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Sidra Connell President

With a passion for growth and empowering people, Sidra Connell thrives in the dual roles of Chief Marketing & People Officer at Lunch Mony and owner of Stardust Marketing. At Lunch Mony, she spearheads strategic marketing initiatives, drives brand awareness, and cultivates a collaborative, innovative work environment. As the owner of Stardust marketing, she empowers entrepreneurs and small businesses with personalized marketing solutions, guiding them to shine bright. Whether tackling diverse marketing challenges, creating impactful strategies, or fostering meaningful connections, she is fueled by the potential to make a difference.

Angie Schwally Immediate Past-President

Angie has over 20+ years of marketing and advertising experience. She has held positions in corporate brand marketing and at advertising agencies. Her expertise includes strategy, integrated marketing, project management, cross-functional team leadership, and creative development.
Angie has a Bachelor of Journalism degree with an emphasis in Advertising from the University of Missouri-Columbia. She is a proud veteran of the United States Air Force. She enjoys staying current with the latest marketing trends by attending AMA functions. In her spare time, Angie loves to travel with her daughter, spend time on her boat, and paint.

Brian Buckler, Ph.D. Secretary & Chair of Collegiate Relations

Brian’s inolvement with the AMA is extensive, having served two terms as President, a variety of Director and VP roles, and ongoing mentoring/training of new Board members. He enjoys helping AMAKC fulfill its mission of education by engaging marketing/business students and educators with the professional community.

Brian is a Professor of Marketing as well as Director of Undergraduate Business Development at Avila University.He teaches both in the undergraduate and MBA programs and advises all Marketing majors. His research/teaching areas are Marketing Research, Marketing Strategy, and Consumer Behavior.

Kimberly Praechter Director, Treasurer

Kim has been a financial executive for over 20 years. Kim is the head of Finance for Rebrandly, an international Branded Link Management platform. She is passionate about partnering with senior leaders to drive process efficiencies, grow revenue and strengthen EBITDA. Prior to joining Rebrandly, she led operational finance at a technology firm and the client finance organization at a global marketing agency. In addition, she held various finance and operational roles at Sprint (now T-Mobile).

Alma Azuara VP of Sponsorship

Alma Azuara currently works as a Sr. Marketing Manager at T-Mobile focused on B2B. In this role, she's responsible for the comprehensive Base Marketing strategy for Small Business customers, working closely with business sales, business sales operations, marketing operations, digital, and customer care to execute marketing plans and strategic initiatives. Previously, she a Multicultural Marketing Manager at Sprint focused on Hispanic initiatives for both Consumer and Business customers.

Alma is passionate about marketing, education and giving back to the Kansas City community. She serves on the American Marketing Association of Kansas City Board of Directors as the VP of Sponsorship and is also a Past President. She also serves on the Wayside Waifs Board of Directors (Finance Committee) and has been a volunteer of the Junior League of Kansas City, Missouri for several years and served as Marketing Director. When Alma's not working or volunteering, she enjoys being active with spin, barre classes and spending time with her pup, Finn.

Susan Campbell Vice President, Programming

Susan J. Campbell is the head of SJC Marketing, a full-service marketing, communications and content company offering strategic solutions for organizations seeking to have their voices heard in crowded markets. Susan is a professional writer and consultant, with expertise in marketing, communications, content creation and strategy. A graduate of Missouri Western State University with a core focus on marketing, and the University of Missouri, Columbia with a Master’s in Strategic Communications, Susan is a St. Louis native who found herself married to a farmer.

Susan is also active in the local community, serving on a number of boards and committees, including the Missouri Western State University Foundation Board, the Craig School of Business Advisory Council, Rotary International and now the AMAKC board. When not working with her team or her clients, Susan tries to use her marketing skills to convince her grown children to move back to the Midwest. She has a 50% success rate to date.

Barb Carr Vice President, Communications

Barb currently works at Hallmark as a Senior Merchant, where she helps develop product lines to support all customers.

Barb was a member of AMAKC when she began her post-college career while working in telecommunications. After taking a year to earn her MBA in Durham, England, she returned to Kansas City and spent two years working for a healthcare company. Upon her move to Hallmark, she’s gained further product development, program execution and marketing proficiency as well as management experience.

Since rejoining the AMA in 2012, Barb has served on the board overseeing Marketing Communications.

Barb has a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration with a Marketing concentration from the University of Kansas and an MBA from Durham Business School.

Tim Phelps Vice President, Digital

Tim Phelps has led award-winning Marketing Communications teams – including digital marketing, marketing automation, integrated campaign design, and all varieties of final production. Tim is currently a marketing leader at First Orion — a software as a service (SaaS) firm which specializes in unique spam protection and branded communications solutions for enterprises and phone carriers. Previously, Tim was with a $750MM phone and communications company out of Atlanta, over twelve years in a variety of capacities within the Sales and Marketing organization.

Tim continues to work freelance in these same capacities with a range of clients throughout the country.

Tim joined the AMA in 2019 and became involved right away as President-elect and has held several positions on the executive board. Tim holds a degree of Special Distinction from the National Speech & Debate Association. Tim attended Kansas State University in Salina as well as Washburn University in Topeka.

Yolanda Villegas Director of IDEA (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Access)

A marketing communications and Brand strategy expert, Yolanda’s experience ranges from B2B and B2C corporations, advertising agencies and multicultural marketing firms. She has a strong passion for strategy, creative campaign development and team leadership. Her niche specialty area is multicultural marketing and the influence of diversity, equity, and inclusion within organizations. She created Villegas Marketing in 2021 to collaboratively build client solutions that ensure equitable, measurable, and sustainable outcomes.

Yolanda holds an undergraduate degree in Business Administration and Marketing from the University of Central Missouri and a Master of Marketing degree from Baker University. During those college years, Yolanda held several leadership positions within AMA and the National Society of Hispanic MBAs. Raising a family took her away from those opportunities but she is now very excited to rejoin the AMA board and contribute ideas and energy into the Kansas City chapter.

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