Western Union

Head of Corporate brand Strategy – Vice President

2020 - 2022

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Protected, oversaw, and guarded corporate brand. Developed, evangelized, and activated Western Union’s brand strategy with employees, investors, media, and industry influencers, partners, government, and other stakeholders.

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• Contributed to $1B mobile app annual revenue (2022) by developing, directing, and measuring Western Union enterprise/partnership brand, including building long-term strategic plans for new products and supporting go-to-market initiatives.

• Identified new opportunities and helped grow digital customer acquisition 10% YoY by partnering with team leads and creating business cases for new initiative requests, including new ecosystem product lines, consumer segments, and markets.

• Boosted department productivity 72% by serving as owner for annual strategic planning working in partnership with cross-functional internal teams and external partners to set and prioritize objectives, goals, and KPIs.

• Increased brand awareness 15+% YoY by partnering with Integrated Marketing and Communications regarding brand activation, corporate marketing, creative excellence, corporate events, and a global sponsorship with the National Basketball Association (NBA), Denver Nuggets.

• Drove revenue growth and supported Western Union’s reputation by leading strategic cross-function projects and shifting efforts to establish WU as a strategic, innovative, and responsible partner in global money movement and payments, resulting in 95%+ global brand awareness.

• Supported executives, CEO, and Comms with corporate deliverables such as quarterly and annual reports, investor relations, Board of Directors reports, and other strategic business deliverables.

• Contributed to marketing strategy development and implementation for new digital banking app (launched in Europe, 2022), including enterprise-wide partnerships, product team collaborations, brand design and architecture, messaging, media plans, and launch refinements.

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Strategic Initiatives Lead and Chief of Staff–Corporate Affairs and Communication (2019–2020)

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Responsible for strategic and operational initiatives, including process and tool implementations driving operational efficiency, facilitating staff engagement, managing communications, and optimizing internal and external spend. Managed $20M department budget.

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• Contributed to new global customer strategy increasing awareness and positive sentiment through key strategic initiatives, including the launch and rollout of an enterprise wide 3-year growth strategy.

• Led strategic cross-functional projects, derived from long-term strategic plans or real-time business needs, designed to drive revenue growth, increase profitability, and strengthen employee performance.

• Successfully completed Lean Six Sigma Green Belt training.

 

Managing Director–Content, Brand and Creative (2013–2019)

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Established, built, scaled and optimized internal global agency with 55 staff—designers, art directors, developer, copywriters, and account managers—spanning the Americas, Africa, APAC, and Europe. Led brand positioning with long- and short-term strategic business plans. Recruited and retained accountable performance teams.

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• Reenergized a 160-year-old brand with new visual identity specifically addressing brand reappraisal and consideration using data analytics and consumer insights.

• Secured $2.4M ROI by changing legacy technology, scaling teams into low-cost regions, and implementing agile tools.

• Saved costs by building insource creative spend model, addressing $16M in external spend and shifting $2M internally at a change cost of $500K. Scaled and expanded the model, resulting in $11M cost avoidance.

• Launched and led high performing geographically dispersed creative teams, inspiring exceptional work, deepening client focus, establishing productivity, and exceeding $10M cost savings target by +10%.

• Increased throughput by 25% through business strategy assessment ensuring efficiency and profitability while monitoring global hub output and relentlessly demonstrating a positive ROI.

• Managed global campaign pipeline (5,200 projects a year), ensuring timely project branding, delivery, and on budget, resulting in exceeding KPIs including cost avoidance of 15% YoY.

 

 

ARCHOS

Director, Marketing

​2011 - 2013

 

Drove all marketing, public relations, social media, communication, advertising, channel, product, eCommerce and branding initiatives across the Americas.
 

• Key areas of responsibility include:

• Branding

• ​Online and Offline Communications

• ​PR Management

• ​Event Management

• ​Channel Marketing

• ​Product Management

• ECommerce

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Brand Management

• Responsible for creating new brand vision, brand positioning and brand architecture for all product launches - Successfully launched over 50 Android mobile devices (partnered with Google and Amazon)

• Provide governance and direction globally to maintain the brand identity and brand message ensuring that all communication and marketing activities are consistent with the brand vision, position and strategy

• Support international marketing teams in terms of advertising, launching campaigns, communication and collaboration with cross-functional teams on global projects

• Set growth targets, business objectives and brand strategies for all products within the global business plan

 

Other Related Marketing Responsibilities

• Produce, advance and deliver effective messaging to media and other constituencies (news releases, media briefings, social media, events) – Grew media exposure by 25% YOY

• Establish global social media strategy across entire organization – Improved social media engagement by 57%

• Owner of the eCommerce business (P&L responsibility) – Increased unique visits by 30% YOY

• Responsible for OEM business worldwide: Develop business strategy, product roadmap, and account development/management strategies for OEM opportunities including management of the complete product lifecycle – Initiated OEM business and grew from $5M in first year to $25M in second year

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