Rick Isenberg
A marketer for over 25 years, Rick got his MBA from the University of Michigan
in 1984. After several years in the technology industry, Rick began his
Marketing career at Fidelity Investments. After a stint at Bank of Boston
(bought by Fleet Financial, who was bought by Bank of America),
Rick joined Chadwick's of Boston
where
he was in charge of sales forecasting, marketing budgeting / P&L analysis and
marketing databases. When Rick left Chadwick’s for The Franklin Mint in 1994,
Chadwick’s was mailing 220 million catalogs a year, generating nearly $500
million in revenue. Fifteen months after joining The Franklin Mint, Rick was
put in charge of a prototype business unit. The success of this P&L-focused
business unit approach lead to a massive restructuring of the entire company,
with Rick ultimately becoming Vice President over business units that
experienced 79% growth in 3 years to $200 million, while the company shrank
overall by 33%.
In 1999, Rick started his consulting business, working for companies such as
Lillian Vernon (working directly for the Chairman and the President). In late
2000, Rick joined Ross-Simons as VP of Marketing including internet, catalog,
and retail. Under his leadership, the Internet business grew 75% to become
nearly 20% of Ross-Simons’ $200 million direct business. Rick established strict
financial controls on the catalog side of the business, resulting in the
elimination of an entire catalog business as well as several titles in the main
business, and a reduction in mailing to best buyers of 30%. Most importantly, it
allowed the company to take its limited resources and focus on profit
opportunities and on the customer.
In Fall 2001, Rick returned to his consulting business, and worked with leading
internet retailers. In 2004 he completed a 6 month engagement with SmartBargains.com (#100 on the 2008 Internet Retailer Top 500 list), which sold
in 2009 for $350 million. In 2005 he finished a 3 month stint working with
Fingerhut (#88 on the 2010 Top 500 List), recommending and subsequently
implementing a program that increased profit by over $1 million in 2005, an
initiative that the company still cites today as significantly driving their
bottom line each year. At the end of 2005 he worked with Bodybuilding.com (#160
on the 2005 Internet Retailer Top 500 list), working directly with the CEO of
this rapidly growing company helping him focus on several initiatives designed
to deliver millions to the bottom line, including marketing, customer service,
and operations initiatives – including the December 2005 launch of a major
affiliate program, projected to have a bottom line impact of over $1 million in
2006 and a Commission Juction 5 bar program (top 5% of all affiliate programs). The company was eventually sold to Liberty Media for north of $100
million.
In 2007 Rick returned to the corporate world as the CMO of American Blinds,
Wallpaper and More (#251 on the Top 500 list) where he revamped the offline
marketing efforts, introduced web features that improved conversion, and
exceeded plan for 7 of the first 9 months of the 2008, despite the housing
market’s continual downturn. He implemented numerous features on the website
including Quick Price, Clearance Outlet, and a brand new home page design. Email
earnings per email sent doubled during Rick's tenure. Rick returned to his
consulting practice in November of 2008 when the rapid decline in economic
conditions severely impacted ABWF’s business..
In late 2009 Rick adopted the Rent-A-CMO model, and was again hired by Fingerhut
(now Bluestem Brands) to conduct a business analysis, beginning in January 2010. Shortly thereafter Rick was brought into
Oriental Trading Company (#57 on the 2010 Internet Retailer Top 500 list and a
Top 50 cataloger) by Sam Taylor (President and CEO) and Carlyle Group (majority
owner and one of the largest private equity firms in the world) to be the
Interim SVP Marketing. For two months, Rick worked fulltime at OTC and completed
the Bluestem Brands project (on time and on budget), and then spent the next
three months continuing in the Interim SVP role until he onboarded the permanent hire and
moved into a project role through the end of July 2010. OTC is a $500 million
multichannel marketer mailing nearly 300 million catalogs per year - Rick had
responsibility for Creative, Marketing, and Marketing Services - a total staff
of approximately 75.
In 2011 Rent-A-CXO, LLC, was formed, which also operates as Rent-A-CMO and
RBI Marketing Consulting. In addition, Rick is a 5-bar (top 5%) affiliate
within the Commission Junction network (June 2012). In his spare time, Rick enjoys
spending time with his family, and rooting for The University of Michigan's
football team. You can view Rick's
LinkedIn profile here.
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