Sandy Marek Email & Phone Number

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Tutoring Chicago is the largest one-to-one after school tutoring program offering consistent long-term pairing of students and volunteers in the Chicagoland area.

Nationally

Executive-level consultant with expertise leveraging a unique blend of marketing, sales, fundraising, and strategic and corporate partnerships to create profitable joint ventures for leading nonprofits and brands over the last 20 years.

Wichita, Kansas Area

Responsible for building new Business Development/Strategic Partnership Capability for a fast growing, ever changing organization. Proactively build strong, collaborative relationships with community stakeholders to nurture awareness and support of the organization’s mission through civic relationships, student/teacher opportunities and employee and volunteer engagement.• Executive Leadership Team member responsible for the organization’s long-term financial stability and strategic growth across multiple revenue streams, including a holistic approach to business and strategic alliance development.• Cultivate and oversee contributed multi-million dollar revenue portfolios from corporate sponsorship, major gifts and individual donors, philanthropic giving, cause marketing, and in-kind support. • Amplified national program growth through rapid expansion into thirty eight states reaching 4,500 new students and 1000 Educators in two years.

Chicago, Illinois

Greater Chicago Area

Lead strategic fundraising and marketing partnership initiatives for one of Chicago’s most well known organizations and the largest indoor aquarium in the world with over 2 million visitors per year.STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP:Lead cross-team collaboration to drive and grow fundraising. Work with the President/CEO and Board Development Chairman on strategic planning. Provide a clear team vision to empower employees to work autonomously. Develop rapport and high morale with employees. Manage a team of 30. RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT:Manage the Individual Giving Membership Program with 30,000 members. Develop corporate and organizational relationships to grow the Institutional Giving Program. Negotiate win-win strategies to forge strong partnerships. Cultivate relationships with the Board of Trustees and all major donors. Serve as the main liaison for the BOT’s Development Committee Chair and the Nominating Committee.BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT:Grow and manage marketing sponsorships and corporate, foundation, and government giving. Create sponsorship packages with large corporate donors. Negotiate with donors and venture philanthropists to create mutually agreeable strategies. Work with BOT and CEO, to develop solicitation for principal and major gifts.OPERATIONAL LEADERSHIP:Manage an annual $13M budget. Manage the annual strategy planning session to determine major initiative for the year. Participate with executives and BOT in long-range planning and development.KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS:→ Leveraged sales and marketing experience to exceed annual goals of $13M+ by developing synergistic community relationships. → Brought new and non-traditional ‘out of the box’ approaches to increase fundraising, while still keeping to the foundations of traditional fundraising.→ Quickly grew the size of six-figure corporate donations to $250K+ (an amount that was unheard of in the past) by negotiating unique and customized sponsorship packages with large, well-known organizations.

Greater Chicago Area

Led efforts to identify and develop potential and new corporate partnerships throughout the community.LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT:Managed a team of four employees including all phases of the employee lifecycle. Identified company objectives and created strategies accordingly. Worked closely with Marketing/PR and development teams to meet annual goals-revenue and attendance. Managed the Corporate Advisory Committee of the Board. Represented the aquarium at appropriate industry organizations and meetings.SPONSORSHIPS & RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT:Designed and created a new sponsorship program with a menu of levels and options to potential corporate donors. Managed corporate relationships including excellent client service, follow-through, and regular communication. Planned, organized, and hosted events for potential and current corporate partners.PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT:Revised the showcase of logos and sponsorships donors / corporations in a clean, professional, and fair manner. Ensured cultivation, solicitation, recognition, and stewardship of sponsor benefits and agreements.PROSPECT DEVELOPMENT & MANAGEMENT:Managed all aspects of the corporate prospect tracking system. Performed prospect identification and research. Managed proposal development and subsequently oversaw contracts and fulfillment of agreements.KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS:→ Negotiated a $5M corporate donation in exchange for ‘naming recognition’ thereby successfully achieving the largest-ever donation. Worked closely with the sponsor corporation to develop and grow the relationship and ensure a win-win approach. → Doubled the ‘Corporate Connection Program’ during time in role, a program that allowed organizations to gift entrance to the aquarium to employees in exchange for a large donation. Further developed these organizational relationships to successfully enroll them in other sponsorship programs.→ Tripled sponsorship dollars to $1M via the creation of the new sponsorship program and levels.

