JEFFREY LESNIAK
Nashville,TN
Summary
Accomplished global marketing leader with extensive experience in overseeing and managing all aspects of experiential marketing and third-party events, from field events to large activations. Strong strategic background in developing global third-party event strategy aligned with business priorities and branding. Technical aptitude enables succinct messaging at the experiential level, driving lead generation goals with metrics-based decision making. Excellent communicator and collaborator, adept at building strong relationships with customers, vendors, internal clients, and executives. Versatile professional with over 15 years of experience managing small and large teams for high-tech companies, excelling in planning and executing complex projects. Skilled in global events strategy, budget management, event measurement, leadership, and demand generation. Results-driven leader proficient in guiding high-performing teams to achieve measurable milestones and drive business success through strategic initiatives.
Overview
25
25
years of professional experience
Work History
Senior Director, Global Experiential Events
Dell
01.2022 - 01.2023
- Led a team of 15+ event professionals responsible for executing Dell Technologies World and experiential activations at all Dell flagship events.
- Oversaw overall event strategy for Dell Technologies World setting goals and objectives and setting up team and roles and responsibilities to achieve measured results.
- Owned audience acquisition strategy and tactics to attract customers, partners, and sponsors to event.
- Directed team supporting virtual programming, social media, operations, program management and other functions ensuring event will achieve desired results.
- Presented to senior leadership the overall strategy for Dell Technologies World and other flagship events to ensure alignment with senior leadership vision.
- Served as co-lead for California PRIDE chapter, developing compelling, educational, and entertaining events for PRIDE members.
Director, North America Experiential Field Events
Dell
01.2019 - 01.2022
- Led a team of 25+ event professionals responsible for executing ~800 field events annually including North America Dell Tech Forums, CxO event programs and other field-led events.
- Oversaw fiscal year event strategy for North America setting goals along pipeline and revenue attainment, lead acquisition and experiential event design.
- Owned a $9M annual budget including Dell Tech Tour, Flagship field events, North America Forums, insertion into Dell Tech World and smaller regional segment requested field events.
- Worked with global experientials to develop audience acquisition goals around registration and attendance at flagship events.
- Developed metrics dashboards, owning communications with leadership and stakeholders to ensure goals and metrics met.
- Strong virtual event programming starting in March 2020 with the pandemic developing creative experiences for sales to share with customers and partners.
- Acted as co-lead for the California PRIDE chapter focused on developing compelling, educational, and entertaining events for PRIDE members.
Global Sponsorship Sales
Dell
01.2017 - 01.2019
- Oversaw Global Sponsorship Sales at Dell’s largest events including Dell Technologies World, Dell FRS (Field Readiness Seminar), Dell TRS (Technical Readiness Seminar) and others.
- In the first year, achieved 97% of the goal (even with a large sponsor pulling out over $1M in sponsorship funding). In the second year, exceeded the goal by $500K.
- Program management of largest sponsors (Including Intel, Microsoft, Toshiba, and Deloitte) with all aspects of their sponsorship programs including strategic integration into all components of event including CIO Summit, Global Partner Summit, OEM Summit, Dell EBC Meetings, and more.
- Mentored team of 4 sponsorship team members supporting sales, sponsorship package development and marketing promotional opportunities.
- Drive weekly meetings with executive management discussing sales, pipeline, prospecting and strategies to grow business.
Global Event Lead
Viavi
05.2016 - 12.2017
- Developed yearly event strategy and integrated marketing plans around products in service provider and enterprise markets.
- Led Viavi’s global corporate event practice leveraging a team of full-time employees and outsourced agencies.
- Developed and implemented plan to track ROI of events spent working across marketing and sales to record, tag and track opportunities that are collected at events allowing Viavi to make stronger data-driven decisions.
- Created repeatable event practices by leveraging templates to ensure consistency across events.
- Strategic vendor management with strong rolodex of event vendors and agencies with strong ability to negotiate for substantial pricing discounts.
Director of Global Events
SanDisk
08.2015 - 05.2016
- Led SanDisk’s global corporate event practice with a team of event managers aligned to various businesses within SanDisk.
- Oversaw all internal and externally facing corporate events including trade shows/conferences, sales kickoff, incentive trips, customer/partner advisory boards, roadshow series, and distributor training.
- Develop strategic corporate goals and objectives for the event team that aligned to SanDisk’s corporate objectives with key focus on high-growth product lines and strong event measurement practices.
- Analysis of year-over-year event metrics – removing events with weak ROI and replacing them with new events that represent key revenue growth areas within SanDisk.
- Development of global event enablement processes to enable regional teams to leverage Corporate Event best practices, graphics, messaging, and other assets.
- Managed $9M+ annual event budget.
Senior Manager of Global Events
VCE
10.2011 - 08.2015
- Served as VCE’s global event team leader with a staff of 4 employees dedicated to managing internal and external event programs with a budget of over $5 million annually.
- Lead the strategy for market positioning, campaign integration and event team development to advance VCE’s business and marketing objectives at all VCE events.
- Managed execution and prioritized allotment of event budget in support of over $1B in sales; managed industry tradeshows, partner/user conferences, sales kick-off, and incentive trips.
- Enhance team processes and conduct timely evaluations for areas needing improvement or innovation resulting in execution of more events with fewer resources – reducing costs by 15%.
- Implementation of a field marketing and channel event enablement program that included a web-based tool allowing VCE team members to request event materials on-demand resulting in increased productivity and effectiveness. Reduction in operating costs of more than 20% with new tool.
- Collaborate with sales in support of specific customer requirements and VCE sales objectives. Development of successful meeting programs at events using JiffleNow Meeting Management.
- Integrate contacts and leads into CRM lead generations systems such as Eloqua and Salesforce.
- Collaborate with Product Management & Marketing in addition to Office of the CTO team to develop simple yet effective event messaging, event demonstrations and customer experiential programs at events.
Education
Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) - Marketing
California Polytechnic State University
San Luis Obispo, CASkills
- Collaborative leadership
- Culture transformation
- Team management
- Policy development
ADDITIONAL PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
- Blue Jeans Network, Senior Marketing Communications Manager
- Cisco, Marketing Manager and Event Strategist, Cisco Data Center Solutions
- Topspin Communications, Marcom Manager
- Trimble Navigation, Senior Marcom Specialist
- Cinta Networks, Senior Marcom Specialist
- Amber Networks, Senior Marcom Specialist
- Teledex Corporation, Marcom Specialist
Timeline
Senior Director, Global Experiential Events
Dell
01.2022 - 01.2023
Director, North America Experiential Field Events
Dell
01.2019 - 01.2022
Global Sponsorship Sales
Dell
01.2017 - 01.2019
Global Event Lead
Viavi
05.2016 - 12.2017
Director of Global Events
SanDisk
08.2015 - 05.2016
Senior Manager of Global Events
VCE
10.2011 - 08.2015
Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) - Marketing
California Polytechnic State University
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