Resume

Terry (Gossell) Groben

www.TerryGossellGroben.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

PROFILE

Extensive experience in marketing, advertising, creative, copywriting, graphic arts, design, public relations, customer relations, project and staff management.

Professional experience and skills encompass the following areas of
Marketing / Public relations / Advertising:

Marketing
Public relations/Press relations
Direct marketing
Reading
Advertising and promotion for: business-to-business, retail, industrial, manufacturing, consumer, and professional services.
Graphic Arts - layout and design
Media buying
Art direction of photo shoots: location, studio, and remote/computer

Communications / Writing:

Marketing and collateral materials
Catalog copy and headlines
Press releases / Corporate communications
Business plans & strategies
Web content
SEO rewriting of existing web content
Advertising copy
Radio/TV/video scripts and speeches
Industry articles & Newsletters

Management

Business development
Staff management
Project management
Budget
Client and vendor management
Building partnerships & alliances
Management of freelancers

SKILLS

Detail-oriented strategic thinker with the energy and motivation to contribute substantially to multiple tasks and assignments. An exceptional 'hands-on' individual with management experience, thoroughly computer literate with PCs & MacIntosh in Microsoft Office as well as graphic and website development programs such as Adobe Photoshop, QuarkXpress, FrontPage, Web Asset/Version Manager, and Zoomla. Have experience in developing and facilitating trade seminars, meetings, presentations, and public speaking engagements.

EXPERIENCE

Crosstown Traders, Inc. - Tucson, AZ (Charming Shoppes, Inc. - Bensalem, PA) 9/05 to 9/08
Senior Copywriter - Women's Fashion Catalogs
Old Pueblo Traders Digest and Bedford Fair Lifestyles coordinator
Crosstown Trader, Inc., headquartered in Tucson, was a direct marketer of women's apparel, footwear, accessories, and specialty gifts. It ranked as the nation's 20th largest specialty catalog company and was owned by Charming Shoppes, Inc., the nation's third-largest specialty retail apparel holding company. Duties included:

Wrote catalog copy for OPT Digest, Bedford Fair Lifestyles, and additional brands catalog copy, as assigned
Proofed copy, preliminary spreads, and final spreads as needed within all 10 catalog brands
Coordinated Bedford Lifestyles, Shoestyles, Clearance catalogs, then Old Pueblo Traders Digest

Senior Copywriter - Home Etc.
My original position when I was hired by Crosstown Traders, Inc., owned by Charming Shoppes, Inc., was within the newly formed team for the homes product catalog. Home Etc ceased production in April -07 and the entire creative team was reassigned to the 'fashion' creative group. Duties included:

Wrote catalog copy for the home products catalog. Created versions for Catherine's Home, Fashion Bug at Home, and Lane Bryant Lifestyles
Edited catalog copy to address individual products on Home Etc & Lane Bryant Lifestyes websites
Coordinated promotional and media codes for each catalog and project
Updated websites with each catalog issue and new products
Contributed promotional and marketing ideas and wrote copy for special promotional projects such as magazine ads, billing inserts, and outbound emails

Intuit, Inc. - Tucson, AZ 9/03 to 9/05
Support Engineer - QuickBooks Group (full-time then part-time, APFI contract for 1 year)
Developer of QuickBooks, Quicken, TurboTax, and other software and services for business and financial management of small business, accounting professionals, and consumers. Duties included:

Customer Service and Technical Support for QuickBooks, QB Accountants Team, and TurboTax
Contributing writer for Communications Department articles
Billing Administration Support Specialist

Alzheimer's Prevention Foundation, International - Tucson, AZ
Marketing & Communications 1/04 to 1/05 (1 year contract of 20 hours per week for this non-profit while also working part-time at Intuit during this same time period)
Wrote, designed, and developed or redeveloped all correspondence, collateral material, website, content, promotional strategies, and branding for the foundation. Duties included:

Defined and branded services, newsletter Editor, press releases, public relations, and PSA's
Developed fundraising and donor programs; designed branding and collateral material
Defined and introduced APFI services to specific target markets through brochures and articles
Development of website content, communications, and marketing/educational materials

Bridge Alliance, LLC - Phoenix, AZ 5/02 to 9/03
Marketing and Public Relations
Software development company - business process improvement technology. Duties included:

Defined and branded the software products; introduced products to specific target markets
Produced and distributed press releases and did public relations
Developed website, web content, communications, and marketing/educational materials

BizDawgs, LLC - Phoenix and Tucson, AZ 4/00 to 4/02
Owner and Consultant
Co-founded an organization of 30 executive-level business consultants that provided business problem solving services to established companies, early stage companies and entrepreneurs. Duties included:

