Derek Martin
Verified Expert in Marketing
Marketing Expert
Millburn, NJ, United States
Toptal member since February 19, 2025
Derek is a full-stack digital marketer with 20 years of experience leading successful marketing, technology, operations, and transformation initiatives. He has an extensive background in the financial services, insurance, education, and not-for-profit sectors. This combination ensures Derek's approach considers design, execution, and long-term support to ensure sustainable success.
Project Highlights
Expertise
- Agile Transformation
- Artificial Intelligence (AI)
- CRM Systems
- Campaigns
- Marketing
- Marketing Technology (MarTech)
- Product Development
Work Experience
Founder and Lead Consultant
Perform Solutions
- Led strategy and execution of marketing automation, emails, and lists for B2B and B2C campaigns for an aging care marketplace in Microsoft Dynamics CRM.
- Increased conversion rates by 70% for B2C and 14% for B2B audiences.
- Designed and launched a paid B2C digital marketing campaign for Whole-phonics.com, delivering a 4:1 ROAS.
- Directed digital platform vendor selection and implementation for web, CRM, email, and data management efforts.
- Developed a customer data platform (CDP) in Snowflake for a leading university, consolidating corporate partnership contacts from 15 departments and partners to optimize outreach and engagement efforts.
Head of Digital Platforms, Data, and Transformation
United Nations
- Managed $2.5 million in marketing platforms and operations budget, including contracts and vendor management.
- Migrated the content management system (CMS) and web portal to Drupal, optimizing UX and SSO-based access to increase usage by 15%.
- Optimized the application process, improving positioning, enabling a cost estimator tool, and automating approval workflows. I increased application conversion rates by 7% while reducing processing time by five days.
- Improved the CRM list quality by 35% and reduced data costs by 15% through advanced data quality tactics.
- Established Agile campaign test practices and managed performance analytics in Google Analytics 4, Moz, Semrush, and Hotjar.
- Supported the transition of the member environmental, social, and governance (ESG) survey to an online version, developing a web-based app for 20,000 members in 150 countries.
Director of CRM and Marketing Technology
International Rescue Committee
- Optimized omnichannel performance across web, landing pages, social media, emails, direct mails, and events, increasing B2C donations by 27% through analytics-driven segmentation, A/B testing, and deliverability.
- Led marketing analytics for web, social media, emails, and direct mails, providing dashboards and A/B test optimization.
- Consolidated three CRM solutions into a single Salesforce instance, integrating web, email, direct mail, SMS, and payments.
- Implemented and managed Salesforce Pardot, centralizing marketing campaign operations for 30 countries.
- Built in-house direct-mail list management and targeting functions using Heroku, raising conversion rates by 4%.
Managing Director of Product Development and Program Delivery
Digital Prism Advisors
- Directed a $5 million portfolio for digital transformation and software projects, delivering bottom-line results.
- Established a robotic process automation (RPA) center of excellence, automating high-intensity processes to save $6 million annually.
- Automated 50% of a major financial firm's quarterly earnings reporting process using AI and RPA.
- Designed and executed a B2B search, lease, and payment portal for a leading industrial tank leasing company.
Executive Director of CRM and Database Marketing
Laureate Education
- Led digital marketing and operations for 10 global online universities with a Profit and Loss statement totaling $4.5 million.
- Handled paid and organic digital marketing across existing web, social, email, and SMS leads, exceeding targets.
- Boosted database lead reactivation by 60% and conversion rates by 48% through targeted web, email, and social efforts.
- Increased new student conversion by 6% through improved onboarding and gamification strategies.
- Enhanced email and direct mail response rates by 10% through testing, optimization, and segmentation.
- Launched an integrated content workflow and archival platform to increase content output by 15%.
Director of CRM, Retention, and Cross Sales
MetLife
- Generated $7 million in premiums through B2C and B2B2C cross-channel campaigns and optimization.
- Retained $3 million in annual premiums through process improvements and a dedicated retention team.
- Supported 30% YoY growth on two newly established products through web, DTC, and email efforts.
- Improved the NPS by 10% through process enhancements, achieving MetLife USA's highest score.
Director of Business Development
Velti
- Delivered a bank loyalty app, integrating payments, deals, and community solutions.
- Innovated SMS solutions to increase payment collection rates by 4% and reduce annual costs by $5 million.
- Launched an in-app membership points calculator based on dynamic retail conversion rates for a major credit card company.
Director of Engineering, Customer Engagement, Sales, and Retention
American Express
- Transformed customer engagement, sales, and retention for 7,000 agents in 24 countries.
- Improved Platinum and Centurion card sales by 4% and retention by 8%, leading a cross-functional team to integrate premium servicing across travel, concierge, and disputes teams.
- Managed marketing operations for 7,000 global call agents, developing home-grown CRM solutions, including offers, tracking, and incentives.
- Increased US cards, insurance, and fee product cross-sales by 50% through personalized offers and timing.
- Led the successful launch to sell B2C travel insurance products by call centers in 10 countries, exceeding targets.
- Co-managed a $50 million annual servicing CAPEX investment budget, improving investment ROI by 7%.
- Grew outbound call sales by $24 million through advanced list and call management techniques.
