Experience

Simantel

• Advertising Services
• 100 - 200 Employee

• Associate Director of Project Planning

  • Sep 2021 - Present

  Peoria, Illinois, United States Responsible for the agency's overall resource and financial management, forecasting, and planning. Some duties include: – Serving as a Connected Manager to 5-6 Project Planners at a time as a day-to-day mentor by building relationships with them, monitoring performance, and meeting weekly or bi-weekly – Collaborating with Account Planners and Project Planners to ensure that critical workflow elements are being considered and discussed – Providing guidance and support to Project… Show more Responsible for the agency's overall resource and financial management, forecasting, and planning. Some duties include: – Serving as a Connected Manager to 5-6 Project Planners at a time as a day-to-day mentor by building relationships with them, monitoring performance, and meeting weekly or bi-weekly – Collaborating with Account Planners and Project Planners to ensure that critical workflow elements are being considered and discussed – Providing guidance and support to Project Planners by identifying where Simantel's tools and processes can be deployed to help the project run smoothly – Working with the Executive Director of Service Management to define process improvements within the department as they relate to financial and workflow management to drive consistency, clarity, and accountability – Consulting on all aspects of workflow efficiency and financial management to help with connectivity on all projects within assigned teams – Resolving workflow or budgeting issues that directly impact the bottom line, including engaging with internal and client teams – Proactively supporting balanced workloads of resources by collaborating within the department and amongst the team to anticipate critical resource issues or project roadblocks – Developing processes and protocols for efficient scoping, estimating, billing, and workflow activities – Training and onboarding new Project Planners and checking in on progress

• Senior Project Planner

  • Oct 2019 - Sep 2021

  Promoted from Project Planner to Senior Project Planner, which added the responsibilities of: – Being the lead project planner for projects that require multiple planners – Providing input on the processes and protocols for efficient scoping, estimating, billing and workflow activities – Leading other Project Planners to actively monitor and communicate active, proposed, and non-billable project budgets – Facilitation of scoping meetings for other team members' projects

• Project Planner

  • Mar 2019 - Sep 2019

  Promoted from Project Manager to Project Planner through an agency restructure. Had all of the same responsibilities that I had as a Project Manager, with the addition of: – Managing and facilitating scoping and estimating meetings – Resource management – Owning budgets and processing billing – Serving as client contact during the activation phase to drive project plan – Resolving workflow or budgeting issues – Proactively support balanced workloads

• Project Manager

  • Jan 2018 - Mar 2019

  Peoria, Illinois Project Manager for ExxonMobil, Solar Turbines, and several business units within Caterpillar, including: Aftermarket Solutions, BCP, Retail, Cat App, Filters & Fluids, GASD Connectivity, Repair Options, and My.Cat.Com. Some responsibilities include: – Creating project plans and schedules and assigning tasks to appropriate resources – Overseeing workflow from inception to completion – Minding deadlines to make sure they're met to keep projects within budget – Attending to… Show more Project Manager for ExxonMobil, Solar Turbines, and several business units within Caterpillar, including: Aftermarket Solutions, BCP, Retail, Cat App, Filters & Fluids, GASD Connectivity, Repair Options, and My.Cat.Com. Some responsibilities include: – Creating project plans and schedules and assigning tasks to appropriate resources – Overseeing workflow from inception to completion – Minding deadlines to make sure they're met to keep projects within budget – Attending to day-to-day client needs – Planning and participating in status meetings – Organizing communications between agency functions (strategy, creative, digital, media, etc.) – Coordinating vendor communications – Ensuring quality control checks are completed – Maintaining client folders, documents, and project files



Love Your Melon

• United States
• Retail Apparel and Fashion
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Campus Crew Member

  • Dec 2016 - Dec 2017

  Urbana-Champaign, Illinois Area – Volunteered to help spread the mission of Love Your Melon across UIUC's campus – Promoted new releases of LYM products to raise money for pediatric cancer research, which allowed us to go on hospital visits and take children with pediatric cancer on superhero adventures



CTRL+V Interactive

• Social Media Account Manager

  • Aug 2016 - Dec 2017

  Urbana-Champaign, Illinois Area Account manager of the social media team for the Champaign branch of Sofar Sounds – Attended concerts and captured photographs for promotional uses. – Created real-time Facebook posts that helped them spread the word about their secret gigs and intimate concerts without making the events seem like mainstream events, in order to maintain the brand's integrity.



