local and national advertising. She has worked with Alzheimer’s Association and other non-profit organizations through fundraising and assisting in securing sponsorship opportunities. Nichole worked and trained sales staff for The Orion, CSU student run newspaper.

Nichole is a Chico State Alumni with a BA in Communication Studies, minor in Marketing. Nichole is finishing her MBA at Chico State in Business Administration. She has been a part of the Sales Program since the first semester back in 2009, where she competed in the first Sales Competition. After graduating, she came back and volunteered her time during the competitions as the buyer during the role plays.

Matthew Stone, Ph.D.

mjstone@csuchico.edu 

Matthew J. Stone, PhD is Associate Professor of Marketing.  He joined Chico State’s faculty in 2014 in the Department of Recreation, Hospitality, & Parks Management and was a 2019 Fulbright Scholar in Helsinki, Finland.  Prior to teaching, Matthew spent twelve years in hotel management, including positions as Director of Sales & Marketing and Director of Catering Sales.  He earned degrees from Texas A&M University (PhD), University of Houston (MHM), and University of Illinois (BS).

Matthew is a leader in food tourism and culinary tourism research, with a focus on consumer behavior and decision making.  He serves as lead research advisor for the World Food Travel Association, and his peer-reviewed research has been published in Tourism Management, Journal of Travel Research, Tourism Management Perspectives, and Current Issues in Tourism.  

As a consumer travel expert, Matthew has been quoted by Sacramento Bee, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Asian Hospitality, Leisure Group Travel, and many online publications.  He is past president of the Greater Western Chapter of the Travel & Tourism Research Association.

Over his career, Matthew has taught more than 20 different courses in marketing, sales, hospitality, tourism, and event management.  He has also been an invited lecturer/professor at universities in Austria, Finland, Italy, and Lithuania.  He is a native of Central Illinois, and his passion is travel.