Rich Herbst began developing Ascend Marketing’s unique outsourcing model in 2004 after he recognized that contracting with multiple agencies for advertising, public relations, and so on only exacerbates the budget problem. Rich’s leadership is founded on more than 20 years of experience in marketing and sales support. The core of his background is in business-to-business services marketing and consumer packaged goods with firms such as Verizon Communications, ConAgra Frozen Foods, and James River Corp. He has solid expertise in the software, retail, restaurant, and real estate industries, where he has worked with small start-ups as well as large firms. Among his many successes, Rich orchestrated the turnarounds of four major consumer brands using integrated marketing and sales-oriented programming principles. You’ll recognize some of his former brands: Kid Cuisine, La Choy, Chun King, Patio Mexican Food, Pops-Rite Popcorn, Northern Tissue, and Brawny Towels. As the developer of Verizon’s B2B Internet Services business, Rich guided the division through its formative period to achieve more than $250 million in revenue. He also led Verizon/GTE Consumer marketing, and drove a major culture shifting, sales development initiative lifting Verizon/GTE’s call center selling performance by more than 30% in one year.

Rich is an active member of the American Marketing Association. He received his MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia and a BS in Education from the University of Maryland.

Few marketers have a broader base of experience than Topper Pardoe. His experience in consumer package goods spans household products, health care and food with Fortune 500 leaders such as Procter & Gamble, Alberto Culver and ConAgra. In technology, Topper has energized sales efforts for telecom giant GTE, and emerging wireless data technology company WebLink Wireless. More recently, he assumed the helm at Rainbow Advertising, Ascend’s innovative promotional products division, helping companies energize sales and lift brand recognition. Topper has demonstrated his results orientation in the launching of more than 50 new products plus the revitalization and turnarounds of multiple businesses. All told, his work has generated more than a half of a billion dollars in new annual revenues. He is a seasoned leader, having restructured and motivated several marketing and sales organizations to achieve dynamic growth. Topper has served at the Director, VP, CMO and CEO levels for the last 18 years and offers a wealth of insight to energizing a marketing or sales effort.

Topper holds an MBA degree from Brigham Young University and spends his free time playing soccer and keeping up with his five daughters and wife of more than 25 years.

For over 15 years, Darcy Borutta has been designing and executing all types of marketing and sales support campaigns, including sales incentive programs, national marketing campaigns, communications programs, customer relationship management and retail sales for business consumer markets. She has provided leadership and creativity in developing programs and strategies that directly improve the bottom line. As Sales Initiative Manager for Valor Telecom, Darcy delivered a net sales increase of 26%, which drove substantial profit increase for that year. She has also helped companies add revenue by extending their product lifecycles and developing more effective analysis tools. While with Allied Riser Communications, she created sales tool kits and co-op programs, and conducted essential marketing research. Her career also includes extensive retail management experience.

Darcy has won numerous sales awards, including the Circle of Excellence Award, Gold Market Leadership Award, Silver Chairman’s Leadership Award and the Circle of Achievement Sales Award.

Of his many talents, Matt Eiserloh particularly prides himself on is his team building and organizational development skills. During his 12 years with NCH Corp., he rose from a marketing manager to Vice President of Marketing for the North American Chemical Division, facilitiating three reorganizations along the way. In each case he successfully retained key staff through reassigments, while slashing overhead by as much as $3 million annually. He attributes these accomplishments to providing a clear, concise communications program that explained the new structure to sales management, corporate officers and employees with minimal confusion. As Marketing VP, Matt and his 14-member team supported $125 million in sales revenues with superior market research and analysis, pricing strategies, promotions, sales incentive programs, and collateral materials. Also while with NCH Corp., he grew a $12 million business unit by 33% in a single fiscal year, exceeding his target by 13%. he also built new account relationships worth more than $3 million in revenues through the development of industry segments such as automotive, food processing, health care and construction. Matt relishes challenges such as business planning, developing new strategies, leading internal culture-shifts, and bringing new brands to market.

