Sustainable Cosmetics Summit, São Paulo, Brazil

Sustainable Cosmetics Summit, São Paulo, Brazil

I am excited about satisfying stakeholders - whomever and wherever they may be. In order to take care of someone's needs, I spend most of my time listening. Satisfying customers can only happen when the offer matches the need.

My understanding of Southeast Asian and European cultures, organizational change management, branding, strategy, ethics, leadership and team building has strengthened through my work as a global marketing manager and international business student.

To accelerate my development I have studied with and worked for two master leadership and management educators, Dr. Richard Strozzi Heckler and Bob Dunham, world-renowned chef Charlie Trotter, and within a small farming cooperative and a global multi-billion dollar organization. These experiences have taught me valuable lessons about myself and how I interact in a team environment.

I have studied sales, marketing, teamwork, leadership, relationship building, cuisine, acting, directing, economics, international management (in France) and business administration and marketing.

The team environment is where I thrive and I am passionate about team success.

Strengths: Relationship Management, Marketing, Sustainability, Data Analysis, Market Research, Communication, International and Cultural Dialogs, and Brand Building

Experience

Lectures

Keynote Speaker, Colter Bay Village Opening, Grand Teton National Park, 2016

Keynote Speaker, California Society of Cosmetic Chemists Semi-Annual Suppliers' Day, 2015

Sustainable Cosmetics Summit, New York City, 2013, 2015

Sustainable Cosmetics Summit, São Paulo, Brasil, 2014, 2015

Society of Cosmetic Scientists' Formulate Conference, Coventry, United Kingdom, 2013, 2014, 2015

 

Media Relations and Public Information Officer, Salem Health

Joining a team of extremely competent professionals in the marketing and communications department of this healthcare system has been extremely rewarding and insightful.

  • Oversee public relations activities/events, coordinating media/public visits to Salem Health facilities, writing and editing news releases and public service announcements

  • Manage media relations for the organization

  • Work with web team to ensure on-time placement and proper tools and programming for news stories in traditional and digital media

  • Contact media representatives to initiate articles and news releases about key organizational and sensitive messages

 

Founder, Aaron Reber Consulting

Founding my own consulting business has been highly rewarding for me. Here are a few highlights:

BRAND MANAGEMENT CONSULTING

Built and managed brands for individual clients and firms in order to:

  • Understand and speak to stakeholder concerns

  • Reach as many stakeholders as possible

  • Accurately portray differentiated offers

STRATEGY CONSULTING

 

Global Marketing Manager, Natural Plant Products, Inc.

Natural Plant Products is a farmer-owned cooperative located in Willamette Valley. They are dedicated to growing oilseed crops and manufacturing vegetable oils for the cosmetics and personal care industries. 

As the Global Marketing Manager, my first role was of chief marketer for this farming cooperative. I managed global market research, graphic design, market strategy vendors to design, create, and place global advertising collateral to create sales opportunities for our global network of distributors. As part of the overall marketing strategy, I also led our media outreach to promote the brand in industry trade publications and in other sources of earned media.  This work required interacting with myriad stakeholders to represent them on a national and international scale. 

Sustainable farming is a critical brand attribute for the company.  It was my responsibility to integrate this and other attributes into our story as we share with stakeholders, customers, and suppliers.  As part of our marketing strategy, I traveled the world speaking about sustainable farming, sharing best practices, and managing the sales process.  Because the idea of sustainable farming is often met with skepticism, I used viable metrics with open ended questions to create (sell) solutions (our story of sustainability) in an established industry.  Does a company care about water quality more than pesticide usage? Does it care more about third world economies than environmental protection?  I have spoken in Europe, South America, and North America on these topics.

Finally, I was responsible for managing and growing key accounts in North and South America, Europe, and Asia. The key to managing a global brand is cultural awareness and listening. In any given day I interacted with customers from all corners of the globe. For this reason, it is important to understand our customers’ perspective and decipher their concerns before I act. This part of my position required extensive international travel in order to train sales representatives and perform joint sales calls.

 

Business and Marketing Consultant, Zena Forest Products

Zena Forest Products is "a family owned business located in the Eola Hills of the Willamette Valley, Oregon.  Our family has managed the forest since 1987 with a focus on maintaining a healthy and diverse ecosystem. We work with Oregon White Oak, Western Bigleaf Maple and other native hardwoods, manufacturing durable solid hardwood flooring, and lumber for furniture and cabinetmakers."

  • Created a strategic marketing plan and branding initiative including primary and secondary market research, brand development, and strategic business consulting.

 

Associate Direct Marketing Manager, Intuit Small Business Software

Intuit "started small in 1983 with Quicken personal finance software, simplifying a common household dilemma: balancing the family checkbook. Today, [they've] improved the lives of more than 45 million people, and [their] annual revenue exceeds $4 billion. [They're] publicly traded with the symbol INTU on the Nasdaq Stock Market, and regularly recognized as one of the best places to work in locations around the world."

  • Managed launch of a new software product, Freecycle@Work, designed to connect coworkers who are looking to trade used items in order to keep them out of landfills

  • Built a relationship with Freecycle.org, a non-profit dedicated to reducing consumer waste and connecting people

 

Business Marketing Manager, BetterGrads.org

BetterGrads was set up to assist high schools students become better prepared for college upon graduating from high school.

  • Created marketing materials such as brochures, presentations, and templates for use by the entire company

  • Assisted in creation and marketing for first operations grant from Rotary International

  • Consulted biweekly with the Executive Director as a member of the Steering Committee to cement overall company vision, strategy, and goals.

 

Operations and Policy Analyst, Oregon Department of Energy

  • Collaborated with management to create and implement up to 14 enterprise/information security policies for this 130 employee state agency in order to bring ODOE up to date with recent state legislation

  • Redesigned tools used for performance evaluations of 4 executives, 11 managers and 80 staff resulting in streamlined and enhanced performance management system at ODOE

  • Wrote 3 new ODOE policies surrounding the implementation of above performance management tools and processes in order to create greater transparency, responsibility and accountability

 

Public Advocacy, Office of Portland Mayor Tom Potter

  • Responsible for contact between constituents and the mayor, with special attention paid to constituent concerns.

  • Managed in excess of 200 weekly inbound mail and phone messages and relayed information to the mayor regarding trends in constituent concerns and opinions with regards to policy

  • Represented the City of Portland with the mayor at his monthly neighborhood meeting

 

Hospitality Industry