Senior Publishing Executive

SENIOR EXECUTIVE: BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT / OPERATIONS

Distinguished 16-year career in publishing/digital media, business expansion, and transition strategies for academic, research, and professional markets. Executive team participation and concurrent nonprofit leadership experience. Master’s Degree in Social Work.

Skilled in identifying and implementing efficiencies, leveraging new information and data capabilities, and helping businesses achieve top- and bottom-line results via increased market visibility and growth.

Talented advisor, planner, and executor of communications, marketing, events programming for a leading, volunteer-governed society—with financial oversight and revenue-generating responsibility as Member of the Board of Directors.

Value

 Deep knowledge and grounded experience in finance, management, sales, marketing, business development, and product and program administration.

 Driver of creative and efficient business initiatives and digital innovations.

 Superb profit management abilities combined with excellent sense of growth strategies.

 Exemplary communications and public speaking skills.

 Ability to shift easily from high-level objectives to detailed execution tactics.

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

PARATEXT, Austin, TX, 2009–2010

Research data company specializing in academic reference, 19th century periodicals, and government documents.

► President

Strategist and executor of plans to expand and lead digital vision of company, direct online strategy, supervise global sales and marketing efforts, and participate in editorial acquisitions and new product development. Planned and implemented growth initiatives that included hiring new sales director, instituting a CRM system, introducing the company to the government library market, planning and launching two websites, and establishing a cross-specialty advisory board.

Leadership Initiatives:

 Developed concept document for a Web 3.0 platform leveraging 33M document tags, enabling multidisciplinary research across deep- and open-Web sources and providing a significant new revenue opportunity.

 Secured partnerships with publishers, adding new high-value content.

 Generated and published results from a major state-of-the-industry survey.

 Delivered unprecedented user traffic to new blog site via SEO and tagging, editorial content, and links.

 Returned Q1/Q2 growth of 225% and overall FY 2010 growth of 300% of sales pipeline opportunities.

CQ PRESS (DIVISION OF SAGE PUBLICATIONS), Washington, DC, 2007–2009

Leading publisher of political science reference books and databases, social issues periodicals, and government information platforms.

► Executive Director – Reference Information Group

General Manager with complete P&L oversight for CQ Press Academic Reference, CQ Researcher, and Professional Reference business units, and 60 staff members. Fostered top-line growth and bottom-line results through rigorous financial management, forecasting, budgeting, reporting, planning, and analysis. Groups supervised: Editorial, Sales, Marketing, Digital Strategy, and Production.

Maintained unparalleled quality of CQ Press Reference Information Group products during period of rapid digital migration and ownership transition. Retooled editorial workflow and organization chart to support full range of print and digital products, optimizing profitability and process efficiency.

Leadership Initiatives:

 Executive Team Member commissioned to orchestrate sale of CQ Press (2008): Co-authored business information memorandum, delivered road-show presentations, and planned/executed post-acquisition integration of staff into combined organization. Secured outstanding result for buyer and seller.

 Consolidated professional/government and academic businesses to centralize service functions and increase operational efficiency.

 Created transformational strategies for two major new digital publishing platforms, serving B2B and academic customers: the first leveraging archival biographies in combination with issue, lobbying, and financial data to surface ―how Washington really works‖; the other aligning content to curriculum and introducing added-value data tools.

 Changed pricing and sales model for online directories. Migrated from a free-Web model to a paid-Web model. Moved online products from individual sites to an IP-validated, cross-searchable platform with enhanced functionality offering mobile delivery.

 Rebuilt inside/outside sales force following sale of business. Supervised North American Sales Manager and team of 12 indirect reports in sales functions, serving academic institutions and government, corporate, and law firm accounts.

 Analyzed and increased marketing ROI. Instituted a matrix strategy that diversified marketing spend across a changing mix of direct and partner-derived revenue streams and print and digital products.

 Increased sales lead-generation marketing for greater emphasis on one-sheets, POS handouts, and post-sale support materials.

 Utilized creative briefs to facilitate consistent messaging and implemented multi-wave email schedules.

 Drove tactical execution of marketing strategies. Established a year-long series of preparatory meetings for the launch of new Major Works. Approved messaging and brand positioning for new programs.

