College of Mass Communications Announces Outstanding Alumni

“The 2009 Outstanding Alumni recipients are excellent examples of leaders within their respective areas of mass communications,” said Jerry Hudson, dean of the college. “We take pride in honoring these alumni. We think their success reflects the quality of our academic program.”

The honorees are:

Becky Arreaga is the president and co-founder of Mercury Mambo, which specializes in experiential marketing, sales promotion and branding. For the past decade, Mercury Mambo has been fostering Hispanic marketing through live events, at fairs and festivals and retail experiences. Arreaga earned a bachelor’s degree in advertising from Texas Tech and a master’s degree in advertising from the University of Texas in Austin. Arreaga currently serves on the National Board of Directors of the College of Mass Communications at Texas Tech. Arreaga previously worked for 10 years at the nation’s largest Hispanic advertising agency, Bromley Communications.

Bill Baer is the owner of Baerclaw Productions, producing video projects from 30-second commercials to corporate videos to broadcast programming. The company has an extensive client list and has been recognized for many awards. Baer earned his bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1988 from Texas Tech. He has worked at a variety of news channels and radio stations including KTXT-FM, KCBD-TV, WCBD-TV in Charleston, S.C., KTSP-TV in Phoenix, WLNE-TV in Providence, R.I., and KPHO-TV in Phoenix. After founding Baerclaw Productions in 1997, Baer also helped numerous non-profit and community-based organizations with public service announcements and fundraising videos.

Trudi Boyd is the senior vice president and managing director of Dittus Communications. She has more than 20 years of experience in public policy programming, crisis management, client counseling, grassroots and coalition management, and public affairs practice. Boyd earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 1981 from Texas Tech. She began her journalism career at KAMC-TV and later KLBK-TV in Lubbock, where she served as news director and news anchor. She also served from 1985 to 1992 as communications director, and later chief of staff, to U.S. Rep. Larry Combest. In 1998, Boyd became director of media relations for the National Association of Manufacturers.

Janet Bustin is a senior marketing executive, agency president and principal with Bustin Consulting in Dallas, where she is engaged in select marketing consulting projects for clients in the entertainment, medical and non-profit categories. She is a past advertising president with the Omnicom Companies, TracyLocke, a retail promotional agency; and DDB, a worldwide advertising agency; both in Dallas. Bustin earned a bachelor’s degree in advertising from Texas Tech and an MBA from Southern Methodist University. She has worked in a variety of jobs including Publicis, Berry Brown, Crume Associates, TracyLocke and DDB Dallas.

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Story produced by the Office of Communications and Marketing, (806) 742-2136.