UHV alumna earns new marketing certification
For Christine Hollinden, founding principal of Hollinden | inbound + strategists, focusing on growth strategies for clients is a major emphasis for her company, so it made sense to grow her own skill sets to offer more in-depth services to her clients.
“Our clients often work in the merger and acquisitions realm, and many times they are using those methods to grow their businesses,” Hollinden said. “As a marketing firm that specializes in marketing for professional service firms, it can be crucial for us to have a clear understanding of the M&A process so we can offer productive, relevant advice and services throughout. This certification has better equipped me to meet our clients’ needs.”
Hollinden recently obtained her Certified Merger and Acquisition Advisor designation from the Alliance of Merger and Acquisition Advisors, an international organization that offers training and resources for merger and acquisition professionals. The certification will allow Hollinden to better serve the needs of clients that are growing through acquisition, interested in selling their company, or in the M&A industry.
“Christine Hollinden is the kind of student every President of every university wants,” UHV President Bob Glenn said. “A student who comes prepared to work for the brightest future she can imagine, works hard, gets it done and then goes on as an alum to give proof every day of the good things that can come when a hard-working student works with a dedicated faculty to achieve her dreams. I could not be more proud of her and what she continues to accomplish.”
To attain certification, Hollinden took part in an online class using four college-level textbooks to complete a month-long course. The course was taught by industry professionals who interacted with students, answered their questions and encouraged discussion about the information being presented.
“It was a unique learning experience that gave me a much clearer understanding of the material,” Hollinden said. “A lot of the fundamental elements we learned focused on things that are good to apply when researching a company to understand its value, as well as how to grow that value. When you’re considering a merger, you want to know the strength of the other company’s foundation is and its growth potential. The same information helps when it comes to marketing.”
The class offered a different experience from when Hollinden graduated UHV in 1985, she said. Back then, communication between companies was slower and communicating information took longer. Now, the information is at everyone’s fingertips, and things that used to take hours or even days to communicate can now be done in seconds.
“We live in a world that is moving at a blinding pace, and it absolutely will not slow down,” Hollinden said. “It’s imperative that professionals today take the time to learn. We cannot let the pace of the world outpace us as professionals. With this wide access come so many opportunities for us to expand our knowledge so we can adapt and stay relevant.”
The University of Houston-Victoria, located in the heart of the Coastal Bend region since 1973 in Victoria, Texas, offers courses leading to more than 50 academic programs in the schools of Arts & Sciences; Business Administration; and Education, Health Professions & Human Development. UHV provides face-to-face classes at its Victoria campus, as well as an instructional site in Katy, Texas, and online classes that students can take from anywhere. UHV supports the American Association of State Colleges and Universities Opportunities for All initiative to increase awareness about state colleges and universities and the important role they have in providing a high-quality and accessible education to an increasingly diverse student population, as well as contributing to regional and state economic development.