John Koetsier

I'm passionate about enabling extraordinary experiences with technology. I'm always learning, always curious, always growing. I have a strong consultative leadership style and excellent communication skills. And, I like to have fun and enjoy my work with a positive, energetic attitude.

Some of the highlights of my career so far include ...

Business development/marketing/strategy:
- ran high-level business development with Fortune 100 clients (Intel, Disney, HP, ASUS)
- created and successfully managed 7-figure budgets
- product manager for $75 million portfolio
- developed strong international business experience (Europe, Asia, Canada, USA)
- manage teams of as many as 15 people

Communications/PR:
- speak at international conferences in varied locations: Vegas, Osaka, Cairo, Bucharest, Vancouver
- wrote marketing and educational copy for tens of millions of end users
- VP, director, and chair of PR at DiverseCity, a local charity with an $10M annual budget (volunteer)

Web/local search:
- built 500K+ member social learning site
- currently manage a local search site with 3.5M+ monthly unique visitors
- now redesigning one of Canada's top sites to create a unique and compelling local discovery experience

Social:
- increased social footprint at Canpages 10x, and engagement 100x
- created natural gamification strategy to identify and reward top users
- active in social: blogging, Twitter, G+, Facebook, FourSquare, etc.
- implemented social media marketing programs to expand markets and drive inbound demand

Mobile:
- developed native apps on iOS, Android, and BB with over 200K downloads
- implemented mobile sites for thousands of clients

Software/development:
- built user interface for Intel's Classmate PC project
- managed "disneyfication" of Windows XP for the Disney Netpal
- built my own blogging platform in PHP in the mid 1990s

I consult, write, and speak about social media, technology, and marketing.

Currently working with multiple organizations, including CGA-Canada, DiverseCity and Click4time, where I am acting director of online marketing (managing social media, content marketing, lead generation, and conversion tracking).

In addition, I write for VentureBeat, one of the top technology and business blogs in the world.

I joined Canpages in 2010 to reinvent local search in Canada. My main focus was leading the project to reboot Canpages.ca.

I also oversaw our social media efforts and built Canpages' mobile apps for iPhone, Android, and Blackberry.

* Tripled blog traffic via a 3-part strategy: viral, local, and B2B
* Doubled app downloads with a social rethink and mobile/web ad campaign
* Took Canpages.ca traffic from 2.8M UVs/month in October 2010 to 3.4 in June 2011 (GA numbers) via SEO, social, and link building

The project to reinvent Canpages.ca was cancelled a few months prior to launch when our corporate parent, Yellow Media, shuttered the division.

Opened North American beachhead for European software start-up. Global business development with partners in Europe, Asia, North America, and Africa. Managing projects with partners such as Disney, ASUS, and Intel.

* Managed marketing & branding initiatives
* High-level business development with major clients and partners; won $100K+ deals
* Oversaw development of student and educator software for the Classmate PC for Intel's EMPG (Emerging Markets Platform Group)
* Hired and managed team of software developers
* Coordinated international development team with members in Rome, Ukraine, Shanghai, Cairo, Vancouver, and Oslo
* Sourced and managed outsourced resources: accounting, benefits, banking, payroll, etc.

Led product, web, and innovation initiatives for an educational publishing division of School Specialty.

* Launched a web2.0 learning management system for 45,000 schools and 25 million students by customizing Moodle
* Shortened development time and reduced costs by blending open source software (Linux, PHP, Apache, MySQL, Moodle) with a proprietary layer
* Oversaw creation of new video and web training product with Coach John Wooden that resulted in $3M+ first-year revenue
* Brought innovative new mixed-media products to market with major partners Kaplan and College Board
* Managed $1.5 million product development budget for over 500 SKUs; trimmed expenses by 33% by streamlining product list, increasing competitive bidding, and expanding vendor lists
* Hired and led international team: writers & content developers in Canada, and development managers in the US
* Spearheaded development of a revolutionary new (and trademarked) planning system for students: onTRAC™

Product manager for 4 product families with $75+ million annual business.

