Jacob Heiss Email & Phone Number

Chicago, Illinois, Us

After more than ten years of collaborating with Latin Street Music and Dancing in a contracted capacity, I am thrilled to have joined their core team as full time Director of Operations and Business Development since July 2023. Companies like Latin Street are very unique, creating value simultaneously in the adult education and entertainment spaces; in fact, we are the largest independently owned entity of this kind in the Midwest for over twenty-five years with our primary location in Chicago's South Loop and extension campuses in both the west and north suburbs. In addition to refining the company's day to day processes vis-a-vis curriculum, human resource development, production and marketing of our many weekly and special event Latin dance promotions, and more my role also includes a healthy dose of direct client interaction through dance instruction and DJ services across the primary rhythms we emphasize, including Salsa, Bachata, Cumbia, Brazilian Zouk, and more. My personal goal for Latin Street is to help guide the company through a transformative scaling process as we seek to multiply our locations beyond extension campuses to fully fledged studios, especially by way of franchising, which no other US company in our specific niche has achieved thus far.

Leading up to my work with Visual Feeder, I have served as Founder & CEO of Just Jacob Ventures LLC. Launched in 2013 as a business and entertainment solutions company, we have helped our private, nonprofit, and corporate clients surmount every obstacle and leverage every opportunity, specializing in strategic development, enterprise transformation, customer growth, and production optimization. Corporate clients and production partners include Latin Street Music & Dancing, West Monroe Partners, Ravinia Festival, Purdue University, Kickstand Productions, The Hispanic Alliance for Career Advancement, Refuge Foundation for the Arts, Clary Collection, Dizengoff Audio, DC Bachata Congress LLC, The Canadian Salsa Dance Corporation, Latino Del Mundo, and more.

Chicago, Il, Us

From March 2021 to July 2023, I was honored to team with one of Chicago's most innovative startups, Visual Feeder. As Director of Business Development, I worked closely with our co-founders, Edward & Yaxi Yang, to grow Visual Feeder's business by building vital client and partner relationships, developing strategic initiatives to increase our fledgling company's revenue and brand. Featured in TechStars class of 2020, Visual Feeder is revolutionizing traditional out of home advertising through our dynamic, immersive technology with a growing list of clients across the world, such as Parson School of Design, 900 North Michigan, Wndr Museum, Lyft, Adidas, Nike, Lululemon, Hilton, The Center for Disease Control, Cresco Labs, Red Bull, and more.

Drafted and maintained an $800,000+ annual budget while achieving marginal growth goals by providing financial ad hoc analyses, donor development support, and knowledge management to senior and associate leadership figures. Achieved compliance with the state of Wisconsin and optimal organizational functioning by refining the Foundation’s mission statement, updating its bylaws, composing all staff job descriptions, and creating corporate infrastructure for the governing board and core steering committees. Defined and ensured consistency of best practices through written and oral communications, presiding over all weekly staff meetings, quarterly business advisory board meetings, and periodic staff assessments to accomplish ongoing functionality and growth with team members at the Foundation’s headquarters as well as Nashville and New York City. Edited weekly Foundation newsletter and interfaced with the organization’s program participants, nonprofit partners, corporate sponsors, and other community stakeholders.Co-produced and promoted Hopeland Music & Arts Festival (Green Bay, WI) and Holiday Concert Series (Appleton, WI) with the Foundation’s Executive Director. These projects alone featured 30+ artists from across the country with 2000+ in attendance at 3 venues, helping secure over 15% of the Foundation’s operating revenue for fiscal year 2019. Designed and synthesized data for monthly reports to present progress and insight to community transformational results, investments, real estate assets, publicity, and leadership.

Us

Developed and deployed sales and marketing strategy for Latin Street Music & Dancing's promotional efforts with Green Dolphin Street. Worked a six hour onsite shift each Thursday in both the VIP and main rooms in addition to establishing promotional relationships with other clients on behalf of both Green Dolphin Street and Latin Street, such as such as El Nuevo Taco Loco, Kizomba Chicago, and more. Liaised with venue and production staff while managing artistic service providers working in the genres of salsa, bachata, kizomba, Brazilian zouk, global bass, Afro house, footwork, R&B, trap, hip-hop, and EDM.

I oversaw a spectrum of church operations, including First Free's community group services, assimilation processes, adult education programs, outreach initiatives, and most notably all volunteer recruitment, training, and deployment structures. In addition, I coordinated with key community partners in need of volunteer support, such as Breakthrough Urban Ministries, The Andersonville Chamber of Commerce, HELPSudan, and more.

Developed and deployed sales and marketing strategy for Latin Street Music & Dancing's promotional efforts with Sound-Bar. Worked a four hour onsite shift each Thursday in the VIP room in addition to establishing promotional relationships with other clients on behalf of both Sound-Bar and Latin Street, such as Mandarin Quarterly of Mandarin Communications Group, Buffalo Trace Distillery, and more. Liaised with venue and production staff while managing artistic service providers working in the genres of house, global bass, trap, R&B, footwork, dubstep, and EDM.

Princeton, Nj, Us

Part-time tutored undergraduate and graduate students through all stages of the writing process during my last year of study at Princeton Theological Seminary.

Princeton, New Jersey, Us

Helped coordinate all the foundation's intern corps part-time during my first year of study at Princeton Theological Seminary.

M.Div., Systematic Theology, Biblical Studies, Pastoral Theology, Jewish-Christian Relations

B.A., Applied Mathematics, Philosophy, Music, Physics