Kelly (Fahey) Jacobson

30+ years of continuous service in support of children, schools and the broader community

Fairfield Country Day School

• Elected as Co-President of Parents' Association; led team of 50+ volunteers to deliver community-building initiatives; facilitated communications between faculty and families and led monthly meetings. Pivoted virtual programming after COVID shutdown in March 2020.
• Elected to Board of Trustees (Marketing, Long-Range Planning and Boys Lab Committees)
• Chaired Day of Service event for two years, built partnerships with 10 local non-profits and connected them with over 200 people from the school community.
• Chaired annual Homecoming event for three years.

Mill Hill Elementary

• Elected to various PTA Board Positions (Programs, PTA Council, By-Laws)
• Founded and chaired National PTA School of Excellence Committee; one of first schools in Connecticut to receive prestigious designation
• Co-Chair Mill Hill Reads program for past five years
• Created Young Entrepreneurs afternoon program
• Led Chess Club for five years
• Girl Scout and Cub Scout leader
• Junior Achievement and Mill River Volunteer

Other

• Helped organize and lead local fundraising events for St. Baldrick's Foundation for seven years.
• Hunt Ridge Montessori School volunteer reader and substitute teacher.
• Regularly volunteer at nOURish Bridgeport
• Organized Junior Achievement and Special Olympics fundraising and volunteers at Kellogg.
• Organized and led company-sponsored tutoring program at Christopher Columbus High School in the Bronx (currently closed) while at Coopers & Lybrand

• First employee at Ghirardelli with this role - offered as a part-time, remote position
• Worked collaboratively with internal sales and marketing teams to create unique products and differentiated in-store experiences to drive category and brand sales at top customers including Walmart, Target, Safeway and Costco
• Developed and delivered presentation summarizing category research and key initiatives to external customers and internal colleagues. Presentation audience size from 5 - 200 people.
• Helped identify and prioritize key customer opportunities
• Helped identify and prioritize key customer opportunities for both everyday and seasonal sales to maximize sell-through.
• Recruited by top management to serve as interim Target Sales Manager for 9 months

• Managed largest franchise in Ghirardelli portfolio , delivering double-digit growth every year. Tripled size of business in three years. Responsible for all aspects of franchise including product development, pricing, packaging, advertising and promotion.
• Led large cross-functional teams including marketing, sales, R&D, engineering and manufacturing colleagues to develop and execute new products and packaging.
• Developed, presented and executed comprehensive marketing plans that consistently achieved targets for increased revenue and profit.
• Planned, implemented, and tracked sales and marketing strategies to promote brand products.
• Created and managed budgets to maximize brand reach and engagement.
• Led highly anticipated and complex launch of Peanut Butter flavor.
• Led hugely successful re-launch of lagging bars line.
• Identified Mother's Day as new promotional window, rallying nationwide customer support behind campaign.
• Created and launched hugely successful Sweetstakes promotional program.

• Led marketing and business development efforts including development of marketing and sales programs and client partnerships; instrumental in building business from $100K to $2.5 million annual revenues and increasing client base ten-fold.
• Designed and implemented market research programs for key clients, primarily CPG companies in food, beverage and personal/household care categories; responsible for developing and recommending solutions for marketing-based issues with expertise in consumer and brand exploratory, new concept and product testing and consumer segmentation.
• Involved with all aspects of company’s day-to-day operations including new product and website development and company strategy and positioning.
• Developed ongoing publicity and research partnership with Allure magazine
• Opened San Francisco office in Spring 2002.

Online Entertainment / Direct Marketing company funded with $1.3 million.

• Part of five-person team responsible for launching company and website including creation of business plan, website design and development, and content and operational design.
• Founded and managed U.S. company operations including opening New York office, hiring creative, marketing, sales and support staff, implementing financial reporting system and managing eight-person staff including a team of former Harvard Lampoon writers.
• Created and executed marketing plan responsible for driving 50,000+ registered members to company’s website at one of the lowest acquisition cost per member in the industry.
• Involved with all aspects of financing process including development of informational packages, presentation at investor meetings and development of critical strategic partnership arrangements.

• Assisted in early stage of high-priority new product launch initiative requiring $20 million capital investment; responsibilities included product concept and positioning development, production coordination, financial and sales forecasting, and creation of marketing launch plan. Launch was one of first global rollout initiatives.
• Managed $20 million consumer promotions program in support of $400 million business; developed promotions strategy, managed cross-functional teams and external agencies, and led creative development.
• Led the brand in the early stages in the launch of its first fragrance variant; responsibilities included concept creation, market research design, production coordination and creation of marketing support plan.
• Heavily involved with restage of brand including brand re-positioning and website and packaging redesign.

• Planned, coordinated, and led audit engagements, including creation and implementation of audit plan, preparation of financial statements, budgeting, coordinating client support and managing client relations. Clients included Domino Sugar, CBS, ASARCO, and Jaguar.