Project Manager Customer Service

Lorie Thomas continued

Objective

More than ** years experience managing pharma clinical publications, design, direct mail, print and

small digital (microsites, eblasts, page templates, banner ads, etc.) projects simultaneously for global

clients. Seeking a position that leverages sound project management practices including scope,

schedule, budget and resource allocation, while being flexible enough to achieve aggressive project

delivery goals and objectives. Experienced in managing vendors including copywriters, programmers,

designers, photo shoots, printers, and foreign language translation.

Summary of Skills

• More than 3 years of medical communications project management and client support on a

global/US basis for Novo Nordisk (Diabetes, Obesity and CNS) and US support for Merck

(Respiratory) and Abbott (Infectious Disease and HIV)

• Managed simultaneously a launch and peri-launch for two respiratory products

• Developed and implemented agency-wide project management processes, creating

efficiencies and increasing profitability. Managed the migration to SharePoint 2010 and

drafted the agency-wide SOPs

• Proven track record of problem solving and making initiatives to enhance customer

satisfaction

• More than 17 years of agency project management experience for marketing clients, such as,

Everlast Worldwide, Performance Bicycles and Wharton Executive Education

Professional Experience

Complete Publication Solutions, LLC, Horsham, PA 2/2010 to 5/2013

Project Manager for a medical communications agency

• Managed the development of global strategic plans and publication plans that included peer-

reviewed manuscripts, HEOR reviews and congress abstracts/presentations. Responsible for

ensuring that client deliverables met legal regulations, specifications, quality standards and budget.

• Project managed projects on the Merck account with a revenue of $2.3MM, including a

launch product, a product due to launch the following year and 2 products on the market.

• Managed project budgets, change order requests and client invoicing. Prepared a monthly

reconciliation reports for each client, as well as forecast invoicing for the fiscal year.

• Developed timelines that clearly outlined a detailed execution of reviews, including internal,

client legal team and authors, and implementation to ensure resources were effectively scheduled to

deliver the projects on time and within budget.

• Supported client and thought leader relationships through correspondence, lead

teleconferences for client status meetings and functioned as primary internal contact. During the past

year, provided full customer support to several Novo Nordisk clients with revenue of $800M.

• Coordinated new business development for RFPs, pitches and travel coordination for each

pitch.

[Type text] [Type text] [Type text]

Aquent LLC, Philadelphia, PA 3/2009 to 10/2009

Project Manager for contract position at the University of Pennsylvania / School of Liberal Studies

Finch Brands LLC (Kanter International LLC), Philadelphia, PA 9/2006 to 12/2008

Project / Production (Studio) Manager for strategic marketing agency. Managed print and interactive projects

simultaneously, such as micro sites, website templates, online advertising, e-Communications, brand marketing

collateral, retail packaging and environments for domestic and international clients.

• Collaborated with the account team, creative and interactive directors to increase

inter-agency partnership in order to deliver the highest quality of work with measurable

business results for our clients.

• Partnered with creative director in assigning creative team members to projects that included

understanding of job responsibilities and intimate knowledge of project volume/workload of each

team member.

• Scheduled internal creative and interactive resources effectively to ensure that projects were

delivered on time and within budget. Developed timelines that clearly outlined a detailed execution,

including internal reviews, quality assurance and implementation. Bid projects out to vendors and

third parties as needed, managing vendor, and negotiating talent and image fees.

• Organized information from multiple sources into a single project plan and identified gaps.

Developed and managed the project checklist from the project plan, monitored and controlled all

project tasks to meet agreed-upon deadlines. Documented and resolved problems, monitored

testing, oversaw implementation and closing out of projects. Set client expectations.

• Worked with retail architects and production companies to develop a creative strategy to

produce retail environments from concept drawings.

• Made project goals attainable by prioritizing deliverables to keep the team focused on

specific tasks. Delivered a streamlined site with enhancements delivering on regular scheduled

intervals in order to meet delivery dates.

• Infused new printing techniques and papers to compliment designs and maintain budgets.

