Cynthea Gillespie Email & Phone Number

La Crosse, Wisconsin, United States

La Crosse, Wi

Independent consultant on special projects, St. Paul, MN and La Crosse, WI• Wrote technical sales proposals in response to RFPs, RFQs, and RFIs for IT professional services organization.• Wrote SBIR proposal responses for education data warehouse and data integration specialists, eScholar. • Edited several book projects. One book purchased for screenplay.• Developed proposal content and RFP response template for nationwide transportation company, submitting to USPS for federal mail hauling contracts.• Wrote white paper and marketing communications plan for Configure-Price-Quote (CPQ) software company. • Developed PowerPoint presentation aimed at executive management of hospitality organization.• Ghost wrote book on Raw Food Diet and edited marketing communications collateral for naturopath. • Presented transformational workshops utilizing art and writing techniques for self-discovery.• Miscellaneous independent freelance technical writing contracts, including: tech articles, process and procedures, executive summaries, and technical marketing collateral.

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

On contract to MnDOT, Office of Transit and Active Transportation. Responsible for documenting all policies, processes, and procedures relating to the Greater Minnesota Public Transit systems; ultimately creating a Master Greater MN Public Transit Programs manual.

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul Area

Contracted to eScholar, U.S. leader in revolutionizing the way data is used in education as it drives the application of data to personalize education. Responsibilities include: Writing case studies, sell sheets, and editing research papers on the subjects of data analytics in education, data warehouses, and data integration. eScholar specializes in: longitudinal data systems for education, individualized learning goals, fata earehousing, personalized rducation planning, Unique Student Identifiers, professional development and training, data analytics, and education data dashboards.

Minneapolis, Mn

Contracted to Wells Fargo, Minneapolis. Responsibilities include: analyzing and identifying RFP content for potential contract risks; and interfacing with Wells Fargo Merchant Services (WFMS) Subject Matter Experts representing WFMS Legal, Contracts, and Operations divisions; as well as First Data, WFMS merchant services data processing partner.

Polaris Industries, Medina And Wyoming, Mn

Contracted to Polaris Industries as a technical writer reporting to Director of Product Compliance. • Worked closely with Sr. VP, Polaris attorneys, outside counsel, and cross-functional teams to develop and write the global Polaris Product Action Policy (PAP), which established a decision-making process for the evaluation and escalation of potential product safety concerns. • Worked closely with Polaris managers to develop procedures within the Product Compliance group. • Published and managed work flow in RELIANCE, a digital repository for Polaris assets.

Saint Paul, Mn

Offered full-time position by 3M Company within nine months of being contracted by contracting agency. Delivered high impact technical writing skills to 3M Traffic Safety and Security Division (TSSD) Government Proposal group. I specialize in "Writing to Sell" and "Writing to Win." • Initiated leadership role in proposal editing for grammar, active voice, consistency, clarity, and conformance to style guide • Crafted, wrote, and edited highly-competitive responses winning business for 3M TSSD. Played key role in analyzing government-issued Request for Proposals (RFPs), Request for Qualifications (RFQ) and Request for Information (RFIs)• Collaborated with proposal management team for optimal strategic approach • With subject matter experts (SMEs), developed Win Themes and compelling content to create compelling, competitive responses• Edited Best and Final Offer (BAFO) documents• Developed monthly “Excellence in Writing” department writing workshops to enhance team writing skills • Fulfilled requests by other TSSD areas to contribute my strong writing skills Exceptionally strong in: • Strategic analysis of RFP, RFQ, and RFI requirements • Crafting compelling Win Themes and raising awareness among other writers as to pivotal importance of weaving Win Themes throughout proposals• Writing compelling Executive Summaries, in addition to communicating the technical solution • Attention to detail to ensure compliant responses

3M Traffic Safety And Security (Tssd)

Contracted to 3M to provide marketing consulting and seasoned technical marketing persuasive writing skills to 3M's TSSD Government Proposal Group. Achieved success collaborating on highly-competitive responses to government-issued RFPs and RFIs. Initiated and wrote department style guide to ensure highly polished, consistent, compelling, and compliant responses.

Santa Fe, Nm

* Professional Writing Services -- Content strategy and development for the WebMeasurably strengthened online presence for small business CEOs. Collaborated and consulted on identifying and refining primary and secondary market messaging.• Effectively designed five-step process for successful website re-designs resulting in marked increased site visits and higher search engine rankings. • Developed new, high impact content for website redesign, re-purpose old content, and edited entire sites utilizing SEO practices to ensure high search engine ranking. • Wrote high impact SEO articles, blog posts, whitepapers, and reports. • Performed Information Architecture on websites in need of reorganization and redesign.• Managed multiple projects and multiple writers.

Santa Fe, Nm

* Prepared annual budget for business and prepared and maintained individual client event budgets. * Wrote all proposals and contracts for more than 100 events. * Resourced vendors. Managed and maintained up to twenty-six vendor relationships and up to fifteen event staff for each event. * Coordinated annual benefit gala for New Mexico GLTB, April 2007, Sandia Resort & Casino. * Coordinated events for SBIR/STTR Outreach Center, Technology Ventures Corporation. SBIR (Small Business Innovation Research) Program is a $2 billion federal set-aside for small, technology-oriented business development. Worked w/ established SBIR clients and identified potential SBIR clients for technology funding. Maintained SBIR/STTR database. * Conceived and coordinated First Annual U.S. Southwest Soaring Museum Benefit Gala.

Albuquerque, Nm

Successfully delivered edited processes and procedures for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) for SNL Division 6000 Financial & Nuclear Energy Program Line of Business. Created process flows in Visio.

Remote

Wrote compelling technical marketing collateral for Hewlett-Packard for 2009 6th-generation server rollout. Subject matter included: virtualization, interoperability, mission-critical operability, SAP-Linux solutions on HP servers, handling Big Data, and more. Collateral included: Solution briefs, battle cards, competitive positioning documents, and PowerPoint presentations (customer-facing and internal-facing).

Santa Fe, Nm

Sr. writer and editor for ConnectPress, an online CAD magazine. Community moderator of the Pro/E community (Pro/ENGINEER product development software). • Conceived, developed and wrote compelling technical feature stories aimed at business executives, engineering community and members of the CAD industry. Specialized in covering PTC products, PTC partners, Value-added Resellers (VARs) and industry verticals. Managed community of 56,000 global readers. • Interviewed subject matter experts and corporate executives regarding CAD, CAE and PLM software for story content, while ensuring balanced coverage of industry verticals. • Covered new product releases in software, including product reviews. • Provided daily press coverage from national industry conferences, events and trade shows. • Managed content with content management system. Managed editorial calendar.

B.A., Communications With An Emphasis In Writing

Art History, German, French, And Music

Liberal Arts And Sciences, General Studies And Humanities