Students put best [warm] foot forward

Four students from the UA Eller College of Management – Charney Marks, Kevin Romo-Leon, Jenn Schmitt and Audrey Sibley – took what began as a classroom exercise to real-world business for HeatMax, which makes Toasti Toes heat packs for skiers and hunters. The team conceived a new consumer target – professional women working in cold weather – and fashioned a full-scale strategy for branching Toasti Toes in a new direction. Executives at HeatMax were so impressed, the CEO met team members at company headquarters in Georgia and signed their concepts into contracts, giving the students a share of the new product’s sales and an ongoing foothold in its development and marketing.