If you’re looking for an adaptable, creative, seasoned and highly self-motivated designer for your team or project … I’m your candidate.

​

I have been in the publishing industry since 1997. Since 2019 I have been the sole Graphic Designer at corporate for Consumers Credit Union, a $5B credit union in Illinois. 

 

Not only was I brand ambassador across all platforms, I was also integral to the creation of its look and feel when we rebranded in 2023, revising our Brand Guide. 

My first year at the credit union, and then thereafter, I designed the Annual Report of financial assets which was approved by the CEO and the Board of Directors as well as legally-required. It was also time-sensitive because it was distributed at the annual meeting. 

​

Among the usual digital ads, emails and product campaign collateral that I was responsible for, I also completely redesigned our credit card collection to align with our rebrand. I worked within the specs provided by Visa and all the plastics were approved and are currently in use and well-received. 

​

Many of my successful direct mail campaigns for auto loans, HELOCs and mortgages resulted in a noticeable increase in applications by website and incoming phone calls. We alerted the respective sales teams ahead of the pieces arriving so they could staff accordingly.

​

Additionally, I produced company logo wear, event installations (State of the Credit Union), promo pieces (tents, umbrellas, stand-up signs), wayfinding for the new headquarters and anything else C-Suite asked for.

​

This was a significant change in focus for me from the newspaper/magazine world of my previous 14 years. 

After serving as Managing Editor in 2000 at a paper in Indiana, I switched career paths and worked as a Graphic Designer in Advertising - earning my first first-place ad design award from the Indiana Press Association a year later.

 

Upon moving to Chicago in 2004, I was Advertising Graphic Manager at the Northwest Herald/Shaw Media until transitioning to the Marketing team in 2005 where I designed house ads, brand campaigns as well as B2C pieces such as direct mail postcards, third-party inserts, rack cards, billboards and more.

As my department thinned, I evolved into a role of planning, leading and executing a number of successful events we hosted as a company. Including a Community Garage Sale that brought in $25,000 in new revenue, as well as many Taste of Home Cooking shows, one of which drew our largest crowd of 1,000 attendees and a profit of $20,000. 

 

Around this same time, Shaw Media began publishing three award-winning niche monthly regional magazines for which I was the designer. As staffing and leadership of these magazines changed, I became both editor and designer, responsible for assigning stories and photos, editing them and finally sending them off to the printer.

​

In 2015, Shaw Media launched a Chamber Guide initiative and chose me as the content gatherer and designer. This also involved designing various chambers’ quarterly newsletters as well. The first year it generated $150,000 of new revenue as well as award-winning guides.