Rick Willis Email & Phone Number

Charlottesville, VA, US

The University Of Virginia

Charlottesville, Virginia Area

Freelance writer

Western Nebraska

• Staffed Representative Smith while in the District.
• Conducted outreach and represented the congressman at local and regional community meetings and events across 37 counties in an area the size of Virginia.
• Followed office protocols to document subject and content of constituent meetings.
• Communicated with constituents and sources by telephone, preparing outreach event letters as needed. Served on community committees.

Scottsbluff, Nebraska

• Marketing and Research Manager
• Researched economic development prospects for western Nebraska.
• Wrote press releases, developed marketing materials, conducted surveys, and created editorial content for website.
• Facilitated, organized, and attended meetings with committees and stakeholders.
• Researched, wrote, and presented grants to local governmental entities and the public.
• Successful grants written for community economic development exceeded $1 million.

Scottsbluff, Nebraska

• General assignment reporter covering business, public schools, and local, state and federal government.
• Awarded the 2010 Omaha World Herald Community Reporting Award for a series of articles written about a Marine Battalion on maneuvers in the area.
• Wrote a weekly hunting column.

Greater Nashville Area And Nebraska

• Services included providing press releases, brochures, B2B, feature magazine articles, personal profiles for regional publications (e.g., 30 under 30, business awards, volunteering awards), and substantial editing.
• Clients included: Political campaigns, local newspapers, not-for-profits, and corporations with multiple offices across the country.

Columbia, Missouri Area

• Special Projects Editor
• Editor of an eight – twelve page twice-monthly special section in the Columbia Business Times, focusing on industry specific trends pertaining to state, regional, and local businesses.
• Developed timely story ideas, wrote articles and columns, vetted reporters, networked with sources, recruited, hired, and assigned stories to free-lance reporters, and edited stories.
• Wrote feature articles for the glossy magazine Inside Columbia.
• Co-hosted a live Sunday morning business/government trends radio show on KFRU interviewing community business leaders, politicians, and discussing current issues on-air with listeners.

• Sold media roundtable subscriptions to world-wide corporations interested in studying the future of media.
• Developed sales/marketing strategy and marketing materials with sales team and directed support associates.
• Attended editor and publisher conferences to develop leads and network. Responsible for bringing Microsoft Corp. on board for roundtable sponsorship at Redmond Campus.

Central Missouri

• Transferred to Sales from Operations in 1994. Lead courier duties included developing plan to increase productivity by managing couriers’ time.
• Responsible for new business strategies for local accounts and developing new business from established national accounts.
• Developed just-in-time customer-supply-alignments between FedEx Operations and domestic and international express customers.
• Increased revenues to $5.5M from $3.9M.
• Won the Presidents Club Award in 1995 as sales revenues were in the top three percent nationwide. Assisted Global Sales at the FedEx St. Jude Classic golf tournament.

Master'S Degree, Communication, Journalism, And Related Programs

Thesis: The Collection of Media by U.S. Senators

Journalism, Journalism

Education record

Education record

Approval To Advance To Edi, Economic Development