Forrest Stewart

PRODUCT MANAGEMENT

• Nearly a decade of experience defining and creating interactive products for news, higher education, tourism, and health care customers.
• Adept at identifying opportunities within market segments and building valid customer models.
• Proven ability to apply web technology to support customer needs and business goals. I've created interactive products for desktop and mobile, using myriad platforms and supporting features that delight the user.
• Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills. I work seamlessly with internal stakeholders and outside vendors alike to build the right product.

INTERACTIVE MARKETING

• Daily experience with email campaigns, social media, targeted on-site content delivery, and PPC ads.
• Experience managing multiple search engine marketing campaigns. Well-versed in SEO best practices.
• Able to assess the effectiveness of UI components, search campaigns, and marketing initiatives with tools like Google Analytics and Omniture.
• Extensive experience with usability testing, metric analysis, and customer surveys.

USER EXPERIENCE & FRONT END DEVELOPMENT

• Extensive experience designing and coding compelling interfaces that guide end users through complex workflows and clearly explain esoteric concepts.
• Able to quickly define and wireframe engaging web sites using industry standard tools like Axure, OmniGraffle and Photoshop, and bring designs to life using PHP, MySQL, CSS, JavaScript, and HTML.
• Proficient with established UI patterns and implementation tools like jQuery and YUI.

JOURNALISM & TECHNICAL WRITING

• Innovative in the use of words, photos, video, and data as storytelling tools. I’m a proficient writer with solid instructional design and documentation chops.

APPLICATION ANALYST II (Marketing & User Experience)
Catholic Health Initiatives • January 2012 - January 2013

Led user experience, design, and front-end development efforts for employee-facing interactive projects. Acted as Business Analyst on many projects, simplifying the requirements gathering and documentation process. I advised internal customers on products and marketing campaigns that reached 70,000 employees daily.

• Led front-end redesign efforts for My Healthy Spirit, an internal web portal focused on employee benefits, wellness, and retirement. Created finalized page designs and hand-wrote accompanying HTML, CSS, and JS.
• Designed and implemented automated web analytics dashboards with Omniture that summarize My Healthy Spirit site use across the enterprise.

DIRECTOR OF INTERACTIVE MARKETING & WEB OPERATIONS
Visit Denver • August 2010 - January 2012

Directed strategic, technical, and budgetary aspects of all Visit Denver interactive programs – desktop, email, mobile, and social – designed to promote Denver to out of town visitors. Managed internal staff plus search, design, and development contractors during ongoing tourism program cycles.

• Proposed and implemented strategic changes to VISIT DENVER interactive properties, including VisitDenver.com, DenverRestaurantWeek.com, and DenverBeerFest.com, and related social media accounts. Focused on mobile, social integration, and automation.
• Led redesign for Visit Denver’s Meetings & Conventions site following lengthy user experience and SEO assessments. During this process, I defined behavior improvements for lead generation forms.
• Authored weekly updates and monthly board reports that analyzed KPIs and trends in the interactive space. These reports drove new product strategy and recommended course correction for ongoing efforts.

WEB CONTENT MANAGER
Colorado School of Mines • October 2008 - August 2010

Managed design, development, and maintenance of several large Mines web properties. Functioned as a liaison between administrative, academic, and vendor stakeholders to ensure finished products were easy to use, engaging, and met the needs of the Mines community.

• Worked as an integral part of the public relations and IT teams to re-brand Colorado School of Mines and update key web properties, including Mines.edu. These efforts led to a 40% increase in undergrad applications over an 18 month period.
• Collaborated with dozens of campus departments and organizations to migrate several thousand static HTML web pages into a new CMS over a 12-month period. Wrote all training and documentation artifacts.
• Established and enforced campus-wide web content best practices for branding, navigation, presentation, and page structure. Developed several sets of web templates and tools to support unsupervised site development efforts.

SENIOR INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNER
IP Commerce • August 2007 - June 2008

• Designed and built interactive elements and marketing videos that explained the value of IP Commerce products to merchants and developers. Managed all phases of production, coordinating efforts between IP Commerce and partners.
• Designed user interface for Commerce Manager, a back-office payment management solution.
• Assisted in the design and development of Commerce Lab, a web portal designed to help end users learn how to use IP Commerce SDKs.

MULTIMEDIA PRODUCER
Rocky Mountain News • March 2005 - March 2007

• Designed and developed award-winning special reports: Final Salute, the Joe Nacchio Trial, and Denver by the Numbers.
• Defined breaking news procedures that madeRockyMountainNews.com into a reliable source for local news updates.
• Led site redesign efforts based on extensive metric analysis and user research. Brought navigation and overall presentation in line with user expectations.

WEBMASTER
CNN.com • November 2003 - March 2005

• Created and maintained web pages and other online content, including video and interactive galleries. Ensured all news pages adhered to strict CNN.com code, design, and editorial guidelines.
• Wrote compelling teases and headlines, tracked page ratings and edited photos to boost click rates and site ratings.

Webby Awards: Official Honoree • May 2012
Visit Denver was recognized as an Official Honoree in the government category for the Denver Gallery Guide.

AP Colorado: 1st Place, Online Feature • March 2007
Beat all other Colorado newspapers for best online feature presentation with The Border Within, an examination of immigration enforcement in Colorado.

POY: 1st Place, Multimedia Story • March 2006
This prestigious multimedia award comes as a result of my work on Final Salute, the story of a Marine casualty assistance officer.

TV Arts & Sciences (Emmy) Award: Special Coverage • September 2002
Received an Emmy award as a result of contributions to CNN-USA’s special coverage of the events of 9/11.

B.A., Broadcast Production Management
University of Colorado at Boulder, December, 1998

Google Analytics Individual Qualification (GAIQ)
December, 2011