I am a former educator. a professional development expert. a data-driven marketer. a seasoned curriculum developer. a content creator. a successful RFP & RFQ writer. a web designer.

A versatile EdTech executive, I specialize in creating comprehensive operational processes, owning high-profile projects, and leading high-functioning teams in start-up and growth stage companies. My record of surpassing targets in operation and product management, curricula writing, business development, and customer success has resulted in substantial partnerships, increased user engagement, and significant revenue growth. I am able to navigate complex challenges and leverage my education market expertise to unify teams, exceed stretch goals, and act as a integral leadership team member.

Work Experience

Director of Operations;
Interim Director of Talent Acquisition

at NextWaveSTEM

Leadership & Talent Acquisition
  • First Executive level hire
  • Managed 21 individual contributors (whole company)
  • Created crisis management strategies, long term fiscal health and growth plans, and product development roadmaps including staffing and content development timelines
  • Identified and mitigated business-critical risks including instituting mandatory background checks for individuals providing in-classroom service, payroll risk management, cost risk analysis for services and hardware solutions, and legal issues raised by staff
  • Responsible for filling 14 open roles across Operations & Sales
Operations
  • Managed HubSpot process improvements, best practices documentation, and scaling efforts reducing procurement- and service-errors by 85%
  • Developed and implemented 10+ sales/operations improvements decreasing time between quote signed and closed won
  • 1.6M in revenue supported
Product & Curriculum Management
  • road mapped 10 new technical STEM courses
  • outlined and budgeted 3 advanced (AP/IB) courses based on existing curricula 
  • lead on-going standardization and consistency projects to create a more seamless user experience for educators and students
Marketing, Sales, & Business Development
  • Aligned RFP/Q market penetration strategy, BDR outreach cadence, lead list generation, and marketing efforts resulting in 4x more marketing mailers scheduled, an open rate increase from 11% to 18%, and an estimated 150% more M/SQLs
Customer Support, Service, & Success
  • Owned client relationship for 175 accounts, including equipment procurement, professional development, curriculum access, customer success and support, and renewals
staff supported
0
reduction in internal errors
0 %
STEM courses roadmapped
0 +
mailer open rate increase
+ 0 %
positions recruited for
0
in revenue supported
$ 0 M
hours of content outlined
0 +
customer accounts owned and serviced
0 +

Director of User Experience

at NeuroMaker STEM

Leadership & People Operations
  • First Director of User Experience; created and owned User Experience division
  • Led and managed at team of 20+ individual contributors
  • Acted as Talent Acquisition for critical full-time and contractor roles
Product & Curriculum Management
  • road mapped, time lined, and budgeted 6+ complex curricular projects and managed the associated team of full-time and contract designers as well as SMEs, delivering every project on time and within budget
  • Created 80+ hours of technical STEM curriculum (see sample) with interdisciplinary content, managing budget and schedule
  • Designed student-centered curriculum model using Rise, gathering feedback for ongoing improvements, leading to the creation of the Customer Success department
  • Scoped, budgeted for, vetted, and hired STEM SME contractors in business-critical unsupported Common Core State Standards -unaligned states and managed contractors remotely for the period of the project
  • owned the development of the Educator Onboarding Professional Development e-Learning platform in Rise (50+ hours of content), including the development of courses, recruitment and management of SMEs, and marketing content
  • developed the e-Learning multi-path option resulting in greater sales outcomes vs. live PD
Marketing
  • Developed 150+ page company website and managed WordPress Membership portal serving 500+ customers
  • reported weekly on Google Analytics metrics, including lead generation and user acquisition and behavior
  • oversaw graphics creation and created copy for social media across 4 major platforms, resulting in an increase of 57.96% (524) new followers to the LinkedIn business page, >11% engagement rate on Facebook, and 3,500+ Instagram profile impressions
  • developed 120+ pages of marketing, testimonial, and blog content 
Customer Support, Service, & Success
  • owned the development and start-up of the Customer Success department, including the creation of operating procedures, KPI development, SF integrations, and customer monitoring cycles
  • served as backup Salesforce Admin, creating reports, dashboards, and support tickets for team members as needed
  • facilitated and owned Customer Success and Support for all customers (1,000+) in conjunction with the Associate Director of Customer Success
  • managed the sunset of Live Professional Development and migrated existing Live PD credit holders to Asynchronous Professional Development Offerings using conflict resolution and success best-practices
  • improved customer success and support ticket resolve times from 1 week+ to <48 hours after implementing SF hygiene and best practices with support, product, and sales staff
  • Identified 20+ key data categories to gather foundational info on curriculum impact, providing districts attendance and behavior improvement data
Sales & Business Development
  • independently initiated and secured a partnership with a leading U.S. 3D printing company, ensuring that our districts have a trusted vendor through which to  purchase makerspace equipment
  • supported in securing over 45% of direct revenue
  • owned and operated solicitation process, resulting in 8 completed RFPs, an awarded RFP with Dallas ISD, and  final round consideration for a large district in GA
  • created 100+ pages of supporting documentation for RFP/Qs, including product-district alignment documentation
  • established tagged and sortable Notion Library of 275+ RFP questionnaire answers to increase efficiency when submitting RFPs and increase potential RFP load
staff supported
0
hours of instructional content created
0 +
pages crafted for the company's website
0 +
user accounts created and managed
0 +
new followers (524) gained between 9.1.2022 and 12.31.2022
0 %
pages of marketing, testimonial, and blog content created
0 +
in revenue closed
$ 0 K
RFP questionaire answers curated into Notion Library
0 +