Mentored colleagues to work as a team and improve communications to achieve goals.

• Initiated a formal bid procedure, selected/determined appropriate vendors for specific

projects. Solved problems and adhered to budgets/guidelines while maintaining schedules and

fostered good teamwork.

• Proactively found creative and cost-effective solutions to production issues that increased

the bottom line. Generated accurate project budgets, competitively bid production and managed

vendors. Reviewed all project-related invoices ensuring the clients’ final invoice was complete.

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 7/2005 to 9/2006

Senior Account Manager for Creative Communications @ Penn, the official publishing office for creative

services, web development and print procurement. We were brokers of print and creative services to internal

University of Pennsylvania departments.

• Recruited and lead team of Account Managers, Production Managers, Traffic Coordinator

and Runner. Lead team through restructuring. The Account Team reached its goal of increasing

revenues by 10%, and reduced costs by 20%.

• Implemented streamlined internal processes to create more efficient workflow, allowing Account

Managers to manage both selling and project management.

2

Lorie Thomas continued

• Developed a sales database, created account assignments, and provided educational materials

for Account Managers to use as selling tools. Developed strategic plan for retaining existing

customers and growing new business.

• Reviewed and reduced the number of vendors from 53 to 15. Negotiated vendor contracts and

evaluated vendor performances on a monthly basis. Thereby, reducing costs by 15%.

• Collaborated on the ecommerce site scope to bring in additional business and convert our

stationery business to on-line self-service.

[Type text] [Type text] [Type text]

Pegasus Satellite Television, Bala Cynwyd, PA 2/2003 to 10/2004

Print Production / Project Manager for largest reseller of DirecTV in rural America. Marketing campaigns were

approximately 80% direct marketing and 20% in-store promotions.

• Managed internal resources, budgets, schedules and quality. Coordinated all client

project details and campaign development, including client communications, proposals, financial

budgeting, project timelines and status reports. Provided a full campaign cost analysis upon

completion. Annual marketing budget was $10MM.

• Negotiated a new vendor contract to provide fulfillment of the “new customer “welcome

packets. Controlled the inventory for packets. Increase accuracy to 99% and reduced costs by 20%

• Developed eCommerce site scope and RFP. Interviewed potential vendors, negotiated

contract and managed site development. Collaborated with the vendor to define deliverables and

timing and to set the internal client’s expectations. Internally, gathered imagery, copy and reseller

tiers for the site.

• Defined vendor selection via RFP process, bidding and review process. Negotiated

pricing and contracts. Reduced costs by 15% while exceeding previously set quality standards

and turn-arounds.

Paskill & Stapleton, Glenside, PA 10/2001 to

2/2003

Production (Studio) Manager for a higher education design house.

• Client liaison after a project kicked off.

•Responsible for production management, including creative collaboration, scheduling, cost

estimating, specifying, negotiating, purchasing and distribution of client printed materials.

Other Experience

Piccari Press, Warminster, PA 10/1999 to 10/2001

Production Planner

• Managed “House” accounts as primary contact/liaison, focusing on books, multiple-piece

mailings and pharmaceutical projects and packaging. Managed client’s presschecks.

The Kutztown Publishing Co., Inc., Kutztown, PA 1/1996 to 9/1999

Project Team Leader and Customer Service Representative

• Managed production of publications, catalogs, multiple piece mailings, books and other large

projects. Worked with in-house designers, planned production and pre-flighted supplied files.

• Lead a production team to review complicated projects and to develop a process that would

eliminate potential issues, such as ghosting, critical crossovers and lo-resolution images.

Software

PC and Mac platforms: MS Office, MS Outlook, MS Project, SharePoint, Datavision, PubsHub, Clients & Profits,

Silent Partner, Basecamp, Footprints, Professional Acrobat, CS4 Suite, Lotus Notes, FileMaker.

Education

Moravian College, Bethlehem, PA

Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design

Certifications

Certificate, MS Project Management 2010

4

Contact this candidate