Educational Travel Know-How

travel OVERVIEW:
My experience in educational travel includes individual travel, participating in organized trips, marketing travel experiences, managing a marketing department for a tour operator, freelance consulting, and serving as an adviser for conference developers.

CONTRIBUTIONS:

Served as Director of Marketing for luxury educational tour operator High Country Passage (HCP; now named World Leaders Travel). Clients included National Geographic, the Smithsonian, the American Museum of Natural History, and the National Trust for Historic Preservation, as well as the alumni associations of Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, Cal Berkeley, Smith, and other distinguished institutions.
In my first twelve months as Director of Marketing at HCP, total bookings increased by 98.5% and the fill rate increased by 27% over the previous year.
Managed marketing department responsible for filling more than 100 trips/year using direct mail, e-mail, websites, magazine ads, and co-op programs. Department produced more than 100 brochures and four catalogs/year.
Produced trip journals for 2007 World Leaders Symposium to the Balkans; lecturers included Secretary Madeleine Albright, William Perry (former U.S. Secretary of Defense), Peter Galbraith (former ambassador to Croatia). The print-on-demand books were very popular with experienced travelers (”We are completely blown away by the quality of what you have accomplished. Thank you very much.”) and can be viewed here.
Participated in 3 two-week Earthwatch expeditions, assisting scientists with field research Argentina, Brazil, and Madagascar.
Participated in planning sessions for the Educational Travel Community’s 23rd – 25th annual international conferences (2009 – 2011).
Have traveled in more than 30 countries, including Argentina, Australia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Egypt, France, Fiji, Greece, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Kenya, Libya, Madagascar, Malta, Paraguay, New Zealand, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, Venezuela, Zimbabwe, and Zambia.
Lived and worked abroad for more than one year as Senior Vice President at EuroRSGC-owned advertising agency; selected to open new office and develop business in Melbourne, Australia.

CLIENTS:

When I was Director of Marketing at High Country Passage (now World Leaders Travel), my clients included:

American Museum of Natural History Expeditions
UC Berkeley’s Cal Discoveries
California Academy of Sciences Travel Program
California Commonwealth Club’s Travel Club
Harvard Alumni Association Travel/Study
MIT Alumni Travel Program
National Trust for Historic Preservation – Tours
National Geographic Expeditions
Smithsonian Journeys
Stanford Travel/Study
Yale Educational Travel

High Tech Success

hi tech OVERVIEW:

I’ve produced customer acquisition and retention campaigns, sold software, managed new product introductions, developed Web-based content, acquired new and renewal subscriptions, and provided strategic recommendations for leading high-tech companies.

SELECTED CONTRIBUTIONS:

Responsible for Web-based content development, organization, management, and delivery as Content manager for start-up division of Intuit/Quicken specializing in children’s financial literacy. Managed literally hundreds of learning modules, audio recordings, online games, parent forums, FAQs, Webcasts, “audio postcards” and e-mail alerts. Worked closely with 3rd-party subject matter experts.
Led agency team that introduced a new marketing vehicle — direct response software sales — to the U.S. marketplace and built direct response business for Borland from zero to 60% of sales in two and one half years. (During the same period, revenues grew from $90 million to more than $500 million.)

Analyzed direct marketing expenses and leverage points for major Silicon Valley client; developed and negotiated plan to save client over $1,000,000 annually — without decreasing revenues.

As member of 3-person circulation department, increased PC World circulation from 30,000 to more than 300,000. (Folio 400 ranked PC World the fastest-growing U.S. consumer magazine … and I received a Folio Gold Award for Excellence in Direct Marketing.)

CLIENT LIST:

Borland
Intel
Intuit (Quicken Kids & Money)
Macworld
Microsoft
PC World
Yahoo!

Financial Services Finesse

financial OVERVIEW:

I have worked with the following financial institutions on acquisitions/conversions, new product launches, product sales, account activations, retention campaigns, and/or strategic planning. Products include IRAs, payroll processing services, home equity loans and lines of credit, I-shares, bank cards, small business products, and personal banker accounts.

CLIENT LIST INCLUDES:

Bank of America
Barclays Global Investments
Charles Schwab
Citibank
Fleet/BankBoston Financial
Wells Fargo Bank
ANZ Bank (Australia)

Change Management

change OVERVIEW:

I have made senior-level contributions at companies that are managing significant change: start-ups, turnarounds, stall-outs, and new product launches.

CONTRIBUTIONS:

Opened direct response agency (DirectWorks) in Melbourne, Australia for U.S. parent company; first year billings exceeded $U.S. 23,000,000. Responsibilities included new business development, strategic planning, developing client relationships, and managing account and production teams … as well as hiring and training staff, setting and maintaining quality control standards and procedures, and researching, contracting, and managing suppliers.
Turned around faltering design studio (DMZ) by establishing and implementing operating procedures and quality control standards. Responsible for significantly improved product, faster service, increased volume and profitability, and much higher levels of customer satisfaction and confidence.
Turned around integrated advertising agency (Wells Nobay McDowell) in Melbourne, Australia which had recently lost two of three principals and three of four major clients. As interim General Manager, I stabilized agency, improved morale and retained personnel, regained confidence of remaining client and expanded relationship, won significant new business, and attracted high-quality new talent.
Hired to help manage major new product launch for client PG&E at Yates Advertising. Defined project requirements, oversaw functional and visual microsite design processes, and worked closely with 3rd-party web developers.
Participated in launch of new product for Intuit, Quicken Kids & Money. As the Content Manager, I was responsible for the successful development, acquisition, organization, and delivery of hundreds of games, learning modules, worksheets, and parent instructions.
Built marketing department at San Francisco-based tour operator High Country Passage (now World Leaders Travel). In my first twelve months as Director of Marketing, total bookings increased by 98.5% and the fill rate increased by 27% over the previous year.
Managed transition from legacy software to new membership management system for Bay Area Travel Writers, integrating member database, online credit card merchant functionality, membership applications, renewals processing, events posting and RSVP functionality, member messaging, and more. Also managed transition from traditional newsletter to Web-based e-zine.

Management Experience

management OVERVIEW:

I have managed departments of 3 to 15 employees, including recruiting, hiring/firing, training, coaching, supervising, motivating, and reviewing performance. I developed strong planning, problem-solving, and prioritization skills in management positions at High Country Passage, Cohn & Wells, and EuroRSCG Worldwide.