Building a governed growth system across 180+ institutions.
The job was not to manage another channel plan. It was to make investment, conversion, measurement, agencies, and executive decisions operate as one accountable system.
Sr. Director, Performance Media & CRO · July 2025 – September 2026 · $700M PE-backed enterprise · $15M+ media · 180+ institutions · four business units
Recruited brand-side to stabilize and scale the growth operating system across a complex education portfolio, with responsibility spanning performance media, CRO, measurement, agency governance, in-housing, and executive decision support.
Built a five-workstream CRO operating model; established conversion, taxonomy, QA, pacing, reporting, escalation, and agency-versus-in-house standards; strengthened platform-to-Salesforce signals, reporting QA, attribution, dashboard interfaces, and deeper-funnel optimization inputs; evaluated call-tracking and MarTech integrations; interpreted MMM outputs; designed incrementality and retention-testing roadmaps; and scaled acquisition and conversion infrastructure across 150+ custom landing pages. Proposed or modeled work remained distinct from realized outcomes.
Built and managed an in-house performance media model across three of four business units: the standards, operating model, coaching and development rhythm, and decision logic required for greater internal ownership. Developed internal talent from foundational knowledge to independent operating capability. Online Schools, the fourth business unit, operated under a separate model, managed directly with agency support. Led agency RFP, partner evaluation, and partner-selection decisions across capability, economics, performance, and operating fit.
Directed a $500K cross-market media reallocation across priority markets, including the flagship school, tying investment decisions more closely to downstream enrollment signals. In a separate nine-school Meta-versus-paid-search allocation test, the right mix depended on school-level economics, available scale, and downstream conversion quality rather than a universal channel winner. Before the in-house role, restructured 60+ campaigns in under four weeks as Pansophic's agency lead at NP Digital (April–June 2025). Separately, following YouTube reintroduction within the broader acquisition mix, portfolio lead-to-enrollment improved from approximately 17% to 28%, informing subsequent channel planning.
Evidence boundary
The $500K reallocation, the nine-school Meta-versus-paid-search allocation test, and the 17% to 28% portfolio movement are separate evidence. The movement was observed after YouTube reintroduction within the broader acquisition mix; it does not prove YouTube-only causality. The 60+ campaign restructure was agency-side work (April–June 2025) that preceded the in-house role.
