Evolving Strategies, LLC

Founded in 1999, Evolving Strategies helps leaders, teams and organizations learn, lead and change. Clients include Accenture, Ashland Inc., Bank of Oklahoma Financial, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, Burlington Northern Santa Fe (BNSF), East West Bank, Northern Trust Corporation, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Spencer Stuart, Thomson Reuters, United Airlines, the United States federal government, and Zebra Technologies.

Founder

Forbes Coaches Council

Forbes Coaches Council is an invitation-only organization comprised of leading business coaches and career coaches. Members are hand-selected by the Council’s selection committee.

Official Member

PepsiCo

PepsiCo, Inc. is an American multinational food, snack, and beverage corporation headquartered in New York. PepsiCo's business encompasses all aspects of the food and beverage market. It oversees the manufacturing, distribution, and marketing of its products. 

As of January 2021, the company possesses 23 brands that have over US$1 billion in sales annually. PepsiCo has operations all around the world and its products are distributed across more than 200 countries, with annual net revenues of over US$70 billion. PepsiCo is the second-largest food and beverage business in the world based on net revenue, profit, and market capitalization, behind Nestlé.

As part of the CIO transition, I led a team of employees and consultants to build the initial change management office (CMO) to enable the global technology organization to support Pepsico's digital transformation journey.

Global Information Technology | Strategy & Transformation Team | Senior Director

Northwestern University

Served as faculty for 'Executing Strategic Change,' a core, graduate level course of the Master of Science, Learning and Organizational Change program. The Master's program is grounded in concepts of cognitive science, psychology and education, and focuses on the applied areas of strategic change, performance, knowledge management, and learning.

Adjunct Faculty

Corporate Executive Board

Every year, the Corporate Executive Board (CEB) equips over 20,000 senior leaders from more than 10,000 organizations across 110 countries with the intelligence they need to respond quickly to evolving business conditions. In doing so, CEB helps them more effectively manage their talent, customers and operations to exceed business objectives.

As an Associate Director, I sold of CEB's HR-related best practices research, decision support tools, and executive education to a membership of the world's leading corporations and not-for-profit institutions.

Associate Director

Lante Corporation

Lante Corporation, a technology consulting company, customizes core extended enterprise applications to provide clients with new features to enable them to benefit from the trend toward information that is more interactive, real-time, collaborative, extended, and private.

Client Relationship Manager

Accenture

Accenture is one of the world’s leading professional services companies, providing consulting and outsourcing services through its strategy, digital, technology and operations capabilities.

Transition/Transformation Manager

CA Technologies

CA Technologies software and solutions have been powering innovation for over 35 years. Founded in 1976, CA Technologies has over 11,500 employees in 45 countries helping businesses thrive in a new world where every business is in the software business. CA Technologies has been recognized as a value leader by industry analysts and has been hailed as one of the “World’s 100 Most Innovative Companies” by Forbes, as well as one of the greenest companies in the United States by Newsweek®.

Sales and Marketing Associate (Pansophic Systems, Inc.)

Strengthen Your Change Leadership with a Coach You Can Trust |Forbes Contributor |Accenture Alum |Former NU Adjunct Faculty

Clients partner with me to address three key areas of need:

1. EXPANDING YOUR LEADERSHIP IMPACT
 	• Elevate Your Leadership Potential with Personalized Coaching
	• Foster Your Inclusivity as a Leader
	• Amplify Your Leadership Presence
	• Deepen Your Leadership Self-Awareness
	• Hone Your Coaching and Mentoring Skills

2. USING CHANGE MANAGEMENT FOR STRATEGIC EXECUTION EXCELLENCE
	• Master the Six Levers of Change Leadership
	• Develop Resilience and Adaptability as a Leader of Change
	• Build High-Performance Teams

3.  COMMUNICATING FOR IMPACT
	• Communicate Effectively and Efficiently
	• Resolve Conflicts with Courage and Confidence
	• Engage Your Stakeholders 
	
Delivery method(s) are customized based on my client's preferences and needs. This may involve a combination of one-on-one in-person or virtual coaching sessions, team workshops, assessments, and ongoing support to ensure growth and development.

