Education & Qualifications
MPS, Clinton School of Public Service, University of Arkansas
MS, Communication, Florida State University
BA, Humanities, California State University
Certificate, Business with Accounting Emphasis, UCLA Extension
Certificate, Attorney Assistant Training Program, UCLA Extension
Skills Summary
Marketing and Management Communication
Writer, Editor, Instructor, Designer, and Visual Artist
Broad experience as Manager, Analyst, Advisor, Marketer, and Researcher.
Broad legal career in commercial contract writing, reviewing, and negotiation with both private and public companies; legal document management and audits; dispute resolution; research and fact finding.
Often the face and voice of organizations I represent.
History of relationships and communication across cultures and continents with professionals, government officials, and all strata of business personnel
Career Summary
Independent Contractor
2010 – 2014
Communication & Education
° Program Assistant and Fellow for PCI Media-Impact on My Wildlife – My Community, an Entertainment-Education project to change community attitudes and behaviors about wildlife in Africa. General management and coordination in Tanzania with project partners, contractors, Media Impact staff, and other parties involved in creating, marketing, and implementing an E-E radio and outreach program. Authored the mid-term progress report for US Fish & Wildlife Service, who funded the project. Also authored a 12,000 word report on where Media Impact should locate a regional office in Sub-Saharan Africa, the culmination of a 6 month management research project that included academic and institutional literature review, interviews, and proprietary analysis methods.
° Consultant for Arkansas Children’s Hospital Research Institute on its Delta Garden Study project. Research, interviews, analysis, and a report to help schools sustain their gardens after the study and its funding ends.
° Teaching Assistant for More Kids in the Woods grant to National Wild Turkey Federation and Beau Turner Youth Conservation Center. Responsible for conducting pre-test and informational visits to the schools participating in the grant program. Assisted with learning activities during two weeks of school field trips to BTYCC.
° Environmental Education assistant for St Marks National Wildlife Refuge.
° Tutor and Marketer for Supplemental Education Services in Leon County, FL for SES vendor Advanced Learners Private Tutoring.
Specialist
2008 – 2010
The Nature Conservancy, Arlington, Virginia
° Daily role was writing, reviewing and researching for the Corporate Services team at TNC’s Worldwide Office, primarily in support of the Marketing, Philanthropy, and Technology. In 2009, TNC won the Webby Award for Best Charity Website.
° Wrote web-based training scripts for Cause Marketing and TNC Logo Use.
° Created an Access database to monitor internal Delegations of Authority, and created a variety of documents and procedures to support active Cause Marketing department.
Educator
2008
Montgomery County Public Schools, Rockville, Maryland
High School and Middle School teacher for Social Studies, English, Language Arts, Reading, Media, and Business.
Conference Coordinator
2006 – 2007
Florida State University, Academic and Professional Program Services, Tallahassee, Florida
° Daily role was developing the speaker and session program around the themes of change management and e-learning, exhibitor relations, media relations, and marketing for the Florida Government Technology Conference 2006. Wrote and managed a variety of communications relating to exhibitors, attendees, and promotions, including email and website campaigns and the conference program. FGTC 2006 was a turnaround year for the 15 year old event as our efforts increased both full-conference and general attendance more than 35%.
° Instructor for Princeton Review GRE.
° Served on the Board of the Tallahassee Chapter of American Society for Training & Development, where I was part of a task force formed to revive the chapter and regain our standing with the national organization.
° Coursework at FSU included (i) customer survey design and execution for the Tallahassee Titans, a pro arena football team, (ii) marketing communication management, including traditional and new media strategy for a start-up website, and (iii) account planning market research using surveys, focus groups, and secondary data sources.
Contract Specialist
2004 – 2005
Kelly Law Registry (Contractor), San Francisco, California
° Daily role was documenting and negotiating IT contracts, maintaining transaction information in a contract management system, and issuing POs for the Supply Management department to align with a companywide reengineering of processes.
° As an outsource contractor to a subsidiary of Allianz, assumed primary responsibility for all IT software license renewals and renegotiations.
° Realized more than $300,000 of savings for new and renewal license and purchase transactions.
Manager Contracts and Exports, and Senior Legal Assistant
2000 – 2004
Harris Corporation, Redwood Shores, California
° Daily role was documenting and negotiating distribution, sales, supply and cooperation agreements, export compliance, bid responses, vendor finance agreements, and dispute resolution and litigation for a division with $325M annual revenue.
° Presented continual training about Export Compliance, Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, and Contract Documentation.
° Increased quality control and turnaround time tenfold by smoothing kinks in the due diligence-to-document process for international dealer agreements.
° Integral in the practical and strategic management of multimillion dollar litigation successes.
Senior Paralegal and Assistant Secretary
1989 – 2000
Heller Financial (Acquired by GE Capital 2002), Glendale, California
° Daily role was documenting and negotiating sales and portfolio transactions, contract due diligence, guiding and educating business people, reviewing the work of junior legal staff and business people, and researching public records for a 300 client, $500M loan portfolio of a $2B annual revenue company.
° Streamlined contract preparation by developing a library of cut-and-paste contract terms and dozens of standard form documents.
° Personally documented thousands of new business and portfolio transactions for asset-based, factoring, equipment lease, and corporate finance groups.
° In 1989, introduced the use of on-line public records to facilitate speedy closing of transactions and cut costs.
° Cut UCC administration expense by tens of thousands of dollars per year by better managing legal necessities and use of vendor services.
° Coordinated all division responses to third party document productions.
° Won 100% of cases in defense of division in Small Claims Court.
° Audited and managed all legal documents for a division serving more than 300 commercial clients.
WEB WORKS
“The Best Part of Photography is Getting to the Shot,” This I Believe website.
“From Mickey to Michelangelo – The Beginning of Training & Development at Walt Disney Studios.”
“The 5 P’s of Organizational Development”
“What’s the Matter with the SEC?”
“IPC in the Workplace,” CooperArena.com and Masters project for Florida State University.
