Mark W. Breneman

People Leader - Technologist - Strategist
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Career Summary

DIRECTOR OF DIGITAL PRODUCTS AND SERVICES
Highly experienced professional, having led over 1,000 digital projects across Technology, Marketing, UI/UX, and Design. Expert in leveraging many frameworks and methodologies to create user-centric, strategic digital initiatives that drive business objectives. Recognized as an innovative technology strategist and dynamic people leader with deep emotional intelligence. Committed to product success from idea to beyond launch, budget adherence, and setting clear digital milestones. Proven ability to build and guide cross-functional cross-departmental teams, ensure seamless operations, and deliver solutions that resonate with users and elevate organizational outcomes.

Director of Digital Services

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA
01/2020 - 07/2023 Madison WI

Oversaw multiple teams in a $109+ million per year non-profit as a seasoned technology leader. The Web Software Development department serviced 38 public-facing websites and many special projects. Directed a Web Analytics team and challenged them to transition into a Success Metrics team and become the primary data source for data-driven decisions. Served as a Technical Consultant and Digital Strategist for 23 client departments, bringing marketing, technical, and design expertise to create effective strategies. Contributed to several special team assignments, such as the 2022 Web Strategy Team, Internal Comms Team, EveryCampus, and the Emergency COVID Response Team based on a jack-of-all-trades skill set.

Selected Project Experience

  • Executed as a project / digital strategist, listened to the needs, wants, and desired outcomes for 100s of ideas, and teamed closely with each owner to clearly define an objective.
    • Developed performance benchmarks and a results-driven strategy to evaluate success.
    • Devised execution plans for projects and bridged the gap between the client and Development Team.
    • Determined the budget, best technology, and or vendor to leverage for each project.
    • Built many user-centric proof of concept projects to test, illiterate, improve, scale, and measure results that saved the organization tens of thousands of dollars on each project. Many continued to final products.
  • Piloted EveryCampus as a digital product owner and previous User Interface / User Experience Team leader.
    • Created and executed Audience Personas and User Journeys.
    • Pivoted to B2B model based on Analytics and research data to serve 82% of active users.
    • Managed relationships between several vendor partners to meet deadlines and keep on budget.
    • Orchestrated the construction of a website that coordinated a crowdsourced action on 2000-plus college campuses.

Campus Web Professional (equivalent Manager to Associate Director)

InterVarsity Christian Fellowship/USA
2/2010 - 01/2020 Madison WI

Led a software development team that built and serviced over 70 Drupal websites over ten years. Served as a consultant with technical expertise in DevOps, UI / UX, and project management. Created and led a product owner program that ran for seven years to train web product owners to successfully own and lead their products. Built a community of web product owners that fostered collaboration and communication among community members to achieve successful outcomes. Championed many aspects that led to the success of the 2008 Web Strategy and other digital initiatives.

Selected Project Experience

  • Crafted and implemented a Product Owner program of 26 web product owners and built a community that reinforced a culture of standards, best practices, and self-enablement.
  • Implemented a web strategy that decentralized web management and empowered client departments.
  • Partnered with the design and branding teams to create and implement the first Web Style Guide.
  • Co-led Indigitous's first global 28-city Hack hackathon.
  • Instituted many new practices such as Agile Workflows, Digital Strategies, UI / UX, and Audience personas.
  • Mentored many coworkers outside the team in web development, fundraising, staff management, and project leadership.

Senior Web Developer / Web Server Administrator

VIVID MEDIA INC.
1998 - 2010 Madison WI

Guided the development team in creating and maintaining over 550 custom-developed websites for this multimedia company. Served as both a lead developer and the primary System Administrator, overseeing the building, configuration, and management of Infrastructure hardware, including web, email, and database servers, as well as maintaining the local office network and the Windows / Active Directory servers. Contributed significantly to the organization's success by utilizing expertise in coding and system administration.

Selected Project Experience

  • Built a custom-developed Content Management System (CMS) in ColdFusion and deployed over 350 sites.
  • Built a Parent-Teacher scheduling system used by several School Districts, that allowed parents to schedule from home in less than 5 mins on average.
  • Architected the core K-12 School website CMS system used by many smaller schools in Central Wisconsin.
  • Built and hosted several Conference registration and management systems for events with up to 20,000 attendees
  • Created and hosted many custom-developed PCI-compliant e-commerce sites.
  • Specialized in building websites that streamlined and managed most all small business processes.
  • Led the effort to virtualize the hardware servers to VPS system, saving several hundred dollars monthly.
  • Responsibilities of server management include: upgrading hardware/virtual components, migration, documenting configuration, security, security audits, installing patches, backup, and availability monitoring.

Part-Time Consultant - Web Developer / Web Server Administrator

Mud Dog Media
2006 - 2008 Portage, WI

Selected Project Experience

  • Configuration and management of OSX server and Linux VPS web server
  • Development of e-commerce and content management websites
  • Automation of Linux based high definition video ad servers and LCD projector systems

System Engineer / Field Service Representative

Vanguard Computers
1995 - 1998 Madison, WI

Selected Project Experience

  • General computer repair, laser printer repair and network support
  • Technical support via phone and on-site
  • Led small teams repairing computers and laser printers.

Help Desk Support

Madison College
1993 - 1995 Madison, WI

Selected Project Experience

  • Setup of computer labs
  • Hardware setup and repair for Mac and PC
  • Software installation and support for Mac and PC

Education

  • Associate of Science, Electronics
    Madison College
    1993 - 1995, 1998
  • High School Diploma
    Pardeeville High School
    1989 - 1993

Certifications

  • Prosci Certified Change Practitioner
    Change Management Practitioner
  • CompTIA - A+ Core Certification
  • CompTIA - A+ Apple Certification
  • Adobe Certified Expert (ACE) in ColdFusion
  • 3com Wizard (3com advanced network training)
  • HP Star (HP Netserver advanced training)

CORE COMPETENCIES

Leadership | Product / Project Management | Strategic Planning | Negotiations | Communication | Mentoring | Best Practices | Continuous Improvements | Training | Digital Strategy | Documentation | Audits | Vendor Management

TECHNICAL PROFICIENCIES

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning | Digital Marketing | User Interface / User Experience (UI / UX) | Analytics | Cloud Platforms | Web / Software Development | Change Management | Software Development Lifecycle | IT / Data Systems | Requirements Assessments | Troubleshooting | Risk Identification / Mitigation | Compliance | GDPR | Analytics | Legal / Regulatory Guidelines | Microsoft / Google Office suites | Drupal | WordPress | Amazon AWS | Microsoft Azure | PHP | JavaScript | Adobe ColdFusion | Adobe Photoshop | Figma | Wrike / PM Tools | MailChimp | Marketing Cloud | Large Language Models | OpenAI / ChatGPT | Llama | Streamlit

HOBBIES

Reading between 30 and 50 books a year | Spending time with my family | Working with my hands Building guitars or other Woodworking | Playing Guitar

Mark W. Breneman