Greater Chicago Area

Managed promotional and sales programs with a dual reporting relationship to the marketing and development teams. Promoted rapidly due to creating synergy by leveraging marketing assets to increase promotions.SYNERGY & COLLABORATION:Tapped by CEO to develop and enhance synergy across sales, marketing, and promotional programs. Sat on the executive team meetings and retreats to increase collaboration across teams. Coordinated a promotions task force responsible for planning promotions. PROGRAM DEVELOPMENT:Managed promotions and sales events for various niche organizations, corporations, and donors. Developed sales programs and promotions within the tourism industry to raise visibility and increase traffic. Led the summer evening public program including promotional partnerships and logistics. Organized promotional programs in partnership with team members. Managed the VIP ticket program sales and all associated relationship management.RELATIONSHIPS & PARTNERSHIPS:Worked with ad agencies to ensure messaging and branding were on track with promotional goals. Partnered with the City of Chicago to develop programs to drive visitors to the aquarium. Represented the aquarium in industry organizations. Managed and expanded relationship with Ticketmaster to encompass Shedd's marketing and sales objectives. Represented aquarium strategic planning, serving on appropriate teams as needed.KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS:→ Designed a ground-breaking partnership and promotion (for its time) with Starbucks which sold Shedd coffee mugs at Chicagoland stores that came with a ‘free’ ticket to the aquarium. Partnership increased traffic, publicity and media coverage, and secured a $25K sponsorship from Starbucks.→ Tapped by CEO to co-lead an initiative to revamp the ‘Management Counsel’, which had grown stale. Assessed organizational and leadership needs and made recommendation to CEO for a new approach, the PAC10: President’s Action Counsel, to address organizational challenges.

Greater Chicago Area

Hired to start-up a new promotions department from the ground-up. Created promotional programs with zero budget. Designed promotions to increase traffic to the ‘Amazon Rising’ exhibit. Recruited and managed volunteers for promotional and cross-city tour programs. Organized all events and associated logistics with partner organizations, volunteers, and vendors. Developed new promotional partnerships and innovative programs throughout Chicagoland. Established and executed a quarterly promotional plan while maintaining budget. Forged promotional partnerships with organizations such as Starbucks, Chicago Bears, and Chicago Fire. Created and presented promotional proposals to employees at all levels of organizations.KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS:→ Created and implemented a 9-month Midwest tour to promote the ‘Amazon Rising’ exhibit with volunteer staff.→ Managed all logistics for the volunteer team to travel for nine-months across cities in the Midwest.→ Grew the function and earned an initial $25K budget due to achieving success with promotions and by showing the executive team that having someone focused on promotions would impact ROI for the aquarium.

Greater Chicago Area

Managed advanced and large-scale logistics for this charitable event consisting of 1,800 riders and 500 crew members. Oversaw camp set-up implementing necessary adjustments to site layout. Served as the direct liaison with municipal authorities: Police Chiefs, Directors of Parks and Forestry. Worked with authorities to arrange for public activity permits and use of facilities. Scouted and finalized the route directions and vehicle directions for the Ride. Developed relationships with pit-stop contacts. Planned and designed site diagrams and obtaining approval letters. Prepared equipment manifests and purchase orders for the event.

Managed accounts: Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, Disney Interactive, American Film Institute’s 100 Years…100 Movies, VSDA, Republic Pictures, and comedians Louie Anderson, Steven Wright, and Smothers Brothers. Established and implemented targeted media strategies. Coordinated media activities at major trade shows. Developed press kit materials, press releases, and pitch letters. Created and organized weekly status reports.

Worked in marketing and sales to promote the organization as it transitioned to time-share units.