“Develop your plan, take action, assess your results, and move the bar up.” R. J. Gadd
Skil Set
Brand optimization, goal-attaining sales strategies, efficient marketing spending, art direction, positioning statement development, maximizing sales teams, identifying and capitalizing on competitive advantages.
Board Member, Prosperity Organic Foods, Inc. (current)
Managing board member advising on improving the brand’s sales & marketing strategies to increase consumer awareness and accelerate revenue.
Founder & Chief Creative Disruptor, iBA Creative (current)
Created strategic consulting company to help businesses discover unique ways to present their products & solutions to deliver a competitive advantage.
- Develop disruptive business innovations that lead to new products, new markets and new vehicles for communication
- Improve brand perception — awareness, understanding, interest & engagement
- Create business situational marketing messages which will be remembered and create action while improving performance/ROI of marketing expenditures
Chief Marketing Officer, Flagship Food Group (2009 – 2016)
Orchestrated brand strategies and marketing efforts of a $300M global consumer package goods (CPG) company. Additionally, managed Flagship Packaging — a workflow improvement packaging company that offered design, substrate consulting, pre-press, printing/converting and inventory management. Finally, I was also the spokesperson for the 505 Southwestern brand of sauces—Chile Ray!
– Identified key selling point of our 505 Southwestern brand — Hatch Valley Chile — and set the course to build the business from a $5M business to $50M national brand
– Created new brand design template that revolutionized the Hispanic frozen food department — MexiWraps — and set a course of growth to $50M
– In the first year of managing the packaging business, rightsized the department and increased sales to improve EBITDA by 15x
President & Strategic Director, Murie Design (1999 – 2009)
Managed the $5 million marketing and design firm specializing in brand building and generating sales demand via direct mail, advertising, the web, and collateral.
– Increased sales from $1 million to $5 million by growing a design firm into a full-service marketing company
– Introduced new sources of revenue by establishing key outsourcing partners
– Reduced operating costs by 25% by developing new processes and procedures
President & CEO Preco New Products (1998 – 1999)
Managed the strategy, marketing and sales of the $7 million company telecommunications company that manufactured communication accessory equipment.
– Defined new markets and developed the overseas Asia Pacific market
– Introduced two new trademarked products (Sidewinder and Spider) that delivered 15% incremental revenue
– Reduced fixed costs by 31% by redefining employees roles and reducing the labor force
President, PEG Marketing (1997 – 1998)
Created consulting company to service the local, government and international market. Specialized in improving go-to-market strategies.
– Wrote a go-to-market strategy for a furniture company to explore IPO
– Developed a worldwide category management strategy that was mandated for use by ConAgra, Omaha NE
General Manager, H.J. Heinz (1988 – 1998)
Managed $75 million sales and marketing efforts for 5 affiliates and 50 brands of the H.J. Heinz Company to the global U.S. government (commissary) channel.
– Built the business from $50 million to $75 million by increasing brand dominance
– Exceeded national market share on Heinz Baby Food, Pickles, Ketchup, Ore-Ida French Fries, and Star-Kist Tuna by 10 points
– Implemented a cost reduction program that reduced freight by $100,000
Education
University of Dayton, Dayton OH 1970 – 1974
– Bachelor of Science, Major: Psychology—Minor: Marketing (Dean’s list)
St. Joseph’s Prep School, Montvale NJ 1966 – 1970
Personal Experiences
– Lectured at Boise State University of the values of Social Media and demonstrated a case for ROI
– Traveled extensively throughout Western Europe and Asia Pacific opening new markets for H.J. Heinz
– Delivered keynote speech at International trade conference for the American Frozen Food Institute
– Sequestered for jury duty twice and was elected Forman both times
– Past Opera Idaho Board member and performed in the opera the Merry Widow by Franz Lehár
– Created an LLC from scratch with $15K to address low-income housing needs and built it into a $1MM business