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Distinguished Alumnus Mark Schupp

"For nearly seven years, I had arguably the best job in the entire world," Schupp says. He was involved with numerous Bud Light campaigns, including the development of the 1980s pop culture pooch, Spuds MacKenzie. Always surrounded by beautiful women, the cool, sunglass-wearing bull terrier was portrayed as the original party animal. The dog became an overnight fan sensation, generating his own T-shirts, sweaters, mugs, posters and toys.

Spuds, along with "Gimme A Light," "I Love You, Man," "Make It A Bud Light" and "Yes I Am" helped make Bud Light the top-selling light beer in the world during Schupp's A-B years. But the desire to have his own company kept tugging at him. "Very few people leave A-B, but once I made the decision, I was full of anticipation," Schupp says. Signing up the number-one brewer in the world as a client certainly helped ease the transition.

Today, the Schupp Company is recognized as one of the best places in St. Louis to work. Besides providing a great work environment for its employees, Schupp Company donates its services, valued at some
$2.5 million, to various charitable and non-profit organizations. The firm works with many high-profile companies and has won practically every national creative award available. Their work is consistently recognized as some of the most powerful in the industry. Schupp officially is its president and chief executive officer. As recognition for his
30-plus years in advertising and marketing, he was named the
St. Louis Ad Club's first-ever Ad Man of the Year in 2009.

Schupp credits his UCM education for having a "profound impact on my life and how I've lived it. UCM's environment truly allowed me to flourish. There wasn't one class, one professor, one friend, one event or one experience that was ultimately responsible for making me who I am today. It was a combination of everything that UCM offered that allowed me to hit the ground running."

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