Summary

Award-winning branding and marketing leader with expertise in strategic direction, creative development and management of brand experiences and integrated marketing in  sectors including consumer products, education, technology, healthcare, financial services, and nonprofit.

 

Built in-house agency and transformed employer brand. More than ten years’ experience with global brand consultancy Fitch and national integrated marketing agency Hill Holliday. Skilled at driving results through superior creative and market/audience engagement.

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In addition, Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Black Swan Lab for New Works writer; playwright/lyricist/librettist whose works include the musical A Pint of Understanding (music by Joel LaRue Smith and Joseph Smith), choral work Circle of the First (music by Robert Terrio), and dramatic monologue series Synaptic Fires.

 

Experience

Head of Marketing, ABCD, Boston, MA, 2015 - present

Reporting to the President/CEO, successfully rebranded organization; oversee integrated marketing communications to create a unified and impactful experience for all audiences. Built in-house agency; developed brand strategy and multichannel creative; video strategy and production; traditional and social media engagement and growth; PR/media relations.

 

Associate Creative Director, THD, Lexington, MA, 2013-2015

Brought branding and integrated marketing experience to nonprofit development communications. Clients included Habitat for Humanity, Alzheimer's Association, Multiple Sclerosis Society of Canada, Ms. Foundation for Women, Mercy Corps.

 

Principal, Lee Phenner Communications, Arlington, MA

2009-2013

Brand identity, content development and marketing management. Clients included Putnam Investments, NEPC, Salt & Olive.

 

Vice President, Corporate Identity & Design, Hill Holliday, Boston, MA, 2002-2009
Contributed to branding and communications work that drove market leadership for clients in the consumer, B2B, nonprofit, and education sectors. Brands included Bank of America/Fleet, Partners HealthCare, Covidien, IBM Cognos, Boston University, Rockport, Manulife/John Hancock, Liberty Mutual, Partners In Health.

Director, Brand Strategy/Senior Writer, Fitch, Boston, MA, 1998-2001

Directed and collaborated on positioning and brand identities, brand strategy and architecture, naming and nomenclature systems, messaging and content across all media for national and global clients seeking to launch, reinvigorate, or reposition their brands. Clients included GE/SES Astra, Nortel Networks, Gerber Childrenswear, Timberland, Razer.

 

Emerson College, Boston, MA
Assistant to the Chair, Visual and Media Arts, 1997-1998

Employer Relations Coordinator, 1996-1997

 

Merriam-Webster, Springfield, MA
Assistant Marketing Director, 1992-1994

Publicist, 1990-1992

 

Assistant to the President, Community Enterprises Northampton, MA, 1987-1989

 

Reporter, The Springfield Newspapers, Springfield, MA, 1986-1987

 

Reporter/Anchor, WMAS AM & FM, Springfield, MA,1985-1986

 

 

Education

Emerson College, Boston, MA

MFA, creative writing, 1998, with distinction

Duprey Awards for screenwriting and poetry

 

Western New England College, Springfield, MA

BA, English, 1985, cum laude

Honors, Awards, Memberships

ReBrand 100: Uta Pippig’s Take The Magic Step, brand ID/literature

MITX: Dunkin' Run app

Hatch Award: American Ireland Fund, book/development 

Communication Arts: Razer Boomslang, brand ID and packaging

NEDMA: Mercy Corps direct response

Oregon Shakespeare Festival’s Black Swan Lab for New Work: A Pint of Understanding
Martin Luther King, Jr. Committee, Arlington, MA, Board of Directors