Carla-Plouin-Profile

OVERVIEW

 Marketing director with proven track record in B2B and integrated marketing.

 13+ years of experience in international marketing communications and business development.

 2 masters degrees in International Marketing and International Relations. 

Applicable experience in more than

20 countries.

 Creative planner and strategic creative. 

B2B integrated marketing

Strongest skills in , multiple project management, creative solutions, strategic planning and implementation, and integration of new technologies.

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Thrives with

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Extensive and strong

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Originally from France,

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Management style:

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Looking for a

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cross-functional and multi‐cultural teams. project management skills and experience.

Trilingual English/Spanish/French. Conversational in Portuguese.

encompassing.

cross-functional and multi‐cultural working to evolve.

Modus operandi: learn, work hard and have fun to make a coworkers and stakeholders.

positive impact on clients,

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BIOGRAPHY Carla Plouin Director Level, Marketing Communications

Carla represents 12 years of professional experience in integrated and international marketing and business communications. She is trilingual English/Spanish/French and conversational in Portuguese and seven years managing multi-cultural and cross-functional marketing communications teams. She holds two Masters Degrees (international relations and marketing) and is well-versed in computer/new technologies.

In April 2011, Carla incorporated Melle MarCom, a communications and marketing consulting firm. In this capacity, Carla has been developing and implementing strategic and operational plans for traditional marketing; social media; mobile media; email marketing; trade shows and special events. On the design side, Carla is also developing and producing logos, ads, brochures, manuals, micro sites, and presentation kits.

Until March 2011, Carla had directed the Interactive Media and Account Management group of 12 at the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDED). For six years, she coordinated the marketing, communications and interactive needs of the agency and its ten international offices. In this capacity Carla led the content strategy and annual production of more than 80 collateral pieces and 100 trade shows while managing and optimizing the agency’s $4�million dollar domestic and international marketing budgets. She launched innovative initiatives such as an on-line communication platform; social media for 12 groups; video production and interactive content development; 4 websites with 6 languages; and the development of an iPhone/iPad application. The program that Carla led also won four national public relations awards between 2009 and 2011, while she was the account director for the three agencies of record (advertising, public relations and interactive).

Prior to GDED, Carla was the marketing director for Paragon Path, a former business development consulting firm in Atlanta. There, she developed strategic and operational marketing B2B and B2C plans for a variety of clients, including financial services, printing, optical equipment, video games, and telecommunications. Carla was assigned for two years as a fulltime on-site acting marketing director, for Cadillac Jack, a game development client.

Lastly, before moving to the U.S. Carla spent three years in Mexico City, working for Alcatel-Lucent, a large French telecommunications company, and a business development consulting firm (now TCG Finance), spending the first year as an exports and mission specialist and the other two growing the company’s banking clients (mainly the PNC Bank) in Mexico and the Caribbean.

Carla just finished her four-year term on the boards of the Georgia Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Hispanic American Center for Economic Development and has been volunteering with several organizations (Global Atlanta, North Atlanta Interactive Marketing) while she is in professional transition. She is also a member of the Georgia chapters of the Public Relations Society of America, the American Marketing Association and the Atlanta Interactive Marketing Association.

For more information, visit www.carlaplouin.com

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RESUME E X P E R I E N C E

Consultant, Marketing Communication & Business Development Melle Global MarCom LLC, Atlanta GA (April 2011 – present)  Developed strategic and operational B2B and B2C marketing plans for small businesses including professional services, software development, financial services, real estate, video gaming and marketing/PR agencies;  Coordinated a dozen targeted trade shows and special events from ideation through follow-up;  Designed and produced marketing tools for more than 15 companies, including logos, ads, brochures, manuals, micro sites, and presentation kits;  Completed 10 business, marketing and budget plans and coached implementations.

