Kendra Lewinski ’10, A Senior Leader at Carhartt, Is ANA's National Marketer of The Year Recipient

Kendra (Spencer) Lewinski ’10 continues to scale lofty heights as a national marketing leader, and her talents are not going unnoticed.

As Senior Marketing Manager at Carhartt, Lewinski was recently recognized by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) as the B2B Individual Marketer of the Year at a gala in Naples, Florida. The award recognizes excellence in strategy and leadership in a corporate culture.

The ANA noted Lewinski’s success in launching Carhartt’s first B2B campaign, which gave the well-known company new prominence among uniform purchasing decision-makers.

In 2018, Carhartt re-branded its industrial, or business-to-business, division to Carhartt Company Gear™ to outfit more companies than any other work brand. Three years ago, Lewinski took on the task of building a team and a new B2B marketing strategy to support this division.

“It was a paradigm shift for the brand with the need to differentiate it from the consumer side. … It was an incredibly complex and difficult task,” she said. “The award recognizes the tremendous work of my team and cross-functional partners, and the results we are seeing since launching this campaign in January of 2023.”

I knew I wanted to find a school where I could play soccer and an education to help me be successful. I dragged my parents to 10-plus schools across the Midwest and East Coast looking for the right fit. When I visited KSC, all of the pieces fell into place, the school just felt right. … I was lucky I found such a perfect fit.”

– Kendra Lewinski

Previously, Lewinski held the same role at Clarks and Women’s at PUMA North America.

At times like this, she is also quick to remember her Keene State roots, a seminal internship while an Owl, and one professor in particular, Dr. Neal Pruchansky, now retired.

“My time in the small business class with Dr. Pruchansky had a major impact in allowing me to be more than a marketer in every role. His class and the real-life execution of support for a business helped me identify, communicate, and build how marketing can enable and support revenue and goals. The Intro to Marketing class piqued my interest; Dr. Pruchansky helped to seal the deal for me.”

At Keene State, Lewinski earned a degree in management and played on the college’s soccer team, two seasons as captain. A senior-year internship at PUMA, a global sports and lifestyle brand, led to a full-time position as a customer service representative with the company after graduation. At the same time, Lewinski found inspiration to earn a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Marketing from Boston University.

But Keene State will always be her launch pad.

“I knew I wanted to find a school where I could play soccer and an education to help me be successful. I dragged my parents to 10-plus schools across the Midwest and East Coast looking for the right fit. When I visited KSC, all of the pieces fell into place, the school just felt right. A highly motivating and passionate coach, an incredible school location and town, and KSC offered the business career path that would give me the base I needed to pursue any career. I was lucky I found such a perfect fit.”

Lewinski now lives in the greater Detroit area but grew up in Petoskey, a small town in Northern Michigan. She lived in Exeter, N.H. when she was enrolled at Keene State.

She and her husband, Jason, have a daughter, Georgia, 4, and a rescue Boxer, Ellie, the same age. “Ellie is my soulmate and coworker at work every day and a constant on my Teams calls.”

“I’m a huge advocate for internships and summer jobs,” she said. “It’s helpful to know what you like, but also what you don’t like. I am lucky to have had amazing mentors and contacts, but you have to put in the work and the time to build them.”