Global director of sports marketing for Gillette to speak at Bridgewater College

Gregory L. Via – a 1979 Bridgewater College graduate who has been the global director of sports marketing for the Gillette Company since 2007 – will headline the college’s Scott Symposium on Business Ethics March 27.

Via will speak on “Business Ethics: It’s Personal,” at 7:30 p.m. in Cole Hall on the college’s campus. The symposium is free and open to the public.

Via is responsible for Gillette’s involvement in the global sports marketplace, including the Gillette Champions, a unique marketing program linking three of the world’s greatest athletes – Tiger Woods, Roger Federer and Thierry Henry – that has been rolled out to more than 190 countries. The Gillette Champions program has been expanded to include iconic athletes such as Derek Jeter, Ricardo Kaká, Lionel Messi, Rafael Nadal and 19 other global superstars.

He also works with the Gillette North American leadership to leverage Gillette’s involvement with the NFL, NASCAR, WWE and MLB. Via is also a member of the Proctor and Gamble Olympic core team that works to promote P&G and its family of brands on a global Olympic platform.

Formerly, Via was the vice president of alliance and licensing at New Era Cap. Prior to that, he was the vice president of worldwide corporate sponsorship for Motorola and the director of worldwide sports marketing for Gatorade.

Via is an active board member of the Boston chapter of the National Sports Marketing Network (NSMN), where he also serves on the advisory board for NSMN’s Sports Licensing Summit initiative.

The Scott Symposium on Business Ethics is named in honor of BC’s former vice president for institutional advancement Charles H. Scott and his father, the late Harvey H. Scott, who served on the College’s board of trustees for more than 30 years. The symposium was developed to provide training for Bridgewater College students who are emerging leaders and future participants in the workplace.

The goal of the symposium is to foster and encourage a strong foundation of morals and ethics to prepare Bridgewater students to address the challenges they will confront in a diverse world.

For further information, call Bridgewater College at (540) 828-5787, or send an email to Sherrie Arey, college events and stewardship coordinator, at [email protected].

Bridgewater College is a private, four-year liberal arts college located in the Central Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. Founded in 1880, it was the state’s first private, coeducational college. Today, Bridgewater College is home to approximately 1,850 undergraduate students.