Darin Velin

Census Field Supervisor – United States Census Bureau

07/2020-Present

Trained and managed a team of Enumerators working in the field on the Decennial Census
Monitored team and individual daily performance against established benchmarks. Led team to be the first in Census area to reach “close-out” milestone.
Coached struggling employees, documented performance issues, and conducted field observations
Functioned as resource for questions on procedure, policy, or overcoming issues with cases
Liaised Bureau directives from headquarters to field agents
Ensured team had appropriate forms and documents to complete assignments

Director of Communications – Dauntless, Inc.

04/2018 – 03/2020

Lead corporate communications strategy and execution for the business, social impact, public policy, and reputation management efforts
Established strategic direction for communications programs across the Company to enhance brand positioning and communications initiatives to meet overall marketing and business initiatives
Communicated the strategic direction of the Company and corresponding department goals to the team
Counseled departments and executives on communications issues, strategies, and events
Wrote, edited, and published sales and marketing materials for web, trade shows, and hardcopy. Oversaw design and production for event displays and signage
Manage and execute all marketing, advertising, social media, and public relations for Company
Led Customer Success team—creating and launching a Knowledge Base for customer self-support
Supervised Technical Documentation Writer and Support Engineers, providing guidance and professional development.
Lead effort to create a new brand with logos, wordmarks, voice, pillars, etc. Managed creative team, oversaw review efforts, and orchestrated the roll-out of the new brand
Provided coaching, direction, and leadership support to team members to achieve partner, business, and customer results
Planned and managed department processes and practices to ensure that programs were aligned with company business goals and objectives
Led/Participated in cross-functional teams to ensure continuity of business unit/department plans across the Company
Oversaw training and development of employees directly and indirectly managed and made effective staffing decisions

Community Relations Director – Dauntless Software

07/2015 – 10/2017

Part owner of technology start-up company
Managed and executed all marketing, advertising, social media and public relations for Company and flagship product
Achieved 10%+ growth in market share in first year
Managed online advertising spend to stay within budget
Managed multiple Twitter, Facebook, YouTube accounts and owned websites
Wrote, edited, and published sales and marketing materials
Planned and executed marketing campaigns across platforms
Collaborated with Sales team to support their efforts and coordinate messaging between teams. Drove sales and made follow-up calls as needed
Reported out KPI goals and performance against those goals to Executive team and company employees
Collaborated with C-level Officers on business planning, company strategy, and budget.
Strategize on the go-to-market strategies for new vertical industries
Worked with government officials nation-wide to address concerns and clarify new and existing laws
Planned and executed major trades how booth experience

Senior Global Production Manager – Microsoft.com

06/2012 – 10/2015

Oversaw end-to-end workflow and process of global web publishing
Collaborated with Website Management, Content Localization and Programming to land bi-weekly home page programming changes (about 2,600 editorial placements per flight)
Worked with product marketing teams on large releases: Halo, Forza, Surface, Windows Phone, etc.
Developed a Publishing Threshold model to help larger team plan programming flights more accurately
Streamlined team tracking process through tool consolidation, improving team agility and productivity
Managed team of Vendors worldwide supporting 106 international markets in 65 languages
Managed budget of ~$2M annually, driving a 16% decrease in year over year budget requirements
Supported new feature and platform enhancements – driving time to adopt from ~6 months down to 4 weeks across all markets
Developed/released blogging platform to meet local market content management needs.
Managed content via multiple Content Management (CMS) systems: WordPress, SharePoint, custom in-house solutions, WebAce, SiteCore, Jira

Global Operations Lead – Microsoft Advertising

05/2010 – 06/2012

Managed team of Vendors, and Agency contacts worldwide covering all aspects of web production, design, and social analytics
Managed budget of ~$2M annually, driving a 25% cost reduction while increasing output 221.5%
Oversaw end-to-end workflow and process of global web publishing
Partnered with Development team and Site/Content Management teams on site updates and large projects
Managed resource load balancing duties based on segment and region needs
Drove efficiencies within publishing team.
Established Tier 1 Support model for Platform and Tools
Implemented a centralized, global publishing model, consolidating from 5 request systems to 1 and reducing number of vendor companies used by 57%

Communications Specialist – Microsoft Technical Community Network

2008 – 2010

Created compelling internal and external communications to support project goals and engage Partner-level technical leaders within the company
Functioned as Executive Producer for the “Behind the Code” web-series—a live 1:1 interview with the top technical minds in the company. Collaborated extensively with executives to conduct research, plan the interview, and manage video production company.
Created invitations to various on-site and off-site activities
Managed 2010 Technical Recognition Awards and PR program surrounding the awards

Online Marketing Communications Manager – Microsoft

2006 – 2008

Awarded divisional MVP award by Corporate Vice President in March ’08 for great results and best practices within discipline
Awarded peer group award for going “above and beyond” the job role
Oversaw the strategy and vision for Microsoft Dynamics websites, including the Microsoft Dynamics communities and newsgroups
Led an organic search optimization project that drove a 381% increase in key terms listed on the first page of major search engines
Managed web components for online engagement with sales (~$207M in FY07 revenue from the website). Led page redesign effort that resulted in a 4% increase in response rate, 3% point above goal
Ensured all product and division brand messaging is consistent and on message.
Worked with Product Managers to outline business goals for fiscal year planning
Managed website launches—coordinating Stakeholders, content creators, editorial, production and development. Drove 57% increase in traffic during launch time frame for Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 (typical launch increase is ~15%)
Created and analyzed monthly and quarterly metrics reports, tracking site traffic and trends
Oversaw design process and acted as point of contact with UI design teams
Triaged and responded to ongoing publishing requests from stakeholders
Managed team of Contingent Staff, Vendors, and Agency staff

Production Manager – Microsoft

2004 – 2006

Managed production and publishing pipeline covering site launches and daily publishing (320 items per month) for portfolio of ~40 websites on Microsoft.com
Managed budget of $400,000/year
Forecast budget and resources based on portfolio plans
Established portfolio-wide workflow processes and standards
Wrote Job Descriptions and Request for Proposals for vendor positions
Managed team of offsite Vendors
Assisted in planning site launch schedules for portfolio
Managed portfolio migration of 3,500 pages to MPP system and tools (project was completed on budget and ahead of schedule)

Producer – Microsoft

2003 – 2004

Built web pages to support Microsoft Business Solutions products
Received and completed Stakeholder web requests within SLA
Co-managed platform migration for microsoft.com/businesssolutions
Wrote system requirements, monitored development, and established testing matrix for new platform for Business Decision Maker portfolio

Web Marketing & Content Specialist – Microsoft Business Solutions

2002 – 2003

Wrote and copy-edited press releases and web content
Rolled out and enforced brand changes across web properties
Wrote team process documentation
Published content to the web
Researched Web Marketing and Search Engine Optimization
Wrote speeches and presentations for Director of Marketing Communications for internal/team events

Education
Bachelor of Arts – Organizational Communications
Bachelor of Arts – Philosophy
Concordia College, Moorhead MN