Karen Thomas Email & Phone Number

Kent, Washington, United States

My first day working with Pickleball Central was at the US OPEN Pickleball Championships in 2017 and I have been on the leadership team helping drive Pickleball Central's growth as the largest pickleball eCommerce retailer since then. When I started I was Pickleball Central's first marketing employee, responsible for all aspects of marketing strategy, planning and execution for multiple B2B and B2C properties: email marketing, social media, advertising, PR, vendor relationships, sponsorships, graphic design, project management, trade show planning and design, marketing collateral design, copy writing and anything else involving branding and promotion of Pickleball Central, Pickle-ball Inc., Pickleball Paddles Plus, Pickleball Warehouse, Pickleball Station, Pickleball Tournament and BOOST Pickleball Training Camp's websites, products and services.Today, thanks to our consistent annual growth and success, our team has grown and I am fortunate to have been able to build a solid marketing team with experts in social media and design. My primary focus is on branding, Go-To-Market strategy, PR, email marketing automation, customer acquisition and retention, analytics, web design/UX, fostering successful collaboration and efficient processes in a remote work environment, and continuing to provide our customers with the best experience and customer service they have come to expect from us as the pickleball experts.

Greater Seattle Area

I supported business clients with marketing, communications and project management consulting. Areas of expertise and focus:● Project scoping, oversight and coordination● Social media strategy and content creation● Blog and email newsletter writing and design● Process improvement, workflow optimization● Time and task management, electronic organization

Greater Seattle Area

● Owned blog, email and social media calendars, created content, wrote blog, social posts and email newsletters.● Designed graphics for online marketing channels; curated and managed library of digital media assets.● Developed successful client and vendor relationships, strategic partnerships and new business opportunities.● Managed client accounts and projects, tracked and reported on goals, status and outcomes.● Designed presentations, facilitated workshops on productivity topics for professional organizations.● Provided training and consulting for business owners, executives, employees and residential clients.

Seattle, Wa

● Managed and executed marketing, PR and communications strategy for Saas tech company that provides B2B event management software for multiple verticals.● Designed large corporate website: created UX, content and graphics, developed mobile-responsive functionality, lead generation strategies and landing pages, wrote copy.● Implemented consistent branding, identity and messaging throughout website and collateral.● Managed editorial calendar for website and social media content creation and publishing.● Designed and wrote persuasive copy for press releases, case studies, fact sheets, user stories, advertising, brochures, white pages, email newsletters and social media posts.● Increased brand awareness and customer engagement with multiple social media campaigns.● Reduced PR costs through adoption of new targeted online news distribution process.● Developed SEO/SEM strategy, monitored organic and paid search, ads and keyword performance.● Managed trade show exhibit design and budgets, represented company at trade shows.● Designed style guides, logo/brand guidelines and templates for marketing collateral.● Developed successful strategic partnerships with mobile app developers.

Seattle, Wa

● Managed technology development for two complex multi-year enterprise IT initiatives to build web-based accounting and grants administrations systems used across all UW departments.● Drove and documented project strategy and objectives, scoping, business and technical requirements, risk analysis/mitigation, budgets, milestone schedules, training and test plans.● Wrote design documents, RFP responses, project proposals, project plans and reports.● Led cross-functional technical architecture design and software development teams.● Coordinated usability testing, user feedback sessions, QA/UA testing and end user training.● Presented status updates, proposals and demos to executives and stakeholder committees.● Increased collaboration in large matrix environment; improved communication and productivity across technical teams and business stakeholders to ensure project success.● Directly supervised senior software engineers and recruited web developers to build new team.

Bellevue, Wa

Vivendi Universal was the parent company that acquired Sierra Entertainment.● Successfully managed design, development, release and support of eight software titles and four collections of casual games created for mobile devices and online.● Oversaw all phases of product development and project management from concept through launch and post mortem/lifecycle analysis and documentation.● Developed and managed detailed project schedules and budgets totaling $5 million.● Collaborated effectively with marketing and other departments to determine marketing plans, project plans, product strategy, features and implementation plans.● Planned and executed marketing focus groups to inform strategy and development.● Conducted detailed competitive analysis to determine brand messaging and market positioning.● Oversaw user testing, coordinated issue tracking, made final decision on issue resolution and manufacturing release/launch readiness and status.● Hired and supervised cross-functional development team of 14 employees and external vendors.

Bellevue, Wa

Sierra On-line became Sierra Entertainment then was purchased by Vivendi Universal.● Managed internal and external development of multiple brands, software product franchises, individual software titles and websites.● Responsible for all major strategic, administrative and financial decisions determining product design, development, staffing, scheduling, budgeting and resource allocation.● Developed and managed relationships with strategic partners; negotiated contracts and royalty agreements with licensors and vendors.● Collaborated with marketing to determine strategy, branding, messaging and deliverables.● Successfully launched 12 game titles and websites on time and within budget.● Managed multiple project schedules and budgets totaling over $8 million.● Evaluated new business opportunities, product submissions and third-party developers.● Improved collaboration, resource- and technology-sharing across divisions and teams.● Increased revenue with successful development of Hoyle Casino and other casual games titles.● Recruited, hired and supervised software developers, artists, designers, writers and producers.

Bellevue, Wa

● Managed the design and development of multiple entertainment and productivity software products, successfully shipping 20+ major titles, websites and dozens of online games.● Made major contribution to the growth of Sierra's most profitable division. Drove Land Designer 3D to #1 in sales among gardening software and grew the Hoyle brand from $1M to >$50M in revenue.● Simultaneously managed three internal and off-site development teams comprised of staff and contractors in three states: developers, designers, artists, writers and associate producers.● Managed integration of newly acquired software companies, acting as key liaison between headquarters and remote development groups, creating successful transitions and collaboration.● Managed usability and quality testing. Made final decision on issue resolution and authorized manufacturing releases.● Wrote and edited copy for websites, marketing collateral, press releases and user manuals.● Managed documentation production, supervised internal and vendor writers and content providers.● Managed localization of European software releases. Provided French translation consulting.● Designed and produced several websites including the popular Hoyle online gaming site.● Presented project proposals, milestone reviews and status updates to senior executives.● Developed and adhered to multi-million dollar budgets and detailed project schedules.

Bellevue, Wa

● Successfully managed design, development, launch and maintenance of Power Chess, the most popular, innovative, award-winning interactive chess game for PC/Mac and online.● Collaborated effectively with marketing and sales departments to determine product strategy and features, create marketing collateral and packaging and establish development goals and timelines.● Improved team collaboration, productivity and morale with effective leadership and organization of project roles, deliverables, milestones, scheduling and process improvement.● Supervised team of artists and developers; designed UI and graphics, art directed demos.● Created art asset management system, streamlined workflow and reduced data/asset loss.● Managed testing, coordinated bug tracking and determined issue status and resolution.

Bachelor Of Arts (B.A.), French Language And Literature

French Studies