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AMHERST, N.Y. – Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ College’s 2017-18 Nancy Haberman Gacioch Entrepreneurship Lecture Series will open on Sept. 19 with a talk by guest speaker Beth Smith, senior retail marketing manager at New Era Cap, an international leader in headwear and other sports merchandise.

In the lecture, which will take place at 5:30 p.m. in the Wick Campus Center Alumni Lounge, Smith will provide a unique perspective on marketing sports apparel to a broad consumer base, the ways fashion marketing has influenced sports marketing, and how New Era has achieved success in the global market. The lecture is free and open to the public.

As senior marketing manager, Smith leads a national team that focuses on all New Era partners in the major league stadium retail channel. During her 12 years with the company, she has also worked in the area of Web merchandising and marketing at its Derby facility, and started the visual merchandising department after corporate headquarters moved to Buffalo.

New Era Cap, founded in 1920, has more than 500 different licenses in its portfolio and sells its merchandise in over 125 countries. This year the company obtained exclusive rights for NBA on-court merchandise, making it the first headwear company to simultaneously have exclusive rights for MLB, NFL, and NBA merchandise.

The Nancy Haberman Gacioch Entrepreneurship Lecture Series, which is sponsored by the Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ Entrepreneurship Program, features speakers who recognize the potential that exists in the region through development, revitalization efforts, new programming, job creation, or collaborative endeavors. Lectures for the fall semester will focus on sports management in honor of Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ’s standing as the only NCAA Division II institution in the Buffalo Niagara region.