| SwanDog Management Team |
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Dave Swanson
In addition to his senior management experience, Dave has deep roots in marketing, including serving as Chief Marketing Officer at Van Kampen Investments, Director of Marketing for the Morgan Stanley Mutual Funds, Director of Marketing at Kemper Funds and Marketing Manager at Sears, Roebuck & Company.
Dave serves as Lead Independent Trustee for the Financial Investors Variable Insurance Trust and as an Independent Trustee for the Managed Portfolio Series.
A highly sought after speaker, Dave has authored numerous industry white papers and research initiatives, the most recent being a collaborative marketing benchmark study with FUSE Research. Dave holds a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Science in Journalism from Southern Illinois University. He is a professional member of both the American Marketing Association and the Marketing Executives Networking Group. Bill Barsanti
Bill joined SwanDog Strategic Marketing in 2006, where he works on strategic brand initiatives and oversees the Marketing Fuel™ training program. James Lesser
James is a marketing and advertising executive with a specialty in wealth and asset management. His roles with corporate clients and advertising agencies have lent him insight to the unique needs of financial services marketers with a complex, diverse product line and sales structure. At Morgan Stanley, James was in charge of marketing mutual funds, 529 plans, unit trusts, separate accounts and alternatives. He also was responsible for brand strategy and positioning, advertising and sponsorships. At Smith Barney, James led marketing for the Trak account and Citi Trust Services. James’ advertising experience includes account management roles at Wells, Rich Greene, Masius, and Cossette Communications. At Cossette, James was in charge of the financial services practice and well as leading new business efforts in the category. At Masius, he headed the Lord Abbett, Touchstone Energy and Philips Medical Systems accounts. James cut his advertising teeth at Wells Rich Greene on the Chase business. He graduated from Hamilton College and has an MBA from NYU in Marketing and International Business. Sue BatinaSue brings nearly 25 years of financial industry experience. Most recently, she was Director, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Guggenheim Investments where she developed and executed marketing programs for the firm’s ETF, UIT, CEF and mutual fund product offerings. Prior to that, Sue worked as a freelance financial marketing communications writer, creating portfolio manager and market commentaries, shareholder report editorial, sales ideas, white papers and brochures for global investment managers including Van Kampen Investments, Guggenheim Investments, Franklin Templeton Investments, Hartford Investment Management and Callan Associates. Sue also served as Senior Marketing Communications Manager at Van Kampen Investments where she was responsible for the development of fund promotions, marketing collateral and shareholder communications for the firm’s fixed-income mutual funds. As Market and Product Development Manager for the Chicago Board of Trade, she led the marketing efforts for the exchange’s financial futures and options contracts. Sue has also held positions with the Chicago Stock Exchange and Nuveen Investments. She has an MBA in finance from DePaul University Graduate School of Business and a BA in economics from DePauw University. Carol GillenCarol has been in the marketing research field for over 20 years, primarily as a qualitative research consultant and facilitator. Carol joined SwanDog from the Global R & D division of PepsiCo, where she guided innovation development through groundbreaking consumer research. Over the years, she has designed and moderated research studies across a wide range of product categories including a concentration in B2B in the financial services industry where she helped uncover critical target insights for a range of financial institutions, from commercial and retail banks to asset managers. Carol began her career in advertising at Leo Burnett in Chicago, where she gained valuable experience conducting research to create compelling brand strategies for Kellogg's, Kraft and Proctor and Gamble. She holds an MBA with concentrations Marketing and Finance from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University. She earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Illinois. Susan CrawshawA graduate of Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management, Susan spent more than twenty years in the financial-services industry, primarily in marketing leadership roles at several mutual-fund companies, including Kemper, Morgan Stanley, and Deutsche Bank. As Managing Director for Deutsche Bank’s Scudder Investments, she oversaw all retail product management, research, branding, programs, advertising, and marketing-communications functions. After leaving the industry in 2005, Susan’s interest in organic gardening and cooking led her to a second career in the small-farm wine business. She currently lives in Philadelphia, where, in addition to consulting for SwanDog, she also manages a little real estate and volunteers for several urban-greenspace organizations. |
Founder and Managing Partner of SwanDog Marketing, Dave has over 30 years of senior management and marketing experience, including nearly 25 years in asset and wealth management. Over his career, he has served as Chief Operating Officer of Van Kampen Investments, President and CEO of Scudder, Stevens & Clark, Canada, Ltd., Managing Director and Head of Global Investment Products at Morgan Stanley and Executive Vice President and Head of Distribution (sales and marketing) at Calamos Investments.
A brand expert with over 25 years of experience, Bill has worked for some of the nation’s leading ad agencies, including Ogilvy and Mather and Della Femina. In addition to helping build strong brands like Caterpillar, Craftsman and Wilson Sporting Goods, Bill served as Vice President, Director of Brand and Advertising for Kemper Funds. At Kemper he helped develop and manage a complete and successful brand re-positioning. In a similar role for Scudder Investments, Bill oversaw the transition of the Scudder brand from a direct-sold to advisor-sold product line. Additionally Bill has cultivated innovative sponsorships with the PGA, LPGA, the Big 10 Conference, TIME Inc. and many other media properties.