Mary Keller’s specialty is helping organizations increase their profitability. Her CPA certification is complemented by a background in computer science, which gives her a unique ability to ferret out inefficiencies in all aspects of office operations, thereby eliminating redundancies, reducing overall costs and streamlining the delivery of our creative products and solutions. As a Senior Audit Manager for Deloitte & Touche, Mary consistently exceeded the firm’s expectations and ranked at the top of the management group. While there, she worked extensively with Fortune 100 clients, assisting them with consolidations, acquisitions and divestitures. Along the way, Mary has developed her own creative methods for improving financial processes and reporting functions. In her previous positions she has instituted sound financial policies and procedures that have improved the budgeting process and established better controls. She has also upgraded customer service by enhancing work flow, and establishing control points and improving internal and external communications. Mary has also been instrumental in loss prevention by reviewing company insurance policies and making recommendations for significant changes. During her career, she has negotiated extensively with the SEC and IRS. Her expertise has resulted in the waiving of significant penalties and interest charges for organizations she has represented. As a church treasurer, she organized and monitored a $1.4 million financing package for a building addition, while managing the organization’s general fund.

Mary completed a BBA in Accounting and a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks. She is also an active member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. With Mary on your team, you can be sure your budget is on a tight rein.

As a P&L-focused leader, Mark Lambrecht prides himself on being a fact-based, results-oriented and customer-focused decision maker. As a senior marketing executive, he has managed business development programs for major corporations, both directly and from the agency side, and has created and implemented successful relationship marketing strategies for GTE, Hilton, Bell Canada, Nationwide Insurance, and many other industry leaders. His broad knowledge encompasses customer relationship management, loyalty and retention programs, direct marketing, Web and channel marketing, management, strategic planning and analysis, and marketing and sales communications.

Before joining Ascend Marketing, Mark was Senior Vice President for Brann Forbes where he developed and implemented customer relationship strategies for the agency’s major accounts. While there he improved the efficiency of his clients’ customer contact strategies through online order processing and designed a new data mining strategy to further understand levels of customer value and needs sets. He held several positions at Verizon, including Director of Marketing Communications & Brand Management, Director of Advertising and Group Marketing Manager. During his tenure there he implemented efficiencies in the company’s integrated marketing communications programs that resulted in a 20% increase in revenue. He has developed numerous other strategic plans that improved clients’ use of direct marketing methods and database systems for more effective customer communications. His industry experience spans retail, transportation, hospitality, insurance, automotive, financial and telecommunications.

Mark is a graduate of the University of Texas.

Mary Reichenbach has been designing award-winning websites for over 10 years. Her success is due to her unique combination of artistic and technical talents, and her drive to go beyond the design challenge. “I like to tell the whole story,” she says, “whether that be on the web or in print.” Mary has delivered highly creative web designs, as well as a variety of collateral materials for some of Ascend’s most demanding clients. Her experience spans user interface design, web navigation, content design, and overall graphics design. She begins by studying the way a user navigates a site to ensure that the users get the most out of their visit. She also researches the content in order to create a web presence that supports your messages and goals. Mary is an artist who is also comfortable working with technical teams of programmers, content managers, and quality assurance testers to develop functionally logical sites. As an Assistant Director for Cap Gemini Ernst & Young (CGEY), she was the lead designer for all North Americas and Global Community Home Space intranet sites. In that role, she managed and created internet and intranet web applications engineered for the optimal user experience. During her years with CGEY, she juggled as many as five websites simultaneously while always meeting deadlines and exceeding customer expectations.

Mary is a graduate of Texas Lutheran University with a B.A. in Art and a minor in Public Relations.

Douglas Ritter is a true student of the world, having grown up in Europe and spent many years working for foreign owned companies. His work has involved numerous international projects in Europe, Africa, Asia, and South and Central America. One such company (Perlos, Inc.) recruited him to head up and build a new marketing and sales department, which he took from zero to 65 RFQ’s in his first year alone. Following his marketing plan, the company’s America’s Region generated over $75 million in new business over three years. Douglas also has extensive Telecom experience, including 13 years at AT&T, three years at GTE and one year at NextiraOne (a sales, service and distribution company for enterprise business communications systems). Additionally Douglas spent more than five years in the manufacturing world where he marketed mobile phone handsets. His expertise spans a broad range of marketing services, including interactive marketing, direct response, mass media advertising and collateral. As Assistant Vice President of Marketing Communications for GTE/Verizon, he managed all business and consumer marketing communications for both the local telephony and broadband DSL segments. This comprehensive assignment included mass media, direct response, interactive, radio and sales support collateral for customer acquisition and retention.

