Overview
Diverse leadership experience as a business development manager, product manager, marketer and consultant to early stage companies. Well exercised talents in multiple industries, including, pro audio, corporate training, retail systems, financial services and “web 2.0” community development.
Catalyst: brings high IQ, energy, wisdom, humor, curiosity and wonder to formative processes.
Well suited to lead diverse teams which include creative, engineering and executive influences. Consistently empowers team members to bring all their talents to the table.
Experiences
Dutch Bike Co. Seattle & Dutch Bike Co. Chicago , Nov '07 — present: Partner
Developing branding, retail, web sales and CRM strategies. Redesign website and implement integrated social media marketing strategies including Flickr, Wordpress, Feedburner, Twitter and Facebook, leading to a 20-30,000 unique visitors/month and consistent no.1 and top-ten organic search rankings in several categories critical to our business. General Manager of Dutch Bike Company Chicago expansion. Now the largest US importer of Dutch, Workcycles brand, city and cargo bikes. Opened fully stocked Chicago retail shop, including networked multi-store POS system, within two weeks of assuming lease.
Stephan Schier Consulting, May '05 — Oct '07: Principal
Quarterback emerging ventures, brilliant teams and individuals innovating business. Inspire humanized marketing strategies. Show the way, hands-on, from tech to creative.
Imagekind, LLC, Seattle, MAR '06 — Nov '06
Rallied member services team in a novel use of software tools and within two months, personally contacted, cleansed lists and built first-name rapport with 25,000 artists. Designed member acquisition campaign, resulting in 9% conversion rate. Within two weeks, secured 200 digital works from emerging artists. Within two months, boosted member acquisition rate from zero to 50 per day. Sparked bug testing team to high standards, despite rapid dev pace. Designed data-driven "auto-published" member pages, which required no member input beyond original membership data, immediately generating search engine results for artist's profiles and galleries. Imagekind was acquired by Cafepress in 2008 for an estimated $15-20 million.Smart Portfolios, LLC, Seattle, May '05 — Jan '06
Launched secure company extranet in four days. Implemented SFA (salesforce.com) solution and trained sales team. Authored marketing collateral and widely acclaimed “NASA white” trade show look. Mapped key TV and web strategies to successfully position founder as a “niche celebrity” in the field of asset allocation.HineSight Consulting – Executive coaching. Branding, web and blog design.
Brackenwood Capital Management, LLC – SFA integration. Marketing and web design.
American Challenge, INC, Costa Mesa, CA , April '03 — Present: Management Advisory Team
Catalyze World Speed Records holder Russ Wicks' quest to secure blue-chip sponsors. Developed highly effective one-page proposals. Designed 3D animation used in sponsor’s marketing media. Established line of credit for operations. Demonstrated sponsor’s software solutions, organized conferences and evangelized C-level executives. Resultantly, sponsored by Ford and UGS PLM Systems, captured the (35 years standing) World Stock Car Land Speed Record, July 3, 2006. Sponsored by Dodge and Autodesk, raised the World Record and added a Guinness Book Record at the Bonneville Speedway, October 9, 2007 – 244.9 MPH, for the flying mile. Team photographer.
Big Beverage Company, Mar '07 — Nov '07: Acting Vice President
Lead branding, trademark and market positioning initiatives. Coached founder.
Realm Labs/High Coup, LLC, Seattle, '92 — March '03: GENERAL MANGER
Part-time venture. Organized the research and development process of a composer, engineers and technicians. Mediated creative, engineering and financial demands into the production of entertainment and learning, hardware prototypes. Results include an encoding patent ( #5,612,943) licensed by Digital Harmony.
AccessVia, INC, Seattle, May '00 — October '02: BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
Pioneered industry-first, multi-vendor demonstrations of wireless kiosk, employee and customer-facing mobile applications: 2001 Retail Systems Conference, Chicago. Launched strategic partnership initiative to develop handheld solutions with Symbol Technologies. Lead sales and retail kiosk solutions initiatives with IBM, NCR, Radiant Systems, Microsoft and Lexmark.
Pavo/Digital Harmony, Seattle, May '99 — May '00: PRODUCT MANAGER
Published landmark report on the emerging digital rights management industry. Managed legacy products portfolio, encoding technologies portfolio and hardware prototype production. Directed multinational R&D of watermarking technologies. Negotiated agreements with customers and licensees in Europe and Japan. Crafted marquee corporate sponsorship package to design the Experience Music Project's (EMP) Sound Lab control systems. Subsequently earned “most trusted” vendor accolades from EMP managers. Instigated transfer of legacy products portfolio to employee ownership.
On the Edge, LTD, Santa Fe, NM, '88 — '91: EVENT DIRECTOR
Designed, constructed and directed training events for educational foundations and corporations, including AT&T, EDS and Monsanto. Instructed communication and team building initiatives. Trained event managers in process and risk management skills. Introduced more efficient event management methods. Facilitated adult and youth-at-risk development seminars.
Education
Washington State University, '79 — '84: HONORS GRADUATE
BS, Cum Laude, Physical Education, Aquatics Option, Minor in Mathematics. National Dean's List and member Phi Epsilon Kappa honorary; Digiovanna Memorial Award as outstanding graduating senior and J Fred Bohler Scholarship recipient. Varied studies: computer science (COBOL, FORTRAN, Pascal, Basic), physics, kinesiology and exercise physiology.
Colorado Outward Bound School, '84: GRADUATE
Educator's Practicum: leadership, communication and problem solving skills development.
Logistics Director Training: expedition management.
Additional Tidbits
First generation American - speak fluent German.
Member - American Mensa
Founded Seattle's first experiential art gallery: Affect Gallery. Hosted Seattle’s master of mezzo-tech, Kim David Hall's debut, The Nugatorium: 1989.
Completed a 1,000 mile, self-contained, Canadian Arctic, kayak Expedition: 1986.
Recreational interests: rock climbing (27 years), fitness, energetic medicine, cooking, bicycling, basketball, in-line skating, sailing, skiing; motorcycling and vintage auto racing.
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