I planned a 9 month sabbatical following FINEX’s post-acquisition handoff.Major components:1200 mile solo bike tour through the Andes to Patagonia. I carried all my gear to camp, climb, and fish along the way. I also backpacked some legendary trails, climbed a few obscure peaks, caught fish for dinner, met lots of friendly locals and got really good at improvised bike repairs. Each day presented a new physical, mental, and social challenge. For me it was the trip of a lifetime.After that my wife and I toured Italy, and trekked the Alta Via 1 through the Dolomites. Back home I visited friends & family, completed a couple home renovation projects, ran with various run clubs, finished two ultramarathons, got through a lot of books and podcasts–in short I did all the little things we all plan to do “someday.” Now I’m back and super motivated to move my career forward!

Key wins:Recruited & hired creative and marketing roles Led PR agency switch, driving 10x growth in earned media placementsLaunched series of FINEX Happy Hours featuring cooking demos from over 50 notable NW chefs Developed data-driven process for product roadmap revisionCompleted core FINEX line with 5 successful product launchesWorked with Lodge sales team to launch POS in key retailers, notably Bloomingdales & CabelasPackaged FINEX brand, processes and assets for seamless hand-off to Lodge team Per my JD: "The FINEX Brand Director is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the FINEX business, operating effectively like a general manager. The Brand Director is responsible for daily business activities and will establish and ensure strategic goals are met by working collaboratively to set and manage operational practices, creating and maintaining budgets, including P & L responsibility, managing employees, and leading all aspects of the brand."

Following Lodge's welcomed acquisition of FINEX, my responsibilities expanded to include codifying and advocating for the FINEX brand and core consumer within Lodge and their larger network of reps and retailers. My title also changed to better fit within the Lodge hierarchy.In this position I led several multi-day meetings with Lodge senior leadership: setting agendas, creating decks and presenting FINEX brand history & philosophy, data-driven consumer profiles, product roadmap and future goals.Through the pandemic I transitioned our team from in-office to fully remote and shifted our marketing focus and spend from brick-and-mortar retail to DTC and ecom retail, to great effect. Despite brick and mortar retailers cancelled the majority of their orders, 2020 revenue still increased 85% Y/Y while DTC grew over 125%.Key wins:- Growing revenue 85% Y/Y; DTC > 125%- Turning production space into event / content generation demo kitchen- Building our PNW credibility by sponsoring local food-industry running club, launching regional celeb chef demos & building relationships with regional media- Leading two successful destination photo / video shoots to showcase our outdoor-focused pandemic messaging- Leading & launching a limited edition "Wildfire Relief Skillet" to raise funds for the Red Cross' Western Wildfire Relief Fund

Grew aided brand awareness from 6% to 18%; doubled DTC revenue, built brand guidelines & style guide, set go-to-market strategy for new product launches, new geographic markets, and new audience segments. Presented brand, marketing strategy and product roadmap as a compelling and valuable asset for our successful acquisition by Lodge Cast Iron; née Lodge Manufacturing Co.Led FINEXusa.com website redesign as both brand and DTC sales channel with new creative, clearer merchandising, better email automation integration and compelling recipes. Led all creative production, events, paid media, social & PR efforts. Recruited and managed influencers, creatives and chefs, outside PR agency, and presented plans to advisory board and potential acquirers.

Promoted to director, I lead a 9X increase in digital marketing revenue and grew the department to include 4 direct reports. Further promoted to the leadership team in March 2016, I joined the founder and two VPs in handling all agency business including staffing, budgeting and strategic direction. Clients included Subaru, State of Oregon, Snowbasin Resorts, HEVI-Shot, Mt Hood Fusion Pass, Renaissance Marine Group, Voice Box, EdTechTeam and more. - Grew department include 4 direct reports handling all things digital: media, SEO, social, UX and web development, reporting and analysis. - Grew digital media billings from $200k to $2.7mil while increasing overall department revenue 9x.- Lead new business efforts: pitches, scoping, budgeting & presentations. - Developed department processes and tools for scoping, budgeting, reporting and forecasting results.

Creating sustained growth in website traffic for mid-sized businesses through Paid Search (CPC) management, SEO (content and metadata optimization, link building) and Google Analytics consulting.

- Pursue highest ROI for company’s marketing budget using Google Analytics and similar analytical tools.- Identify and qualify customer segments for new and existing products. Use GAW and Facebook CPC ads to perform A/B tests on messaging.- Create best practices for meta-tags, anchor text, link building and blog commenting. - Compose and edit blog posts, optimize social content.- Form strategic partnerships with other companies and run co-promotions to incentivize fan/follower interaction, site traffic or sales.

- Increased Facebook fans from 2,300 to over 22,000 by consistently posting engaging, branded content. Created Lensbaby’s social voice, publishing guidelines and calendar. Planned, executed, and measured the success of a series of online promotions. - Maintained Adwords accounts for domestic web store and overseas distributors. - Measured ROI of search and display ads, promotions and sponsorships in order to advise marketing team on best use of our budget.

- Increased domestic Adwords traffic by almost 200% in one year while maintaining positive ROI- Created over 25 targeted country-specific Adwords accounts, each optimized for different foreign distributer. - Ported must successful Adwords campaigns to Yahoo (now Bing) CPC ad program.