Anton Berry

Marian University of Indianapolis, Byrum School of Business

“An opportunistic, outgoing student-athlete who seeks to reach his highest potential.”

Fun fact about yourself: I love to hike. I recently spent 8 hours and hiked 13 miles to reach 14,278 foot summit at Gray’s Peak in Colorado.

Hometown: Clarksville, Tennessee

High School: Bishop Luers High School

Major: Marketing and Finance

Minor: N/A

Favorite Business Course: MKT 442 Advance Professional Selling

Extracurricular Activities, Community Work and Leadership Roles During College:

• Scholarship Athlete for the Marian University Knights football team (2-time Conference Champion, 2019 National Runner-Up)
• Treasurer for Marian Chapter for NSLS
• Contributed to conservation and restoration of Marian University Nina Mason Pulliam Ecolab
• Marian Maniacs (student spirit group),
• Head of Marian University Polar Plunge for Indiana Special Olympics 2018

Where have you interned during your college career? Marian University Athletic Department

Where will you be working after graduation? N/A

What company do you admire most? The company that I admire the most is Salesforce. I have had the opportunity to speak with many people within the company. They are a fast-paced and innovative company that has seen great success in the recent past. They are an employee-centered company that works well to find the best fit for you. They allow you to grow as an employee, advance, and seek knowledge in areas that you may not have studied in the past.

Who is your favorite professor? This is a hard question for me to answer because my favorite professor happens to be two who work hand-in-hand with each other: Professor Lori Rumreich and Professor Robert Kubacki. They are like two peas in a pod and have both worked together in many of my classes, including my favorite in MKT 442. They have both motivated me to step out of my comfort zone. They have given me the opportunity to try selling, and I feel that selling is my passion and is what I want to do for a future job.

What is the biggest lesson you gained from studying business? The biggest lesson that I have learned is that not everything is as cold cut as you think that it is. In business, you may have a great idea or understanding of something, Then, at the last minute, you have to change everything. It has taught me to be very open-minded and be prepared to change or think on the fly at any given moment.

What advice would you give to a student looking to major in a business-related field? Go in with an open mind. When I came in, I had no clue what I wanted to do. Marian gave me the opportunity to look at different majors within the business school to help find the one – or in my case, multiple majors that fit my personality and interest the best.

What has surprised you most about majoring in business? I always knew that business was important in our lives, but I did not know that it had the ability to stop and alter an entire country. Just looking at different times in the history of the world – and seeing small things magnify to much worse – motivates me to want to do right in the business world.

Looking back over your experience, what is the one thing you’d do differently in business school and why? For me personally, I would not do much of anything different. I have enjoyed everything about my experience in the Byrum School of Business. The way of learning and what I have learned has and will all correlate to my life after college.

Which academic, extracurricular or personal achievement are you most proud of? The academic/extracurricular achievement I am most proud of has to be winning the 2020 National Selling Competition hosted by Indiana University. Our selling program has only been around for three years. I have had the opportunity to participate in two of the three National Selling competitions our program has participated in.

In our initial competition, we did not finish the way we felt like we should have. We felt as if we had underperformed and it left a bad taste in us for the next year. I was the only person that returned to compete in the competition the following year. Being a mid-sized private school, we were the smallest school by about 7,000 students. We were competing against some of the top business sales programs in the country. The competition was held virtually this year, which added a new dimension of difficulty. Along with me were my two partners Sandy Sledge and Sarah Spangler, our two coaches (Professor Rumreich and Professor Kubacki), and our small task team to help with our presentation and preparation. Together, we were able to win.

Which classmate do you most admire? The classmate whom I most admire has to be one of my friends, Cam Fox. I have known Cam since high school. He was my RA freshman year, one of my partners in the Indiana National Selling Competition, and a teammate on the football team at Marian. He has always been a highly-motivated person. He knew what he wanted to do before he even attended college. He is one of those people that, after you meet him, you will never forget him. He leaves such an amazing impression on you because he has the ability to change an entire room’s mood just by walking in. He never has a bad day and you always know that when he is going to be present, you will have a smile on your face.

Who would you most want to thank for your success? I would say that my parents are the ones to thank most for my success. They have always instilled in me that if I cannot give 110% to everything that I do, then why am I even doing it. They have pushed me to measures that I did not believe that I could reach. They have motivated me to push through some of the toughest times in my life and have kept me humble in some of my highest. Without them, I would not be the student, friend, athlete, son, brother, or man that I am today.

What are the top two items on your professional bucket list? I want to get my Master’s in Business Administration. I also want to open up my own restaurant one day, either a sit-down BBQ restaurant or a food truck.

What are your hobbies? My two favorite hobbies are cooking/baking, physical activity, and traveling. I love to cook/bake many different items such as chicken, hamburgers, steak, and I love to bake brownies, cake, and cookies. Being an athlete, I love to push my body to the limit. This can be either by trying to deadlift 600 pounds, hiking over 14,000 feet in elevation, or even doing a 10+ mile Tough Mudder obstacle courses. I also love to travel! I have visited the deep south in Texas, as far east as Ocean City, Maryland, and have gone as far west as Nevada.

What made Anton such an invaluable addition to the Class of 2021?

“I have found Anton Berry to be fearless in pursuit of his education. He is a respected leader among his peers and as faculty I appreciate his dedication and commitment to excellence.”

Professor Robert Kubacki
Marian University (Byrum)

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