UWAA Rising Alumni Award: Ericka Patten

By David Stotzer

The University of Wyoming Alumni Association is proud to recognize Ericka Patten, a ’16 graduate in marketing, with the 2024 UWAA Rising Alumni Award. Patten’s journey — from a dedicated student to holding influential roles in the global marketing domain with her time at Ogilvy and now producing at Code and Theory, a creative agency based out of New York — underscores the spirit of professional excellence and community engagement that this award recognizes.

Before she graduated from UW, Patten’s marketing career was already underway. As the digital marketing manager for Cheyenne Frontier Days, she was gaining valuable experience in the fields of copywriting, photography, web design and e-commerce.

“I just fell in love with the concept of making something from scratch,” she recalls.

To Patten, there is nothing more rewarding than seeing a client realize how their brand can evolve from a complex problem to a precious object in a person’s life. As a project manager and creative for the marketing agencies Look Listen, Ogilvy, and Code and Theory, she produced projects from sales enablement at IBM and American Express to her most recent digital work with Morgan Stanley, Microsoft, Zappos and the NFL.

As Patten continues to ascend in her career, her story serves as a testament to the value and opportunities that a UW education fosters. When receiving this recognition, Patten had this to say: “The University of Wyoming means the whole world to me, and this award means so much. I owe my entire career to the relationships I have been able to cultivate from the university and doors those relationships have opened for me.”

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