Business development, sales, client contact, and assistance in securing funding for clients
Organizational responsibility for management, promotion, and strategy development
Coached senior management for presentations to venture capitalists and angel funding groups
Wrote - corporate communications, press releases, proposals, contracts, industry articles, marketing and collateral materials, web content, business strategies, and formal business plans

TR Gossell Advertising & Marketing Services - Phoenix, AZ 11/98 to 3/00
Consultant
Assisted early stage technology companies with marketing strategies and business plans. Duties included:

Coordinated development of corporate identity and mission, vision, and goal statements
Wrote formal business plans; defined Internet and e-commerce business and marketing strategies
Assisted in website design and content, product photography, copywriting, and website promotion
Directed photo shoots and printing press checks for marketing and collateral materials developed

The Gossell Agency - Rockford, IL and Phoenix, AZ 6/84 to 3/98
Owner / Manager / Creative Director
Full service advertising and marketing agency with client types: business-to-business and consumer. Clients included retail (women's fashion, furniture, and automotive), industrial, manufacturers and distributors. Responsibilities included:

Business management, sales & business development, client management
Advertising strategies, marketing strategies, budgets management, creative presentations
Copywriting, concepts, print design, print production
Development of print specifications; established vendor networks, freelancers, procurement of quotes
Management of multimedia projects through completion, including media buying and photography

The Vision

It’s been over twenty-two years since my sister died. I can’t explain why it’s taken me this long to write down the happenings that followed for almost six months after her death. The visions, conversations, and directives are as vivid now as they were all those years ago.

Mid-day, I received a call from my eldest sister, Arlene, informing me of our sister Diane’s death. It was a car accident, five days prior. She didn’t know any details. It happened in Leesburg, a small town in central Florida, and had taken most of the week for the authorities to locate and notify Diane’s husband Bill in Miami. Diane had been visiting mom and dad and the accident happened on her return trip.

The Drive

After regaining my composure from seeing the vision of my sister's fatal accident, I needed to call her husband Bill. It was important for me to find out how he was holding up and how the kids were doing.

I was never particularly fond of Bill. He was a workaholic, aloof, and a bit pompous … a brilliant man with, in my opinion, absolutely no common sense. I didn’t care for the indifferent way he treated Diane and had never heard him have a compassionate discussion on any subject. My mother, however, had assured me on several occasions that he could be quite human. She was actually very fond of him.

Making Choices

When we finally arrived at Mom and Dad’s house in Old Town, Bill and I were emotionally exhausted from the long drive and the visit to the police station. Fortunately Bill had been spared the emotional trauma of having to identify Diane’s body. After all, how many out-of-town accident victims with full identification could have died in a small Florida town?

My parents were in a worse emotional state than either Bill or I. Certainly losing a wife or sister as a terrible tragedy, but nothing could be worse than losing a child. As much as my heart ached for my loss, it ached a thousand times more for my parents. We spent the next few hours comforting each other and reminiscing about Diane.

Making Choices (continued)

Back at the office, Bill and I sat on a comfortably padded bench in front of her desk while our saleslady prepared the purchase papers. I felt quite content about the entire situation…almost smug. I knew that Diane really liked this gravesite. I had felt her contentment and approval so vividly.

Finalizing the sale took longer than we had expected. The saleslady had to call her boss a couple of times to question him on details. It wasn’t long before I became fidgety and restless. An impatient, gnawing frustration began to build inside me.

How Diane Communicated

At first, in the weeks after my sister's death, I never really knew when she was with me or what she wanted. I would only know when I felt her emotions; those intense feelings that I knew were not mine. It took me awhile to understand and to put them into perspective with the decisions that Bill and I were making about her funeral arrangements.

Diane didn't verbalize what she wanted in the beginning; she used her dramatic emotions. Sometimes there was an outburst of emotions that pointedly made her wishes known to me. Perhaps in the beginning she hadn't learned to concentrate her thoughts well enough to verbalize her wants, or maybe I wasn't experienced enough to interpret them precisely. But she made her wants known, from selecting the cemetary plat that she wanted, to choosing the flowers that would adorn the chapel and her coffin.

Knowing Diane

Diane was only 42 when she died, less than two years older than I was. Of my three sisters, she was the closest to me in age, but not necessarily the closest. This sister was always a very strong-willed individual. Intense would be a kind word to describe her personality. Overbearing and manipulative would be not-so-kind terms, but accurate. She knew the things that she wanted in life, and worked every angle in her power to get them.

My older sisters, Arlene and Patty, were nine and six years older than I. Diane and I were close in age, but I was the baby of the family.

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Terry (Gossell) Groben

Read Through My Sister's Eyes