Douglas obtained a BA from the University of Rhode Island and an MA from the University of Minnesota.

When you need to zero in on the right zip code, tightly target key demographics and analyze the results of a direct mail campaign, Melanie Bell is the one to call. Melanie was instrumental in the startup of the TMC Department at the Dallas Morning News, where she developed an extensive account base from the ground up and achieved annual billings of over $45 million. She continuously worked to develop additional new business for the organization while maintaining more than 45 active accounts, worth $6 million in annual revenues. Her efforts made her the top sales position for 11 out of her 17 years with the newspaper. During that time, she specialized in zip code targeting for newspaper and direct mail inserts. Her programs utilized demographics targeting, database marketing and detailed research analysis to help both local and national accounts determine their sales and marketing objectives and develop the necessary strategies to achieve optimum results. Prior to the Dallas Morning News, she helped launch start-up company Mail America, where she directed shared and solo direct mail advertising programs. Melanie also brings experience in researching and testing markets for new products to her well-rounded background. Next time you plan a direct marketing program, let Melanie design a winning strategy for you.

Want more sales? As leader of customer acquisition, retention and win-back campaigns for Verizon’s local toll services, Martha Burns led her team to craft a new strategy for the group’s direct mail and telemarketing efforts that increased sales by 66%. But that was only one of many key contributions she made during her tenure at Verizon. In the position of Product Manager, she effectively led a team to develop and launch Verizon’s national operator services platform. Her efforts drove a 20% increased in revenues for Verizon’s operator services portfolio. While there, she also led internal initiatives in employee communications and employee training that resulted in higher revenues. Martha is also a skilled negotiator who drives a hard bargain. For Southwestern Bell Wireless she led a strategic team that successfully lowered roaming rates across the industry by negotiating favorable agreements with 80% of North America’s wireless carriers. Martha has led marketing programs for other internationally recognized names as well – companies such as FedEx Kinkos, Nokia and Texas Instruments. As Senior Marketing Manager of Communications & Global Broadband Strategy for Siemens’ Home & Office Communications Devices, she initiated a consumer survey that uncovered a product defect, which could have cost the technology leader dearly. In that same position, she drew on a broad range of skills to build market presence for Siemens products, including marketing communications, public relations and strategic planning. Martha also applies her talents beyond the corporate world. An active community volunteer and passionate amateur pianist, she is a dedicated supporter of the Dallas Symphony, having served as a member and former Vice President of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra League Innovators.

Martha is a licensed real estate agent with an MBA from the University of Texas, Dallas. She also holds a BBA in Marketing from Texas State University.

Joyce Connelley’s results-focused communications programs have produced highly effective returns for clients in industries such as high-technology, health care, manufacturing, hospitality, education, financial services and retailing. Joyce brings the unique standpoint of a successful journalist to the realms of public relations and marketing communications, giving her an exceptionally broad view of the communications landscape to complement her creative abilities. Her public relations programs have garnered coverage in major media outlets, as well as local and regional press. She is also an expert in developing and executing all types of marketing communications programs, including display advertising, direct mail, web, collaterals, trade show support and broadcast media. While directing media relations for register.com, the company received on-going coverage in The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, CNN, the New York Times, the LA Times, and numerous trade publications. Her direct mail campaign for Drake Beam Morin achieved a 13% response and resulted in a 30% increase in the company’s overall business. And as Managing Editor of a nationally-distributed technology magazine, Joyce directed staff and freelance writers in producing a monthly publication covering all types of PC-based business software. She is an expert at matching creativity with a clear understanding of objectives, target audiences and key messages to produce concepts and copy that succeed.

Joyce graduated from San Jose State University with a B.A. in Journalism & Mass Communications. She has authored two books and published work in numerous newspapers, magazine, trade journals. She has also been a guest lecturer at her alma mater.

Whether you’re talking programming languages like Perl, JavaScript, CGI, PHP, Visual Basic – or if you’ve got a SQL database that needs attention, Dan’s got it covered. He speaks Windows, Linux, Unix, and DOS, too!

