Meet ilana Frenkel kearns
Brand Communications Strategist
With a relentless pursuit for excellence and being first to market, my passion lies in supporting organizations to pivot quickly in response to ever-changing market conditions through stories that influence, sell and mobilize with equitable growth opportunities for all. Dynamic verbal and written communicator, able to author and present complex information across a broad audience. Talent for building and maintaining positive and cooperative working relationships with coworkers, vendors, executive teams, and board members. Experience in start-ups, hospitality, technology, QSR, retail, real estate, global payments, CPG, and automotive sector(s). A self-starter, a leader, and mentor, always delivering best-in-class service.
CliftonStrengths Finder: Deliberative | Context | Strategic | Relator | Ideation
MBTI Personality: ENTJ
Outside of Work...
I am passionate about running, cycling, swimming, and endurance sports. Consistently place in top 5% for age group in road race distances ranging from 5K to Marathons. Just raaced my first half Ironman triathlon in Augusta, GA with a finishing time of 6:24 as a stepping stone to a full Ironman in 2022 with 1,500+ running miles, 5,024+ cycling miles and 263,000+ swimming yards in 2021 alone! Follow my training on Strava!
Active member of USA Triathlon and Atlanta Track Club. Native to Latvia and speak Russian. Certified scuba diver. Love dogs.
Professional highlights
Collaborated with Global Chief Brands Officer at IHG on major strategic initiatives as he led organizational change for global brand management, leading to marketing agency effectiveness while streamlining $9MM in costs across $64B portfolio.
Designed and delivered comprehensive executive-level monthly report across matrixed environment, transforming culture by generating team member spotlight stories, celebrations, service anniversaries, and monthly business performance snapshots.
Partnered with UAW-GM to drive operational efficiency, health, and safety within the plants, resulting in 70% increase of employee participation rate of new ideas.
Defined, drove, and improved processes around recurring "rhythm of the business" initiatives, including staff meetings, leadership off-sites, all hands meetings, strategic planning, building master agenda and slides, and employee on and off-boarding; improved culture, engagement and ROI through employee corporate gift(s) and new hire onboarding initiative at Cox Automotive.
Managed multi-million dollar new space build-out project for 100+ employees, collaborating with internal facilities, IT, security, enterprise network, and voice services teams on successful execution.
Pitched podcasts, webinars, and digital magazines, wrote press releases and submitted five award-winning nominations; Led all internal communications and public relations efforts for the 2017 Manheim title Sponsorship, Kyle Petty Charity Ride resulting in 10+ articles.
Wrote monthly franchise owner newsletter, capturing rebrand buy-in from franchise owners by exposing positive impact of the $1 Billion dollar Holiday Inn brand refresh program through one-on-one interviews and stories.
Managed and executed multitrack content calendar for a multi-million dollar B2B corporation.
Served as Editor for all internal or external communication, collabora:ng with domestic and international teams to ensure regional public relations efforts were aligned to corporate goals and messaging; Led development of brand messages, digital assets, stats, and claims included in digital collateral, presenta:on decks, board-level mee:ngs, sales conferences, offsite management workshops, and meetings
Designed and maintained intranet site, resulting in new internal media channel presence and powerful messaging spanning a multi-billion dollar corporation.
Drove operational efficiency, sales and customer experience for automotive aftermarket retail brands such as GMSPO through creation of regional market stocking guides for optimal inventory distribution, resulting in 70% reduction in overhead costs and 40% lift in sales.
Executed multi-day offsite meetings including sourcing venues, lodging, transportation and arranging for special guest appearances including a conference with a $250K budget for 500+ attendees, resulting in 90% delegate satisfaction. Worked closely with the Holiday Inn Founding Family to serve as emcee(s) for the inaugural Global Brand Management Employee Recognition Awards dinner at IHG.
Organized timely, well-budgeted special events for C-suite executives, senior leaders, and their families including coordination of hotels and travel, VIP itineraries, logo creation, sponsorship, and site support for the $50,000 Cox Automotive sponsored Las Vegas Governor’s Ball.
Community relations strategy leader for a multi-million-dollar corporation, building relationships with 10+ unique nonprofits across the city of Atlanta and galvanizing volunteerism, sustainability, and people-driven community service.