Joshua W. Desha

Risk Strategies Company

I've been in the Employee Benefits world since 2007 and I'm excited to now partner with Risk Strategies as Vice President of Business Development.  My years in this industry have taught me a lot, and the most important lesson I've learned is this:  More than anything else, employees, employers, C-level executives, owners, and HR leaders deserve a partner who...

💪 Understands the Benefits world and keeps up with innovation.
💪 Takes the time to really get to know (and WANTS to know) their company/industry/business.
💪 Willingly walks their clients through a REAL and INNOVATIVE long-term strategic benefits system based upon the needs of their employees, and the company financially.

The sad fact is that the vast majority in this industry never take the time to do these things for and with their clients. It's one of the reasons benefit rates are consistently increasing, employee satisfaction is at an all time low, and brokers are forced to move from carrier to carrier begging for a better deal. 

If you are a company and you are looking for a partner, a real partner, that will walk with you through this minefield of Employee Benefits, then let's talk.

Vice President of Business Development

The Leadership Lighthouse

The Leadership Lighthouse aims to be a beacon of hope, visibility, and leadership within each and every community. We help leaders lead.

Head of Operations

🔥 Helping Employees reduce their healthcare costs (Access to Doctors, Therapists, and 425+ generic drugs at NO COST) 🎯 Allowing Employers the chance to lower overall Health Insurance Spend 🙌🏼 🙏🏼 Benefits Nerd 🤓

𝗪𝗵𝗼 𝗮𝗺 𝗜❓𝗖𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗸 “𝘀𝗲𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲” 𝘁𝗼 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝘁❗



I am one of the leading employee benefit experts on Linkedin. As an accomplished professional, I've worked with individuals and corporations alike.  
 
I believe to be genuinely GREAT you MUST stand out and be different!

Leaders in our industry should...
 
👊🏼 Stop being boring and ordinary!
👊🏼 Learn what matters to others FIRST.
👊🏼 Know your customer's story and needs better than they do.
👊🏼 Figure out how to put it all together for a long term/sustainable business strategy.
 
► 𝗔 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗶𝘀𝗵𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀:
 
🔥Worked with hundreds of different businesses on strategic benefits planning.
🔥Led a team of 21 offices to business growth of 218% within 12 months.
🔥12-time Presidents Club winner in 2 different industries.
🔥I've started 2 companies from the ground up.
🔥11 Industry Elite Award trips.
🔥Took a team of young salespeople and turned them into the highest producing team in the company's history.

► 𝑾𝒉𝒚 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒕 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒎𝒆:

💰  I'm somewhat of an Employee Benefits sharp-shooter.  Being in the business since 2007, I've seen it all.  
💰  I can speak in movie quotes and still get my point across.

💰  I'm an all-around good guy.  :)  And hey, that seems to be missing in today's world, right?
 
► 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒄𝒂𝒏 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒉𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆:

☎️   512-876-4677
📩   jdesha@risk-strategies.com
💬   DM me here on Linkedin
🐤   Carrier Pidgeon (just tell it to go to "THAT DUDE" and it will get to me)

Director of Sales

Revive Health is Virtual Healthcare 2.0.  Stop spending so much money on healthcare and health insurance. We facilitate rapid and easy access to affordable, quality care and prescription medications. Our membership plans start at less than $1/day.

Suntory Global Spirits

On-Premise & Retail Representative 

Hot Freestyle

HF is a multimedia platform for pop, youth culture and music.  Responsible for business expansion into new markets. Coordinating events and managing various social media channels with an engaged following of 1M + users

• 12M+ average monthly video views on FB+Twitter 
• 36M+ views across social media in the past 3 months (Dated - Oct 23, 2017)

i.   Industry Players Podcast - Host
ii.  Chop Up Interview Series
iii. Hotfreestyle Records - Record Label
iv. Acquired sponsorships for live events from beverage alcohol

See links below for social media pages & original content-
 
For Promotion, marketing and other inquires contact  - abdullah.khan@ontriotechu.net

Content Partner/Social Media Curator

Southern Glazer's Wine & Spirits

Developed and executed SGWS growth strategies in on-premise partnered accounts. Managed Toronto core.
• Executed category analysis using Power BI tools to deliver insights on underperforming stores, driving strategic realignments for higher ROI increasing sales performance by 20% YoY
• Delivered 53.7% YoY volume and 6.7% market share growth in 2023 by activating SGWS brands in the Toronto core market
• Monitored sales performance of targeted initiatives to confirm each account segment's potential was optimized, enabling data-driven program adjustments with stakeholders.
• Led account segmentation strategy to prioritize brands, programs, and campaigns, ensuring targeted execution and maximizing results across key on-premise accounts 

Employee Recognition : Partnered with Remy Cointreau to execute Louis XIII dinner at the prestigious Toronto Hunt Club with $50K+ sales in a single evening

On Premise Manager - Toronto Core

Developed and executed trade marketing activations for key on-premise & retail partners. 
•	Delivered 4.6% retail growth in 2021 by maximizing distribution points and gaining optimal shelf space
•	Achieved 95 new distribution points OND 2021 period
•	Delivered 104% volume growth in On-Premise by gaining menu, back bar and online product placements
•	Designed and implemented cocktail, shot, bottle service strategy and created menus using canva for OP accounts driving volume and brand recognition
Employee Recognition: Received 2021 Bacardi STAR Recognition Award for growing the Bacardi portfolio by 2% in GTA East

