Paul M. Connolly III

Dynamic marketing strategist and creative director with over 20 years of experience leading both strategy and design. With a background in graphic design, I combine creative vision with marketing execution to drive impactful results. I have a proven track record in boosting brand visibility and improving customer experience through innovative, cross-functional solutions in both in-house and agency settings.

  • Pivot Strategies
    July 2022 - October 2024

    Balanced marketing and creative duties to successfully enhance and expand Pivot Strategies' marketing initiatives and creative services. Collaborated closely with a small team, applying strategic thinking while contributing to hands-on tasks.

    • Developed a sustainable creative workflow and project management system using ClickUp

    • Led partnership with an external agency, consistently exceeding weekly lead generation goals

    • Implemented multiple website enhancements, driving a YOY session growth of over 35%

  • The College of St. Scholastica
    June 2021 - July 2022

    Led a centralized 9-person marketing, communications, and events team. Collaborated with departments from Enrollment to Alumni to support branding, strategic marketing, and communication efforts across campuses and online.

    • Spearheaded a department restructure, launching a centralized workflow tool (Lytho)

    • Partnered with Athletics and an external agency for a full rebrand Saints Athletics

    • Demonstrated strong leadership by transitioning from a team member to a team leader

  • The College of St. Scholastica
    Sept. 2017 - June 2021

    Oversaw multiple large-scale digital migrations as the College’s Web Design Manager, including email and websites. Following a promotion to Director of Digital Marketing, took on the management of vendor relationships with agencies responsible for digital paid media, social, and search.

    • Led the migration of hundreds of email campaigns from Eloqua to TargetX

    • Oversaw the largest .EDU web redesign in St. Scholastica’s history

    • Consistently increased year-over-year organic web traffic through in-house SEO projects

  • maurices
    Feb. 2013 - Sept. 2017

    Served as the most experienced web designer on the marketing team, acting as the visual lead on numerous advancements in maurices’ ecommerce initiatives. Recognized internally for teamwork.

    • Led the successful visual redesign of maurices.com in 2016

    • Worked cross-functionally to improve HTML email design, coding, and performance

  • The College of St. Scholastica
    Feb. 2010 - Feb. 2013

    As the College's first digitally-focused designer, established and led numerous projects. Worked collaboratively to strategize, design, and onboard enterprise-level email marketing initiatives.

    • Developed the College's first social strategy and implemented various production improvements.

    • Established a centralized bulk email system in marketing, streamlining processes

    • Brought the first strategy and branding efforts to the College's social media presence

    • Standardized archiving, naming conventions, and distribution of brand guideline assets

Education

University of Minnesota - Duluth

  • BFA Graphic Design

  • Photography Minor

Awards

  • MVPP (Most Valuable Pivot Player) - Pivot Strategies

  • EduAd Award (Gold) for Outstanding Web Design - St. Scholastica

  • Team of the Year - maurices

Skills

  • Adobe Creative Cloud

  • CRM: HubSpot/Salesforce

  • CMS: WordPress/Squarespace

  • Email: MailChimp/Constant Contact

  • Project Management: ClickUp/Lytho

Colleague Testimonials

“Paul is a unique blend of a strong marketer and exceptional creative. But his marketing and creative skills are only part of Paul's asset to a team. It is his calm, kind, thoughtful, responsive, and unflappable personality that I enjoyed most during our time working together. Paul regularly received accolades from clients and internal colleagues alike for his thoughtful and creative work and for good reason. Paul is the best creative I have had the pleasure of working with in my career.”

Stacia Nelson, Founder & CEO
Pivot Strategies

“I've worked with many creative directors over my career, and Paul has been one of the best. In the two years we worked together, I brought many creative challenges to Paul and he delivered every time. In addition to being a talented creative and designer, Paul has a keen understanding of the business needs of clients. He knows when to deliver out-of-the-box ideas, and when to simply follow a client's directives.”

Jenny Niemela, Client Lead
Pivot Strategies

“Paul’s unique blend of skills and experience DO set him apart, but what he doesn’t mention (because he’s humble as all heck) is that he is a joy to work with. I didn’t get nearly enough time with him, but he left a huge impression on me.”

Katie Koranda, Director
Juniper House