Customer Success Manager

at PowerSchool

  • managed a portfolio of 30+ enterprise-level districts exceeding 6 million dollars through SalesForce, Gainsight, and Zendesk, with 97% of all accounts engaged with a formal account review 
  • 1.5 times the number of customer references enrolled than departmental average
  • $140,000 in sales referrals attained in 6 months; 70% of that translating to ARR ($96,000) processed via Netsuite
  • 90.4% of all renewals booked with a PO or signed quote for fiscal year 2021 (higher than dept. average)
  • Rookie Rockstar recipient (Quarter 3, 2021)
client portfolio
$ 0 M+
in sales referrals attained in

6 months

$ 0 K
of all renewals booked with a PO or signed quote
0 %
districts supported
0 +
departmental average for customer references
0 x
Rookie Rockstar Recipient
1

DnA Interim Lead Trainer &

Content Developer

at Illuminate Education

  • consistently achieved over 90% satisfaction rating from training participants
  • delivered trainings to educators and administrators in groups of between 2 and 250 participants, ultimately training over 1,800 users and supporting 50+ districts
  • preferred trainer for high-risk, renewal, and migration districts
  • published expert in Illuminate’s “Increasing Equity & Empowering Change” 
  • Illuminate Instructor Spotlight recipient – August & September 2020
users trained
0 +
customer satisfaction rating
+ 0 %
article published
1
districts supported
0 +
staff supported
0
Instructor Spotlight recipient
1 x

5th & 6th Grade Multiple Subject Teacher

at Fruitvale School District

4th Grade Multiple Subject Teacher

at Taft City School District

7th Grade Multiple Subject Teacher

at Burrel Union Elementary School District

Technical Skills

CRM & Sales Enablement
  • Salesforce
  • HubSpot
  • Gainsight
  • ZenDesk
  • NetSuite
Project Management
  • Jira
  • Asana
  • ClickUp
  • Notion
  • Trello
Marketing & Social Media
  • Hootsuite
  • Canva
  • Google Analytics
  • HubSpot Marketing
  • Seamless.ai
  • Apollo.io
  • Pardot
  • Mailchimp
Web Development & Design
  • WordPress
  • Bakery & Elementor (editors)
Instructional Design
  • Articulate Rise

Content Creator Accomplishments

  • 30+ consulting clients
  • 400 unique content downloads
  • 11,500+ followers
  • 500,000 post impressions in 2023
  • 4x education & edtech SME podcast guest
  • 50+ pages of support content

Education & Certifications

California State University; Fresno

M.A.; Curriculum & Instruction

Cal State TEACH

Multiple Subject Teaching Credential

University of California; Santa Cruz

B.A.; Politics Minor; Education

University of California; Los Angeles Extension

Single Subject Methods for Teaching Mathematics

All rights reserved 2023 © Claire Smizer

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