About me
I coach executives for swift, successful, impactful change in themselves, teams, companies, or industries. If this describes you and you're ready to make a transformative impact and lead with more confidence, let's go.

With over two decades of experience, I've had the privilege of guiding leaders and teams from diverse industries, functions, and locations to not just navigate, but truly excel in today's ever-evolving business landscape. Helping clients develop the change leadership skills to tackle complex challenges like digital transformations, process enhancements, and customer engagement strategies is what I do.

My proven approach fuses structure and adaptability. I tailor my approach to the distinct needs and objectives of each leader or team, using proven assessments, tools, and strategies as needed. 

My work is grounded in practical experience, having served as a leader and member of multiple high-performing teams (and some low-performing teams as well) with organizations such as Accenture and PepsiCo. By delving into and applying research on leadership, learning and change as an adjunct faculty member at Northwestern University, I co-created and delivered a course on executing strategic change in the Masters level program. 

I'm honored to have earned a spot on the Forbes Coaches Council. Serving as a mentor, most recently as part of D CEO's Emerging Women Leadership Network, is also a privilege.

Sandy Schwan

Kincentric 

Lead all marketing, public relations and corporate communications in North America for this global advisory firm. Design and execute integrated marketing strategies to drive brand awareness, fill sales pipeline and increase revenue. Partner with SMEs to create diverse and best-in-class thought leadership and content including whitepapers, videos, byline articles, blogs, research reports, website copy, speeches, webinars, press releases, pitches and presentations. Set and execute strategy for bespoke and industry events. Spearhead all public relations initiatives, social media, digital marketing and more. Manage and maximize relationships with agencies and vendors. Advise HR and the executive leadership team on internal communications to drive employee engagement through various channels.
•	Orchestrated the creation of interactive microsites to showcase thought leadership, research and related content.
•	Amplified the firm’s brand and visibility and increased engagement through the strategic use of organic and sponsored social media posts, growing its LinkedIn following by more than 75K in just three years.
•	Designed and launched a new process for tracking and nurturing MQLs both regionally and globally utilizing Salesforce in collaboration with colleagues from the consulting, sales enablement and business development teams.

Director of Marketing & Communications, Americas

Caterpillar Inc.

Led divisional communications and served as a strategic advisor to Global Finance leadership, including Caterpillar's Chief Financial Officer, VP of Global Finance Services, Treasurer, Corporate Controller, Director of Investor Relations and other Finance leaders. Created executive and internal communications designed to inform and inspire 5000+ Global Finance employees around the world through townhalls, divisional newsletters, intranet content, video messages, recruiting collateral, social media and more. Drove key business and change initiatives, ensuring communications aligned with overall corporate strategy and enhanced the company’s culture, mission, vision, values, strategic imperatives and overall brand. Set the divisional communications strategy and directed efforts around executive communications, employee engagement, change management, investor relations, social media and more. 
•	Spearheaded communications and change management efforts for Caterpillar’s largest initiative to date, working to redesign the Global Finance function and transition back-office F&A to Accenture.
•	Streamlined navigation and enhanced the user experience (UX) by redesigning Caterpillar’s Global Finance Services website, which required the migration of more than 5000 files and pieces of content.
•	Conceptualized, scripted, directed and edited "Beyond the Numbers" videos featuring the CFO as an important component of each quarterly and full-year earnings release.

Communications Director, Global Finance Services

Discover Financial Services

Led all marketing and communications supporting multiple Discover Global Network products and solutions. Managed teams to create compelling value propositions, go-to-market strategies, branding and more.

•	Exceeded adoption and usage goals at the franchise level after creating new go-to-market strategy and launch plans for Diners Club consumer card solutions.
•	Created communications strategy for DGN's prepaid products and redesigned all marketing materials, including sell sheets, pitch decks, email campaigns, exhibit materials and website copy.
•	Drove all marketing / communications initiatives across the payments ecosystem to support Discover Card's migration to EMV (chip cards), including internal and external partner communications, media relations, industry events, social media and website content.

