Career Experience

Summary:

• Creator of Free Marketing Made Easy, an Internet Marketing program for entrepreneurs.
• Brand Manager for an energy efficiency company.
• Integrated Media Consultant in the publishing industry.
• Entrepreneur.
• New Business Development Manager for consumer and commercial technology products.
• Lead Generation and Inside Sales expert.
• Bachelor’s degree in Humanities (Magna Cum Laude).

I am fortunate to have followed a career path that has opened my mind to emerging markets, innovative technologies, organizational design and holistic management. A transformative person who truly loves change, I seek to interact with the world in purposeful and meaningful ways.

My unique talents include:

• Articulate, principled communication.
• Vision, empathy, understanding.
• A sincere desire to collaborate.
• Commitment.
• Humility and a willingness to learn.
• Clarity of purpose.
• Caring, trust and respect.
• Sincerity.
• Innovative thinking, including synthesis, adaptation and branching.
• Entrepreneurial spirit.
• Intentional questioning.
• Accountability.
• Intuition.

Free Marketing Made Easy

The Mantra “Print is dead” returned to favor in late 2008 when the global economy (and virtually every marketing budget) took a dramatic downturn. Ironically, the downturn led to mass layoffs, which in turn resulted in a reinvigorated entrepreneurial movement. While I disagree with the assessment that print is dead (even with smart phones and e-readers, people still want to read hard copy magazines and books, so the publication itself is not dead; rather, the antiquated publishing business model is at risk) I wholeheartedly agree that branding through print makes little sense for small companies with limited budgets.

Entrepreneurship in this new age is born into an environment where two remarkable things are happening simultaneously:

1. Internet Marketing is achieving a cost near zero.
2. The tools are becoming easier and easier to use.

Of course, online marketing is inherently measurable. So the advantages to new business owners are tremendous. But one problem remains, and it’s a big one: TIME.

Even though you can now afford to market your business online, and could probably use most Internet Marketing tools, it would take you months and months, maybe years to put together a systematic approach on your own. You’d probably start and stop with bits and pieces, achieving only limited success. Nobody has created a straight forward, comprehensive Internet Marketing methodology for NON-MARKETERS. Until now.

Recognizing this market gap, I brought together 18 subject matter experts and created an end-to-end, step-by-step methodology that teaches small business owners the basics of online marketing. Our system covers market assessment and research, content marketing, website development and optimization, social media, podcasting, video and much more. Moreover, we practice what we preach, so building the system has allowed me to enhance my skills with new technologies that can actually benefit organizations of any size.

Sustainable Energy Solutions

Environmentalism is a growing concern of mine, and contributed to my decision to become a vegetarian when I was seventeen. I have been considering a move into the green economy for several years, and even participated in MIT’s Clean Energy Kick off (business plan competition) in 2006.

It was a welcome opportunity therefore, when I freelanced for Sustainable Energy Solutions (SES) in 2007-08. When I was first consulted, SES had only a single-page website and an outdated logo. Though they had a wealth of knowledge and could certainly be considered experts in the fields of Energy Auditing, Metering and Co-generation, few resources had been dedicated to marketing.

They needed a brand. More than that, they needed a comprehensive go-to-market strategy.

What began as an effort to expand their website soon became an extreme company makeover. I brought in a graphic designer, and together with the company’s President and Operations Manager we strategized, queried, learned and articulated Sustainable Energy’s strengths.

Their main accomplishment had been an ongoing project in Africa, which provided photovoltaic-generated electrical power to rural missions, hospitals and schools. Clearly, SES had a high degree of technical capability. They also displayed enormous flexibility. But would the message about the impoverished in Africa resonate with their target customers back home in Massachusetts (hospitals, schools, restaurants, health clubs)?

Their long term vision is mastery of the emerging Energy Management Information Systems (EMIS) market, which dovetails with carbon capture. We needed to articulate their present capabilities in a way that supported their ultimate objectives, and did so by discerning two key demographics; the financial decision makers for whom policy and cost are the main factors, and the facilities personnel who are intimately involved at a technical level but might not be the business decision makers.

To reach these divergent groups with meaningful language and examples, we generated a series of white papers and case studies. These overlap, but generally lean toward a technical or financial/environmental message.

INCREASING ENERGY COSTS
Commercial, average electricity prices in cents per kilowatt hour from 1970 – 2007

Along with a sharp, intuitive website, my team delivered a comprehensive brand portfolio that included new stationary, business cards, brochures and presentation templates. We were intimately involved in authoring and editing these materials.

