Professor Vicki West

Since 1989, Vicki West has been a faculty member in the Department of Marketing in the McCoy College of Business at Texas State University. Currently, Mrs. West teaches undergraduate courses in Professional Selling and Studies in Free Enterprise and serves as the Director of the Center for Professional Sales and the Sam Walton Fellow in Free Enterprise. Mrs. West holds a B.B.A. (Cum laude) in Marketing and an M.B.A. from Georgia College and State University, Milledgeville, Georgia.

In 1994 and 2014, Mrs. West was named "Best Professor" in the College of Business, voted on by graduating seniors and the Business Advisory Council. In 1999, she won the National Freedom Foundations Award for Excellence in Free Enterprise Education. Also, in 1999, Mrs. West won the prestigious "Presidential Award for Excellence in Teaching" at Texas State University, out of a possible field of over 1000. In 2006, the Alumni Association of Texas State University honored Mrs. West with the Professor of the Year award for her body of work in both professional selling and free enterprise. In 2010, Mrs. West was nominated for Sales Professor of the Year at the national level by the American Marketing Association – Sales Interest Group division. In 2015, Mrs. West was named the Gowens Professor of Excellence in the McCoy College of Business at Texas State University. 

In 2004, Mrs. West’s student garnered a 1st place finish in the combined product and service sales categories at the National Collegiate Sales Competition, placing 2nd in the individual championship category and third in the team portion of the overall competition.  In multiple years, Mrs. West led her students to win the National Collegiate Sales Competition – Graduate Division. In 2011 and 2012, the students placed in the Final Four in the undergraduate division, receiving a Top 4 team award out of a field of over 60 teams nationwide in 2011, and a Top 2 team awards in 2012. In 2013, Mrs. West's students won a clean sweep at the National Collegiate Sales Competition, winning both the undergraduate and graduate divisions in all categories.

The Texas State University Center for Professional Sales is a member of the University Sales Center Alliance group and was named as a top sales program by the Sales Education Foundation in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.

Mrs. West is also the advisor to the 2000 International Champion Students in Free Enterprise Team, who successfully competed against over 700 universities worldwide for the championship. In 2002, the SIFE organization honored West with the Jack Kahl Award as the Sam Walton Free Enterprise Fellow of the Year in the United States in recognition for her work with the organization. She also received the "Golden Eagle" award for her work in Central America. In 2004, Mrs. West was inducted into the SIFE Hall of Fame, based on earning 50,000 points for performance over an extended period of time. For seventeen out of the past twenty years, the SIFE/Enactus  team has placed in the top twenty universities in the United States.  In 2011, Mrs. West led the Free Enterprise Team to the United States national championship, and then went to the World Cup in Malaysia, placing in the Top 16 teams in the world.  In 2014, the team again served as the United States national champion, representing the nation at the World Cup in Beijing, China.  

In addition to her work with students, Mrs. West has written numerous articles related to professional selling and free enterprise, and she has contributed to the sales textbook, Selling: Building Partnerships by Castleberry and Tanner.

Prior to joining Texas State University, Mrs. West was the Administrator of Coliseum Associates, a joint venture company between Hospital Corporation of American (HCA) and 120 physicians. In that capacity, she managed outpatient radiology, malpractice insurance for physicians, satellite communications and a variety of other services. She also serves as a speaker/consultant to numerous financial institutions, The University of Texas, IBM, Texas Women's Chamber of Commerce Annual Conference, Executive Women in Texas Government and other business and non-profit organizations in several states.

In addition to her professional activities, Mrs. West served as President of the Board of Directors of one of the largest regional museums in Georgia, where she instituted a marketing plan that raised millions of dollars in membership revenues and endowment funds. Mrs. West was also voted "Women in Business Advocate of the Year" by the Small Business Administration for the Austin, San Antonio, and Rio Grande Valley for her work with women in business.