New York University

University of Wisconsin - Madison

Horace Mann School

Performance driven leader with a record for capacity building, innovating and driving continuous improvement. Most at home in high-pressure, high-expectation environments alongside others who aspire to greatness.

Brooklyn, New York, United States

frog

Senior Strategist

Founding a venture backed b2b/b2c tech company; taking it from concept to working with the #1 and #2 enterprise clients in its target industry and through several rounds of financing.
-  Co-develop vision and influence strategic plans for the company, defining KPIs and other core performance metrics with CEO and other members of the executive team
-  Conduct our strategic plans, and develop and iterate our business model, defining resource requirements, implementation plans, and operating timelines
-  Negotiate business and contract terms with employees, partners, investors, and vendors, crafting customized agreements wherever needed
-  Primary liaison with company counsel on financings, company forms, IP management and other core operating issues
-  Support the CEO in preparing strategy and materials for significant business development opportunities, participating in such meetings and supporting follow up actions
-  Responsible for all financial operations ($7M over 4 years), defining our chart of accounts, developing and allocating operational budgets, analyzing P&Ls, and report findings and make relevant recommendations to the CEO and the rest of the Executive team
-  Overseeing all research and development activity through several full lifecycles of hardware and software development
-  Recruit and manage a team of technical specialists including developers, engineers (electrical, mechanical, etc…), and industrial designers, employing rapid prototyping and agile development practices
-  Used market experience and stakeholder feedback to ensure our technology and service offerings evolved to continue to deliver increasingly efficient value to our stakeholders
-  Collaborated with various colleagues to administer and monitored efforts to integrate successful innovation practices into standard operating practices
-  Partners/clients included: Kroger, Albertsons, Purina, Banfield Animal Hospitals, HMS Host

DogSpot

COO & Co-Founder

Responsible for developing and overseeing the statewide Voter Activation Program in Ohio
-  Designed and independently oversaw deployment and drove continuous improvement of the first Voter Activation Program to exclusively involve Mobile Voter Activation Centers (MVACs).
-  Established the systems and processes each of the five Voter Activation Regional Directors (VARDs) used in managing their MVACs and implementing the statewide program in their region.
-  Ensured VARDs were completing events, drop-offs, pick-ups and other activities sufficient for achieving both Voter Activation and GOTV objectives in their regions and providing support to other departments whenever possible.
-  Documented processes, and learnings and ideas on further improvements for posterity and democratization among other states teams and other values aligned campaigns.

Ohio Democratic Party

Voter Activation Director, Coordinated Campaign in Ohio

Responsible for strategic resource management to support the operational and logistical needs of the the statewide program (20 staff, including seven senior, State HQ and three field offices)
-  Provided around the clock, day-to-day support to state leadership and organizing teams to ensure they had everything they needed to hit their programmatic and voter contact goals
-  Led the planning, management and implementation of a dynamic and multi-faceted budget and reporting process to ensure the success of Maine’s organizing plan and transparency with central headquarters
-  Collaborated with State Leadership on strategies to hit program metrics, including hiring and onboarding, identifying, securing and managing organizing and State HQ offices spaces, and maximizing resources
-  Served as the primary liaison between State Leadership and central headquarters stakeholders as it related to Legal, Budget, Vetting, Compliance, Accounts Payable, etc.
-  Built, refined and implemented operations processes and systems to improve efficiency
-  Acted as the primary point of contact for all HR, personnel, and performance issue management
-  Served as primary States shutdown Captain, leading the wind-down of the campaigns activities and presence statewide

Team Bloomberg

Operations Director, ME

Strengthened, streamlined and operationalized Chobani's CEOs vision for his company's first coordinated effort to invest in food entrepreneurs with disruptive products and services, coordinating directly with the President Chobani Ventures and Chobani Foundation, the CMO, various other executive and supporting team members and outside agencies

Chobani

Food Incubator Strategist

Started and served as lead trainer for a multi-week workshop series that aids social entrepreneurs in vetting and developing their venture or new program concepts
-  Created the Startup Smarter workshop to fill a market gap, piloted it and brought it to market
-  Lead 32 participants through a process to vet their idea and get pitch ready, to 100% positive results
-  Developed outcome metrics for each session, analyzed results and made needed adjustments weekly
-  Directed design team leading visual identity development and experience design
-  Managed all grassroots and digital advertising efforts (Google Adwords, Twitter, Linkedin etc…)
-  Recruited, onboarded and managed over a dozen contractors and volunteers
-  Adapted a crash course and conceived of 5 novel market channels based on response to the pilot
-  Developed a detailed financial model and  monitored and managed actuals against projections
-  Lead partnership and fundraising efforts with dozens of leading organizations and foundations

PurposeFuel

Founder

Co-developed a transformative leadership development program in partnership with Ariana Huffington and the Huffington Post, executing this programing in NY, Philadelphia and Los Angeles
-  Directed strategic planning and lead mission, vision and values language development
-  Conducted landscape and environmental scanning research to inform strategic development
-  Managed key stakeholders, partners and developed a Board of Directors
-  Negotiated a takeover of another larger nonprofit and oversaw related legal due diligence
-  Directed volunteer recruitment and management including via the Catchafire platform
-  Co-designed aa five-day skills ‘bootcamp’ and seven local community-organizing train-the-trainer programs
-  Trained and coached over 150 service leaders in the community organizing skill of Public Narrative

