Karen Carson Email & Phone Number

Created and executed sales strategies to identify, sign, launch, support, and maintain multi-year, customized compliance solutions for food and alcohol safety trainings and platform management. Significantly increased company visibility and market share, selling nationally across multiple channels.● Participated in food and alcohol safety initiatives with Product and Marketing to address industry needs, underserved markets, and competitive threats.● Developed new business and acquired logos through prospecting, virtual selling, and managing marketing and sales leads, while resolving pipeline issues.● Negotiated, prepared, and managed execution of client contracts, including auto-renewals and multiyear agreements.● Delivered client reports on certification requirements for up to and over 5,000 locations, ensuring comprehensive compliance.● Geocoded and uploaded client locations to the SFS platform, ensuring custom compliance at county and state levels.● Created and supported content delivery solutions for seamless management and oversight of compliance, either by creating custom portal solutions via the SFS platform or by providing SFS course integration files for client LMS systems.● Trained clients on portals and content launches via webinars, tutorials, and flyers, boosting SFS visibility, compliance content solution awareness, and long-term client partnerships.● Monitored Year 1 accounts monthly, driving upsells, retention, and contract renewals.Selected Highlights** Contracted over $2.5M Year 1 client revenue, exceeding annual sales goals by 50% in 2022 and 27% in 2023.** 10% of new clients signed worth over $1 billion; 24% include over 100 locations, 7% include over 1,000 locations, and 2% with over 3,000 locations.** Initiated, created, and promoted Food Safety Focus Series sales strategy, generating additional revenue potential for upselling and custom content solutions for all channels (Full Service, Fast Casual, QSR, Grocery, C-Store).

Asheville, North Carolina, United States

Identified market leads, contacts, and growth opportunities for strategic targeting and brand awareness across primary, secondary, and post-secondary educational institutions. Developed market strategies for creating interest and opportunities for demonstrations and immediate sales. Reported success and loss consistently in-house to build sales team knowledge and assess the overall potential market. ● Adjusted sales strategy monthly, weekly, and (often) daily in response to drastic shifts in focus, territory definition, and company priorities. ● Identified key decision makers within school districts, workforce boards, colleges and universities, and state departments to establish long-term relationships and partners for success. ● Implemented and mastered the preferred sales formula (PPPT) for the company. ● Evaluated federal, state, and regional funding guidelines as supporting evidence for purchase and implementation of VirtualJobShadow.com and VJSJunior.com. ● Strategically developed leads and contacts based on website research for use in cold calls, email blasts, and webinar recruiting.● Provided virtual interactive, engaging demonstrations of platform content, features, and functionality, in one-on-one and group settings, using a variety of online interactive presentation forums (Teams, RingCentral, Zoom, WebEx, and more).

Atlanta, Ga

Closely examined, interpreted, and addressed market need in order to strategically plan, organize, and lead innovative print and technology product development, improvement, and sales. Controlled a $12M program that included Macmillan’s second largest academic franchise and that comprised 80% of the higher education conceptual introductory statistics market across both the US and Canada at the time. • Managed communication and messaging among market development, print, and media development, as well as production, marketing, and sales. • Strategized, guided, and controlled evolution of new products using best practice agile development strategies.• Determined, interpreted, classified and conveyed features and functionality of minimal viable product.• Mastered and referenced the history of the market and competitive challenges to identify risks and take action to control outcomes for future products. • Planned, lead, and proved return on investment for market development events and focus groups.• Identified market and growth opportunities. • Evaluated, recruited, and facilitated extensive relationships with subject matter experts. • Budgeted, forecasted, and operated 15 profit and loss statements for quarterly evaluation and RF documentation.Selected Highlights** Generated $13M in sales in 2013 for the company, the fourth largest grossing discipline at WH Freeman out of 15 total disciplines.** Increased market share by 48.82% compared to standard statistics industry growth of 21.05%.Decreased development and production costs 10% across all titles for 2013, saving the company more than $200K.** Saved $1.5+M annually by removing CDs from books and placing the material on free student sites.** Generated a $60K quarterly recurring savings by eliminating print production of instructor solutions manuals.** Achieved a $48K annual savings by initiating the design of new video technology manuals to replace individual software .PDF manuals.

Georgia, Alabama, Florida, & Tennessee

Drove regional sales through extensive on-campus work with sales representatives. Trained representatives in both field and on-the-job training, including how to strategize, prioritize and develop itinerary. Acted as a knowledge liaison between in-house and the sales force throughout the four-state Southern Region.• Exceeded annual sales goals by working extensively with Sales Representatives and the Regional Manager to identify, develop and close priority sales targets.• Drove performance by training, coaching, and mentoring new representatives and modeling effective selling practices.• Served as the key resource for technology and sales presentations to potential customers, as well as for providing post-adoption in-service training.• Developed and utilized a strong knowledge of the competition’s books and media in markets; a driving force to the region’s growth and success. • Provided ongoing research, feedback and recommendations on books, trends, and other field events to marketing and editorial.• Built the region into a top-performer, coming in at more than 9% ahead of goal.• Delivered 40% growth in statistics adoptions for both the territory and region in less than three years.

Atlanta, Ga

Covered the second most successful territory in the country, utilizing an in-depth understanding of academics, department politics, teaching, text review processes and curriculum demands. Sold across 15 disciplines with a focus on humanities and hard sciences across 25 schools in the Greater Atlanta Metro area and all other geographies in Georgia.• Initiated daily personal, on-campus sales calls with Professors and appropriate administrative leadership, promoting the company’s books and media for courses in which Macmillan publishes at each campus. • Represented the company at regional and national conferences, building relationships to support long-term revenue opportunities• Teamed with Publishers, Editors, Marketing Managers and National Consultants to develop highly effective strategies that increased market share.• Maintained extensive travel to assigned accounts to conduct personal sales interviews. Preplanned a daily schedule, and developed and executed proven sales techniques to drive revenue.• Delivered sales increases of 29.5% for Worth, 21.6% for Freeman and of 48.9% for BSM in 2007, the three academic textbook divisions of Macmillan Publishers.• Outperformed all goals and objectives, receiving Rookie of the Year in 2007 (out of 13 rookies) and #2 Representative in the company (out of 150 nationwide sales representatives), achieving 120% of goal.• Received the Individual Choice (IC) Award for the largest increase in sales for an IC school (Macon State College).

Miami, Fl

• Co-coordinated and instructed pilot Circles conferencing program• Member of Editorial Board for Beginnings: The Literary Magazine of The Florida Center of the Literary Arts, 2003 and 2004 issues• Co-coordinated and judged entries for The Jack and Ruth Kassewitz Essay Contest, Women’s History Month, 5/03 and 5/04• Evaluated Freshman Composition rhetorics and literary-based texts for possible inclusion in standardized university curriculum

Ba, English, 3.8 Gpa

Minor: Classics • Florida Academic Scholar • Golden Key National Honor Society

Phd/Abd, American Literature (United States), 3.8 Gpa

Ph.D. pending; doctoral coursework in English completed December 1999 • Full scholarship • Graduate Student Representative, Composition.

Ma, American Literature (United States), 4.0 Gpa

Thesis: The Function and Failure of Plantation Government: Interpreting Spaces of Power and Discipline in Representations of Slave.

American Literature (United States)

Education record