Retail & On Premise Territory Manager

pink moon studio

A pink moon symbolizes rebirth and renewal. After a dark grey winter, it is the first sign of spring— a  reminder that brighter days are on the way. We are the people who bring new life to your creative output.  We build communities, not audiences.  We are storytellers, not traditional advertisers. We make films not videos, because it turns out… films are just videos that are good. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Social Media Strategist

British American Tobacco

Developed and executed trade marketing activations for key retail partners. • Delivered $25M revenue with creative disruptiveness & disciplined spending efficiencies 
• Achieved 98% new item acceptance and overall distribution gains of +15% in c-stores 
• Grew 0.34% FMC share in 2019 Q1 by formulating trade strategies with key retailers 
• Oversaw agency relationships, ensuring the effectiveness of budgeted program executions 
• Developed reporting systems that provided current and accurate sales data

TERRITORY MANAGER |Trade Marketing

Negotiated agreements and expanded distribution for PRRP (Vape) in alternate channels. 
• Launched Vype in alternate channels resulting in a 5% overall sales increase in the vaping category 
• Expanded into 19 independent stores, close to 50% of the total regional footprint 
• Negotiated and launched sales programs unique to BAT in the vaping industry 
• Developed sales and product placement strategies to increase market share in the channel 
• Partnered with legal team to distribute the latest compliance regulatory information internally 
• Developed training decks and carried out educational seminars internally on the vaping channel Employee Award: Received 2019 BAT Recognition Award for outstanding performance in the vape shop expansion project

VYPE CHANNEL LEAD | Special Project

Merlien Institute

Managed cross-functional relationships with sales, sponsorship planning team to support customers. Oversaw and conducted full development of the conference product in three markets - North America, Europe and Asia. 
• Enhanced brand awareness by 15% by writing creative briefs for advertising 
• Bolstered delegate, vendor, client engagement & increased sponsor retention by 25% through WHOVA
• Increased MRMW conference revenue by 10% overall with unique promotional strategies • Conducted validation research, ongoing competitive analysis, and trend identification • Directed print and web content including social media, e-mail and websites

Past Projects -

Qual 360 North America 2018 - Washington, DC - https://na.qual360.com

MRMW North America, The Rise of Digital Disruption 2018 - Cincinnati, Ohio - https://na.mrmw.net/ 

MRMW Asia Pacific, The Rise of Digital Disruption - Singapore - https://apac.mrmw.net/

MRMW Europe, The Rise of Digital Disruption, Stockholm, Sweden - http://eu.mrmw.net/

Qual 360 APAC, Evolve and Transform, Singapore - https://eu.qual360.com/

CONFERENCE PLANNER, GLOBAL EVENTS

Infonex Inc.

Supported cross-functional team to launch new conference program brands and several types of workshops, seminars, symposiums. Directed on ground coordinators. 
• Wrote conference program and developed marketing strategy generating >125K revenue 
• Prepared presentation materials, topic briefings, trade shows, customer communication 
• Led 7 on onsite coordinators ensuring smooth and on-budget execution of the programs 
• Increased visibility of programs by 25% by researching new media opportunities 
• Liaised with key industry figures to ensure the validity of the proposed topic and the efficient delivery
Recognition: Appointed by Infonex conference director to launch new conference products including Digital Finance and Big Data and Analytics conferences, the latter becoming the highest revenue generator for the company

Projects Completed:
Big Data and Analytics (Ottawa), 
Risk Management for the Public Sector (Ottawa)
Accounting & Reporting for Mining (Toronto)
Canadian Accounting & Reporting (Calgary & Toronto)
Public Sector Marketing & Communications (Ottawa)
Internal Controls GRC (Calgary & Toronto)
Professional Regulation & Discipline (Vancouver)
Digital Strategies & Analytics for Finance & Accounting (Toronto)

CONFERENCE PLANNER, DEVELOPMENT

Built and nurtured relationships with key contacts and generated and qualified prospective leads to build up individual conferences’ sales pipelines. 
• Increased communication from 40 to 65 contacts/day, organizing CRM database by time zone 
• Closed 25% more delegates for RegPro conference, more than previous year exceeding 125K revenue

BUSSINESS DEVELOPMENT REPRESENTATIVE

“Real change never occurs from the top on down, [but] always from the bottom on up”. This quote has been a guiding principle in my life and professional career. I believe collectively people can overcome any obstacle and achieve great things. Having brought people together through managing innovative events and market research conferences, I developed a passion for consumer trends.  This has led me to work with clients at the retail/trade level to gather insights and leverage data to identify value in-between the 'lines' for my employers.

I am a results-driven marketing expert with diverse experience in trade marketing, brand communication and sales across multiple platforms. Being a top-performing goal-oriented leader, I have demonstrated success in achieving targets. 

By utilizing excellent communication skills, I collaborate and build consensus across all levels of the organization. Furthermore, my strong analytical and presentation skills allow me to establish immediate credibility. By employing an entrepreneurial, creative approach coupled with a commitment to excellence, I consistently develop and maximize opportunities to deliver a high return on investment for my employer.

Having lived, worked and travelled to several countries including Canada, Dubai, Singapore, United States among others, I have developed personal and professional relationships across continents. I am a culture connoisseur with a love for exploring the unknown.  

Expertise:
Oracle CRM | Power BI | WHOVA | Environics Envision | SAS Enterprise Guide | Alternate Channels | Trade Marketing | Project Coordination | Regulatory Compliance| Vaping


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Joshua W. Desha

Abdullah Khan

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