Ignite Good

Co-Director

- Served on a 5-person team to advise the Executive Management of the 63-acre historic Lyndhurst property
-  Garnered insights from: site visits, interviews, primary surveys, and secondary demographic and psychographic data
-  Designed recommendations and presented persuasively to Lyndhurst’s Executive Director & the LfHS Board

Landscapes For Historic Sites – advising the National Trust for Historic Preservation

Project Associate, Lyndhurst: Demographic Study and Visitor Experience Design

- Designed interventions to close a performance gap and to improve cross-divisional effectiveness and efficiency
-  Gleaned insights by: interviewing Commissioners and staff, reviewing documents and conducting a STEEP analysis

Town of North Hempstead – pop. 225,000+, one of three towns in Nassau County

Project Associate, Organizational Development Intervention Team

- Served on a 6-person team to develop S&P’s first branded financial literacy program
-  Analyzed 23 cross-sector national policy environments; vetted and recommended the most appropriate NP partners
-  Interfaced with S&P’s VP of Public Affairs and The McGraw-Hill Companies’ VP of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability while devising and iterating plans; influenced decision making by actively framing the alternatives

Standard and Poor’s - a financial services company

Project Associate, International Financial Literacy Program

- Co-formulated a plan for a quasi-experimental evaluation of ACE programming (with comparison group design)
-  Determined gaps in program theory logic; designed changes to enhance likelihood of achieving desired outcomes
-  Curated and enhanced ACE’s performance metrics to ensure both activity and outcome relevance for ACE managers

Alliance for Climate Education - a climate education and leadership development org.

Project Associate, Process and Outcome Evaluation Design Team

- Supported a strategic review of the Packard Foundation’s efforts in sustainable fisheries by mapping main actors
-  Generated full-day strategic facilitation agendas to ensure expressed client interests and identified needs were met
-  Proposed and implemented a marketing content overhaul for Structure Lab, a unique strategic planning workshop

Criterion Ventures - a social-venture consulting and enterprise development firm

Summer Associate

- Advised small businesses and organizations on how best to harness video to achieve their objectives
-  Directed business development, client relations and brand strategy; managed project budgets and allocated funds

Kalicon Pictures - a video brand strategy consulting company

Founding Partner

- Established international volunteer managed organization.  Currently direct $500,000 fundraising efforts
-  Generated a strategic model for an educational distribution of Jewish Conversation Project programming with associated educational, dialogue facilitation and marketing materials
-  Identified a premium target market interested in this programming, and developed international relationships in support to better know and further determine the needs of that market
-  Manage relationships with professionals at more than 450 organizations, institutions, and foundations
-  Manage 32+ volunteers, 80+ advisors, 14+ partnerships and contractors involved with the project

Trialogue Learning Group

Founder and Executive Director

Business Development & Management Responsibilities:
-  Created sales procedures and communications strategies related to Chat: Israelity
-  Interview, select and manage teams of up to 6 staff and 9 crew at a time delegating tasks and monitoring progress
-  Co-conceptualized and co-designed an expansive interactive social networking concept
-  Directed the creation of all branding materials, messaging, and strategy for <a href="http://JewishReconnectionProject.com">JewishReconnectionProject.com</a>
-  Consult on business strategy, strategic planning, and marketing
-  Consistently hold, attend and host high level meetings with clients and partners
Television Production Responsibilities:
-  Regularly create and edit budgets and allocate funds from budgets of up to $225,000 for projects
-  Lead Producer on Chat: Israelity, a half-hour documentary film featuring Jews in Israel and New York
Reason for leaving: I identified and pursued a much better opportunity for growth through independent work.

Chat Ventures, Inc.

International Documentary Producer and Project Manager

- Managed, from start to finish, the redesign and deployment of a main projects new website
-  Recruit, train and manage all company interns and production assistants
-  Manage and coordinate all in house post-productions, both creative and technical projects
-  Field produce and interview for over 15 in-house video segments and allocate crew time
-  Regularly create and edit budgets for proposed projects; Allocate funds from project budgets of up to $125,000
-  Lead Creative Team on 3 major creative proposals all of which received rave reviews
-  Research, source, and license materials for post-production and shoots
Note: Promoted from part time freelancer to full time staff March 2004
Reason for leaving:  Did not leave – was promoted and company reformulated under a new name

NextNext Entertainment

Associate Producer and Project Manager

- Logged, captured, imported, and organized footage on Final Cut Pro
- Boom operator for an Emmy award-winning cameraman
- Shot footage for Bravo Television show pilot as DV camera operator
- Wrote seven full show treatments for a documentary style television series for Court TV
- Created two new show ideas and headed their research and development
- Headed graphics department for both use in video and in print using Photoshop
- Assisted head producer prepping equipment for shoots and confirming locations
- Served as locations scout for the locations manager

Nick Davis Productions

Assistant Editor and P.A.

- Logged footage for editors, with comments on Final Cut Pro and Avid Media Log
- Digitized/Captured logged footage on both Final Cut Pro and Avid Meridian systems
- Assisted Associate Producers by fact checking their final show scripts
- Conducted research for shows in production and for shows in development
- Co-developed and wrote a treatment for a television series for National Geographic TV
- Transcribed footage with MS Word and time coded those transcripts
- Cloned/Dubbed tapes on and between numerous professional and consumer formats

Engle Brothers Media

Editorial/Office Intern

- Conducted and moderated meetings between contractors, engineers and architects
- Researched comparative supply prices and oversaw competitive contract bidding
- Responded to tenant problems and concerns and relayed them to the CEO

Todd Schechter

Todd Schechter