Marketing Services

Gene West | Diane Law | Michael Sick

Gene West, Principal, Marketing Services
Gene is a marketing and distribution executive for the beverage industry and has been a leader in the successful development of new markets for such brands as SNAPPLE, SOBE, HANSENS, TREESWEET, and SIERRA NEVADA. He coordinated the marketing and distribution program for the John Lenore Company of San Diego, which won numerous awards for being the number one distributor for brands such as Pepsi, Snapple, and Sobe. His talents and service over the years have garnered him ongoing recognition by TARGET, COSTCO, ULTRMAR, MOBIL, TEXACO, CHEVRON, CSI, K-MART, and HENRYS. He is typically the first marketing executive to take the product from its conceptual stage through the entire supply chain, from manufacturing to distribution to key accounts, and from there, finally, to the consumer shelf.

His current engagement for CUSTOMatrix™ includes the development of a marketing and distribution plan for the European natural spring water PURL, which is based in Macedonia and scheduled for importation to the United States in 2008. Gene is also providing marketing services for the nationally distributed MUSCLE MILK nutritional supplement.

Gene earned his Bachelor of Science, from California State University, Los Angeles.

Diane Law , MBA, CMO, Associate, Marketing Services

As a highly successful business executive in marketing, operations, and finance, Diane has built her career around the art, discipline, and profitability of strategic business development -- from vision to reality. She has driven company revenue growth, sometimes in excess of 60 percent per annum, through her balanced focus on the customer's perception of brand identity (marketing), how customers are treated (operations / process), and the kind of value exchanges customers are willing to make (profitability).

Diane's unique value proposition is her unusual combination of skills. Few executives can boast a solid Finance background, and the creativity of a marketeer, and the process-orientation of an operations project manager. To this she adds a well-diversified background in the high-technology and services industry, including technology consulting (Fujitsu); large-scale server technology and workstations (Silicon Graphics); mobility software (Motorola); infrastructure and security solutions (Netigy); PC-based communications and networking (3Com); and business accounting (NCR) and finance. She has held executive positions since 1999, including Vice President of Marketing and Communications, and Executive Director of Marketing.

Among her achievements, she has:

Created and administered a product lifecycle process at Netigy (an e-business security and infrastructure consulting company providing services to Enterprise and Service Provider clients) for the development and management of marketing communications and promotional strategies for both new and existing products and services. Developed joint offerings and go-to-market schemes with strategic partners such as Cisco and EDS.

Developed and facilitated a feedback loop for Netigy comprised of analysts, clients, sales and technical experts to determine the overall value and effectiveness of the services in the market.

Orchestrated a cohesive marketing strategy for D & K Engineering, Inc., effectively utilizing messaging, trade shows, advertising, press releases, web development,
collateral development and graphic design creating the largest pipeline of prospective clients for the company in years.

Streamlined processes and managed solution teams at Fujitsu Consulting in the development of updated corporate positioning, collateral and media/analyst relations programs to accelerate the company’s move to value-based business solutions, resulting in a 50% increase in solution sales within an 18-month period.

Designed and implemented a new Fujitsu Corporate Intranet and content management system within a 4-month timeframe, providing easy, single point access to all knowledge databases. Resulted in a 40% reduction in the number of servers required to support the hundreds of standalone knowledge repositories within the company.

Captured a strong market position for Starfish Software with an aggressive public relations/communications strategy that targeted influential industry figures through speaking engagements and analyst relations, resulting in closing major deals with Vodafone, H3G and AOL.

Diane is a strong executive with a passion for opening new markets and growing customer relationships to achieve profitable business growth. Her ability to create a vision for customer loyalty and to drive that vision to reality has consistently earned the admiration of her team, her colleagues, and business partners.

Diane holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Phoenix, Phoenix, Arizona. She is a Board Member for Poway Center for the Performing Arts in Poway, CA and is an active member of the Rancho Bernardo Sunrise Rotary Club.

Michael Sick, CMO, Principal and Marketing Services
Michael Sick is a nationally recognized, innovative management consultant specializing in strategic marketing, advertising and business development. He spent 25 years in corporate marketing and was a Marketing Vice President for Jack In The Box, Pearle Vision, Arby’s and others. Currently he serves as the part time Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) for a number of clients around the US. He has provided positioning, competitive strategy, branding, product development, product management, packaging, advertising, media planning, PR, business development, channel strategy to the software, wireless, e-commerce, publishing, pet supply, restaurant, hotel, web services, defense, financial services, and customer satisfaction market segments.

Among his many accomplishments, he served as the Vice President of Marketing for Sybra, Inc./Lyons of California/ICH Corporation (AMEX:IH). While in that position for five years, Michael managed a $14 million marketing budget that included the launch of twelve new products, a department with outsourced agencies, media buyers, and designers across the United States, and led the largest Arby’s franchisee and ICH to becoming recognized by Nation’s Restaurant News as the top-performing restaurant stock in 1999.

Prior to that he held Vice President of Marketing positions for Adept Computer Solutions, San Diego, El Chico Restaurants, Dallas, Texas, and Pearle Vision, Dallas, Texas, where he led a department of twelve people and four agencies in the planning and execution of a $41million annual marketing plan encompassing advertising, media, promotion and field marketing. A significant milestone in his Pearle Vision campaign was the development of the “Trusted Leader” advertising concept featuring Dr. Pearle. That ad campaign positioned Pearle as having a track record of better quality than any other chain competitor.

As Vice President for Field Marketing and Promotion of Jack In The Box, Michael posted several significant milestones in his eight-year year tenure. Chief among them were a greater than 90% increase in system sales from 1986 to $1.1 billion in 1994. Other milestones included the introduction of 40 new products; direction of 18 staff people, with an annual budget of $54 million; and the development of tie-in promotions with Home Alone II, Dennis the Menace, Star Trek Generations, and other major motion picture releases.

Earlier in his career, Michael provided creative marketing concepts for Hardee’s Restaurants, Burger King, Pizza Hut, and Kentucky Fried Chicken. Prior to that Michael began his career with Otto Preminger Productions, of New York City.

Michael earned his Bachelor of Science in Marketing and Finance from the State University of New York, Buffalo and received additional certification in Strategic Marketing Management from the Harvard Business School and the New York University, Institute of Film and Television.