About Michael
The Bio
I was born in Cornwall, Ontario, went to McGill University in Montreal for my undergrad and came to Calgary in 2007. I started out my career working in both traditional and digital marketing for a small company (Danatec) - but quickly realized that digital, with its ability to measure ROI, was where I was meant to be. During my time at Danatec, I also completed the Certificate in Advanced Web Analytics from the University of British Columbia.
I then worked for a world-class eCommerce company (iStockphoto/Getty Images) where I was a subject matter expert (SME) in the areas of Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing/Pay-Per-Click (SEM/PPC), programmatic display, web analytics and affiliate marketing. Following this, I was a senior SME for a digital marketing agency (Vovia) - specializing in SEM/PPC for key accounts. I was promoted to lead the entire digital marketing team - in areas including SEM/PPC, SEO and analytics. During this time, I also completed my MBA on nights and weekends at the Haskayne School of Business (University of Calgary).
After completing my MBA, I moved over to a, then-fledgling (and now unicorn), Enterprise B2B SaaS company in Calgary (Benevity) to lead up their digital marketing and analytics. I was employee 83 at the company (hired right after their Series A raise) and we quickly grew revenue (and investment) to the point where we were over 500 employees. During this time, I was promoted to Director of Sales and Marketing Operations (I was the youngest Director at the company) - where my responsibilities grew to include sales/pipeline forecasting and launching/managing the business development representative (BDR) team. At the same time as this, I created the course in Paid Media for the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT).
I then moved on to a startup airline (Swoop, a Westjet subsidiary) where I oversaw all marketing, communications, product and digital. During this time, we pushed the boundaries of how tech is used in the industry - including website A/B testing to drive more sales, and marketing automation to personalize communications to passengers.
Following this, I moved to a venture builder in Calgary (Harvest Builders) to start up and lead up the Performance Marketing practice. There, I helped our portfolio companies (such as Neo Financial) - as well as other technology startups - scale through Performance Marketing.
I started Eighty Twenty CMO in June of 2020 in order to offer companies the same KPI-driven marketing leadership I’ve provided to companies throughout my career, but on a fractional (part-time) basis - making it accessible to more great companies.
The Bullets
Where I’ve provided value as a leader
Created and led Performance Marketing practice at Harvest Builders - a prairie-based venture builder that helped to launch Neo Financial, which has now achieved ‘unicorn status’, with a company valuation of over 1 billion dollars
Led Marketing, Communications, Digital and Product for Swoop - a airline subsidiary of WestJet - to help achieve profitability in the first year of operating
Led Sales and Marketing Operations for Benevity - an Enterprise SaaS company that has also achieved ‘unicorn status’ (over 1B valuation)
Led entire Digital Marketing team at Vovia - a best-of-breed digital marketing agency - including Analytics, SEO and Paid Media
Technologies I’ve used to provide value
Search Engine Marketing: Google Ads and Bing Ads
Paid Social Media: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Snapchat and Twitter
Demand Side Platforms (DSPs): Doubleclick, The TradeDesk, MediaMath
Website Analytics: Google Analytics, Adobe Analytics, and Webtrends
Platform Optimization: Optimizely, Google Optimize and Adobe Target
Search Engine Optimization (SEO): MOZ and SEMrush
Customer Relationship Management (CRM): Salesforce, HubSpot (Certified - see footer) and Copper
Marketing Automation software: Marketo and Hubspot (Certified - see footer)
Content Management Systems: WordPress, SquareSpace and Contentful
Advanced knowledge of Microsoft 365, including: Excel and PowerBI
Education that enabled me to provide value
Obtained my Bachelor of Commerce (with honours) from McGill University, with concentrations in Marketing and Entrepreneurship, as well a minor in Political Science
Received my Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary, with a specialization in Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Completed exchange terms in Ireland for my undegrad (University College Dublin, Smurfit School of Business) and Austria for my masters (Vienna University of Economics & Business).
Obtained certificate in Advanced Web Analytics from the University of British Columbia
Things other than Performance Marketing that I value
Mountain activities
Active things not in the mountains
Podcasts and audiobooks
Politics and chicken wings
Theodore Roosevelt
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