Project History
B2C and B2B Customer Engagement Journey
http://www.carescout.comIncreased conversion rates by 70% for B2C and 14% for B2B audiences.
CDP to Share Prospects for 15 Organizations
Achieved a 150% increase in support generated on strategic prospects, defined and coordinated through a newly implemented CDP.
Application Process Optimization
https://unglobalcompact.org/join-usReduced customer efforts to complete applications by 50% and enabled same-day submissions, increasing application conversion rates by 7% while reducing processing time by five days.
Audience Growth Strategy: Travel Insurance
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jj9WiHTqmjkrozlW8D_0q1vMsJnt6Mzi/view?usp=sharingDesigned a detailed digital marketing growth plan for a B2B and B2C travel insurance company.
Develop Go-to-market Strategy for new Private Equity Benchmark and Index
Led development and launch of private equity index and benchmark products now earning $12 million annual revenue for a financial services company.
I led a team of three analysts to:
• Conduct interviews and research to define market potential, target clients, and product features to develop a formal business case that was approved by leadership and the board of directors.
• Define a market entry strategy, product feature roadmap, and sales/marketing plan.
• Gain approval and funding from client leadership and board.
• Develop sales and marketing materials to establish an acquisition funnel.
Education
Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Finance
Ross School of Business, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration
Skidmore College - Saratoga Springs, NY, USA
Certifications
ChatGPT + Excel: Master Data, Make Decisions, Tell Stories
Vanderbilt University | via Coursera
Attract and Engage Customers with Digital Marketing
Google | via Coursera
Digital Marketing Certification
OKRs
Measure What Matters
Prompt Engineering
Coursera
HTML
University of Michigan
Microsoft Dynamics 365
Microsoft
Certified SAFe 6 Scrum Master
Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)
Learning SnowflakeDB
LinkedIn Learning
Data Strategy
Artificial Intelligence Algorithms Models and Limitations
LearnQuest | via Coursera
Machine Learning for Product Managers
Duke University
Salesforce Expeditioner
Salesforce
Generative AI for Digital Marketers
AI Fundamentals for Non-data Scientists
University of Pennsylvania | via Coursera
ChatGPT for Beginners: Using AI For Market Research
Deprecated Guided Projects | via Coursera
Marketo Certified Expert
Adobe
Digital Marketing Certification
American Marketing Association
Agile Business Owner
Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe)
Skills
Core
Google Ads, Digital Marketing, Agile, Marketing, Social Media, Marketing Technology (MarTech), Agile Transformation, Customer Segmentation, Marketing Operations, Product Marketing, Email Marketing, Digital Marketing Strategy, Campaign Strategy, Campaign Management, Email Campaigns, Go-to-market Strategy, Marketing Strategy, Omnichannel Marketing, Marketing Campaigns, SEO Tools, Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Google SEO, Sales, Testing, Content Marketing Strategy, Content Strategy, Content Marketing, Content Creation, Marketing Analytics, Lead Generation, Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), Paid Advertising, Growth Hacking, Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Funnel Marketing, SMS Marketing, Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), Marketing Automation, Agile Marketing, Market Research & Analysis, B2C Marketing, Facebook Ads, Social Media Marketing (SMM)
Platforms & Tools
Google Analytics 4, CRM Systems, Marketo, HubSpot, Salesforce Marketing Cloud, Canva, OpenAI GPT-4 API, Salesforce Pardot, Google Analytics
Business Models
B2C, SaaS Product Marketing, B2B, B2B2C
Technical
Cloud Engineering
Other
Office 365, Semrush, Analysis, Social, Email, Campaigns, Scrum Master, AI Prompts, Audience Segmentation, Customer Retention, Acquisitions, Business, Email Design, Drip Email, Strategy, CX Strategy, Information Technology, Consulting, Market Assessment, Team Building, Process Automation, Database Marketing, Net Promoter Score (NPS), Call Centers, Six Sigma, Sales Enablement, Conversion, Agile Project Management, Lifecycle Marketing, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), Project Management, Troubleshooting, Process Improvement, Business Planning, Email Delivery, Product-market Fit, Churn Management, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Snowflake, Adobe, Web, Databases, Webinars, Direct Mail, Accounting, Database Design, Database Management, Analytics, Cloud, Publishing, Virtual Events, Salesforce Sales Cloud, Social Impact, Financial Analysis, Product Development, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Technology, DevOps, Software Development, App Development, Training, Coaching, Development, Drip Campaigns, Event Marketing, Web Applications, Web UX, Data Analysis, Growth Marketing, Website Traffic, Adobe Workfront, Email Content, Market Research, Direct to Consumer (D2C), B2B Marketing, Go-to-market Plans, Product Launch, Launch Strategy, Growth Strategy, Customer Acquisition, Cold Outreach, Marketing Design, Brand Management, Growth Marketing Product Manager, Startup Marketing, Digital Newsletters, Network Security, DevSecOps, Optimization, Objectives & Key Results (OKRs), HTML5, Prompt Engineering, Machine Learning, Finance, Business Administration, AI Ethics, AIOps, Data Analytics, Dashboards, Customer Data Platform (CDP), Website Audits, Growth, Market Entry, Automation
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