Communications Consultant Global Director
Resume:
DOUGLAS N. DICKSON
Naperville, IL 60540
adrn9j@r.postjobfree.com
CAREER PROFILE
Senior executive communications professional and ghostwriter with more than 30 years’ experience helping C-level executives optimize communications, combining superior writing and wide range of business content and global industry understanding and economic thought leadership. World-class ghostwriter and executive editor, problem solver and team-oriented leader who resolves complex problems by helping executives surface, and maximize, undiscovered ideas and innovative concepts to more effectively use all types of communications to increase awareness. An SAP executive reports, “Doug’s sales and marketing emails, filled with economic and business thought leadership content and understanding have opened C-level offices and helped close millions of dollars of business.” An investment bank chairman praised Doug’s writing, remarking that “Doug’s writing works miracles; he turns dross into gold.” The Governor of Ohio praised “Doug’s superior productivity in forging communications campaigns – turning ideas into thought pieces and speeches on a dime.”
DETAILED EXPERIENCE
DICKSON COMMUNICATIONS, Naperville, Illinois 2006-now
Managing Director. For clients, consult on wide range of writing projects, building powerful sales and marketing responses by combining thought leadership and industry insights with SWAT writing talent. Helped professional services clients with the following capabilities:
Award winning ghost writer who develops all content; ghostwrites all communications for C-executives based on business content and global industry understanding and economic thought leadership, and strategic understanding.
Adept at wide range of writing styles for all social media.
Created proprietary methodology to use “lightening research” to increase industry thought leadership content, economic analytic effectiveness, and productivity of senior executive communications.
Increase productivity and performance of writing and editorial teams to optimize communications investments. Help teams ensure superior content – to increase content impact with unassailable fact base.
Managed the production of collateral in all types of media, developing top-flight team from initial interviews to writing, editing, and production.
Develop, ghostwrite and place articles, develop industry and services-focused content; write proposals for, and place, books; create customizable templates for sales letters; developed service lines annual reports, industry analyses, sales brochures, CXO-oriented magazines, CXO-oriented speeches and presentations.
Offices of CEO; President, Global Partnership Organization; President, Platform Solutions; and, President, North America
SAP 2006-2015
Senior Ghost-Writer/Strategic Communications Consultant. Increase communications productivity and effectiveness with superior writing and editing skills:
To increase effectiveness of Cloud campaign, developed focused email communications, based on targeted economic research, which opened doors to C-level suites for SAP senior executives, with an 80% return, leading to face-to-face meetings, and, ultimately, new Cloud clients.
To ensure productivity of pre-SAPPHIRE campaign customized blog and email content for 100 net-new clients, providing industry research-based facts to guarantee client attendance, with 70% return. Communications strategy now used by SAP marketing as template each year.
To help alleviate problems with struggling retail group created SWAT writing team to crank out stream of communications to help close $75M sale from retail icon within one month – erasing poor 18 month track record of futile ground work.
To more quickly create sales demand for innovations to net-new customers developed concise, strategic, emails, introductory meeting pitches, and follow-up white papers, which laid foundation for new relationships with Fortune 100 clients.
To increase language accuracy of all global communications, oversee effectiveness, and accuracy, of translations of communications into English, French, Italian, German, and Spanish.
Office of the CEO, SAP AMERICA 2004-6
Director of Strategic Communications. Senior ghost writer and content developer of all communications to CXO executives.
For greater case study and thought leadership productivity, managed teams of free-lance writers to create focused publications, presentations and marketing campaigns, based on thought leadership, industry insights, customized with individual messages designed to create advocacy.
Created and managed execution of sales development strategy based on best practice merging thought leadership regarding technological innovation with practical CXO insights.
For EVP, Business Development, developed and executed strategy for action-oriented fact-based case studies, with high level graphics, and easily-readable copy.
For EVP, Administration, created specialized internal web portal for global account executives, revolutionizing content based on industry insights that had remained untouched.
