ERIC WAHL

20492 Kylemore Dr., Strongsville OH, 44149

+1 216/925-4500
ew60383c@westpost.net

Award-winning classical and digital marketing leader with

specialties in business innovation and strategic assessment.
Change agent practiced at creating disruptive strategies and
executing game changing business initiatives. Extensive
experience in new product initiatives, brand positioning and
advertising. Astute at creating global marketing strategy
and communications plans for clients in diverse industries,
including healthcare, pharmaceutical, automotive and retail.
Success directing marketing and sales teams to exceed goals
set for volume, profit and market share.

EXPERIENCE
Group Marketing Director, Market Development Group
Advanstar Communications
North Olmsted, OH
9/06 - Present
Advanstar Communications is the fourth largest
business-to-business U.S. media company providing integrated
marketing solutions for the Fashion, Life Sciences and
Powersports industries. Advanstar serves business
professionals and consumers in these industries with a
portfolio of 141 events, 60 publications and directories,
233 electronic products and websites, as well as educational
and direct marketing products and services. Advanstar has
approximately 950 employees and currently operates from
multiple offices in North America and Europe.
o Spearhead new product development, lead generation and
go-to-market efforts for 30 member sales team generating
$20M in annual revenue at 80% contribution margin.
Reengineered department and created new branding and
marketing processes, leading to 15% increase in revenue
and reduction in promotional cycle from days to hours in
first 6 months.
o Established "sequential marketing" process to cultivate
sales pipeline, resulting in measurable performance
metrics for sales team members and 20% greater lead
conversion.
o Devised products and website to capture long tail
recurring revenue from editorial content. Honed on-demand
process for printing and shipping, leading to peak product
revenue with greater than 80% compound annual growth rate.
o Launched online and digital advertising products to
overcome declining print sales, growing web marketing
services by 12% annually.
o Restructured advertising products into "Smart Packages" to
counteract effects of economic downturn, easing payments
for advertisers while driving revenues and reducing write
offs.
Group Marketing Director, Global Licensing Group
Advanstar Communications
Los Angeles, CA
7/08 - Present
Direct $1M global budget supporting world's three premier
licensing trade shows, including Licensing International
Expo ("Expo") in U.S. and Brand Licensing Europe. Oversee
10 person marketing team and promotion of industry's leading
retail magazine, generating $15M in business unit's annual
revenues.
o Devised new marketing campaign for Expo 2009 that
showcased advantages of move from New York to Las Vegas
and attracted new industries. Retained 90% of past
participants and added 170 new exhibitors.
o Streamlined online registration process for Expo, slashing
processing time from 20 minutes to 60 seconds and drove
30% registration increase.
o Pioneered industry participation in social networking,
including Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, Twitter and YouTube,
and spoke at EXPOtech 2009 regarding best practice for B2B
online community building and application of social media
in event marketing.
o Revamped LicensingExpo.com leveraging cost-effective, open
source technologies, resulting in 500% increase in traffic
and gaining #1 rank on Google for less than 5K
implementation.
o Strengthened best practices in email and mobile marketing,
sending 500k emails/month, navigating around blacklists
and boosting delivery, open and click-through rates by
15%.

Corporate Marketing Director

Expedient Communications
Cleveland, OH
10/04 - 9/06
Expedient Communications is a telecommunications and data
hosting service provider delivering advanced internet, voice
and managed services to commercial and government entities
throughout the United States. Expedient operates one of the
nation's largest all-Ethernet networks and operates eight
data centers. Expedient has 97 employees and over $100
million in annual revenue.
o Orchestrated six regional communications and managed
services brands. Synthesized value propositions and go-to
market strategy for all products and services. Expanded
and executed multi-channel (e.g. print, online, mail,
telemarketing, event, outdoor), integrated advertising
campaigns.
o Repositioned corporate brand and created new visual
identity to complete with AT&T, Verizon and Level3,
improving mindshare and customer brand preference
contributing to 200% increase in new product sales.
o Crafted new online presence to support targeted sales
initiatives, doubling web traffic and improving conversion
 rate of visitors to customers.
o Awarded "Top 5" telecommunications industry award for
creating "Ethernet Anywhere" marketing campaign that
supported Expedient's largest new product initiative in a
decade.
o Utilized guerilla-marketing techniques, including the
first use of Segways as an advertising vehicle to increase
Expedient's exposure in metropolitan areas, creating
product awareness, media buzz and forcing similar
campaigns by Verizon as a competitive response.