A systems expert and veteran operations administrator, Cindy Cunningham understands the needs of both customers and internal operations teams. As a Systems & Reporting Administrator for Valor Telecommunications, Cindy supported users in plant dispatch, the customer service center and the repair department. Her mission was to ensure that the system functioned according to customer expectations and to initiate changes when the system fell short. Beyond reporting problems and opening system repair tickets, Cindy recommended specific enhancements to improve functionality and meet the changing needs of her users. She also tested new improvements, documented new procedures and trained personnel on new systems and technologies. Under her administration, the company significantly reduced the amount of manual intervention required to service and order, which led to a workforce reduction. When Valor needed a subject-matter expert to help develop requirements for a system that would support both customer service and operations, the company naturally turned to her for advice. Previous to Valor, Cindy managed a team of 30 customer service representatives for CenturyTel, and helped the company develop an entirely new customer care system. Cindy’s career is defined by her demonstrated leadership in seeking to deliver a higher level of customer care.

An important component of any marketing campaign is its visual impact. Pam Dempsey’s highly creative designs have impressed the clients of companies such as Ernst & Young, KPMG and JP Morgan. Some of these include major accounts such as Ford, Coca-Cola, Disney, Walmart, and Kimberly Clark. In addition to her creative talents, Pam is also an experienced project leader with a track record for managing both in-house and outside resources. She has worked on a wide range of communications projects including brochures, catalogs, annual reports, newsletters, event programs, posters, apparel and ads. For Corphealth, Pam managed the company’s marketing communications programs, designing and producing collaterals, newsletters, flyers and other promotional materials. She also worked with a team to develop and maintain corporate internet and intranet sites. While working for JP Morgan Securities, she converted complex charts, maps and tables into easy-to-understand visuals for executive presentations. Pam also managed a large-scale print project of more than 150 publications for Ernst & Young. She also maintained standards for graphics and editing involving over 2000 publications for the company. Pam holds a BBA in Marketing from the University of Texas at Arlington, and is skilled in all of today’s tools of the trade – including Adobe Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator and Acrobat, and Quark Express and Power Point. In short, Pam can put her talents to work for you, translating your message into an electronic or traditional communication piece.

Vibha's depth of experience goes far beyond getting web-based projects up and running. She has the comprehensive ability to manage the complete "life cycle" of an application. Her completely "skinned" (ready to use) applications are achieved by first obtaining a deep understanding of your needs. She brings more than 16 years of experience to the process of collecting, analyzing and defining your business requirements in order to design technical solutions that fit your needs and budget. Vibha refined her project management skills during her eight years with Cap Gemini, where she played a lead role in developing web-based and portal applications, managing teams of varying sizes. While there she managed a large team that developed the system architecture for a tool designed to automatically convert data from old legacy systems to a new state-of-the-art application. Called Mentor, the product was deployed for SAP practitioners, including Coca-Cola, Eli Lilly, Disneyland, Johnson & Johnson, Bombardier and Black & Decker. Vibha's team eliminated the need to manually re-enter huge amounts of data and increased the profitability of all the SAP engagements by more than 25%.

In industries that offer complex products and services, delivering outstanding sales support and product support can mean the difference between success and failure. Jamey Gressett has over 10 years of experience in responding to competitive situations for the telecommunications industry in both the regulated and non-regulated segments. In support of major accounts for Valor Telecom, Jamey designed a new application for an existing service that generated more than $2.5 million in additional revenue. While there, he also directed all sales and support efforts for Tier One Internet Services providers such as AOL and MSN – a position that generated over $5 million in total revenues. Jamey has also dealt directly with the FCC and Texas State Public Utilities Commission as Executive Complaint Manager for GTE Internetworking. In that position, he successfully negotiated settlements and resolved complaints involving GTE Internetworking for the entire GTE footprint. In one case, Jamey led a team of telco billing and legal experts who coordinated with the PUC and Texas Council of Governments to successfully resolve a $60,000 billing issue to everyone’s satisfaction. His in-depth knowledge of web and telecom technologies and regulatory issues makes him a unique asset to the Ascend team.