* Researched clients and competitors to gather market intelligence, analyze client need, and segment our clients and prospects
* Created competitive differentiation by tightly tying products to clients' actual as well as felt needs
* Customized client marketing strategy around key purchase drivers
* Managed product portfolio to an average 55% gross margin
* Realized $25 million in business with an updated product launch
* Achieved a 10% increase in margin on an aging product line by revitalizing the brand, functionality, and design
* Designed successful marketing strategies for both B2B and B2C channels

Built a web-based consumer products division from scratch.

* Launched new division with a cross-functional team including IT, Finance, Operations, Customer Service, Marketing, and Product
* Created user-friendly web-to-print consumer products site using Ajax, Perl, MySQL, Linux; automated PDF builds and printer work allocation
* Increased sell-through rates 27% by eliminating UI/UX bottlenecks
* Led lab and real-world usability testing regime to ensure web application was intuitive as well as powerful
* Ensured reliability and scalability by negotiating burstable hosting and uptime agreements with multiple service providers
* Created marketing strategy and collateral
* Trained sales force via in-person live presentations as well as online events and printed material

Led a web applications development department.

* Architected a social learning/groupware web application using Perl, Mason, Linux, PostgreSQL that reached 500,000+ users
* Led development of an online product configuration wizard that simplified extremely complex (thousands of options) products
* Exec produced dozens of multimedia projects in Flash and Java
* Managed development of a proprietary learning management system using Joomla/Mambo
* Helped company drive 20% annual growth by integrating lead generation and visit data analysis into marketing website

Led marketing projects.

* Created and executed marketing strategy for an early stage growing company
* Helped drive 20% annual growth by leading marketing collateral creation
* Ensured successful product launches by planning and leading sales consultant training

* Wrote content for numerous educational publications used by over 20 million students
* Wrote copy for first company website
* Wrote marketing copy for brochures and ads

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/johnkoetsier
Portfolio: http://johnkoetsier.com

Blog: http://sparkplug9.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/johnkoetsier

SFU Open Scholarship 1990-1994
Successful & Outstanding Blogger, 2006

Leadership skills
- Crystallizing vision
- Setting goals
- Consensus development
- Creative problem-solving
- Inspiring a team
- Sharing knowledge
- Listening

Soft skills
- Strong work ethic
- Positive attitude
- Communication: written & verbal
- Facilitation (trained facilitator)
- Multi-tasking
- Flexible, adaptable
- Work well under pressure

Management skills
- Strategy
- Innovation
- High-level business development
- Hiring/firing
- Multinational experience (Europe, Asia, Africa, North America)
- Project management
- Resource allocation
- Team building, motivating
- Kaizen, TPS, Toyota Production System, Lean Manufacturing, Continuous improvement, systems thinking
- Testing, prototyping

Social media, web 2.0 participation/expertise
- Wiki
- Blogs, blogging
- Social networks
- Buzz monitoring
- Microblogging, Twitter
- Podcasting
- Photoblogging

Marketing, Marketing2.0
- Market intelligence
- Researching, surveying
- Branding
- Adwords
- Search engine optimization, SEO
- Search engine marketing, SEM
- Community-building
- White papers
- Screencasts

Technology
- User interface development, UI
- User experience design, UX
- Software architecture, IA
- Digital textbooks, ePub, e-books, eBooks, e-readers
- Wireframing, mock-ups
- Requirements, PRD
- Specifications, specs
- Usability testing
- LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP/Perl)
- PostgreSQL
- Mason
- Mambo, Joomla
- Wordpress
- Web-to-print, PDF creation
- Content management, CMS, ECM
- Word, Excel, PowerPoint
- Photoshop
- Acrobat
- FTP, SSH
- Terminal, Bash
- Learning management systems, LMS, CMS, Moodle, WebCT, Blackboard
- Student information systems, SIS