Co-founded privately held educational publishing company specializing in test preparation student workbooks and software for the K12 market. Integral in driving growth to $5M+ in revenue and nearly 70 employees at height. Established foundational curriculum, authoring/editing multiple books before taking permanent ownership of marketing department/sales force. Completed a fiscally successful tour as CEO during company restructuring.Directed strategic marketing campaigns from initial concept through launch to achieve high sales growth. Partnered with COO to build ABC Ink Press, a wholly owned division pursuing government, international, and consumer print markets. Leveraged Six Sigma methodologies to reduce risk, decrease overhead, and attract/retain customers. Led prospecting campaigns to reach audiences of up to 300K, deploying print/email advertising utilizing freemium model to achieve ~20% open rate with up to 50% of prospects taking an action. Employed internal, motivation segmentation messaging to reengage dormant customers, achieving open rates of up to 50% and click through rates of 40%.Designed and deployed targeted lead nurturing campaigns based on demographic segments and prospect/customer behavior; segmented customers for tailored messaging, with up to 48% responsiveness. Implemented a pilot sales program in an underperforming territory that incentivized inside/ outside sales reps and grew sales substantially. Launched a referral marketing program accounting for up to 5% of company sales activity, awarding 10% credit to schools who referred new schools. Reduced sales turnover from a high of 60% in 2013/2014 (during restructuring) to 10% in 2015 via a commission and bonus structure that encouraged upselling/cross-selling.

Drove a $4M business as it moved from annual net loss to profitability for the first time in four years, engineering a winning environment for the marketing, product development, R&D, administrative, and production teams in line with company vision. Determined company strategy, maximized investments, oversaw business/financial/HR operations, and formulated cost reduction strategies. During a period of tightened school budgets nationwide, restored profitability via restructuring, reducing overhead, and eliminating company debt. Restructured outside sales compensation, launched hybrid ebook/ book offerings, growing ebook sales to 20% of overall sales. Implemented change management initiatives, increasing response rate 50%. Leveraged SWOT analysis and government resources to determine state education needs,re-positioning titles to expand offerings from < 200 to 400+. Increased customer retention via subscription model and re-positioned test preparation-aligned with curricular products.

Created a winning sales environment via strategic marketing initiatives: increased the amount of marketing in print, added a digital component, utilized email marketing, and expanded the scope/reach of conference attendance. Oversaw 13 employees and expanded territories from four to 10. Planned/oversaw the building of an in-house CRM in 2011. Led a significant, unique CRM addition enabling no-cost deployment of electronic sampling via sales reps. Doubled growth of conference participation (from 50+ to 100+ annually). Realized 10%-20% lead generation via strategic messaging, including a text messaging campaign at one conference generating 400+ leads across 1,500 attendees (20%). Achieved open rates of 10%-20% on prospecting emails and click through rates averaging 25%.

Transitioned the company from ad hoc advertising to strategically planned campaigns that reduced marketing costs by 30%+, including brochure advertising, bulk mailings, and significant conference/trade show exhibitor participation totaling 50+ events annually. Increased marketing budget ~25%/year, slightly below sales growth of 33% ($1M to $3M).

Co-authored multiple English language arts, math, and social studies books and/or test preparation materials to establish company curriculum still in use today. Supported production management as needed, including operating printers and binders. Instrumental in increasing company sales from $100K to $1M, a ten-fold increase over four years.

Soldier who assisted the commander and the Senior NCO with administrative duties. Ran calculations both manually and by computer using weather and chemical strike data. Alerted soldiers in the field where and for how long chemical and biological agents would be a hazard to soldiers in strike simulations. Organized and led attack and defensive positions for platoon level operations in battle ops simulations.