About Me
I grew up at the beach in New Jersey, and now I call the Pacific Northwest my home. As a child, my favorite hobby was collecting rocks and shells I found at the beach. I wanted nothing more than to be a geologist when I grew up. What fascinated me was that every rock I found had a story behind it, millions of years old. Every grain of sand was a Lilliputian-sized crystal. Every shell was once a home at the beach.
This instinct for seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary led me to a 20+ year career in marketing. Like a geologist, I thrive on mining opportunities for businesses. I find and extract the inherent value in a business and polish it up so a broader audience can experience its wonder. My career is still the best hobby I've ever had.
Industry/Brands
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Food Food Network Magazine; Taco Bell; Kraft, DineEquity, Max Brenner, Etsy-for-dinner food tech startup.
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Media Discovery Channel; Hearst
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Internet/Mobile Netpage; Our Block; Hearst
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Fashion Marie Claire; Esquire; House Beautiful; Calico Corners; Harold Penner; Kurt Salmon Associates; Murjani, the company that launched Tommy Hilfiger.
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Healthcare Breg, Clinicient
Positions Held
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VP of Marketing, Netpage/Silverbrook Research
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EVP of Marketing, Discovery Communications (Discovery Channel)
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President, Brandspring Consulting
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VP of Marketing, Our Block, an early social network
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VP of Marketing, The Picture People, div of Hallmark
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Marketing Manager, Taco Bell Corp., div of PepsiCo
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Brand Mgmt, Kraft USA, div of Kraft General Foods
Results
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Stood up a digital marketing department within 2 months and achieved a 340% ROI on digital ad campaigns.
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Turned around a 200 unit retail chain, growing same-store sales 58%, resulting in the sale of the business to Hallmark and a successful liquidity event for investors.
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Designed and launched an augmented reality mobile buying app, which gave users the ability to buy directly from paper. Sold app into 60% of the magazine industry, achieving download goal in 3 months, winning an Edison Innovation award.
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Designed and led the first in-home use test for a mobile app.
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Launched one of the first social networks, and pioneered the launch strategy for a business with network effects.
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Was the first to bring photo gifts to the mass market, well in advance of Shutterfly and other early entrants.
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Launched better for you tacos, growing profitability 8%
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Grew catalog profitability 118%.
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Reversed an 8% decline in cheese snacks and generated a 25% increase in revenue
Human Skills
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A creative Catalyst/Pioneer – who imagines what could be and galvanizes teams to bring it to fruition.
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A growth strategist skilled at identifying an individual and a company’s “onlyness” and amplifying them to grow businesses through people and to grow people through business.
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Creative & strategic -- develops programs that inspire customers while profitably meeting strategic business objectives
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Aesthetically inclined, thriving in categories or services that are evocative of the senses
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Courageous -- willing to make the hard decisions, have the tough conversations, and support the right people and issues
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Relentlessly curious
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Especially compassionate for the quirky, the outsider, the misunderstood, and the voiceless
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Tirelessly passionate about helping you tackle and overcome your greatest challenges