Ernst & Young, LLP

Assistant Director, Technology & Security Risk
Services Cleveland, OH
2001 - 2004
o Developed and coordinated communications and common
market-facing materials for 20+ countries in E&Y's
Technology and Security Risk Services practice. Oversaw
external communications to marketplace, including printed
materials and corporate website.
o Standardized communications infrastructure to support
real-time information sharing using multiple channels
(intranet, internet, email and webcast) between 3000
practitioners worldwide.
o Drafted E&Y's Digital Risk Service's go-to-market strategy
and developed informational graphics to simplify and
articulate E&Y's value proposition to prospective clients.

o Designed online application of proprietary methodology for

field staff, ensuring adherence to quality standards and
serving as training manual for new employees.
o Worked on Target and Dell accounts advising clients on
wireless networking, attack and penetration engagement and
IT security remediation.

Manager, Digital Strategy Practice

marchFIRST, Inc.
Cleveland, OH
2000 - 2001
marchFIRST was a leading global Internet professional
services firm that was created through the merger of two
firms that provide electronic commerce and information
technology (IT) consulting services, Whittman-Hart Inc. a
systems integrator out of Chicago and USWeb/CKS a pioneering
interactive agency of San Francisco. marchFIRST had 8,500
employees in 64 cities and 14 countries worldwide. For 1999
it had pro forma revenues of $1.13 billion.
o Collaborated with Vice President of Strategy to develop
business plans for clients that leveraged the internet to
increase shareholder value. Evaluated clients' corporate
strategy and positioning for digital supply chain and B2B
e-commerce, with concentration in web-based tools and
marketing, wireless applications and "bricks to clicks"
digital strategy.
o Contributed to white papers and thought leadership ideas
for Ferro regarding "agile" companies and incorporating
online B2B exchanges into existing supply models.
o Joined with business development team to enhance
positioning and reduce sales cycle of existing and
prospective clients, resulting in add-on work and new
engagements at Marconi, Jones Day, FedEx, Avery Denison,
Mann Hummel and Seneca Medical

Chief Information Officer

Simpedia Networks
Stuart, FL
1999 - 2000
Co-founder of company aimed at developing internet
information products for college students. Secured venture
capital for eight member websites and affiliates. Directed
production of suite of service-oriented websites, including
eCampusRecruiter.com, from conception to launch date.
o Planned and formed partnerships with four of then Big Five
accounting firms, as well as AT&T, GTE, GE Capital and
Edward Jones, to execute their marketing plans using
internet as primary delivery system.
o Sold company interest and recruitment web application
continues to be employed at 350 universities nationwide.

Systems Engineer, e.Solutions Practice

EDS Corporation
Chicago, IL
1998 - 2000
EDS was the worlds largest technology services company
started by Ross Perot and founded the information technology
outsourcing industry over 45 years ago. Today, EDS does more
than $40B U.S. in sales and is the consulting services arm
of Hewlett-Packard, delivering a broad portfolio of
information technology and business process outsourcing
services.
o Planned and provided clients (American Axle, General
Motors) with e-business solutions, including digital
products and online marketing strategies. Served on
Project
o Value Review Board to assess profitability of new
engagements.
o Ranked in 1st quartile of EDS employees for exceeding
performance targets and achieving superior review relative
to peers.
o Teamed with account executive to create digital strategy,
including a corporate intranet, for tier one automotive
client, resulting in $500k in pull-through business and
solutions.

EDUCATION
MIAMI UNIVERSITY, Oxford, OH
Bachelor of Science in Business & Marketing (1998)