Nicole Hanson

As AVP of Marketing, I was instrumental in driving a top-tier financial services company to exceed the $1B revenue milestone—becoming the first and only company in the gold sector to achieve this benchmark. I not only led a high-performing, cross-functional team, but was hands-on in managing and optimizing paid media channels. Recognizing inefficiencies and untapped potential, I took full ownership of performance marketing strategy and execution—building and implementing the company’s first-ever end-to-end testing framework. This framework introduced rigorous creative testing, landing page optimization, split testing, and real-time performance analysis. The result: a significant increase in ROI through the elimination of unproductive spend and aggressive scaling of high-performing efforts. I modernized and unified the marketing function—aligning martech, media, data, and operations into a streamlined, responsive engine that delivered complex omnichannel lead generation at scale. My approach positioned the company to break industry records in one of the most challenging and competitive industries. From strategic vision to tactical execution, I brought clarity, accountability, and results—turning underperforming assets into a revenue powerhouse and laying the foundation for continued exponential growth.

Led all paid media initiatives—including Social, Display, Native, SEM, CTV, Broadcast TV—and managed the Affiliate program for a publicly traded, omnichannel eCommerce brand in the DTC, B2B, and B2C CPG/CBD space. Successfully drove a 678% increase in new customer acquisition within just seven months through strategic channel optimization, creative testing, and data-driven performance marketing.

Strategic marketing leader responsible for crafting and allocating a $135M annual marketing budget, driving extraordinary business growth and transformation. Led the company from $35M to over $600M in annual revenue—a 1600%+ increase—by developing and executing comprehensive, data-driven marketing strategies. • Directed full-funnel growth marketing efforts across digital, lead generation, SEO/SEM/organic, website optimization, Martech, branding, paid media, social media, OTT/broadcast, and lead nurturing. • Developed and led go-to-market (GTM) strategy, marketing vision, sales enablement programs, and project management operations. • Spearheaded cross-functional marketing operations, business intelligence, and data/decision science integration to enhance ROI and streamline execution. • Built the company’s first-ever Organizational Quality Assurance department, delivering end-to-end process efficiencies and a significant increase in production output. • Oversaw marketing and call center legal compliance (FTC/TCPA) while leading call center operations with over 100 SDRs and dispatch/scheduling specialists. • Orchestrated and launched innovative marketing promotions and refreshed brand messaging during the pandemic, resulting in more than doubling revenue: $365M in 2020 vs. $187M in 2019. • Led market expansion initiatives—growing operational footprint from 4 states to 16 in under three years through strategic planning and localized execution. Awards & Recognitions: • 2021 Marketer of the Year • 2021 Marketing Department of the Year • 2020 Marketing Department of the Year • 2020 Best Use of Social Media • 2020 Inc. 500 – Ranked #255 Notable Partnerships: • Secured and managed high-profile partnerships with 5 NFL teams, Barry Sanders, and Josef Newgarden to amplify brand visibility and engagement.

Enterprise and mid-market-level employee engagement solutions and subscription-based software. As a visionary leader responsible for the growth of the East Coast, I brought novel sales and marketing strategy to the non-profit sector. Built and led a team of 9 business development managers (inside and outside sales), 2 sales leaders and 4 SDR's (sales development representatives) • Exceeded our FY2017 goal of $4.5M by 74%, actualizing $7.8M. 75% net-new focus/25% expansion focus • Fostered strategic vertical partnerships, resulting in a 39% growth in market share inside of 12 months • Designed and Implemented a novel 30/60/90 process for pipeline management via CRM, resulting in not only a more efficient workflow company-wide, but also increased revenue by 18% • Based upon revenue growth and market share gain, I was awarded Leader of the Quarter in Q3, 2016

Drove rapid growth in a highly competitive market, generating $1.87M YoY revenue in year one and securing a $143M national distribution deal through strategic go-to-market execution, channel development, and integrated demand generation. • Revamped brand positioning and marketing strategy, unlocking $900K in new revenue in 90 days with 43% profit margins and 31% market share growth across domestic and international markets. • Negotiated and closed a $143M national retail partnership with a major convenience store chain—company’s first large-scale distribution deal. • Built and led a 13-person sales organization while implementing sales enablement, onboarding, and performance management systems to drive quota attainment.

Lead a team of 2 Enterprise sales managers and 6 business development managers in the FinTech, SaaS space • Hired an entirely new team and built them from the ground up to achieve a 47% close rate as compared to the company's close rate of 24%. • On a goal of $1.8M, I led my team to actualize $2.7M in FY2012. Each sales team member had an annual goal of $300k. 90% net-new/10% expansion. • Enlisted the use of a brand-new CRM tool to minimize data loss and lead perforation among the sales territories, resulting in the teams being able to properly work all prospects and leads through the sales funnel and to fruition. • Invited to the home office on 2 occasions to deliver motivational seminars and what I had created as a turn-key sales and development system for all employees

Managed and developed a team of 7 sales managers and 23 inside life, health and ancillary agents who were operating at a close ratio of about 13% and within 90 days, I increased that ratio to 25% • Through renewed sales training, digital marketing campaigns, talent acquisition, lead generation expansion and development and operational process rollout, in just over 1 year, my team and I increased annual volume (premium revenue) by $7M; from $11M annually to $18M on a goal of $14M per year. 90% net new/10% expansion • Within 1 year, our average close ratio was 43% • Built partnership with a PEO (professional employer organization) to offer a full-service solution for our enterprise customers. Later brought on an HCM (human capital management ) solution to round out our enterprise offerings even further. Average deal size on the HCM side was $60k. • Hired, trained and led all sales agents, managers and marketing teams. Constructed novel compensation plan that attracted top industry talent.