Christine (Chris) Hjorth began her career as a CPA with Arthur Andersen in its Audit Department, when, after several years, she decided to transition into the corporate arena, joining Kraft Foods’ Corporate Finance area at its global headquarters in Chicago. After earning her MBA in Finance and Marketing in the evenings at Northwestern University while working full-time, Chris transitioned into Brand Management at Kraft. She spent the next 15 years in progressive leadership roles, leading many of Kraft’s iconic brands, including Philadelphia Cream Cheese, Kraft Singles, Kraft Natural Cheese, Jell-O, Kraft Mac and Cheese as well as large digital/social marketing programs spanning across the organization. Chris’s areas of expertise include leading and mentoring high-performing, cross-functional teams, revenue management and pricing, innovation identification and launch, development of brand marketing strategy, digital strategy development and digital marketing campaigns. Chris’s consistent ability to drive growth and achieve results over the years won her Kraft’s prestigious President Award, given to one individual annually for growth contribution to the company as well several internal marketing awards, including the Hispanic Marketing, Top Digital Campaign and Best New Product awards. A recognized thought leader in her field.

Since leaving KraftHeinz, Chris is spending time consulting at a variety of for-profit and non-profit organizations and teaching at DePaul University. Chris is currently a full time faculty member at DePaul University, teaching in both the Driehaus School of Business and the Kellhart Graduate School of Business, focusing, primarily, on Social Media Marketing and Content Marketing courses within the Digital Concentration.

Influencer Marketing (MKTG-939-5)
With the ever-growing fight for customers’ attention, influencer marketing is a way to build brands and drive awareness through to purchase for products and services. But many organizations are not fully unlocking the power of influencers to reach their business goals. This course will teach you how to plan and execute a clear influencer marketing strategy and build effective campaigns. We will learn how to measure influencers’ value to companies and learn how influencers create value for themselves. Class sessions are experiential and include a combination of best practice frameworks, in-class exercises, guest speakers, hands on influencer software experience and a project with a local company.

Launching New Products and Services (MKTG-465-0)
The course deals with the challenge of launching new products and services into the market. Focusing mainly on large and established companies interested in pursuing growth, we will discuss the steps needed to bring products to market, including understanding customer needs, conducting sales forecasts, and designing a launch plan, including targeting, positioning, advertising, pricing, and distribution decisions. Class sessions will include a combination of lectures, in-class exercises, case discussions, simulations, and guest speakers. Deliverables include individual and groups assignments and a final group project.