1. Seattle University is dedicated to educating the whole person,
to professional formation, and to empowering leaders for a just and humane world.
Department of Marketing
CONNECTING THE MIND TO WHAT MATTERS
Albers School of Business and Economics
Seattle, Washington 98112
Dr. C. Jay Lambe
(206) 715-1938, Fax: (206) 296-2083
E-mail: lambecj@seattleu.edu
March 15, 2015
To whom it may concern:
With great pleasure, I am writing this letter of recommendation for Alexander (Alex) Stapleton to
support his application for a position with your firm. Alex is a wonderful person and a very worthy
candidate for your organization (as I will discuss at great length below).
Alex was a student of mine in “Marketing Management” (Winter 2015) – only available to students
after a competitive application process – and through this gained impressive “Corporate Marketing”
experience with Expedia – see his resume. In the process, Alex acquired extremely valuable (and
unique for undergraduates anywhere) knowledge and skills by working on a strategically important
Marketing Research project for Senior and Mid-Level executives at Expedia.
During his marketing experience with Expedia, Alex and his team conducted primary and secondary
data research on the relevant consumer behavior of an important Expedia target-market, and
developed a Marketing Plan resulting in a number of actionable and innovative digital and
multichannel market-offer recommendations. Through the project, Alex gained critical experience with
a number of key aspects of marketing, including Digital Marketing, Social Media Marketing, and
Multichannel Marketing. All three of these areas of Marketing are central for the vast majority of firms,
and their strategic importance will only continue to grow over time.
Further, and notably, based on the strength of their marketing research analysis and support, Expedia
was strongly considering implementing a number of recommendations made by Alex and his team in
their Marketing Plan. Regarding this, please note that Alex can only “speak broadly” to these
recommendations (and to much of the work that he did in the course), as he cannot reveal a number
of specifics about the project due the Expedia Non-Disclosure Agreement that all of the students (and
I) signed at the beginning of the course.
However, (as is common for job candidates whose past work is covered by an NDA) Alex can provide
you with a very good sense (in a broad non-revealing way) of: (1) the type of work he did, (2) the
areas of marketing research and marketing plan development where he gained valuable experiences
(e.g., developing a shop-along-style semi-structured depth-interview instrument, conducting depth-
interviews, consumer behavior research and analysis, product-relevant needs assessment, competitor
research and analysis, developing an effective/winning value-proposition, market-sizing research and
analysis, forecasting/projecting incremental revenue for market-offer recommendations, etc.), (3) the
nature of presentation that he/his team gave (which was truly a very-real corporate/business-world
kind of presentation), (4) the broad-kinds of deliverables his team produced for Expedia, and (5) the
overall "project process" (including the project-briefing given by Expedia executives at Expedia 's HQ
in Bellevue, Washington).
Intelligence and Work-Ethic. From what I observed Alex’s level of native intelligence is very strong.
During the Expedia project Alex exhibited significant critical thinking skills in his work, he effectively
researched issues, and he cogently made his points and arguments in both his written and
presentation work. In addition, Alex demonstrated a strong degree of intellectual curiosity and initiative
– both of which are "highly valued" attributes in the business world.
Further, Alex exhibited an admirable work ethic (and a desire to ensure that his team’s project was the
best it could be). Alex is very willing to put forth the kind of work/effort that is required of successful
business executives in the corporate/business world. As part of this, please note that students who do

2. well in this challenging real-world project-based course (with clients like Expedia) must have a “strong
work ethic” to do well because – just as in the corporate/business-world – intelligence (though
necessary) is not “alone” sufficient to do well. In sum, Alex has demonstrated an impressive desire to
succeed in whatever endeavor he pursues – and, he possesses both the “grey matter” and “work-
ethic” necessary to do well in the business-world.
Leadership Potential, Team Skills, Maturity. Alex’s leadership potential, team skills, and maturity are
also strong. Alex performed very well in the Expedia course project, which required intense teamwork
(under very intense pressure). Alex is both a team-player, and (as was extremely clear during the
Expedia project), has “strong leadership skills” – and, as part of this, Alex is quite willing and able to
lead-by-example. In sum, during the Expedia project Alex demonstrated commendable leadership,
team skills, maturity, and initiative.
Communication Skills. The Expedia project required (nay, it demanded) extremely top-notch
Presentation skills. Alex and his team had to present to a room full of Expedia executives (at
Expedia's Headquarters), and had to defend their positions under very rigorous questioning – just as
one would for any high-level presentation in the corporate/business world. Needless to say, this would
be a daunting and scary prospect for most undergraduates -- but Alex and his team made an effective,
confident, and compelling presentation of their marketing plan, and fielded questions in a
knowledgeable and credible way.
As result of his team’s Presentation (and the high-quality Marketing Plan document that he and his
team researched and developed for Expedia), their work was assessed as offering insights of
significant actionable value to Expedia. Further (and importantly), this evaluation was not made by
me, but rather it was the collective assessment of the senior- and mid- level Expedia Executives for
whom the teams were developing their Marketing Plans. These executives graded teams with an
assessment-criteria that reflected both the specific and very-high standards expected in the corporate-
world.
The Expedia Executives involved in the Marketing Research and Marketing Plan Development
Experience who made the grading decisions (and were among the executives that attended Final
Presentations and asked the challenging questions during the 65 minute presentation) are:
Expedia Local Expert (LX) Digital Retail Team
1. Nikki Krishnamurthy – Vice-President, Expedia Local Expert
2. Farshin Damanpour – Senior LX Online Retail Manager
3. Jennifer Albert – Director, LX Online Retail/Analysis, LX Analytics
4. Meredith Peters – Communications Manager, LX
5. Matthew Denker – Reporting Analyst, LX Offline Analytics
6. David Cuerpo – Media Producer, LX Content
7. Rebecca Pham – Marketing Specialist, LX
In closing, it should be clear that I give Alex an extremely strong recommendation, and I believe that
his application should be given your utmost consideration. If you require further information, please do
not hesitate to contact me.
Best Regards,
Jay
Dr. C. Jay Lambe
Associate Professor of Marketing
Marketing Department
Albers School of Business and Economics
Seattle University