resume
I want to help great teams build great products to achieve great results. With 15 years of leadership in business, technology, and education, a Masters degree nearing completion, and proven leadership and innovation ability, I would like to help a growing company achieve outstanding success.
// experience
Director of Product Development :: 2007 to present
School Specialty Planning & Student Development :: Bellingham, WA
I currently lead all publishing, web, and innovation initiatives for a $130 million division.
- Increased competitive differentiation by doubling product innovation year-over-year
- Led creative ideation and overall product strategy, including a video and web training product with Coach John Wooden
- Repositioned company as a technology leader by developing e-learning web applications for 45,000 schools and 25 million students
- Controlled costs and shortened development time by blending open source software with a proprietary layer in new technology ventures
- Trimmed development expenses by 33% by introducing competitive bidding and expanded vendor lists
- Built proprietary platform for product development by introducing a new trademarked planning system for students: the onTRAC™ planning system
- Delivered marketing collateral to sales on schedule for the first time in 3 years by accelerating product development cycles
Product Manager :: 2006-2007
Premier, a School Specialty Company :: Belllingham, WA
Product manager for 4 product families with over $75 million annual business.
- Drove superlative bottom-line performance by managing product portfolio to an average 55% gross margin
- Created competitive differentiation by tightly tying products to clients’ actual as well as felt needs
- Realized $25 million in business with an updated product launch
- Achieved a 10% increase in margin on an aging product line by revitalizing the brand, functionality, and design
- Launched new product lines from concept to delivery
- Created and executed strategic marketing plans
Director of Home & Family Markets :: 2005-2006
Premier School Agendas :: Langley, BC
Built a web-based consumer products division from scratch.
- Launched new division by leading a cross-functional team including IT, Finance, Operations, Customer Service, Marketing, and Product
- Created the most customer-friendly web-to-print calendar creation site of the day
- Ensured reliability and scalability by negotiating burstable hosting and uptime agreements with multiple service providers
- Increased sell-through rates by eliminating all bottlenecks to simple online purchasing
- Ensured website was intuitive as well as powerful by leading multiple rounds of lab-based and real-world usability testing
Technology Solutions Manager :: 2001-2005
Premier, a Franklin Covey Company :: Langley, BC
Led a web applications development department.
- Helped create the most successful product launch in company history by creating a social learning/groupware environment that eventually reached 500,000+ users
- Increased speed to market and decreased costs by building an online product configuration wizard
- Added value to products by leading creation of online multimedia content
- Led development of a proprietary learning management system
- Helped company drive 20% annual growth by integrating lead generation and visit data analysis into website
Marketing project manager :: 1998-2001
Premier School Agendas :: Abbotsford, BC
Led marketing projects.
- Created and executed marketing strategy for an early stage growing company
- Helped drive 20% annual growth by leading marketing collateral creation
- Ensured a successful product launch by planning and leading sales consultant training
// education
Master of Educational Technology (finishing summer ‘09)
University of British Columbia
GPA: 4.01
Bachelor of Arts, English Major – 1994
Simon Fraser University
GPA: 3.69
Full scholarship student
// references
Available upon request, or see my LinkedIn profile.