Throughout her career, Paige Johnston has brought success wherever she’s gone. Her marketing programs have not only enhanced the bottom line but have also built strong customer satisfaction among her clients. Her former bosses at Ariesnet attribute her with “strength and perseverance, and a capacity to adapt.” While there, she helped navigate the company through lean times, wearing a variety of hats from customer service to event management to employee communications. After persisting for 18 months, she landed the single largest contract in the company’s history. Over the same period she retained 100% of her nearly 40 active clients. As an independent consultant, Paige trained and positioned a private school to undertake a $6 million capital campaign, requiring several months of research, organization and collation of donor records spanning 20 years. She is also a specialist in fund raising for non-profit organizations. Her efforts for KCTF Public Television in Waco, Texas resulted in the station raising enough money to receive a matching Challenge Grant from the Meadows Foundation. She also helped the American Heart Association double both the number of participating companies and the amount of money raised for its annual HeartWalk in a single year. Paige has also consistently given her time and talent to the local community, tackling a variety of volunteer roles on top of her many professional commitments. Most recently, she offered her skills to the American Marketing Association, Dallas-Fort Worth Chapter as a member and former board secretary, and is currently President-Elect. As president of Kappa Kappa Gamma, she led a turnaround that resulted in a national award for “Most Improved Alumnae Group.” Ask her about her many other volunteer leadership initiatives. You’ll wonder how she does it all.

Paige graduated with honors from Southern Methodist University, Cox School of Business with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.

With Claudia LeConte at the helm, Ascend’s clients can be sure that their communications programs will be efficient, effective and results-oriented. Claudia has led global marketing communications efforts for Fortune 500 companies in both B2B and B2C industries, including ranging from computer software and retailing to telecommunications, wireless and mobility services. In addition, she has also applied her expertise to small firms, start-ups and advertising agencies. While with Nortel Networks, Claudia executed the company’s Enterprise Power Networks global interactive web strategy, pulling together multiple complex components of the brand awareness campaign to consistently implement the strategy across the Internet, remote access and ATM backbone services. Her areas of responsibility spanned web applications, service quality, and graphics standards for web and print communications. Her efforts provided clear and consistent messaging for the company, which enhanced Nortel’s opportunity to grow its share of market in voice and data networking solutions. Through her varied agency and consulting experiences, Claudia also brings a strong background in retailing, including store grand opening promotions, wireless dealer incentive programs, in-store customer loyalty programs, contests, and special promotions for wireless Carriers. Her work has included developing and implementing web-based interactive campaigns and rewards websites, as well as conventional point-of-purchase merchandising materials, product packaging, and collaterals. Claudia holds a B.A. in Business Education from the University of Kentucky. A fluent French speaker, she earned a minor in that language and furthered her study of it in France while traveling there.

With both agency and client-side experience, Kristin has unique credentials in the agency business. She worked her way up through the ranks of many notable local and national advertising agencies including Ayer, Bozell and Temerlin McClain. She continued to expand her marketing experience on the client side as the Director of Global Branding and Advertising at Nortel Networks.

Her strength is in taking on the strategic challenge of launching new brands, reinvigoration mature brands and opening new revenue sources for companies. She has wide-ranging experience including business-to-business and business-to-consumer brands such as: American Airlines, JCPenney, Kodak, Greyhound, Terminix deBoulle Jewelers, GTE Video Services (one of the first high-speed interactive cable/internet systems) and the Dallas Grand Prix (a one-time event designed to demonstrate Dallas’ status as a “world-class city).

Kristin’s work has received a number of industry awards including Ace, Mobius, Telly and a finalist for the International Campaign of the Year just to name a few. In addition she has a real passion for developing the community. Kristin serves as a mentor for the Richardson Chamber of Commerce Women in Leadership Council and on boards for organizations such as the Arts of Collin County.

Laura McClure has applied her mathematical skills and keen sense of design and organization in a variety of unusual ways. Her unique specialty is knowing how to make electronic office tasks more intuitive. As a former office software designer for IBM, she understands graphical user interfaces from both the user and designer perspectives. Throughout her career, Laura has also been a dedicated and energetic mentor, working with both youth and adults to develop leadership skills, practical knowledge and team spirit. Before joining Ascend, she drove fund-raising efforts for her local elementary school PTA. As chairperson, she managed monthly fund-raising activities. Supervising a team of volunteers, she developed the group’s marketing plan, executed communications programs and managed donation accounting. Laura is also the former director and on-going advisor to an educational banking program for elementary school students. She launched her tenure there by revamping training for the student bank employees. She organized, trained and supervised both child and adult volunteer bank workers. Additionally, she redesigned the software used for keeping the bank’s records and streamlined the bank’s procedures. Laura also led a team of local middle school math and science students through a series of successful competitions culminating in the Texas State championship. A graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, Laura holds a B.S. degree in Mathematics.