Conformity Magazine

One of the people on my Board of Advisers at Clear SelfCare was the Publisher of an independent magazine called Conformity. This publication delivered news and specifications to the Regulatory Compliance market, which includes Product Safety, Electromagnetic Engineering (EMC) and Electrostatic Discharge (ESD). Ten years old and with a loyal following, the title was transforming the way they came to market.

I was invited to join the team and facilitate this transition into new, rich media. As I replaced a former advertising sales person, we re-engineered the position to include both sales and business development. Our new designation of Integrated Media Consultant bridged the gap between sales and marketing and reflected the company’s fresh intention.

Conformity was already focused on enhancing its value through an expanded portfolio of electronic advertising methods (such as Digital Editions and enews offerings), and we refined this strategy with a second generation website while simultaneously redefining the value of printed editions.

The mantra “Print is dead” had taken hold to greater or lesser effect across various parts of the industry, especially in the wake of 911 when marketing budgets were cut and there came a growing emphasis on measurable return on investment. The “problem” as advertisers saw it, was that they had few ways of measuring the result of their print ads. Electronic options on the other hand, became darlings because of analytical reports including click throughs, open rates and even contact capture mechanisms.

Still, direct research showed that our readers overwhelmingly preferred the printed magazine. How then could we craft a coherent, calculable risk/reward strategy for our advertisers, while delivering the product that our growing readership preferred? The answer came our willingness to reconsider the publication’s value from our advertiser’s perspective.

Specifically, Conformity’s value was measured by our ability to connect advertiser and reader. We learned that our advertisers didn’t inherently prefer digital options. They simply wanted qualified leads and no longer knew how to get these through print.

Consequentially, we investigated and found a lead generation company that specializes in the publication market. Developing a program with them led to unprecedented growth by allowing us to continue delivery of our premier product while significantly augmenting our advertising base, expanding contracts and increasing margins.

Along the way I became an expert in sales and marketing integration, often because those efforts were not coordinated on the client end. In order to build and maintain sustainable partnerships I had to anticipate how sales and marketing groups would apply different valuations to our products and services. To this effect I contributed my expertise to Niche Media’s Publishers Conference, and will present a session on “B2B lead generation through print” in April, 2009.

Conformity’s success was a team effort, generated through internal discourse, field research and feedback. In that sense, the Conformity team was the best I have ever worked with. We were highly collaborative, yet each of us brought our own experiences and perceptions to the conversation. We learned how to directly and respectfully disagree, and inevitably our ‘ideating’ lead us in new directions.

Another example is our creation of EMC-opoly (a spin-off of the classic board game) that we invented for EMC Symposium, 2008. Playful and professional, the game features properties, tokens and cards that were branded by advertisers.

Two out of every three attendees at the show came to our booth to redeem their coupons for the game. Wildly popular, it generated enthusiastic responses such as “This is the best promotion I have ever seen.”

Conformity’s future was determined by organizational design (misalignment between our objectives as a media company and the intentions of our parent company, a test lab). It was apparent though, that our willingness to create a ‘niche within a niche’ distinguished us from our competitor and delivered a unique value proposition for readers and advertisers alike.

Clear SelfCare

I have always wanted to start my own business. My parents are both entrepreneurs, and I discovered this part of my calling back in high school when I pursued a business curriculum and joined the Distributive Education Clubs of America (D.E.C.A.). During my junior and senior years I won regional and state-wide competitions. After placing first overall in the 1989 Massachusetts Entrepreneurship Written Event I was awarded with the opportunity to represent our state, and my school at the National Competition in Orlando, Florida.

So as 3Com was impacted by the declining technology market (especially post-911) I saw an opportunity for a gut-check. I wanted more responsibility and was willing to take risks, but I was on a conservative career path. Middle management was being streamlined. Risks were no longer being taken; the high-tech world, once thriving and innovative, had constricted and seemed now to be about survival.

It was time for a change.

What did I want?

The questions grew larger, and I decided to take some time to explore them. Thus I entered into a period of self discovery which included my launch of Clear Self-Care, a multi-disciplinary holistic wellness center.

Clear was anchored by my own experience of well-being (I returned to school and became a licensed massaged therapist) and featured the United States’ first Ocean Floatroom. Imported from the UK, this flotation tank (originally known as isolation tank or ’sensory deprivation tank’ when the prototype was invented at the National Institute of Health) allowed individuals to relax by floating, completely suspended, in a solution of water and epsom salt that was warmed to body temperature. The results were often astonishing. As one of our clients wrote in our float journal, “the experience was just Bliss!”

