While she now spends her time as a business marketing professor at University of Missouri, Katie Essing’s vast background of corporate experience helps her teach students the valuable skills they need for a successful career in the ever-changing world of marketing.
Before becoming a full-time professor in 2014, Essing spent over a decade holding various positions in retail marketing. She worked as senior general manager for General Growth Properties in Columbia, MD, overseeing a mall of 250 retailers and working with an annual budget of over $16 million. During this time, Essing also helped lead the strategic planning that went into building a mall from the ground up. During the two-year process, she sought out retailers, achieved financial and occupancy goals and planned opening day events for Jordan Creek Town Center Mall.
After moving back to her beloved college town of Columbia, MO in 2013, Essing worked as executive director of the Downtown Community Improvement District. Leading a 15-member board, she implemented a new marketing and branding program that included building a new website, planning social media campaigns and creating strategic plans for the growth of downtown.
Essing now teaches multiple marketing classes in the Trulaske College of Business at her alma mater, MU. She holds her bachelor’s degree in marketing and her master’s of business administration. Essing sits on the Marketing Advisory Board, helping make executive decisions regarding students’ curriculum. Essing believes teaching soft skills to her students can be vital to their real-world experiences. She often incorporates how to make impressions during an interview or foster network connections into her lectures.
Outside of work, Essing enjoys spending time with her husband and two teenage sons. She often participates in Columbia City Council meetings and can be found running and biking the many trails that Columbia has to offer.