It’s been a remarkable journey since Budd’s Pools general manager Chris Volk asked me to create a marketing department. My role at this point has been focused on branding and communication strategies that will help take us in new directions. I’m working closely with Chris to develop a new brand that reflects the company’s remarkable growth beyond our traditional pool and spa business. It’s been a great trip working with Chris, and our journey has just begun.Chris is an entrepreneur and a well grounded business leader who understands the value of creative and strategic communication. Entrepreneurship and communication are in my blood. Like my grandfather, a newspaper man who failed as a printer in Arizona Territory, I’ve had my share of venturing into new territories and failing. But new opportunities emerge from the ashes of failures, and I continue to say yes, with care, to new ventures. I began my entrepreneurial career, and bought my first computer, in the early 1980s. I started my career with writing and editing and a bit of graphic design. Along the way, I got a lot of help from inspiring leaders, brilliant computer enthusiasts, and by 1995, great Internet pioneers. Public speaking didn’t come naturally, though I grew to enjoy it doing college lectures. The Internet, SEO and Content Marketing took me around the world, speaking at conferences and presenting workshops on websites, blogging, SEO and PR. It even led to writing a book on global Internet marketing. My work experience has spanned the spectrum of organizations from high school English teacher (one year), to the US Army, to a small Washington, DC PR agency, to a national non-profit created by President Lyndon Johnson and Henry Ford II, to public affairs director of the HHS Office of Health Maintenance Organizations, and nearly 10 years of independent consulting. The longest and most formative period was my time at K-Tron, a global industrial equipment manufacturer that lead to unimagined experiences, memories, and friendships that last to this day.Specialties: Marketing communication. Strategic and creative thinking, implementation and management. Writing, editing and design for multilingual websites, blogs, social media, and print. SEO. Video direction and production. Advertising and PR strategy, planning, creative, execution and evaluation.