Director, Account Management and Interactive Media Georgia Department of Economic Development, Atlanta, GA (2005 – 2011) Sales and marketing arm agency leading the State’s initiatives to attract and grow investments, exports, tourists visitation, and film and video projects.  Directed the marketing and business communication's cross‐functional team of 10 people;  Responsible for the marketing and communications strategic plan for B2B and B2C groups: Investment, Exports and Innovation, triggering a 15% annual lead generation increase for investment and exports;  Led international marketing and communications efforts in 14 countries, tripling the marketing production output to an annual average of 80+ printed ads and 150+ press articles representing a 350+ million circulation;  Managed and optimized the agency’s $4‐million dollar domestic and international marketing budget;  Created agency’s first‐ever marketing ROI tracking and budget control systems;  Led content strategy and oversaw annual production, organization and coordination of 80+ collateral pieces, 100+ trade shows with corresponding CRM follow-up system, 30+ VIP delegations or missions, 50+ interactive sales and promotional presentations, and 4 websites with 6 languages and corresponding SEO/SEM;  Implemented branding policy and the corresponding state’s rebranding campaign;  Led account management with outside agencies for interactive, advertising and PR, providing strategic overview and cross‐projects consistency for value added propositions, branding and messaging;  Nominated for best international PR campaign in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. Received the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) “best of all categories” award in 2009.

Director, Marketing Paragon Path, Inc., Marketing and Business Development Consulting, Atlanta, GA (2001 – 2005)  Developed and implemented strategic and operational marketing plans for 8 industries including financial services, printing, optical equipment, video games, and telecommunications with budgets up to $1,500,000;  Designed and produced marketing tool kits for interactive, print, on-line, broadcast, website and e-commerce;  Managed a team of seven to develop and create sales tools and training programs in English and Spanish for client accounts including Sprint, Alltel and Lucent in the USA, Telmex and Alestra in Mexico;  Increased client sales training program delivery by 50% over 18 months;  Coordinated 40+ trade shows and special events from ideation through follow up with budgets up to $500,000;  Developed go-to-market strategies, market researches and entry strategies for domestic, international and industry-specific targets;  Implemented customer data base, CRM, eCRM solutions and systematic event follow-up procedures;  Developed and implemented media and public relations plan for TV, radio, web and press for 3 clients in 5 countries; spearheaded on budget and on time two back-to-back 3-month national awareness and advertising campaigns in Bolivia and Guatemala.

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E X P E R I E N C E

Director, International Project Development Procorfi Consultores, S.C., Mexico City, Mexico (1999 – 2001), International Development Consulting Group. Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development in Mexico. Representation Office of the PNC Bank in Mexico and Central America.  Led international business development team, prospecting and promotion in Mexico and Central America;  Coordinated trade missions to Mexico which included networking, logistics, matchmaking and follow-up;  Consulted with Pennsylvania companies on how to do business in Mexico;  Created and supervised market research and market entry strategies;  Developed community relations and PR opportunities with key contacts within the Mexican government, educational institutions and public/private companies/publications;  Designed and developed corporate promotional materials and website.

Market Analyst Alcatel-Lucent, Telecommunications, Strategic Planning, Mexico City, Mexico (1998 – 1999)  Researched and developed economic market reports and key customer account plans;  Produced the company’s first in-depth competitive telecommunications survey which led to product repositioning in Central-America;  Evaluated product lines and recommended positioning solutions for better market implementation;  Co-organized press releases, press conferences and events with Mexican and French Heads of States.

E D U C A T I O N

Masters, International Relations: University of La Sorbonne, Paris, France (1998)  Emphasis on foreign trade policy, economy & international marketing; Thesis on Europe/Latin America trade;  Graduated with honors.

Masters, International Trade and Marketing: International Trade and Distribution, Paris, France (1996)  Graduated magna cum laude.

Continuing Education:  Emory University: Cross-Cultural Business Management / Project and Multiple Projects Management;  Southern Center for International Studies: International Management;  Ex-Im Bank: International Direct Foreign Investment;  Franklin Covey: Managers’ Course 7 Habits for Highly Effective People;  Burton Training Group: telecom Train the Trainer sales training;  Georgia State University: Export-Import / International Business Workshop series.

Professional Associations: Member of Atlanta/Georgia chapters of PRSA, AIMA and AMA.

I T

Technology savvy and proficient use of: CRM & data bases: GoldMine, MS Access, ACT!, SharePoint, Basecamp, SalesForce; Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Outlook; Open Office; Google Docs; WordPress; Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, CSS5.

