Cathleen Sullivan (She/Her/Hers) Email & Phone Number

With my extensive background in sales, marketing, and product development, I was recruited to help executive clients develop compelling career narratives and align their job search strategies and career marketing documents with their target audiences. I also coach clients on effective interview practices, leveraging my experience conducting hundreds of interviews in the publishing industry to create market-leading products to help executive clients hone and deliver their brand stories.

Sought after for my expertise in developing and marketing best-selling educational products, I founded a boutique consulting firm to advise education publishing and technology companies on select projects involving business case development, sales and marketing planning, product management, and digital transformation strategy.

North York, Ontario, Canada

I was tapped to drive growth in the $17M Science, Math, and Engineering portfolio as the Executive Product Manager on the Product team. I consistently exceeded performance targets YOY by developing a long-range strategy to transform multiple products substantively to better align to the Canadian market, lifting these titles in level, breadth and depth. Later, I was given additional oversight of key titles in Education, Business, Sociology and Psychology. I led business case development and contract negotiations, signing 5-8 key titles/year.𝟰𝗫 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗪𝗶𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁/𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿 & 𝗘𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗬𝗲𝗮𝗿Notable achievements include:» CREATING MARKET-LEADING PRODUCTS: I led portfolio growth by identifying key US titles to adapt for the Canadian market and driving product development, sales, and marketing strategy. I created 3 market-leading products, including a flagship Chemistry title (Tro/Fridgen/Shaw) that captured and maintained its #1 market position for 10 years.» ALIGNING PRODUCTS TO MARKET NEEDS: I was instrumental in launching an initiative to enrich my portfolio with Indigenous histories and perspectives, achieving the addition of Indigenous content to 85% of my frontlist. I held many conversations with Indigenous peoples across Canada to find SMEs, fostered relationships amongst the SMEs and author teams, and oversaw the launch strategy, enabling Pearson to meet its goal of creating content reflecting the diversity of its audience.» TRANSFORMING TEAM CULTURE: I reset the product team culture from competition to collaboration. I implemented a bi-weekly coffee klatsch off-site, providing the team with a supportive space to discuss challenges and wins.» MENTORING & COACHING: I supported dozens of colleagues throughout their careers. Many are now in managerial to VP-level roles in a wide range of fields including sales, edtech, and customer success.

Ottawa, Canada Area

I identified a business need, resulting in a promotion to a newly created position to develop and lead national-level sales and marketing strategy to drive adoption rates and revenue growth. I travelled extensively across Canada to meet with academics, department heads, senior administration, and regional sales representatives and marketing managers to gain a nuanced understanding of the Canadian market and develop compelling sales strategies and marketing collateral. Notable achievements include:» CAPTURING #1 MARKET POSITION: Building on the success of MasteringPhysics, I led the expansion of the Mastering Science platform into other science disciplines. I extended the faculty advisory board into each new discipline and converted the board members to super users available to instructors across Canada for guidance on the platform. I also pulled in 50% of the students needed to test the beta Mastering content for General Chemistry. These strategies helped the Mastering Science platform gain momentum in the Canadian market and moved Pearson to #1 in the Science category.» DRIVING EDTECH ADOPTIONS IN THE MARKET: I drove product adoption rates with a transformed sales approach to online learning platforms and software accompaniments (Mastering Science and MyMathLab). I developed and led hundreds of sales and training demos, pilots, and presentations for Pearson staff as well as college and university educators across the country. » ELEVATED SALES AND MARKETING COLLATERAL: I developed a series of customizable sales and training presentations for specific product lines for the sales and marketing team, enhancing company reputation and communication of product value. I co-led dozens of presentations across the country with audiences of up to 30 instructors, department heads, and senior leadership at higher education institutions.

Ottawa, Canada Area

I collaborated with editorial and international teams on strategic marketing and sales presentations and planning for key products. I helped to increase revenue by over 10% in 2 years for a $25M revenue portfolio. I travelled across the country to lead product presentations and training sessions for instructors. Notable achievements include:» Winning Marketing Manager of the Year Award.» Leading strategy to launch newly acquired online learning Mastering platform into the Canadian marketplace. Elevated Pearson from #3 to #1 position in the Physics category with comprehensive sales and marketing strategy including class pilots and the formation of the first-ever faculty advisory board in Canada for a digital product. Saw 80% of class pilots convert to adoptions.

I started my career with Pearson as a regional sales representative. I exceeded my sales targets by up to 50% year over year, earning selection into the Top Performer Club. I also grew my sales territory to the second largest in the division within 3 years, achieving 12% year over year territory growth.