Curriculum Vitae //
Dane O'Leary, MS, PMPc
Profile
Dane is a results-driven Creative Director with 15+ years of success developing and implementing innovative strategies/concepts to optimize creative functions in support of clients’ brand standards and goals. Spearheading creative thought leadership, media creation, and pipeline optimization for industry leaders like Alan & Company, Virtus Media, and Stodzy Internet Marketing, he is known for maintaining brand messaging and enforcing brand guidelines while providing strategic focus on utilizing key assets to drive business objectives.
Dane is incredibly passionate about identifying and recommending new approaches to improve creative production by leveraging design and industry trends and best practices. With a strong focus on continuous improvements, he is highly skilled at collaborating with cross-functional teams to develop brand creative for paid advertising initiatives. He is also a motivational, supportive leader with experience building and guiding high-performing teams of 12 in executing branded media strategies for 7 distinct brands.
In his free time, Dane enjoys traveling; studying physics and cosmology; following the entertainment and gaming industries, and advocating for mental health. He also actively participates in relationship-building and professional development as a Member of AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts).
Experience
Creative Director
Alan & Company
11/2020 to Present
- Promoted to positions of increasing authority and responsibility due to exemplary performance and strong management abilities.
- Provided strategic direction and leadership to drive the on-time delivery of high-quality media and integrated solutions across a portfolio of 7 brands.
- Translated company goals and marketing objectives into compelling visual narratives and brand messages to drive brand awareness.
- Conceptualized and implemented a user-focused approach to branded media production, increasing brand recognition 20-40% across client accounts.
- Established market positioning and developed launch campaigns for brands and products, including the new inspirational lifestyle brand SoberThreads.
- Oversaw extensive rebranding and website redesign projects for Tulua Health, which decreased bounce rate on the client’s website by 77%.
Associate Creative Director
Alan & Company
6/2019 to 11/2020
- Built the creative department from scratch, growing a tiny team with no formal processes/pipelines into a scalable, high-performing, innovation-driven unit.
- Offered top-level support, coaching, and direction to a cross-functional creative team of 12 members while monitoring for maximized productivity and efficiency.
- Served as a liaison with clients to gain a deeper understanding of branding and marketing goals, translating key insights into actionable creative strategies and directives.
- Streamlined content and media production pipelines, optimizing project turnaround times and boosting ROI.
Senior Brand Strategist
Alan & Company
2/2019 to 6/2019
- Oversaw a comprehensive rebranding and redesign initiative, encompassing a new logo, website, graphics, and additional collateral materials that saw a 6x increase in social media engagement.
- Executed a targeted marketing strategy centered on educational and informative content, achieving a 1.7x increase in organic visibility over 5 months.
- Developed strategic brand and style guidelines to ensure consistency and scalability in media production.
Chief Creative Officer
Dane O'Leary Media
11/2011 to Present
- Established and launched a freelance design business to provide wraparound graphic and web design, content development, and marketing services for clients from diverse industries.
- Designed branding for Digital Muse Creative, which is in contention for the 2024 Association of Illustrators (AOI) Awards and the 2024 Applied Arts Awards.
- Utilized industry-leading design, prototyping, and project management tools to deliver compelling branded media and experiences for key clients.
UX Designer
Virtus Media
1/2021 to 5/2022
- Leveraged UX design best practices, incorporating insight from product and user testing to refine digital products developed using React.js, Vue.js, and Nuxt.js frameworks.
- Assisted with product and user research, refining methodologies, and enhancing design-to-development handoffs.
- Designed compelling decks, proposals, and presentations for high-profile B2B clients, stakeholders, and partners.
Content Writer
Content Harmony
1/2019 to 2/2020
- Crafted technical and highly-researched articles covering WordPress, eCommerce, web development, and business software solutions, delivering all projects ahead of strict deadlines.
- Applied the latest SEO techniques and best practices to enhance content visibility, drive organic traffic growth, and effectively engage target audiences.
- Partnered with content strategists, designers, and the marketing team to brainstorm, plan, and schedule content based one evolving company goals and audience needs.
Knowledge Areas
Branding
Graphic Design
Presentation & Proposal Design
Visual Communication
Art Direction
Agile & Waterfall Methodologies
Visual Design
Digital Marketing strategy
Product Design
Content Modeling
Front-End Development
Motion Graphics
Data Visualization
Performance Marketing
Product Research/Development
Toolkit
Creative
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe After Effects
Adobe XD
Adobe InDesign
Procreate
Sketch
Glyphs
Web Dev
WordPress
Brizy Builder
Github
AI
ChatGPT
Midjourney
Bard
Prototyping
Figma
Miro
Lucid
Proto.io
InVision
Project Mgmt
Asana
Notion
Trello
Jira
Monday
Marketing
HubSpot
Marketo
Google Analytics, GTM
Constant Contact
FullStory
Zoho
Education
Bachelor of Arts, Graphic Design & Psychology
Shepherd University
Master of Science, Anthropology
University of Mississippi
Certifications
Insights + Assessments
Learn About My Approach
The Enneagram personality types, Myers-Briggs assessment, and CliftonStrengths test are tools with which to gain a better understanding of my strengths as well as my general outlook and approach to professional projects.
