GNI Marketing Director
By Peter Karlovich
For an organization to thrive and grow, it needs many things.
First, you must offer a quality product that provides value and is delivered
consistently. Having attended the GNI Gathering 18 times, as well as a
GNI-sponsored cruise, I can say that GNI delivers on this requirement, and Rick
Johnson, our Executive Director, makes it look effortless (which it is not).
However, as I have painfully learned through building and operating my own
business ventures, it is not enough to simply have a superior product. It is
equally important to constantly promote your offering and attract new
audiences, adjust to the changing times, all while maintaining and strengthening
your existing loyal fan base.
As many of you know, GNI has had, at best, a “challenging”
history with our marketing effort. For various reasons, promoting and growing
an organization such as GNI poses new challenges that did not exist a decade
ago. While attendance at The Gathering has ticked up slightly the past two
years, the Board believes that to ensure the long-term viability of the
organization, we must place new emphasis on promotion and marketing. We must
recruit new members, lure back ones who may have drifted away and keep our
“regulars” coming back for more.
To that end, earlier this year the Board approved a new,
paid staff position (the only paid position other than Executive Director), that
of Marketing Director. This engagement is treated as a non-employee contractor.
While it is expected that the Marketing Director will be engaged with GNI on a
year-round basis, the position is not full-time and is targeted towards an
individual who performs other, similar free-lance work for various
organizations.
In May and June of this year, I, along with Ian L., a GNI
member living in London and a brand manager for a major multi-national steel
company there, drafted a Job Description that outlines the challenges facing
the organization, along with duties and responsibilities for this new position.
After review and approval by the Board, in early July, the Job Description was
posted on BuffBuzz, Facebook, Twitter, and Monster.com; a copy can be found
here: Marketing Director Job Description.
Over the next month we received approximately 25 inquires
for this position, from as close as Pittsburgh, PA (where I live) to as far
away as South Africa. Of those, about half were “junk” applications (no resume,
a “skeleton” resume or no relevant experience). Of the remainder, about half
were good to strong candidates that deserved further review. Through September
and early October, Ian and I conducted conference call interviews with the 6 strongest
candidates. Each interview lasted approximately one hour and consisted of some
standardized questions and criteria that Ian and I established in advance,
followed by a free-form discussion of the challenges facing GNI and some
solutions each candidate might propose. To say the least, even the interview
process was very productive in that we consistently identified several
agreed-upon areas of focus as well as some common ideas for ways to approach
the problems.
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| Gene Evangelist, GNI Marketing Director |
After the interviews, we narrowed the list down to the three
strongest candidates. After a thorough review of qualifications, answers to
interview questions and discussion, we decided on a candidate. In mid-October, we
presented our choice to the Board, and the Board approved our recommendation of
6-year GNI member Gene Evangelist as the new Marketing Director. The Board will
be holding our winter board meeting at the end of
October which will be
Gene’s first activity in an official capacity
with our organization.
Gene brings with him a 20-year track record of marketing,
sales management, and business development experience, along with technical
expertise in ad networks, mobile apps, mobile advertising and web development.
He holds a BA in Communications from St. Vincent College and earned an MBA from
the University of Miami, Coral Gables. He has been an entrepreneur as well as a
senior executive for various internet, social media and technology companies.
I’m sure many of you have met Gene at one of the recent Gatherings and I ask
that you join me in welcoming him as he takes on this new challenge. Welcome
Gene!
