Senior marketing major Brett Kinsfather was never a huge sports fan unless it came to auto racing. That’s why he’s devoting his future to the career, but not from behind the driver’s seat.

“I’d really like to work with an Indy car race team, something with sponsorship and the overall marketing-operational aspect of the sport,” he said. “Nothing’s finalized yet, but I’d love to get my foot in the door.”

Kinsfather, of Roselle, will be honored for his achievement in marketing at 7 p.m. tonight at the induction ceremony for the Marketing Honor Society. The ceremony, to be held at the Holmes Student Center’s Heritage Room, will include the induction of about 40 new members into the group.

Although he was surprised to hear he was being honored, Kinsfather said the work with his fellow American Marketing Association executive board members contributed to his success. He’s served as AMA president for the past year.

“It’s incredibly nice, and something I never expected,” he said. “In all honesty, I’ve been involved with a lot of restructuring [with AMA] over the past year, and a number of people on the exec board have really helped out and made things happen. They came to me with ideas, and everyone else was really supportive. We worked well to turn out a successful year accomplishing goals.”

Kinsfather said his interest in marketing stems from a high school teacher’s influence. He said he was interested in business overall, but something had to fit in with his interest in auto racing.

“My NIU marketing classes were the most fun, and I sucked at accounting,” he said. “I had no ambition for finance but instead was fabricating car parts.

Marketing was neat to learn, and it seemed incredibly useful.”

Tim Aurand, an assistant marketing professor and AMA faculty adviser, said Kinsfather is one of the most active and successful presidents that AMA has seen. He said although Kinsfather doesn’t always feel comfortable with the compliments, he’s earned them all.

“Brett’s extremely mature for his age — very motivated, professional and has high expectations,” Aurand said. “He’s very real-world oriented, well-read and he’ll do extremely well at his first job. He’s the kind of student you want to help out.”

Aurand said he and Kinsfather’s fellow AMA members often tease him about his lack of sports knowledge outside of racing.

“He knows what he wants, and it’s racing,” Aurand said. “But you’d think he’d know at least a little something about simple sports like baseball or basketball. But he’s got nothing — nada.”

Kinsfather said now he’s focusing on organizing the upcoming Business Day from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. April 11 at the Adams Hall Chandelier Room. The event combines real-world issues such as technology and globalization and puts people into problem-solving teams.

Until then, he’s dedicated to one dream: making an even bigger mark than NIU alumnus Dennis Barsema, who donated $20 million last semester for a building bearing his name.

“I’m taking it one step up and donating $21 million,” Kinsfather said. “I guess I’m committed to it now.”