Kristin Smith, the senior vice president of communications at the Association of American Railroads, leads a cross-functional team to create the branding, advocacy, earned media and public affairs campaigns that promote the nation’s freight railroads. Her strategic counsel helped the freight rail industry achieve far-reaching legislative and regulatory victories, weather a national crude oil by rail safety crisis and cultivate a stellar reputation among policymakers

• Leads Freight Rail Works, an innovative campaign that effectively adapts to a mercurial political landscape; solidifies freight rail’s reputation (favorability grew from 64% to consistently 95%+); and increases recall (39% to 64%) of messages that enhance the likelihood of positive legislative and regulatory advocacy.• Spearheaded first ever industry reputation model to quantitatively benchmark freight rail’s distinct reputational attributes (proprietary data); clarify messages that enhance reputation and influence outcomes, and guide strategies that improve AAR’s overall advocacy effectiveness. • Managed inaugural proprietary research to discover the unique media usage habits of transportation policy influencers, navigate the evolving political and digital media landscape and maximize flat media budgets. Findings enabled redeployment of more than a million dollars of media to optimize performance and improve unaided campaign recall from 24% to 79%. • Re-imagined and re-engineered AAR’s responsive website and comprehensive content offerings to modernize freight rail’s image; advance the industry’s policy goals; and engage a wide spectrum of audiences. Through rigorous analytics and top-notch content, site traffic and engagement have consistently grown. AAR’s native articles and AAR blog posts consistently receive 2-3X great TOS then news outlets such as Washington Post. • Directed the strategy and production of the AAR/Operation Lifesaver See Tracks? Think Train! PSA campaign to encourage safe behavior around railroad tracks. Campaign is being promoted by Amtrak, the DOT, and railroads across the nation, and achieved more than 80 million broadcast impressions during the 2014 launch.

-- Manage strategic direction and implementation of paid advertising campaign including research, messaging, media planning and creative development-- Oversee strategic and day-to-day digital presence of AAR and all digital content, including the successful launch of the award-winning FreightRailWorks.org website

~ Develop, manage and implement integrated marketing communications strategies across all marketing venues: branding, advertising, marketing, public relations, digital influence, tradeshow outreach, partnership development.~ Oversee the implementation of approved marketing plans and conduct ongoing assessment, evaluation and feedback. ~ Manage all creative aspects of project work: branding, advertising development, media planning/buying, web site development, collateral development, online marketing.~ Manage client budgets, timely monthly billing and client revenue projections.~ Manage account management and creative teams, with focus on mentoring and leadership building~ Cultivate and develop new business leads and proposals

~ Oversee agency performance and client/agency relationship on all advertising accounts and projects (15 – 20 projects for 10-12 clients annually). ~ Development, presentation and execution of advertising campaigns, marketing programs, media plans and new business proposals. ~ Provide strategic counsel, rigorous budget management, timely completion of work and excellent client service. ~ Plan, develop and defend budget projections, campaign goals and measurement criteria necessary to deliver quality and profitable service to clients. ~ Provide team leadership, training and mentoring. ~ Cultivate and develop new business leads and proposals.

~ Strategic planning; industry and competitive analysis~ Profit/Loss and sales projections~ Sales and promotion performance evaluation~ Creative development oversight and management~ Cultivating dynamic client relations; managing project budgets, estimates and production timelines; coordinating client communications and trouble shooting/problem solving.

~ Media evaluation and planning~ Media strategy development and implementation,