Douglas C. Bates


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Experience

Aquent , Boston, MA.

Senior Product Manager, 3/99 — present.

Manage site content and structure, and customer communications for several web initatives. Manage all advertising, including web, email, direct mail, telemarkting, print, and radio. Supervise telemarketing staff. Web initiatives include:

  • Aquent Talent Finder, a specialized search engine that lists only the websites of people who are independent professionals.

  • Aquent Financial Services, specialized financial services site providing virtual employer, factoring, and insurance benefits for independent professionals.

  • Skill.com, which was a web-based service connecting independent consultants with clients. Skill.com was closed and folded into Aquent Talent Finder.

  • SkillExchange.com, which is an online temp agency, still under development.

Nequity.com, Richmond, VA.

Nequity was a start-up providing internet-delivered services to small businesses.

Marketing Consultant, 1/98 — 3/98 (short-term contract).

Managed broadcast email, customer communications, offer testing, telemarketing, and list acquisition for an e-commerce start-up. Managed campaigns to increase site visits by Nequity members. Consulted on marketing strategies for product offers, co-branding, banner advertising, and site structure.

Signet Banking Corporation, Richmond, VA.

Regional bank holding company, merged into First Union Bank in 11/97.

Vice President, Signet Financial Services Marketing & Analysis, 7/96 — 12/97.

Developed and managed direct-marketing strategies for insurance, mutual funds, and asset-allocation products sold via mail, inbound and outbound telemarketing, print advertising, seminars, interactive web-site, and face-to-face sales. Established new insurance offers expected to generate annual profits of over $1.0 million. Tripled credit insurance sales, increasing annual profits by $240,000. Selected and managed insurance carriers and brokers. Negotiated vendor contracts.

Vice President - Marketing, Small-Ticket Leasing, 4/95 — 7/96.

Managed national direct-marketing strategy, databasing, execution, market testing, and financial and statistical analysis for a start-up division offering equipment leasing to small businesses -- a product which has never been successfully sold on a mass basis via direct mail and telemarketing. Led product-development effort to create a pre-approved leasing line of credit, which had not been previously offered in the marketplace. Managed customer communications, outsourced telemarketing, mailhouse services, and creative.

Providian Direct Insurance, Valley Forge, PA. (Formerly National Liberty Corporation)

Direct marketer of life, health, and auto insurance.

Senior Manager - Accident and Health Customer Retention, 1/94 — 4/95.

Improved customer retention by 1.1 points, worth $2.6 million in annual profit, by developing new customer-retention strategies, utilizing database management, telemarketing, direct mail, customer newsletters, and market research. Managed all non-sales customer communications, e.g., newsletters, legal notices. Responsible for preserving $150 million of in-force business.

Marketing Test Consultant, 4/92 — 1/94.

Designed and analyzed direct-marketing tests. Reviewed and approved for technical accuracy all of the company's test designs prior to test execution, and analyses prior to reporting. Recommended whether tested marketing programs should be rolled out, retested, or terminated. Ensured that tests were executed according to design.

Manager - Competitive Intelligence, 12/91 — 4/92.

Marketing Strategist - Target Marketing and Segmentation, 10/90 — 12/91.

Served as an internal account representative between line marketers and marketing analysts. Led a three-person team that performed market segmentation and market description via demographic and behavioral profiling, statistical analysis, and predictive modeling for marketers. Developed marketing-database and target-marketing strategies. Selected and purchased individual and geodemographic enhancement data.

Associate Business Director - New Businesses, 6/90 — 10/90.

Managed the marketing relationship with a new client, The Wholesale Club. Executed direct mail and telemarketing campaigns.

The Franklin Mint, Franklin Center, PA.

Senior Marketing Analyst - Corporate R&D, 12/88 — 12/89.

Developed statistical sales models for print media. Analyzed marketing test results to determine the success of offer structures, creative approaches, print-media units, and direct-mail packages.

Marketing Manager - Home Decor, 10/86 — 12/88.

Developed new home-decor products and advertising and marketing strategies.

Gold Circle, a division of Federated Department Stores, Columbus, OH.

Policies and Procedures Analyst, 1984.

Kobacker Stores, Columbus, OH. (Pic-Way and Pix shoe stores)

Assistant to the Chairman of the Board, 1983. Management Communications Coordinator, 1982 to 1983. Management Trainee, 1981 to 1982.

Education

University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA.

M.S., Organizational Theory, 1995. Graduated with Distinction. GPA: 3.97. Thesis: "Demand Characteristics, Cognitive Dissonance, and Customer Retention."

Cornell University, Johnson Graduate School of Management, Ithaca, NY.

M.B.A., Marketing and Quantitative Methods, 1986. Selected by the American Marketing Association as one of the nation's top five marketing scholars. Selected as Cornell's top 1986 marketing student. Full Academic Scholarship. Graduated with Distinction. Editor, The Malott Times (student newspaper). Assistant to the Director, Cornell Executive Development Program, 1985. Teaching Assistant - Marketing Management, 1985.

Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH.

A.B., Social Psychology, 1981. Honors Thesis. Graduated with Departmental Distinction. National Merit Finalist. Business Manager, co-founder, Campus (student magazine).

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