Kristen Simmons Email & Phone Number

Laguna Beach, Ca, Us

Orange County, California, United States

Serve on board of non-profit organization providing education, thought leadership and community events for current and aspiring board directors in Orange County.

Denver, Colorado, Us

Serve as Board Advisor to PE-backed provider of CX SaaS solutions that help businesses understand and engage more effectively with their customers.

Serve as advisor to cleantech startup focused on providing cost-effective renewable energy solutions to low-income communities.

Frankfort, Il, Us

Member of the Southern California chapter of the Private Directors Association.

San Diego, California, Us

Led cross-functional teams at this digital information services company, which provides people search services that protect, connect and inform consumers about the important people in their lives. Led team overseeing product management, marketing, customer service, program management, and BI to scale company following PE-backed merger. Posted steady annual growth in legacy offering while introducing new identity protection product and driving scale efficiencies that dropped millions to the bottom line.

San Diego, California, Us

Costa Mesa, Ca, Us

Led marketing, strategy, M&A, customer service, and stood up new innovation and CX functions for this provider of revenue cycle management SaaS services to hospital systems and insurers. Helped align 1000+ employees--hailing from a dozen different acquisitions and locations--to tackle some of the most frustrating financial and administrative problems in the healthcare system. Drove continued annual growth; bringing a new, patient-centered focus to this B2B business, with new products earning Experian’s Innovation of the Year award for North America.

Costa Mesa, Ca, Us

Helped orchestrate consumer division’s dramatic turnaround, reversing years of sales declines by reorienting the mission from selling subscriptions to helping people improve their financial health and creditworthiness. Led marketing, analytics and customer experience functions. Consolidated brands to focus on Experian, brought advertising creative in house, and made Experian a more approachable partner to consumers. Stood up a CRM team as we transformed the business model from paid credit monitoring subscriptions to free credit-building services for consumers (monetized by lead gen). Actions spurred robust YOY growth that has continued since.

As some of the earliest pioneers of modern Customer Experience (CX) work, Lightswitch conducted performance- and customer-impacting work at clients such as American Airlines, Pacific Gas & Electric, Peak Automotive and The Irvine Company. Just as social media and consumer reviews began to expose to the public what companies' experiences are really like, we helped these clients assess, design and improve their customer experiences, while serving as thought leaders in the CX space.

Founded and operated a bespoke home security and automation company dedicated to keeping busy, modern families safe, secure and connected – bringing more value to their security systems and more service to their customer experience. Acquired by larger industry player.

A non-stop adrenaline rush (and perpetual sleep deprivation experiment), I oversaw the new business effort for this integrated marketing agency as a team of top-notch creative minds banded together to pitch and win Jenny Craig, Southwest Airlines, Toshiba, Doubletree Hotels, Accenture and a half-dozen other clients in a two-year period. Red Bull, anyone?

Irvine, Ca, Us

In a brief stint at this company, I worked with a dedicated marketing team to launch and grow the "next generation" of consumer electronics products, from plasma TVs—can you believe we led the market with 25% share?—to digital cameras. (I then left to launch my own personal “next generation,” giving birth to two healthy humans in 2004 and 2005 and running my own marketing consulting business through 2009.)

Irvine, California, Us

Worked with a laser-focused team to re-ignite the Mazda brand (a true labor of love!), bringing together marketing, product management, incentives and customer service functions. Launched Zoom-Zoom advertising campaign, injected the “soul of a sports car” into the design and performance of the product lineup, and overhauled everything from the product naming approach to the dealership facility design, spurring dramatic sales growth for Mazda, with share growth of +50% in the years that followed. Selected by Brandweek as one of 10 Marketers of the Next Generation.

Irvine, California, Us

Irvine, California, Us

Dearborn, Michigan, Us

Worked with a tight-knit agency/client team to create an award-winning campaign featuring Ford Motor Company’s “corporate” messages—things that extend beyond promoting the company’s vehicles, like their commitment to safety, quality and environmental stewardship. We launched breakthrough magazine advertising (copycat ads surfaced from Nike), a global TV spot that brought employees to tears (in a good way), and a media strategy that won awards (how often does that happen?).Also completed assignments at Jaquar Cars (in marketing) and at the Commercial Truck Product Development Center (in finance), as well as at Mazda (see separate entry).

Mba, Marketing And Management

Bachelor Of Commerce, Business (Marketing & Management)