SANDRA MCKENZIE

National Marketing and Sales Lead responsible for delivering multibillion-dollar proposals to a diverse range of public commuter and transit rail agencies, including AMTRAK, BART, CHSRA, LACMTA, MBTA, NJT, NYMTA, and WMATA.

• Provides marketing team performance oversight, training, mentoring, and professional development
• Manages the whole life cycle of the procurement process, including prepositioning, client sales calls; market research; partner identification and teaming agreements; storyboarding; competitor analysis; bid production; oral interviews; post-bid negotiations, including BAFO and contractual terms and conditions; and project handover
• Utilizes CRM, including Salesforce to manage and monitor opportunity life cycle compliance
• Develops and collaborates on commercial aspects of proposals, including legal compliance, pricing structures (federal and state), and other standard commercial rates to ensure project returns are in line with company policy on contractual agreements, gross margin, operating income, and revenue targets
• Supports regional leadership in monitoring, analyzing, and forecasting viable annual business growth targets to responsibly manage billability, budget adherence, and resource planning
• Implements proactive troubleshooting and problem-solving approach to routine and complex concerns in support of responsive and agile operations
• Represents the firm at industry-led agency and organization events
• Networks with local and regional businesses to promote partnerships and drive growth
• Oversees regional marketing plan, including calendar of events and schedule of key initiatives, White Papers, speaker presentations, and social media presence

• Ensured seamless proposal life cycle development through collaborative exchange and open communication, excellent time management skills, creativity, and strategy to deliver highly strategic proposals
• Led multiple assignments with organized, cohesive planning
• Managed the preparation of complex proposals/qualifications packages, including strategy, storyboarding & QC, and the development of multimedia presentations
• Played a leadership role in strategy formulation, collaborating closely with technical teams to identify discriminators, value propositions, and optimal win strategies
• Collaborated with Business Development to identify leads/lead tracking, pre-marketing, go/no-go analyses, and other proactive bid responses
• Ensured accurate and strategic proposal responses by capture plan meetings, storyboarding, and cross-functional communications with technical and corporate SMEs and leadership; developed/updated marketing database
• Attended industry conferences and organization meetings
• Client Relationship Mgt
• Proposal Management
• Content Development
• Technical Reviews
• Client Presentations
• Shipley Color Review
• Team Leadership/Mentoring
• Adobe Suite
• Microsoft Office
• SharePoint
• Deltek
• Qvidian
• Salesforce
• SMPS-NY Professional Development Committee

• Developed federal, state, and local proposals for content, win strategy, marketing, and compliance
• Expeditiously delivered strategy, optimized quality metrics for deliverables and provided decision-making support within tight deadlines
• Uncovered client leads for prospecting potential business and bid lead-tracking
• Trained, mentored, and collaborated with technical, administrative, and proposal staff
• Prepared proposals for high-profile water engineering and infrastructure clients, using Shipley method for strategy and design
• Partnered with leadership for strategic planning and win theme development
• Responsible for the development of multidisciplinary proposals and documents involving content, win strategy, and compliance in fast-paced, deadline-driven environment; updated firm assets in SharePoint database
• Managed the Bid Workflow Process from initial reception to final submission, including reviewing proposals and writing recommendations through Salesforce
• Led development and maintenance of template language to achieve a superior proposal experience for clients
• Assessed and refined discriminators, promoting and highlighting unique qualifications and achievements of the firm
• Collaborated with Marketing, Legal, and Finance teams, as necessary, to produce complete service offer packages within schedule, Managed coordination and production of proposals for various consultants, including Vidaris and Spectrum, to ensure delivery of high-quality and strategic proposals, utilizing Best Practices and quality control
• Planned and managed proposal strategy direction and storyboarding to partner in team and organization goals, utilizing data, pre-marketing, key messaging, and branding to ensure continued growth and market share
• Engaged and success-oriented senior marketing doer-manager professional with 20+ years of expertise in project life cycle development in fast-paced, highly deadline-driven environments
• Dedicated and energetic, a strategist skilled in the preparation of compelling responses to proposals for multibillion-dollar contracts in diverse markets and delivery methods, including design-build for public- and private-sector clients in transportation and infrastructure, architecture, sustainability, and construction management
• A collaborative leader with demonstrated problem-solving and cross-functional team collaboration skills
• Highly organized, detail-oriented, and adept at content development and compliance.

• Provided comprehensive process for winning proposals and presentations, including review, editing, and compliance for federal, state, and local assignments in high stakes, accelerated environment
• Prepared proposal material and collaborated in strategic approach discussions, brainstorming, and go/no-go decisions
• Led and mentored team of up to 10, facilitated new hires, career development training, and supervision of technical, administrative, proposal, and graphics/creative elements
• Managed agency bid lead-tracking, intelligence gathering, and prospecting for new business through networking and development of client relationships
• As a hiring, training, and mentoring manager, quadrupled number of proposal coordinator hires and achieved staff retention rate of almost 100%
• Developed and revised SOPS and best practices to provide standard proposals and other corporate collateral
• Initiated firm's annual company data update process for GSA SF 330s for multidisciplinary firm divisions

• Responsible for the development and updates of the firm's corporate database of 1200+ professional resumes, 1000+ project records, tear sheets, and subconsultant data
• As STV's first Marketing Department Quality Assurance Manager, introduced and updated Best Practices and SOPs for greater efficiencies and productivity
• Trained, mentored, and supervised 10 marketing editors
• Participated in and provided leadership, career mentorship, and new-hire and refresher trainings

• Oversaw/developed editorial/concept processes for advertising and promotional multimedia material, and publication plans, collaborating closely with Creative teams
• Managed editorial staff and content theme alignment
• Attended client planning meetings, brainstormed branding and SEO architecture, and concept follow-up
• Streamlined processes and introduced best practices into the editorial department
• Led companywide training in referencing programs, and MLR fact checking and annotation
• Oversaw uploads of annotated material to MLR portal and attended meetings to defend references and capture feedback for revisions
• Developed concepts and copy for storytelling in alignment with messaging and branding in multimedia to consumers, i.e., DTC, and DTP audiences