Flotation benefits us psychologically, emotionally and physically (some will even say spiritually). Epsom salts are anti-inflammatory, so there is cumulative benefit for people suffering from muscle and/or joint pains. Pregnant women often feel tremendous relief, especially during the second and third trimesters.

Cortisol, a leading stress hormone, is clinically proven to decrease during flotation.

Needless to say our clientele ranged from stay-at-home mothers or fathers to executives. Marketing to such a diverse demographic was always an engaging opportunity. Our approach was to segment, carefully delineating emotional and/or practical messages (such as “Your Own Private Ocean” and “The Perfect Day”) and coupling them with exclusive artwork.

Clear was located in the suburban town of Milford, MA (about an hour away from Boston) and eventually one of our clients expressed a sincere and deep interest in expanding the availability of flotation to the local Boston market. I consulted with him about all areas of the business, from the physical specifications of the float tank to local regulations, hiring, promotions, financing, etc., and I’m glad (and proud) to say that his business, Driftaway Spas, is now thriving as a world-class float center.

3Com Corporation

One of my colleagues from Cabletron had gone over to 3Com and was augmenting his expertise in direct sales with Channel Sales experience. I knew that was a big piece of the industry. Additionally, 3Com had acquired U.S. Robotics (famous for the 56k modem) and had carved out a unique ‘end-to-end’ integration strategy for local, metropolitan and wide-area networking.

Moving to 3Com allowed me to further my skill set while also supporting my family’s growth; my daughter was a newborn and the opportunity at 3Com allowed me to return to my home town.

My manager was outstanding. She invested in her people and sent me to Dale Carnegie Sales Training to prepare for a position as an Outside Territory Manager. I was promoted, and soon after became an even more active participant in the company’s evolution. 3Com’s “Digital Home” strategy was taking them into the frontier market of Internet Appliances such as Audrey (a device targeted as a touch screen role-player in the family communication portfolio) and Kerbango (internet radio prior to the widespread adoption of MP3 or the evolution of Sirius or XM satellite radio).

Moving into retail sales, I brought these (and other home networking products) to market with existing national partners such as Staples and Office Depot. We even moved Audrey into distribution through Macy’s for a launch event in New York City. That was an especially interesting learning opportunity, representing a new (and limited) partnership where the legalities, financial arrangements and support expectations were unfamiliar for both parties.

Later, after it was clear that the tech bubble had burst and 3Com was forced to refocus on core technologies, I assumed the position of National Accounts Manager and New Business Development Manager introducing the Network Jack line of products. These were innovative for two reasons. First, the unique “wall outlet” form factor allowed MIS managers to extend bandwidth and ports to the desktop without the need for additional cabling (which can be especially prohibitive in existing facilities). Second, Network Jack utilized Power Over Ethernet to replace cumbersome AC adapters.

A non-technical innovation was also part of the Network Jack strategy. Our intention was to define and expand the market through the support of cabling contractors who could easily be seen as competitors, and who indeed often viewed the Network Jack as a replacement to their mainstay.

However, the Network Jack’s flexibility (its modular adapters allow for multiple configurations to support data, telephony and video) helped to create a unique and valuable niche that still belongs to 3Com. While funding for the internet appliance market never reached critical mass, next-generation gigabit Network Jacks are still available from the company.

Cabletron Systems

The mid-1990’s was a perfect time for me to enter the tech world, as companies were still investing heavily in technology and training. My tenure at Cabletron began with an extensive 9-week preparation in sales and technology.

Back then Ethernet was competing with FDDI, Token Ring and ATM for Local Area Network supremacy. Shared networks were evolving to high speed switched networks. Fiber optics were replacing coaxial cables.

I got to learn it all.

But what really stuck was the fact that I am a very good presenter. I became the first Sales Development (aka: lead generation) Representative in company history to present a Corporate Overview to the entire sales team. We needed to conduct a two-on-one presentation for our managers before we could be promoted to Inside Sales, and mine was so well received that I was asked to repeat it for the team as an example of how to prepare and deliver.

Education

I graduated from the University of New Hampshire with a Bachelor’s degree in Humanities (Magna Cum Laude). This program taught me above all else to synthesize, recognize patterns and discover hidden opportunities. Heavily engaged in the social sciences (sociology, psychology, philosophy, religion, politics), with experience in organizational behavior, marketing and computer programming as well, it is more than coincidental that my career has spanned technology, media and entrepreneurship while emphasizing personal relationships.