| Laura Lee Ricci |
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Marketing Management Consultant EDUCATION WORK HISTORY EXPERTISE PROJECT EXPERIENCE OTHER TRAINING COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT AWARDS & HONORS MEDIA MENTIONS EDUCATION  Laura Ricci, M.B.A. 1984, Master of Business Administration, cum laude, Golden Gate University, San Francisco, California. Named Outstanding Graduate Student. 1978, Attended Drake University Law School, Des Moines, Iowa. Contracts and Property included in legal studies. 1977, Bachelor of Arts, cum laude, Sociology, Social Work and Business, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, Illinois. Member of the Dean’s College. 100% self supporting. Thesis: Soulard Urban Redevelopment, St. Louis, Missouri: An analysis of one of the first urbanredevelopment projects based on providing incentives to the private sector over subsidies to the public sector. [Top] WORK HISTORY Principal, 1Ricci, Pewaukee, Wisconsin 1998 – Present Strategic Marketing Manager, Radian International LLC, Austin, Texas 1992 –98 Marketing Manager, Nolte and Associates, Sacramento, California 1989 –92 Foundation Director, American River Hospital, Sacramento, California 1988 Newspaper Editor, Sacramento Union, Sacramento, California 1986 –88 Marketing and Sales Director, Laura Ricci & Associates, Sacramento, California 1979 –86 [Top] EXPERTISE Laura wins work. Where solutions to problems require a creative effort, Ms. Ricci has established a reputation for rigorous application of practical magic. Her approach is thoughtful strategy first, and exquisite execution of tactics second. Working in a variety of industries, she has built a reputation for building teams of scrappy problem-solvers. [Top] PROJECT EXPERIENCE Marketing Implementation Built a network of marketing support that won over $750 million over 4 years for a $300 million per annum firm. Staff trained in this network consistently win over 85 percent of the targets they seek, up from 43 percent before Laura's intervention. Identify new markets for professional services, design award winning marketing programs and successfully capture profitable work. Seized the opportunity to transform a failing publication. Tripled size, quadrupled profit for The Sacramento Union: "Oldest Daily in the West" and former employer of Samuel Clemens. Spearheaded corporate outreach project for Opera audience development, reaching 210 "Opera Virgins" and making a profit the first year. [Top] Management and Finance Budgeted and administered $3.1 million annual budget. Forecast $16 million annual sales, administered $800,000 marketing budget. Built marketing support network servicing 26 offices for international corporation. Coached seven company branch offices to reorganize, retrain and retool their business systems for marketing and business development. Endows teams with proactive grasp on Total Quality Management. Analyzed staff requirements and cash flow of a small business, resulting in significant reduction of overhead. Organized new nonprofit Foundation. Designed fund raising programs. [Top] Strategy Formulation Formed a state-wide coalition of Wisconsin colleges to collectively solicit federal funding for a unique program of research and education, attracting nationwide attention. Advised on strategy for procurement under FARS Oral presentation requirements. Built strategy for a small company whose market had eroded due to technology advances. By focusing on their new marketplace, revenues immediately increased, and attrition fell by 20 percent. Analyzes product and formulates market plans. Analyzes capabilities of current staff and designs programs to accommodate corporate culture. Advisor to the President for corporate development of a small corporation. Member Board of Directors. Increased newspaper revenues over 40 percent by changing product into a positive vehicle for advertising. Achieved lowest sales cancellation rate by using demographics and psychographics to match product to buyers, and pampering those buyers. Quadrupled results of March of Dimes fundraiser by removing impediment of reaching contributors at our, rather than their, convenience. Formulated vertical marketing program to capture new business, co-opting engineering staff to adopt and implement. Devised organizational development program to reduce turnover and raise morale. Created urgent need for services by increasing visibility in the industry and within the community through a series of