Sales Marketing

VANESSA D. PROVENCHER

**** ***** *** ****

Rockville, Maryland 20853

ac15z6@r.postjobfree.com 301. 351. 3822 - C

A highly skilled Marketing and Sales professional with special expertise in event planning and social media. Twenty years of marketing, sales, analysis and public relations experience in a variety of sectors, including commercial and government (federal, state, and local), as well as domestic and international. Strong interpersonal skills, and the ability to interact effectively with clients, peers, vendors, partners, sponsors, and upper management. Energetic, creative, and results-oriented, with a proven record of developing and implementing successful marketing events and campaigns.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Charities Angels April 2013 – Present

Board Member & Director of Social Media

Responsible for developing and overseeing the development of strategic social media initiatives to help promote Charities Angel's fundraising efforts and brand, in addition to event management. Acquiring sponsors and donors to help offset charity event costs, thus raising more funds for worthwhile causes. Managing contact lists.

Contact Solutions February 2011 – April 2014

Marketing Events Manager (contract position)

Assisted client in developing strategic planning initiatives for external events to further contribute to business goals and objectives

Worked closely with Sales on event strategy, as well as collaborating on leads in CRM system

Researched, evaluated and recommended events and/or venues for consideration

Made recommendations on decisions on sponsorships, exhibiting, outside events, and staffing

Negotiated contracts and managed vendors including booth design and build

Created and maintained a reputable track record and established relationships within the professional event services industry to secure the best possible opportunities

Event execution; both pre-production planning and onsite management

Simultaneously managed & executed multiple events of varying sizes at any one time

Communicated to staff and marketing team regarding all events, influencing teams across functions to ensure the skillful execution of events.

Conceptualized ideas for event promotion including ads, prizes, giveaways, games, social media, special events

Managed or suggested travel bookings for staff as needed

Forecasted and managed event budgets

Collexis, Inc. (Columbia, SC) October 2007 – December 2010

Government & Enterprise Sales Consultant

For this knowledge management/retrieval software company, consulted in Business Development and Inside Sales to identify and create new opportunities and generate leads. The end result, generating revenue both from existing clients and new business. Collaborating closely with system integrators to sell into the Federal Government accounts. Responsible for sales of software and solutions to publishing societies and academic organizations, including identifying opportunities, proposal writing, relationship building and cooperation, and customer data management.

PreEmptive Solutions (Mayfield Village, OH) 2007-2009

Event Management

As a consultant for this application and source code security company, managed all aspects of the domestic trade shows, including but not limited to analyzing most beneficial events and ROI, staff organization, vendor management, housing, public relations support, results reporting and promotional activities.

VANESSA D. PROVENCHER

Healthy Directions, LLC (Potomac, MD) 2006 - 2007

Marketing Consultant

As a consultant for this leading publisher of health newsletters and provider of nutritional supplements, analyzed the online marketing efforts, forecasted sales, assessed and developed campaign/sales strategies, including emailing plans, audience selections, and response results, for two health franchises totaling over $10 million.

Convera Corporation (Vienna, VA) 2003 - 2006

Director of Marketing: 2005 - 2006

As Director of Marketing for this publicly traded technology corporation, orchestrated all aspects of the company’s marketing program to build sales for its two business lines, RetrievalWare (enterprise search software) and Excalibur (web search solution) to commercial and government (federal, state, and local) markets. Major areas of responsibility include:

Events: Directed the activities of staff and contractors to support over 30 annual trade shows, user group meetings, annual sales kick-offs, quota attainment trips, sales/technical training activities, etc. Recruited partners and sponsors for user groups and seminars.

Public Relations: Directly managed three public relations agencies, and ensured consistent messaging for the specific audience segment serviced by each agency: commercial, Federal, and European. Also promoted Convera products by working with and educating industry analysts.

Website: Continually enhanced and updated the company’s website to improve its appearance and navigation, raise its search engine ranking, and increase its lead generation capabilities.

Marketing Materials: Created and edited a wide range of marketing materials, including collateral, Web content, e-mail and print correspondence, presentations, and ad copy. Also developed and published white papers to promote the corporate vision.

Advertising: Created print and on-line advertising campaigns, as well as telemarketing and lead generation programs.

Budget: Established and monitored the annual marketing budget (in excess of $1 million).

Key Achievements:

2005: Within the first month, achieved two dozen media placements for the launch of Excalibur (Business Week, Financial Times, Washington Post, Federal Computer Week, Information Today, AP, Forbes.com, etc.).

2005: Developed a government marketing program that generated a minimum of 200 leads per month and substantially contributed to the growth of the government sector business.

2005: Created and produced a series of educational seminars to support issue awareness and lead generation. They yielded more than 250% of projected attendance.

2005: Achieved the highest user group attendance rate in the past decade by generating interest in the latest release of RetrievalWare, as well as the new product launch.

Marketing Events Manager: 2003 - 2005

Recruited as Marketing Events Manager, and assumed responsibility for coordinating the following events:

Trade Shows: Managed and participated in an average of 30 trade shows per year, with an annual budget of $600,000. Analyzed the ROI of the event participation.

Sales Kick-Off Conference: Planned and produced this annual conference for over 100 corporate and account executives with a budget of $200,000.

Sales Club Trip: Organized and coordinated this annual incentive trip for 40 corporate and account executives and guests, including negotiating costs and payment terms.

VANESSA D. PROVENCHER

Artesia Technologies, Inc. (Rockville, MD) 1999 - 2003

Marketing Events Manager

Managed a wide range of marketing functions for Artesia, a start-up company specializing in digital asset management that was formerly a business unit of Thomson Consulting. Major functions included:

Events: Managed and participated in 24 domestic and international trade shows; user conferences; and a seminar series. Analyzed the ROI of the event participation.

Public Relations: Performed all public relations functions for the first year of the firm’s operation. As the company grew, played the key role in selecting a PR agency, and managed its activities.

Website: Served as Webmaster for the corporate website.

Marketing Campaigns: Orchestrated a variety of marketing campaigns around specific events, using advertisements, e-mail, and collateral material.

Branding Strategy: Developed and executed the company’s branding strategy.

Project Expense Tracking/Budget Monitoring: Reviewed and tracked all invoices related to project expenses, and reconciled billing against budget allocation.

Key Achievements:

1999: Established and developed the entire marketing function for this start-up company.

1999, 2002: Achieved the Corporate Award for Core Values twice, the first employee to do so.

2000: Received the Departmental Award for Sales Training.

2000, 2002: Secured coveted sponsorships, including: a Jay Leno appearance at the National Association of Broadcasting Conference (Las Vegas, 2002) and the SmashMouth Concert at the Seybold Conference (San Francisco, 2000).

Thomson Consulting (Rockville, MD) 1996 - 1999

Public Relations Specialist

Joined a newly established business unit of a $6 billion multinational conglomerate as its #2 employee. Managed events and marketing materials, and designed/maintained a database-driven website and Internet Document Library (which beta partners accessed from North America and Europe). Also provided office administration support to top management.

Key Achievements:

1996: Directly impacted the growth of the division to 35 employees in less than a year by managing the group’s product collateral, website content, and office administration.

1996, 1998: Won the Divisional TEAMSter Award for employee excellence twice, again the first employee to do so.

PRIOR EXPERIENCE

Background also includes positions as Marketing/Administrative Assistant for The Pleasants Companies, Inc., a land development company, and as Administrative Assistant/Assistant Editor for The Edit Room, Inc., a post production editing house. Also served as an Intern on the Assignment Desk at CBS News.

EDUCATION

BA in Radio, Television, and Film; University of Maryland (College Park, MD)

Minor in Psychology

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