Michelle Miller’s many accomplishments have benefited mega-companies such as Rubbermaid, Verizon/GTE and Home Depot, as well as small firms in niche markets. Before joining Ascend, Michelle held various positions for Home Depot with responsibilities ranging from implementing regional programs to directing daily store operations. While there she co-developed programs including one pricing strategy designed to produce up to a 2% increase in gross margin per department. She was also instrumental in Home Depot’s relief efforts following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, leading a group organized to reopen and maintain store operations in the storm-torn regions. Through various marketing positions Michelle has conducted in-depth reviews of methodologies and operations to determine improved strategies and solve critical business issues. For Verizon/GTE she directed multiple marketing initiatives with budgets exceeding $1.8 million, including management of all associated marketing communications and public relations functions. In one such initiative she conceived and executed a direct marketing program forecasted to generate $11 million in revenue within 4 years and exceeded response rate expectations by over 300%. She also helped develop a key CRM program for Verizon’s new call center. As an Assistant Product Manager for Rubbermaid she realized a savings of $100,000 per year by creating an international bulk shipment program while helping to manage a 240-SKU product line, including merchandising, promotions, trade shows and other marketing activities.

Michelle also brings an international flavor to her work. Conversant in French, Italian and Spanish, she holds language certifications from both the University of Paris, Sorbonne and Paris Chamber of Commerce. In addition, she has both an MBA and a Masters in International Business from the University of Pittsburgh, along with a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan. In addition she is a member of the National Society of Hispanic MBAs, a Board Director for the Texas Response Unit Search & Rescue Team and happily cycles around with the Greater Dallas Bicyclists.

Victoria Milner is a veteran marketer who has directed multi-million-dollar organizations to greater productivity and profitability. As General Manager of TVMAX/Optel, she led the company’s turnaround. While there, she instituted new processes and procedures that resulted in a 30% reduction in bad debt and increased service efficiencies, which generated positive cash flow within a single year. By reorganizing field marketing functions, she also achieved a 2% lift in the company’s market share. More recently, she served as Vice President of Affiliate Sales and Marketing for BBS Marketing, Inc., where she successfully secured agreements with three of the top four national cable operators. Victoria’s marketing prowess increased revenues for Marcus Cable by more than 30% per customer. When the company introduced new high-speed data technologies, she developed the corresponding communications campaign that resulted in a customer satisfaction rate of better than 90% and brought in more than 1000 new households. As the company’s Regional Marketing Director, she managed five districts representing diverse demographics with annual revenues of over $90 million. Victoria is well-versed in other areas of marketing, including lead generation, customer acquisition and measurement. Over her 25-year career in telecommunications, she held several key positions for the Cable and Telecommunications Association of Marketing, including President of the both the Texas and Mid-Atlantic Chapters.

Exceeding expectations is part of the routine for Stephanie Perks. Upon graduating from college, Stephanie was recruited by SBC Communications (now AT&T) to join the company’s highly competitive accelerated management program, which trained up-and-coming leaders in customer service, operations, and finance. As a Customer Appeals Manager, her team helped resolve serious customer complaints. Her team resolved over 1000 such appeals in three months, well exceeding their target and saving the company unquantifiable amounts of money and negative publicity. During her tenure as a Network Operations Center Manager, she supervised a team of 10 persons responsible for statewide voice/data and 911 traffic surveillance. In this role she also successfully worked with the CWA union to resolve conflicts and maintain a positive work environment. Stephanie also demonstrated superior salesmanship as a Technical Sales Executive for SBC, winning multiple sales awards for her efforts. In a single year she sold over $1 million in data equipment – more than 200% of her target. That same year she increased revenue by $1 million and grew her customer base revenue by 13%. Stephanie graduated cum laude with a B.S. in Civil Engineering from Northern Arizona University, where she was a member of the Tau Beta Pi National Honor Society.

