Inducted into the NZ Marketing Hall of Fame in 2003, Steve Bridge’s name is synonymous with many marketing successes, including Tullen Snips, Trim Pork, Villa Maria wines and law firm Simpson Grierson.

An American by birth, Steve Bridges completed his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Business Administration degrees in the United States. After working for General Foods Corporation and a major advertising agency in New York, he moved to New Zealand in 1970.

His subsequent work at the highest levels in both the academic and practical sides of marketing is extremely rare – and also extremely valuable in an applied discipline such as marketing.

In terms of the academic side of his career, Steve Bridges taught one of the first marketing courses in New Zealand; this was at Victoria University from 1970 - 1972. He also taught at Massey University (1978-1987) where he was Professor of Marketing, Head of the Department of Marketing and Dean of the Faculty of Business Studies.

Steve Bridges has held senior marketing positions with several New Zealand companies where he specialised in guiding the conversion from a production to a customer orientation. In this regard, Steve’s name is synonymous with many marketing successes, including Tullen Snips, Trim Pork, Villa Maria wines and law firm Simpson Grierson. His work at Simpson Grierson was featured as a comprehensive case study in the 1998 Australia/New Zealand edition of Philip Kotler’s marketing textbook.

In recognition of his standing within the marketing profession, Steve was inducted into Marketing Magazine’s Marketing Hall of Fame in 2003, the inaugural year for this award. He also has been the judge and/or head judge of most marketing awards offered in New Zealand over the past 25 years, including the TVNZ/Marketing Magazine Marketing Awards.

One of Steve Bridges' most practical and useful contributions to marketing was the development of the Marketing Plan Flow Chart, a simple marketing planning template now used internationally by small and medium sized enterprises.

Steven Bridges is past President of Sales and Marketing Executives International (Auckland), a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Management, and a Trustee of The Independent Business Foundation.

Today Bridges continues to run his own business (Bridges Marketing Consultancy) while at the same time teaching two-day marketing short courses at the University Of Auckland Business School.

At the university, executive development director Michael Groves sums up Bridges' contribution to marketing in New Zealand.

"Steve has made an outstanding contribution to the betterment of marketing and its reputation," he says. "Over a career of more than 30 years he has touched the lives of literally thousands of New Zealanders through his teaching and consulting. Many of them owe their success to the teaching and example they received from Steve."

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