Heather Vaughn

Over 20 years of B2B marketing and agency leadership, including direct responsibility for judging, scoring, and improving creative and strategic work at a senior level. I write and defend creative briefs, evaluate campaign concepts and brand positioning against business objectives, and hold both my own team's output and outside partners' work to a clear, defensible bar. I'm comfortable building the rubric as well as applying it, and explaining exactly why a piece of work does or doesn't meet the standard.

Executive Director, Marketing & Strategy at CI Design (2019-03 – Present)

• Serve as editor-in-chief and final reviewer for the agency's content and creative deliverables, evaluating thought leadership, case studies, campaign concepts, and client-facing creative against strategic clarity, audience relevance, and brand alignment before release.
• Review and score creative briefs, messaging frameworks, and campaign concepts developed by a team of brand, content, and digital marketers, providing written, criteria-based feedback that identifies weak assumptions, unclear positioning, and execution gaps.
• Create strategy and messaging frameworks for B2B clients across manufacturing, financial services, and professional services, translating business objectives into brand positioning and value propositions, then evaluating whether creative execution delivers on that strategy.
• Partner with sales and executive teams to assess competitive RFP responses and strategic proposals, judging differentiation, commercial relevance, and client fit before submission.
• Manage and mentor a multidisciplinary team, setting performance standards, calibrating expectations across contributors, and coaching toward consistent quality.
• Member of the executive leadership team; contribute to organizational standards-setting, including how the agency defines and measures strategy and creative quality across client engagements.
• Direct evaluation of marketing technology and AI tools (including generative AI platforms) for content and campaign work, assessing outputs for quality, accuracy, and brand fit.

Marketing Director at Crisis Prevention Institute (2014-01 – 2019-02)

• Directed strategic marketing programs for a global professional training organization, setting and enforcing quality and messaging standards across campaign materials for risk-averse, compliance-sensitive audiences (Education, Healthcare, Senior Living).
• Reviewed and approved integrated campaign plans, sales enablement materials, and customer-facing content, evaluating each against brand positioning, audience insight, and measurable business objectives.
• Built and refined internal evaluation criteria for marketing and creative deliverables in partnership with C-suite leadership, translating business goals into standards the team could apply consistently.
• Managed a team of marketing specialists across content, digital, events, and direct mail, conducting structured performance reviews and calibration sessions to align individual output with a consistent quality bar.
• Planned and managed a $6M annual marketing budget, evaluating vendor and agency proposals for strategic fit and creative quality before commitment.

Marketing Manager at Crisis Prevention Institute (2012-02 – 2013-12)

• Revamped content strategy and evaluation criteria for lead-generation assets, running structured content audits that assessed messaging clarity, audience fit, and conversion performance.
• Developed buyer personas and messaging frameworks used to judge whether campaign concepts and creative execution were reaching the intended audience.
• Built lead-scoring and enablement frameworks that required defining measurable standards for what counted as "sales-ready" content and messaging.

Various Roles in Project & Account Management at Fullhouse (acquired by Laughlin Constable in 2012) (2004-08 – 2012-02)

Primary clients included MillerCoors, Hyatt, Pierce Manufacturing, Rexnord, and Schreiber Foods

• Reviewed creative and strategic deliverables from internal teams before client presentation, evaluating whether concepts responded to the brief and met client and category standards.
• Managed B2B client partnerships across manufacturing and technical sectors, aligning creative execution with client objectives and brand guidelines across integrated campaigns.
• Served as primary liaison between clients and internal creative/strategy teams, translating client feedback into actionable creative direction and quality benchmarks.

Executive MBA – Quantic School of Business & Technology

Bachelor of Music in Instrumental & General Music Education – St. Olaf College