GROWTH STRATEGY WITH MEASURABLE OUTCOMES

Motivated marketing leader with expertise in delivering brand-inspired campaigns, and proven success in the retail, financial services, healthcare insurance, and telecom industries. Ricardo identifies sources of growth with analysis of product service data and innovative content creation, that enable partner teams to unlock effective customer-relationship marketing experiences. 

Served with various advertising agencies, managed CRM marketing campaigns for a multibillion-dollar credit portfolio in the financial services industry and led the creative team for a multicultural marketing division on the west coast.

Growth Marketing | Project Management | CSPO | CSM | CLSSGB 

Brand Strategy |  Bilingual: English & Spanish

• Drove the successful launch of the Shop Your Way Mastercard® value proposition, rewarding spending in key categories (gas, groceries, and dining). Impact: Increased the points redemption, boosted card usage, and secured 1M+ new accounts in year one.
• Led the launch of the Shop Your Way new member email trigger campaign to educate and engage users across products, partners, and services. Impact: Enhanced member engagement insights and accelerated app cross-activation.
• Spearheaded the creative strategy that won Direct DM agency of record for Rauxa | Roja multicultural accounts for Farmers Insurance and DIRECTV Más. Impact: Delivered 250% YOY multicultural account sales growth.  
• Earned the Tempo Past Presidents Award “Best of Show” for Toyota Xtreme Fun College Incentive. Impact: Drove 20,000 vehicle sales—35x over goal.
• Brand Client Experience: United Airlines MileagePlus/Premier Member Program, McDonald’s National Promotions, Toyota Motor Sales, Federated Investors, BB&T, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Factory Card & Party Outlet (IL), KFC/Yum Brands & Pepsi Latino, Brown-Forman (KY), Rancho Suspension, AT&T (CA).

TRANSFORMCO - Hoffman Estates, Illinois – Jul. 2019 – Jan. 2025 

Merchant Partner Marketing Director – Financial Services 

Marketing Manager, Strategic Initiatives – Financial Services (through 6/2022)                            

Managed financial services credit marketing programs and built strong merchant partner relationships by connecting people to what they need. Enabled digital implementation teams to drive sales results, evaluate KPIs to support business product categories for Sears Home Services, run engagement and growth acquisition campaigns to promote the Shop Your Way Mastercard credit portfolio.  

SEARS HOLDINGS - Hoffman Estates, Illinois - Feb. 2012 – Nov. 2018                  

Sr. Manager Marketing Planning – Financial Services

Marketing Manager – Financial Services (through 9/2017)                            

Collaborated with cross-functional teams and partners to ensure integration of CRM marketing channels (email, SMS, push, and direct mail) programs for Sears Mastercard credit portfolio and business banking products and financial services; layaway, leasing, check cashing and gift card. Launched the brand value proposition initiative for the Shop Your Way Mastercard to award points in gas, groceries, and dining categories.  

CONSULTANT (self-employed)- Corona, CA - Dec. 2010 – Jan 2012

Marketing Strategist       

Developed marketing strategy programs to achieve key growth objectives, lead generation offers, social influencer community programs designed to strengthen brand awareness and activation.

RAUXA - Costa Mesa, CA Oct. 2006 – Dec. 2010
Executive Creative Director           

Led the overall agency strategy and creative team at Rauxa-Roja multicultural division implementing customer-relationship marketing (direct marketing, digital, social, mobile, SEO, DRTV, Radio) supporting brands (B2C/B2B) and services: Verizon, DIRECTV, Southern California Edison, Mercury Auto, Blue Shield of California, Wells Fargo, Bank of the West, Progreso Financiero, Farmers Insurance, Sage Business Software, Bravo Health and HealthNet Insurance.

MARKS & WHETSTONE – Itasca, Illinois – Jul. 2000 – Dec. 2005
Creative Director      
Managed strategy and retail merchandising advertising and design programs for direct, ROP, Print and corporate identity brands: Diageo, Cargo Furniture, Factory Card & Party Outlet, Chicago Tribune, Howell Furniture, Digital Innovations, MyHealth Source, Laurel Tree Records, Moody and Thomas Nelson Publishing.

LATHAM SRM – Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois – Jul. 1994 – Jun. 2000   
Creative Director      
Led creative team for general market, B2C/B2B and multicultural markets collaborating with clients with product launch and brand development developing winning control (DM) direct mail, design collateral adverting, and digital initiatives supporting brands: Toyota, United States Postal Services, Valvoline, Federated Investors, Citibank, BB&T, Cannon, Bank One, Home Depot, Nicor Advanced Energy, Allstate and Anthem Blues Cross Blue Shield.

-   University of Phoenix, IL (2005) − Bachelor of Science | Business Management with Honors 

-   MicroTrain Technologies, IL (2019) − Project Management Training PMP+4   

-   College of DuPage, IL (1999) – Information Systems 

-   Art Center College of Design – Advertising Alumni

Marketing optimization and reporting tools; Monday.com CRM, Slack, Generative AI for Marketing, Canva, Figma, Microsoft Office, PowerPoint, Excel, Salesforce, SharePoint, MS Project, Business Analysis, Adobe Omniture, Power BI, Tableau, Google Analytics, Google Performance Dashboard, JIRA Agile Scrum, and Adobe Creative: InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop.

CERTIFICATIONS: MicroTrain Technologies, Illinois

-   Google AI Essentials | Coursera – 2025   

-   Certified Scrum Master (CSM) | Scrum Alliance – 2019 

-   Certified Scrum Product Owner (CSPO) | Scrum Alliance – 2019

-   PMP Project Management Certification Training -2019   

-   Certified Lean Six Sigma Green Belt (CLSSGB)  

Dining: McDonald’s National branding POS, game promotion and sweepstakes. Latino markets; KFC & Pepsi soccer celebrity campaigns. 

Beverage/Spirits: Brown Forman Beverage; Early Times, Cella & Fontana Candida Wines. Diageo -Judge & Dolph on premise Smirnoff Ice sales promotions.
Automotive: KC Lights, Valvoline, Toyota USA and Rancho Suspension off-road racing aftermarket
Brand Identity: Designed Factory Card & Party Outlet IPO launch Times Square, NYC. 

Awards: Accomplishments for design, copy, marketing and digital media including DMA Tempo Past Presidents Award “Best of Show”, Advertising Age, AIGA, International Echo, Score Int’l. and SEMA Awards.