Professional Experience

Medline Industries, LP 

Vice President, Brand, Creative and Strategy (2013 – 2023) 

Intensively mentored, trained and increased the perceived value of in-house creative and brand strategy functions through process improvements, shift to digital and client project guidance. Guided EXO and leaders of over 30 product, service, and sales divisions to refine value propositions and brand portfolio architectures to increase the total brand equity. Oversaw the development and management of brand design architecture, brand standards, website architecture and usage across all media and packaging for HR, retail, global supply chain, and complex product segmentations. Developed and oversaw brand creative process for emerging markets worldwide, including insourced design teams in India and China. Collaborated with sales and product divisions leaders to identify organizational synergies for developing and commercializing new solutions.

• 40% reduction in creative expenses while overseeing a growing marketing/creative department and adding services (photography, brand strategy, digital integrated marketing, content marketers, demand generation, online retailer content and more).  37% work shift to in-house China designers.

• 45% increase in creative team productivity through shift to more digital content, branded templating, artwork process enhancements, and training initiatives.

• Streamlined departmental services to enable reorganization for full-funnel marketing strategy, planning and creative skills teams in digital D2C content and campaigns.

• Oversaw more than 3000 creative pieces/year across packaging and communications, with a team of 16 creative personnel, freelancers and nine designers in China. Brand

• Introduced cross-divisional integrated marketing strategy along shared customer need states which drove a 167% increase in web traffic, 14,000 MQLs and $9.6M rise in marketing attribution to sales.

• Led enterprise brand repositioning and content development through campaign video and static content resulting in 6% enhancement in brand equity scores from 2021 to 2023 while driving 50,000 click-throughs to Medline.com and approximately 500,000 video completions through digital advertising efforts.

• Improvement in on-time and on-budget project completion plus client satisfaction ratings for the annual production of 3000+ items, increasing from <75% in 2013 to >90% in 2022.

• Transformation from a house of brands to a branded house, driving greater creative efficiency and brand equity.

• Developed brand architecture for enterprise, product and service offerings that also informed mergers and acquisitions, strategic partnership branding and global trademark management.

• Brokered strategic partnership with virtual discharge care provider that integrated AI-based care to enhance Medline’s presence from healthcare systems to home care.

• Overhauled web strategy and creative for all properties from static capabilities sites to lead drivers.

• Overhauled senior executive sales pitch strategies for multi-million dollar supply chain agreements.

• Developed scalable frameworks, process and research for agile organization to increase strategic planning.

Brandimage, SGK (2007 – 2013)

Director of Design & Strategy 

Executed brand and design strategy initiatives for top-tier FMCG brands (ConAgra. SC Johnson, General Mills, Henkel, PepsiCo, Kimberly Clark) to inform packaging, integrated marketing and shopper marketing.

• Facilitated original, repeatable strategy sessions with consumer brand leaders in brand meaning development process for well-known brands (Huggies, Pull-ups, Nature Valley, Dial Soap, Tropicana, Healthy Choice, Cheerios, Yoplait, Hunts Tomato Sauce, Green Giant, Old El Paso).

• Led global brand meaning research for PepsiCo’s Tropicana (in seven countries) to inform orange juice positioning and brand design language across regions.

• Published multiple CPG insights and strategy articles in Package Design Magazine & Fast Company.

• Established and expanded Design Strategy Department, growing team from one to six knowledge workers.

• Implemented a Phase 0, pre-design offering at General Mills, which started as loss leader and grew to additional $350K annually in agency service revenue.

• Led turnaround at General Mills, shifting from the “lowest-rated design partner” facing contract termination to becoming the “poster child for agency excellence,” leading to contract renewal.

• Created multi-sensory brand activation tools that addressed FMCG upper management challenges of ensuring consistent payoff of brand assets with outside agency partners.

• Conducted in-home ethnographies and shop-alongside for Kimberly Clark’s Huggies and Pull-ups brands to inform campaign positioning, product design and packaging.