Courtney Skare

Experience

2024 - Present

Assistant Director of Marketing, WIDA

Steer executive-level strategy for communications and marketing, inform decisions on brand identity evolution, strategize with team leadership on long-term resource allocation, and manage over $1 million in annual outside agency support.
Support high-stakes reputational risk management by leading key aspects of crisis communication strategy; partnering with the UW-Madison Office of Legal Affairs and leadership to govern public commentary, and executing the strategic decision to sunset public Facebook groups.
Infused an analytics-driven approach across the communications function; led the integration of key metrics (web, social, email) into the Newsroom team to ensure shared organizational understanding and awareness of vehicle performance.
Apply strategic leadership to major product decisions, successfully advocating for changes that required collaboration with key stakeholders and presentation of sales, retention data, and customer feedback to executive leadership.
Engineered and launched the cross-functional Content Council, achieving over 25,000+ webpage views for a key resource and a 56% top email click rate by centralizing strategy and breaking down internal silos.

2022 - 2024

Marketing Manager, WIDA

Directed WIDA’s integrated marketing and communications strategy, enabling the successful execution of 10+ integrated campaigns annually with measurable goals.
Pioneered regular usage of six existing audience-segmented email lists as part of the team’s digital marketing strategy resulting in 184% subscriber growth to date.
Established strategic marketing partnerships with peer organizations (e.g., CAL, TESOL, IRC) to elevate and co-promote major initiatives, successfully broadening the organization's reach into key target demographics.
Led and mentored a five-person marketing team, securing one internal promotion and restructuring individual work portfolios to leverage specific language skills and interests, maximizing overall performance.
Directed communications and marketing strategy to mitigate organizational disruption during the sunsetting of two major programs, successfully managing public communication for initiatives impacting 500 international school members and nine U.S. member states.

2019 - 2022

Communications and Marketing Specialist, WIDA

Directed integrated marketing and communications for major WIDA initiatives, including the WIDA Annual Conference (an annual hybrid event with 2,000+ attendees), managing cross-departmental teams to plan and execute campaigns.
Championed the team-wide initiative to establish the first comprehensive digital content strategy across social media, email, and website channels, co-leading the revamp of news articles that grew production by over 300% (from 1 per month to 40+ annually) and have become a cornerstone of WIDA’s digital content strategy.
Drove significant social media growth by initiating an annual strategic planning process and successfully launching new platforms that resulted in rapid increases in new followers on both Facebook (74% increase) and Twitter (35% increase) in less than three years.

2007 - 2019

Director of Operations and Communications, The Cookery Inc.

Directed operations and financial strategy for a complex, multi-arm business (restaurant, lodging, retail) generating $2 million in annual gross revenue.
Led the total business relaunch following a fire in 2008, managing the physical rebuilding, hiring/training a staff of 50+ employees, and executing a strategic rebrand.
Created and executed a comprehensive communications plan encompassing brand strategy, advertising, email marketing, social media, and public relations.
Fostered an inclusive environment within a multilingual team and developed new training protocol resulting in successful collaboration, clear communication, and the advancement of key personnel into management positions.

2005 - 2007

Study Abroad Advisor and Communications Lead, UW - Madison

Directed the departmental communications strategy focused on increasing campus-wide reach and awareness to expand study abroad participation across the student body.
Managed complex stakeholder relationships, liaising with faculty and overseas partners to oversee a portfolio of 30 study abroad programs.
Spearheaded the annual Study Abroad Fair, serving as the event management lead responsible for logistics and promotion of the large-scale event for over 1,200 attendees.

Education

Master of Science

Educational Leadership & Policy Analysis: UW - Madison

Bachelor of Arts

Communication Arts and History: UW - Madison

Certifications & Professional

Development

Northwestern Kellogg Executive Education

Digital Marketing Strategies Certificate

Hootsuite Academy

Advanced Social Media Strategy Certificate

Marketing Profs B2B Forum

AI For Content and Lead Generation Workshop

NN/g UX Conference

Omnichannel Journeys and Customer Experience

UW - Madison

Mid-Level Management Coursework

UW-Green Bay Small Business Development Center

Entrepreneurial Training Program

Community Involvement & Leadership

Peninsula Preschool

Board Vice President

Door County YMCA

Board Member

Sauk Trail Parent Teacher Organization

Website Lead

REAP Food Group

Development Committee

Fish Creek Civic Association

Marketing Committee