Simantel

• Advertising Services
• 100 - 200 Employee

• Project Management Intern

  • May 2017 - Aug 2017

  Peoria, Illinois Area Promoted to Project Management Intern based on previous internship experience at Simantel – Lead Project Manager on the Brand Industrial Services team; in charge of creating a brand identity for the new company; project included new logos, ads, posters, videos, and 3D animations – Assistant Project Manager for over 70 jobs for Caterpillar – Assisted with the creation of estimates and project plans for Caterpillar's Cat Connect jobs



University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

• United States
• Higher Education
• 700 & Above Employee

• Undergraduate Research Assistant

  • Feb 2017 - May 2017

  – Worked directly with Professor Michelle Nelson to conduct research on American food advertisements and their impact on Jamaican food culture – Coded television programs for their ad and food content; helping to create a food education program for Jamaican teens and their parents to educate them on the importance of making healthy food choices



Illinois SBC

• Media Planner

  • Nov 2016 - May 2017

  – Created and maintained different social media accounts for new online graduate degree at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – Purchased and managed Facebook and Instagram advertising and Google Ad Words



Madison Strategic Partnerships

• Account Planning Intern

  • Aug 2016 - May 2017

  Urbana-Champaign, Illinois Area – Managed a team of three in the strategic creation of corporate partnership proposals for UIUC media sales program – Coordinated and facilitated meetings – Created and maintained social media accounts for a new UIUC graduate program



Midnight Oil Advertising

• Advertising Services
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Junior Account Planner

  • Aug 2016 - May 2017

  University of Illinois Urbana Champaign Junior Account Planner for Gourmates, a startup organic food delivery service – Used research and strategy to help create the brand name, logo, positioning, and marketing materials



Simantel

• Advertising Services
• 100 - 200 Employee

• Client Services Intern

  • May 2016 - Aug 2016

  Peoria, Illinois Area Some responsibilities included: PROJECT MANAGEMENT Opened new jobs; assigned resources, time, and dates to each task; scheduled meetings; updated traffic reports; owned and maintained the production schedule for all ongoing projects for Caterpillar Global Mining ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT Worked with EIO reports and PO status reports to assist with billing, creation of estimates, and SOWs; updated media plans with newly scheduled content; scheduled interviews with Caterpillar… Show more Some responsibilities included: PROJECT MANAGEMENT Opened new jobs; assigned resources, time, and dates to each task; scheduled meetings; updated traffic reports; owned and maintained the production schedule for all ongoing projects for Caterpillar Global Mining ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT Worked with EIO reports and PO status reports to assist with billing, creation of estimates, and SOWs; updated media plans with newly scheduled content; scheduled interviews with Caterpillar executives DATA ANALYSIS Utilized Tableau and reports from our media partner to assist in the assessment of Caterpillar Global Mining's online media placements Show less



OTH Creative- On the House Creative Agency

• Copywriter

  • Aug 2014 - Aug 2016

  University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Copywriter/Account Manager for a team of seven students who created free advertisements, promotions, logos, etc. for registered student organizations on campus



Converse Marketing, Inc.

• United States
• Advertising Services
• 1 - 100 Employee

• Account Management Intern

  • May 2015 - Aug 2015

  Peoria, Illinois Area – Assisted with a photo/video shoot for billboards, direct mailers, and commercials for Midstate College – Proofed and approved links and pages for a new website and touchpoint technology display for Caterpillar Global Mining – Helped with the early planning stages of MINExpo 2016 – Reviewed copy and website layouts for several clients



rue21

• United States
• Retail
• 700 & Above Employee

• Sales Associate

  • Jun 2014 - Aug 2015

  Northwoods Mall-- Peoria, IL – Ensured that each customer was welcomed into the store and that all of their needs were met while they shopped – Sensored and displayed new merchandise – Managed customer transactions – Maintained order in the store