For SVPs of Industry Segments, increased speed to close key deals by developing superior content in retail, software, hardware, utilities, financial services (including insurance), consumer products, chemicals and pharmaceutical, heavy equipment manufacturing, industrial equipment manufacturing.
DICKSON COMMUNICATIONS, Naperville, Illinois 2002-3
Managing Director. For C-level clients, consulted on a range of sales-oriented communications issues building powerful responses based on combining thought leadership and industry insights in all industries. Helped professional services clients including PricewaterhouseCoopers, Deloitte, and McKinsey with the following capabilities.
CAP GEMINI ERNST YOUNG, Chicago, Illinois 2000-2
Global Director of Sales Communications, Consumer Products, Retail and Distribution.
Reporting to Managing Director of $1.7 billion service unit, created and managed implementation of strategy for development of new business services and C-level communications. Highpoints included:
To increase client awareness of CGE&Y CPRD practice with no brand recognition, created and managed thought leadership research into the 21st century consumer, turned research results into strategy for the concept of Consumer Relevancy, including partnership with Chain Store Age.
Managed team of marketing and public relations practitioners to implement brand strategy. Directed research with 400 consumers and created a Shoppers Award for best retail outlets, developing sales letters, marketing collateral, research analysis, and sales training as well as ghost writing The Myth of Excellence, placing it with a publisher, and translating publishing success into revenue generation of $ 20 million.
ERNST & YOUNG, Chicago, Illinois 1998-2000
Global Director, Management Consulting Services.
Reporting to the partner-in-charge of business development for consulting services, created and implemented communications and business development strategies for various EY practices to boost business development, with ERP-related business services as well as new services to develop Internet related services. Managed relationships with public relations firms.
Developed strategy to increase CEO visibility, including speeches, and articles to showcase thought leadership on economic development, merger integration and strategic change, including key notes given at the Economic Clubs of Chicago and Detroit; at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos; as well as testimony before congressional sub-committees.
Managed team to create 12 position papers on strategic topics from e-Commerce and product innovation to systemic thinking and global financial institutions.
Developed strategy and communications plan for new CEO-level publication.
A. T. KEARNEY, Chicago, Illinois 1996-7
Global Director of Communications; CEO Speechwriter. CEO ghostwriter; developed and executed communications strategies for global management consulting firm. Created partner network to better determine and develop more coherent thought leadership from technical materials; created new publication process, increasing productivity and impact of white papers; developed and implemented plan for CEO-focused magazine to showcase thought leadership, Executive Agenda.
PRICE WATERHOUSE, Boston, Massachusetts and Chicago, Illinois 1989-1996
Director of Thought Leadership Communications. Senior communications director and content SWAT writer for global professional services firm reporting to partner-in-charge, Global Change Management.
OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR OF OHIO, Columbus, Ohio 1987-9
Senior Writer. Developed and executed communications team to increase political awareness of the economic and business capabilities and points of view of Governor Richard Celeste; Senior Speechwriter
HARVARD BUSINESS REVIEW, Boston, Massachusetts 1980-7
Associate Editor. Premier publication in business thought leadership, with circulation of more than 300,000 senior level executive readers. Responsible for article generation and development from basic research, including interviewing, writing, and editing for articles on strategy, investment banking, commercial banking, corporate finance, IT, international business, accounting and public policy, economics, and accounting. Translated HBS research ideas and case studies into published articles;
helped create award winning articles from working papers, lectures and HBS study materials. Over seven years, developed 6 of the 14 articles chosen for the McKinsey Award, including the “most insightful article on strategic planning,” ever published according to Editor, Ken Andrews. With professors’ permission, studied all materials, attended all lectures for HBS classes necessary for M.B.A.
EDUCATION
M. A., SCHOOL OF ADVANCED INTERNATIONAL STUDIES, THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, Economics and European Studies, Washington, D. C.
B.A., UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA, History, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
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