speeches before industry groups and weekly television appearances. Designed ads and placed media buys. Since 1995, use the Internet extensively and buy EVERYTHING on the net to track marketing tools as launched. Lobbied Illinois State Legislature. Planned legislative calendar and strategy. Enhanced results of audience development and fundraising by designing synergistic programs which emphasize the "fun" of culture. [Top] Training Teach Proposal Writing Course, "The Magic of Winning Proposals". University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee, Center for Intelligent Maintenance Systems, 2003, "Virtual Management Skills" San Antonio Chapter of Sales and Marketing Professionals Society (SMPS) 2001, Day long training session: "Beating the Competition." Rural Capital Area Workforce Development Board 1999, "Convincing Corporations: The Magic of Marketing" Austin Technology Incubator (ATI) 1998, "B2B Sales for High Tech Startups" Identified needs, originated and produced training courses for staff. Over 20 workshops and mini-courses developed and presented including workshops on Writing for Comprehension, Storyboard production, Theme Development, Resume Database - methods and madness and E-mail management. Trained sales agents in use of computerized sales documents and financial qualifier software. Trained university personnel and students in an accredited course on Lobbying the Illinois State Legislature. [Top] Presentation Preparation Directed Orals presentation for $150 million dollar contract featuring 45 team members presenting to an audience of 8. Co-directed Orals presentation for $350 million dollar contract featuring a team of 20 people from six firms for a two-hour question and answer session. Prepared professional staff for interview using staging techniques, group interaction diagnosis, communication exercises and group visualization exercises. Presentation coaching for individual professional staff using speech/enunciation exercises and Neurolinguistic programming. [Top] Information Technology Designed text-based databases for efficient Boolean search access while maintaining wide-open architecture. Built links between incompatible databases, and reduced user training requirements. Increased data records 50 times and enhanced data depth 300%. Foresaw future information needs and built the skeleton to accommodate and attract that information in advance of requirements. Wrote software for use in qualifying sales prospects. Software was designed to be agile enough to instantly qualify prospects for over 40 loan programs with five qualifying standards with greater accuracy than loan officers. [Top] Recent Public Speaking Engagements Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS), Wisconsin Chapter 2006, "The Magic of Winning Themes" Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS), Wisconsin Chapter 2005, "Engineered Networking" iThink Media JAMM 2004 Keynote speaker, "Why Milwaukee" Center for the Study of Work Teams Conference 2001, "Selecting Virtual Managers: Surprise Stars Lead Virtual Teams" Austin Chapter Association of Internet Professionals (AIP) 2001, "Virtual Teams and How to Grow Them" Houston Chapter Association of Proposal Marketing Professionals (APMP) 2000, "Using Intuition to Build Captivating Themes" International Purchasing Discussion Group of Austin (IPDG) 2000, "Global Teams: The Good News, The Bad News and The Path To Enlightenment" 
Association of Proposal Marketing Professionals (APMP) 2000, Orlando FL "The Magnetism of Themes built with Intuition" " E-mail Tricks, Tools and Tips for Global Team management" and "Accessing the Corporate Knowledge Community"Austin Technology Incubator (ATI) 1998, "B2B Sales for Startups" International Voice Mail Association (IVMA) 1998, "Sales management and proposals for service providers" Women in Technology International (WITI) 1998, Santa Clara CA 'The Price We Pay to Join the Club" and "We have Met the Enemy and it is Us" ("That was a fantastic session, by the way!" - J.Chang) National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) 1998, Dallas TX "Super Sales Training" American Animal Hospital Association (AAHA) 1998, Colorado Springs CO "Building and Harnessing Dynamic Teams" Radio Guest of over 20 talk shows including Jim Blasingame's show: The Small Business Advocate, on the topics of "Managing Women and Men in the Workplace", "Coopetition: Alliances and Fusion Marketing" Guest speaker for over 40 chapter meetings including Kiwanis in 3 