More info available at www.carlaplouin.com Page 4

REFERENCES

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Kavita Mistry Vice President GolinHarris KMistry@GolinHarris.com 404-547-8992

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Andrea Taylor Owner / Photographer Andrea Taylor Studio andrea@AndreaTaylorStudio.com 404-794-8410

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Kevin Langston Deputy Commissioner Georgia Department of Economic Development klangston@georgia.org 404-962-4006

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Heidi Green Co-Founder and Partner Perdue Partners heidilgreen@gmail.com 404-290-7859

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Page Siplon Executive Director Georgia Logistics Innovation Center psiplon@georgia.org 912-966-7867

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Servando Vargas Business Management & Strategic Marketing at Alcatel-Lucent servando.vargas@alcatel.com

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Michelle Evans Account Director Engauge MEvans@engauge.com 770-337-8949

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Alan Turem CEO and Chairman AccountNet arturem@bellsouth.net 404-256-1963

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Kim Knight Account Manager Georgia Department of Economic Development kknight@georgia.org 404-962-4831 Carlos Carrion Director, Sales and Operations Aristocrat Mexico contempo123@hotmail.com (+52) 55 52 82 48 00 Caroline Vérut President BuildingBridges cvmexico@avantel.net (+52) 1 55 19 48 01 52

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Testimonials

TESTIMONIALS “It is rare to come across someone who has the “just right” blend of smarts and smiles - someone who gets the strategy, but can also engage and influence at the same same time. This skill, combined with her global perspective, makes Carla a great fit for a senior-level marketing role. We had an award-winning partnership and I'd be delighted to work with her again.”

Kavita Mistry, Vice President, GolinHarris

____________________________________________ “Carla handled the Center of Innovation for Aerospace's marketing communications needs expertly, efficiently, and creatively. I enjoyed knowing that our program would receive the best services the Department of Economic Development could offer our program, and valued Carla's advocacy of our needs while providing excellent work products to our team. Her top qualities: great results, personable, high integrity."

Nick Fuhrman, Aerospace Marketing

____________________________________________ “Carla has done work for my company for several years.

She very business minded and has a very strong technical and business background and knowledge. Carla has helped my business with the development of our annual business plan and marketing calendar, with some of our collateral marketing materials and in most of our trade shows. She can efficiently work on either marketing strategy or execution. I als really appreciate Carla's common sense, attention to detail and enthusiasm. She is extremely nice to work with, straight forward and gets things done. I have enjoyed having Carla support my business and hope to continue to do so for a long time. I would recommend her services to anyone that is looking for business and/or marketing services. Her top qualities are: Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, High Integrity."

Andrea Taylor, Owner, Andrea Taylor Studio

“Carla’s approach to any problem is thoughtful, strategic, and thorough. No details ever seem to escape her. She works hard and she works “smart,” and Carla can be relied on to consistently come up with creative and innovative marketing solutions. Her immaculate fluency in three languages is also a great asset. As my Director, she was the best – Carla knew how to put all of our various strengths and work habits to good use.

Super organized and with high expectations for her team, she clearly cared about her employees both personally and professionally. She knew when strong direction was needed and when to step back. And what’s more, she appeared to actually have a lot of fun doing all this!”

Abby Turano, Account Manager, Georgia Department of Economic Development

____________________________________________ “Carla worked for me while we were creating the Global Georgia initiative, a marketing program focused on building brand awareness and generating international leads for business in Georgia. Carla is creative strategic thinker and gets things done. She has tremendous insight into the international psyche and transitions easily between the US and international markets.”

Kevin Langston, Deputy Commissioner Tourism, State of Georgia

____________________________________________ “I have had the pleasure of working with Carla for several years. I've found her to be an energetic, highly focused and creative individual who has a knack for product visibility and unique marketing ideas. I’ve always been impressed with her drive, tenacity and professionalism.”

Tiana Hardin, International Sales, Grenzebach Corp.

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“Carla Plouin's attention to detail and never say quit yet ever positive attitude made her not only a pleasure to work with, but someone you could always rely on to get the job DONE! Frankly, Carla would be an asset for any company, of any size, doing anything that requires reliable project management!”.

“Carla was an exemplary colleague -- extremely competent, extraordinarily detailed, and exceedingly thorough. Working with her on projects, both of large and small call and both locally and on four different continents, I saw firsthand her skill in handling complex issues with ease and flexibility. I have no hesitancy in recommending her.”

Page Siplon, Executive Director, Georgia Logistics Innovation Center

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Chris Young, Chief of Protocol and Director of International Affairs, State of Georgia

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