Ken Smith

Experience

• 

  May Department Stores

  Jan 1983 - Jan 1989

  - Profit-and-loss responsibility for department with $5M in annual sales. Increased profitability by $565K in two years. - Managed all operations for department with $16M in annual sales. Recognized a growing market niche for a secondary product line and responded with aggressive pricing and targeted advertising, resulting in a 59.5% sales increase for that line. - Managed department with annual sales of $1M in highest-profile store in the company. Supervised staff of 6-10 associates.

  • Buyer

    Jan 1987 - Jan 1989

  • Assistant Buyer

    Jan 1985 - Jan 1987

  • Department Sales Manager

    Jan 1983 - Jan 1985
• 

  Softec Solutions

  Jul 1991 - Oct 1992

  Sales and Marketing Management

  - Analyzed and targeted customer traits resulting in a 3% response on direct mail campaign and $300K net sales in first year. - Utilized volume purchase incentives to increase average sale by 68%, reduce transaction expenses and greatly improve cash flow.

• 

  Colonnade Technologies

  Jan 1993 - May 1994

  Marketing and Project Management

  - Managed introduction of new product including all packaging, marketing materials, advertising, public relations, and fulfillment. - Ongoing marketing responsibilities including advertising, marketing communications, public relations, 50,000 piece direct mail campaign, media buying, market research and trade show management/staffing for 3 events in 6 months. - Reported directly to CEO.

• 

  Faithlife (formerly Logos Bible Software)

  May 1994 - May 2012

  Joined this software start-up in year three as a key executive during nearly two decades of growth to become the dominant player in its niche market. The company has grown to over 300 employees with more than $35M in annual revenues, making the Puget Sound Business Journal’s list of 100 Fastest-Growing Private Companies a remarkable five times. - Gathered requirements, planned, established schedule and monitored progress across all departments for major release of flagship software product. - Communicated and controlled requirements, scope and schedule for subcontracted software development team for multiple mobile application and web projects. - Reported directly to President/CEO. Show less - Full responsibility for launching new business offering digital publishing and ebook distribution services to print publishers. - Created, distributed and collected customer survey data through SurveyMonkey to assess market potential. - Initiated, planned and executed strategic and marketing plans, including creation of web site and social media presence on Facebook and Twitter. - Managed RFPs to multiple ebook conversion vendors. Negotiated pricing, defined requirements, and managed production through selected offshore subcontractor. - Built and maintained relationships to establish distribution channels with Amazon, Apple, Google, Barnes and Noble and others. - Defined scope, communicated schedule and status, and invoiced customers as sole point of contact for all projects. Show less - Managed delivery of content and customization for all software-based, digital library retail products. Interfaced internally with software development, marketing, sales and in-house production and shipping departments. - Primary point of contact for over 175 external client projects. Reviewed customer requirements, developed cost estimates and delivered quotes for project proposals. Personally responsible for all client communication from project inception to delivery. Regularly reported project status and results to customers and senior management. - All client projects quoted on fixed-cost basis, requiring careful monitoring, analysis and controlling of workflow, scope, resource allocation and costs. - Grew production department from 10 to 40 employees over five years. Implemented team structure to improve accountability, facilitate training, and create opportunities for leadership development through track-based career planning and internal promotions. - Improved procedures, systems and tools resulting in greater efficiency and improved workflow analysis and project status reporting. Managed development of time-tracking system with real-time reporting on all aspects of production work, providing opportunities for immediate response to bottlenecks and inefficiencies. - Guided transition to offshore outsourcing of most labor-intense tasks. - Reported directly to President/CEO. Show less

  • Director of Project Management

    Nov 2011 - May 2012

  • General Manager, Logos Publisher Services

    Jan 2011 - Nov 2011

  • General Manager, Electronic Publishing Services

    Apr 1997 - Jan 2011

  • Project Manager

    May 1994 - Apr 1997