states, American Marketing Association (AMA), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Women in Technology International (WITI), Optimists, Women Business Entrepreneurs, Women's Chamber of Commerce, HerDomain, on various topics such as: "12 Views from Women's Eyes: Managing the New Majority" "4 Steps to closing $114 million in Sales" "Smooth Selling for Professionals" "Using a Sales Funnel to channel sales" "Currency for the New Millennium, Something You Can Bank On" "Change or Innovation?" Weekly television appearances on "The Home Show" broadcast in Sacramento CA. [Top] Advertising and Publications Publications background includes all print media — newspaper to offset, weekly television and radio, and training in psychological preparation for presentations. Author of the book, 12 Views from Women's Eyes: Managing the New Majority. Designed Home And Real Estate section. Profits quadrupled when marketing plan produced improved readership and advertising. Designed advertising and public relations campaign for maximum impact. Published, edited and managed distribution of first hospital Annual Report. Wrote "Realestatements," a humorous weekly column designed to encourage home ownership. [Top] OTHER TRAINING Strategic Selling by Miller Heiman Winning Proposals by Warren Yerks Oral Presentations for Best-Value Source Selection by Vernon J. Edwards Winning at Orals by W.S. Thompson Associates, Inc. Applied Psychology for Technical Communications by Klaus Christian Hofer Metaphors by David Gordon Neurolinguistic Programming Certified Practitioner Models for Management by Teleometrics International Performance Through Principles by Interaction Design Teambuilding courses - eight different courses! [Top] COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT Member, National Council of University Research Administrators, 2002 Member, Company of Friends - Milwaukee and Chicago cells, 2001-present Executive Committee, Board of Directors, Association of Information Technology Professionals Austin Chapter, 2000 
Volunteer Trainer, Herdomain, 2000Signatory, The Cluetrain Manifesto, 1999 Member, WITI Austin Chapter, 1998 Exhibitor, WITI Austin Convention, 1998 Speaker, WITI Santa Clara Convention, 1998 Sponsor, AIR Austin, 1998 Member, Austin Software Council, 1997 Member, Herdomain, 1996 - present Volunteer, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Contemporaries, La Dolce Vita fundraiser, 1994 Representative for Illa Collins, Sacramento County Supervisor, Capitol Corridor Passenger Policy Advisory Committee - 1991 to 1992 Member, Board of Directors, Sacramento Opera Association 1991 to 1993 Executive Committee, Director’s Planning Committee, Budget Committee Event Designer, 1989 Charity event for opening of Sacramento County Jail, hosting 1200 guests. Member, Sacramento Area Commerce and Trade Organization Development Committee 1987-1988 Second in membership recruitment. Sponsor, Sacramento on the Go, 1986 Community-wide economic development conference. [Top] AWARDS AND HONORS Fast 50 candidate 2003 - Fast Company Magazine for work establishing the Wisconsin CyberSecurity Collaboration.  Sacramento Advertising Club Merit Award 1991 - Saved $3,500 billable labor with high impact seasonal promotion. Crystal Award - International Association of Business Communicators Published, edited and managed distribution of hospital annual report - 1989 Natalie Parrish Award 1987 - Building Industry of Superior California Awarded to a non-industry member who has most helped advance the industry. Highest Dollar Fundraiser 1987 - March of Dimes Jail and Bail Campaign Quadrupled average results by creating a pre-sales program. Advisory Board Member - Sacramento Women in Commercial Real Estate Salesperson of the Year 1984 - Building Industry Association of Superior California Highest Dollar Fundraiser 1981 - March of Dimes Walk-a-thon [Top] MEDIA MENTIONS Journalists seek Laura out, and she has been quoted in numerous local publications, as well as major publications. Among the major publiccations are The London Times, The Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, The Austin American Statesman and the San Francisco Examiner. [Top] Want to know more? CLIENT PROJECT DESCRIPTIONS (click here) |
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| Ricci Legacy |
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The Ricci family has been consulting and supporting success for hundreds of years. |
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