Resume

Will Dent
Savannah, GA / USA
https://www.linkedin.com/in/willdent/

SUMMARY

A seasoned marketing and technology leader with over 20 years of experience in hiring and leading cross-functional teams and implementing data-driven strategies. As the current CMO at Elevate Aviation Group in Savannah, GA, I have a proven track record of elevating brand presence and driving significant growth, evidenced by my roles at SaaS start-up, ten years of business ownership and over 15 years of marketing experience including 10 years at Gulfstream Aerospace. I hold an MBA, am a proud US Army veteran, and am proficient in a range of technical tools and software development

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

ELEVATE AVIATION GROUP
Savannah, GA
Chief Marketing Officer
June 2022 - Present

Led the development of a comprehensive go-to-market strategy for an aviation services company, integrating and scaling multiple brands through acquisitions resulting in increased media coverage and brand recognition. Managing event marketing team, advertising, branding, corporate communications, and established the business development representative (BDR) team. Partnered with divisional leaders and through market research created strategies for marketing with the responsibility of company-wide marketing budgets over $4M. A member of a 6 person executive leadership team at the parent company, Elevate Aviation Group.

Marketing Strategy

Led the rebranding of Elevate Aviation Group and subsidiaries established messaging, position and all branding materials resulting in a significant increase in impressions and media coverage.
Secured a 4X increase in marketing budget and created a long term marketing plan and model to measure efforts resulting in the largest increase in leads ever.
Created a comprehensive sales and marketing playbook to align the sales and marketing organization resulting in sponsorship for funding a BDR team and reduced cost of outbound marketing.

Demand Generation & Business Development

Spearheaded the development of the company’s first comprehensive demand generation strategy increasing lead generation by 400%.
Launched the first BDR team, achieving a remarkable 133% increase in leads within the first six months using automated sales enablement software.
Established omni-channel campaign strategy using SEM/SEO, advertising, ABM, SMS, email marketing and events/trade shows resulting in a 2X conversion rate.

Data-Driven Decision Making

Built a customer data warehouse integrating CRM, marketing campaign data, financial, advertising, social media and web traffic resulting in real-time analysis allowing optimization of marketing cost and decreasing the overall cost per lead.
Deployed processes and key measurements across the marketing and sales teams to align teams to allow for effective optimization of the sales pipeline based on consistent and reliable measurements.

AEROPARTS NOW
Birmingham, MI
President & CTO
July 2018 - June 2022

Initially brought in as a consultant to review the business and provide recommendations, I ended up leading the company's turnaround. As President and Chief Technology Officer at AeroParts Now, I spearheaded the company's operations, leveraging our innovative SaaS platform to revolutionize the aircraft parts marketplace. My strategic leadership and technological acumen were instrumental in propelling the company toward substantial growth and market dominance.

Sales/Marketing and Customer Support Strategy

Created the sales/marketing strategy using product lead growth and designed an organization resulting in 600% growth in the first 6 months of product launch securing an additional $2M in private funding.
Created pitch decks, CIMs and met with over 40 investment entities to present AeroParts Now and exhibited at industry trade shows leading to first international clients.
Established an omni-channel campaign across paid social, search, public relations using podcasts and news interviews.
Created customer support processes including an integrated dashboard that provided client metrics on the use of our SaaS platform combined with accounts receivables.

Business Model & Technology Refactor

Developed a new business model focused on product lead growth resulting in initial funding of $1M to produce a new version of SaaS.
Designed and led the development of a new architecture moving away from a monolithic app to a modular approach leveraging serverless, pipelines and continuous development.
Added LLM to detect buying and selling signals, alternate part applications, and more.

DENTLY
President and Lead Architect
May 2011 - Jan 2019

Spearheaded the business development and architecture of custom software solutions, leading to transformative technology strategies for startups and diverse clients that included Gulfstream Aerospace, Rolls Royce, Teterboro Airport, Girl Scouts, SMB and Non-profits. Catalyzed Series A and private equity investments, delivering cutting-edge products using agile methodologies, enhancing investor confidence and client satisfaction.

Software Development

Created full stack applications using NodeJS, React-Native, ElasticSearch, React, Native Mobile Apps, Angular, and Electron using both relational and no-SQL databases.
Designed and Developed iPad mobile application for cruise line industry during dry docks resulting in multiple long-term contracts with several of the top cruise lines used around the world.
Developed an Innovative property management software for the commercial real estate sector, now a standard in industry-leading firms like Kimco, DLC, and Brixmor.
Reduced our client’s cloud operating expenses by leveraging both server-based and serverless cloud functions leveraging AWS, Google Cloud and Azure.
Successfully helped clients with architecture reviews on full stack applications and mobile applications in distress with cost-effective solutions that salvaged their investments.

GULFSTREAM AEROSPACE
Savannah, GA
Senior Manager, Marketing & CRM
Jan 1999 - May 2011

Marketing

Led the product launch of the Gulfstream G650 which concluded in a live event production resulting in the largest number of pre-orders in the history of business aviation.
Hired and mentored a team of designers, developers, photographers, analysts and marketing specialists in the creation of all digital marketing and advertising resulting in a 40% cost reduction by moving away from an external advertising agency.
Architected a marketing platform through integration with aircraft fleet maintenance tracking system with our CRM and marketing campaign management system paving the way for nurturing of customers based on their product’s lifecycle.

Technology

Earned the General Dynamics Technology Achievement Award for developing the pioneering iPad application for business jet pilots, setting an industry standard.
Launched a new version of the customer portal, myGulfstream.com resulting in a 350% increase in users with added features including eCommerce.
Ushered in video marketing and communications including the ability to create photorealistic 3D imagery of aircraft working with product engineering that resulted in reduced cost and risk of flying aircraft.

EDUCATION & OTHER

UNIVERSITY OF PHOENIX
Master in Business Administration (MBA)
Bachelor in Business Administration

US Army Aviation Veteran

LICENSES: Federal Aviation Administration Airframe & Power plant License

TECHNICAL SKILLS:

Digital Marketing & Advertising: Google Ads, Paid Social, Segment, Amplitude, ABM
Data Analytics: Advanced Excel, Microsoft BI, Looker, Tableau, Python, SQL, GA
Software Development: React/React-Native, NodeJS, Javascript, Python, Java, SQL, GraphQL, REST
Databases: No-SQL (MongoDB, DynamoDB), Relational (Oracle, MS-SQL, Postgres,mysql), Elasticsearch, BigQuery, Redhat, Snowflake
Data Engineering: DBT, Airflow
Low Code: Bubble, Retool
Sales/CRM: Salesforce, HubSpot, SugarCRM, PipeDrive, ABM, Outreach.io, Reply.io, Gong,
Cloud: AWS, GCP & Azure

INTERESTS: Family, Non-Profit Board Member, Coding, Woodworking, Fishing/Boating, Paddle boarding, Kayaking