 Directed development of ―Political Bedfellows‖ widget, established CQ Researcher Blog and Web 2.0 presence via Twitter and Facebook.

 Negotiated agreements with new content distribution partners and global sales agents.

 Restructured perpetual-access pricing to deliver $125K in new annual revenue and assure long-term business model sustainability.

 Beat FY expense goals and supported attainment by consolidated business of better-than-budgeted profit, 2009. Increased professional and government sales 166% from 2008 to 2009.

EBOOK LIBRARY (EBL), Chevy Chase, MD, 2004–2007

Academic and business-facing subsidiary of Australia-based eBooks Corporation.

► Vice President of Business Development – North America

Principal company spokesperson to academic, public, corporate, and government libraries in North America. Collaborated with president to launch and establish presence as a leading ebook supplier, establishing customer base and generating multimillion-dollar global revenue stream.

Leadership Initiatives:

 Introduced market-leading Non-Linear Lending™, Demand-Driven Acquisition™, and Short-Term Lending™ models for ebook acquisition.

 Drove adoptions of a custom course-pack building utility enabling customers to recombine ebook chapters from 100,000+ titles from 250 publishers.

 Created and scheduled e-marketing campaigns, supervised conference and event arrangements, planned advertising and promotions, delivered presentations to librarians and publishers.

 Grew annual revenue 30% from previous year, 2007.

 Delivered 200% growth in sales and 300% growth in North American institutional accounts, 2006.

 Generated 80% of overall global sales revenue, 2004-2005.

Earlier:

► Director of Sales & Marketing, eJournal Press, Bethesda, MD, 2002–2003: Leading peer review and manuscript tracking software vendor and developer of custom CMS platforms for scientific, technical, and medical journal publishers. Clients included American College of Cardiology, American Geophysical Union, and National Academy of Sciences.

► Regional Sales Manager, Ingenta Inc., Chevy Chase, MD, 2000–2002: Online knowledge aggregating and hosting service for publishers worldwide. Worked with global management team to develop product capabilities, increase access points, create revenue streams, refine pricing strategies, and sign new business.

► Manager of Marketing & Promotions, The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Washington, DC, 1998–2000: Set marketing strategy and budget for the Display Advertising Department. Managed conference events and developed advertiser promotions. Participated in launching The Chronicle Review.

► Managing Partner/Co-Founder, Snowline Sport Sales, Lake Oswego, OR, 1994–1998: Grew startup B2B sales agency to $2.5M in annual sales. Clients included major outdoor sports companies: Adidas, Rossignol.

PROFESSIONAL PROFILE

EDUCATION:

M.S.W., Clinical Social Work, Catholic University of America, 2004; A.B., Art History, Wellesley College, 1991

THE SOCIETY FOR SCHOLARLY PUBLISHING (SSP), Wheat Ridge, CO, 2000-2010

Nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing communication and facilitating new developments in the scholarly information field.

► Board of Directors, 2008-Present

Work in leadership capacity for a volunteer-governed society over a period of 10 years. Participate in program development and deliver session presentations in most years. As a Board member, help develop a dynamic mid-year meeting concept with excellent results. Create web-based and in-person educational programs for professional membership, consisting of executives in for-profit and nonprofit organizations in the scholarly information community. Managed project with a leading vendor to re-architect the backend website, adding a wiki for coordinating volunteer communications. Co-author SSP’s industry-leading blog, The Scholarly Kitchen.

VOLUNTEER ROLES:

Co-author, The Scholarly Kitchen, 2010–Present

Editorial Board Member, Learned Publishing, 2009–Present

Web Editor-in-Chief, 2007

Co-Chair of the Website Task Force, 2005–2007

Chairperson, Marketing Council and Communications Committee, 2004–2006

Member, Program Committee and Publications Committee, 2005

Member, Communications Committee, 2001–2004

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS:

Society for Scholarly Publishing – Organizer, Speaker, Moderator, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010

Electronic Resources & Libraries Conference – Speaker, 2007

The Ontario Scholars Portal Day – Speaker, 2007

Annual Charleston Library Conference – Speaker, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007

AWARDS:

Webby Awards finalist, Best Business Blog, The Scholarly Kitchen, 2010

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