Cathy Pringle’s retail marketing expertise and general management talent spans the consumer sector, including brand and product development, multi-channel retail, research, CRM, database and direct marketing. But what really sets Cathy apart is her knack for identifying and initiating data analytics and process improvements. Her original techniques have had a major impact on corporate budgets in the consumer packaged goods, retailing, technology and publishing industries. Her analytical approach to marketing enabled her to identify and capture a major opportunity for Rubbermaid Corp.’s Little Tikes division. As Group Product Manager, she detected signs of decline in the group’s leading product early enough to enable the company to introduce a new replacement product a full year ahead of schedule, which generated the second highest revenues in the company’s history. She has continued to utilize qualitative and quantitative research to create innovative marketing solutions. When she joined Sally Beauty Co. as VP of Marketing and Public Relations, it was clearly ready for her leadership in building new marketing initiatives efficiently. Her task was to somehow slash her own budget while developing direct marketing and CRM programs to increase transactions and sales. She responded by achieving a total savings of $1.8 million in a single year while maintaining positive comp store sales. After two years, she had nearly doubled the company’s loyalty club memberships, and by the third year she had increased total brand awareness from 66% to 75%. Cathy’s approach was to tackle inefficiencies within the marketing organization and to develop a menu of measurement tools to stay on top of campaigns and build on the company success. While there she renegotiated major outsourcing contracts and extensively mined the company’s customer data base to extract essential customer segmentation and campaign management data. Cathy’s experience extends well beyond marketing to encompass a whole range of general business operations, up to and including a stint as Chief Operating Officer. She honed her ability to lead organizations as COO of Spirit International, an international producer of merchandising displays and packaging for retailers. In that position, she directed legal, financial and administrative functions, along with marketing and sales.

Cathy holds an MBA with honors from Case Western Reserve University, and a BA in Architectural Interiors from Northwestern University. In addition to multiple speaking engagements, she has shared her impressive experience with others as an Executive-In-Residence at Texas A&M University Center for Retailing Studies.

The ability to track performance against objectives is essential to maintaining a competitive edge. And Rachel Robertson is Ascend Marketing’s expert in designing systems that deliver the kinds of crucial insights that can spur sales and slash unnecessary costs. As Sales Project Manager for Valor Telecommunications, Rachel designed metrics that enabled the company to dramatically impact its bottom line. Using her performance analyses, the company significantly increased sales month over month and helped Valor reduce truck rolls and related manual field work – a major cost of doing business. Her detailed knowledge of systems analysis and reporting is coupled with more than eight years of experience in the telecommunications industry. As a service fulfillment specialist for Verizon Communications, Rachel further developed her excellent problem solving skills and technical knowledge while supporting the telco’s network operations and database management organizations. Whether it’s charting sales, monitoring service records, or analyzing work flow, Rachel has her finger on the pulse.

An honors graduate of Texas Tech University, David Timmons holds twin Bachelor’s degrees in Marketing and Finance, supplemented by a minor in Japanese. He has also applied his unique interests to a career in graphic design and illustration. David has previously worked for a West Texas marketing and design firm where he created a variety of collaterals, such as Web templates, corporate identities and copy. A textbook retailer, Red & Black College Bookstore, employed him to design the official race shirts for the High Plains Grand Prix Circuit motocross organization. The publisher of Shonen Jump (a major Japanese comic periodical) recognized David’s talent when it ran his artwork in the American version of its international magazine. Design, however, is not David’s only strength. Red & Black asked him to build the store’s website and help expand operations into a second location. Texas Tech asked him to help manage its endowment fund. The university also asked him to assist its students and faculty as a technical support analyst. David is truly a multifaceted person whose skills are of great value in most any situation. We think you will agree.

A multi-disciplined professional with general management, marketing, sales and manufacturing experience in hospitality, telecom, and consumer packaged goods, Brent’s marketing savvy has benefited such well known brands as Red Roof Inns, Campbell Soup Company and GTE (now Verizon). With additional experience in a leadership capacity at Rapp-Collins Worldwide, clients working with Brent benefit from an executive who knows both sides of the equation – client and agency – enabling them to achieve maximum results through someone who knows how to communicate effectively on their behalf.