Senior Manager, Global Marketing, Discover Global Network

Led all DCI Commercial Payments marketing and communications initiatives. Worked closely with business development and product management teams, franchise partners and other stakeholders to ensure all communications aligned with overall business objectives, messaging and brand strategy. Created and executed all product marketing campaigns, internet SEO and SEM tactics, social media strategies, industry trade relations and event sponsorships globally.

•	Nearly doubled intranet usage among DCI Franchise Partners globally following a complete redesign.
•	Launched seven new DCI products / solutions, developing value propositions, go-to-market strategies and all related collateral, including videos, advertising, pitch decks, sell sheets, website and digital / social media content. 
•	Increased visibility and drove awareness while reducing program costs by nearly 30% by negotiating sponsorship agreements at key industry events.  Collaborated with franchise partners, managed all event elements and represented DCI at industry events throughout the Americas, EMEA and APAC regions.

Senior Manager, Global Marketing & Communications, Diners Club International

RDB Communications

Developed and implemented innovative marketing, advertising, branding and public relations initiatives for clients in a wide range of industries.

Specialties: Strategic Communications, Branding, Advertising, Public Relations, Collateral, Digital Marketing, Corporate Communications, Client Service/Project Management, Event Marketing, Reputation Management, Media Relations, Content Marketing and Brand Building, Negotiation, Project Leadership, Team Building, Concept Development and Creative Thinking

Public Relations, Marketing and Communications Consultant

DiMeo & Company

As head of the PR practice in this mid-sized boutique agency, led cross-functional teams to devise strategy and execute omnichannel campaigns. Successfully led new business development efforts. Clients of note included Chicago Bulls, Phil Stefani Restaurants, Sport Clips, TopGolf, Regional Transportation Authority (RTA), Turano Baking Company, Popeye's Chicken & Biscuits, and Southern Illinois University.

•	Doubled agency annual billings by developing and presenting proposal to win RTA account. Launched RTA’s first website and online trip planner, managed all marketing campaigns and represented RTA at 50+ regional events.
•	Led pitch to win Sport Clips, which became the agency's 2nd largest client. Formulated strategy and branding to introduce Sport Clips concept in Chicago market and created Sport Clips “Street Squad,” maximizing activation and exposure at more than 150 local market events.
•	Designed successful loyalty, retention and win-back programs for retail and restaurant clients.

Vice President, Public Relations & Corporate Communications

Led agency PR practice. Drove new business efforts and supervised cross-functional teams to deliver innovative, integrated campaigns for clients such as Wendy’s Hamburgers, Amtrak, TruGreen, Chicago Bulls, Chicago White Sox, American Amusement Machine Association (AAMA), U.S. Cellular, Albank and more.

•	Activated and enhanced local store marketing efforts by creating a comprehensive promotional playbook and interactive toolkit for national distribution to more than 170 TruGreen franchised locations.
•	Drove awareness and attracted thousands of unique visitors by planning and executive special events for Amtrak.
•	Created unique "Roadshow" concept to drive awareness and enhance the image of coin-operated amusement games across the US.
•	Designed and executed cross-promotions for more than 120 Wendy’s restaurants throughout Chicagoland.

Director Of Public Relations

Jordan Tamraz Caruso

Established first public relations practice in this mid-sized B2C advertising agency.  Hired and supervised team, growing billings from $0 to $750K in 18 months. 

Clients included Brown’s Chicken & Pasta, White Hen Pantry, The Baby’s Room, Williams Bally/Midway, The Ryan Group (an Aon Company), Hewitt Associates, Chicagoland Buick Dealers Group and more.

Account Director, Public Relations & Corporate Communications

McKinney Advertising & Public Relations

Served as agency’s sole PR practitioner for B2B clients such as Bodine Electric Company, Fel-Pro Chemical Products, McGill Switch, Crane Plumbing, Rank Taylor Hobson and more. Earned two Tower Awards from the Business Marketing Association.

Account Supervisor, Public Relations

Results-driven marketing, PR and corporate communications pro with more than 20 years of experience and a proven track record in the development and execution of comprehensive communications strategies in both B2B and B2C environments. Demonstrated success advising executive leadership and leading cross-functional teams to deliver strategic and impactful solutions, compelling communications and transformative initiatives. Recognized for building strong relationships with clients and colleagues alike. Motivated, detail-oriented team player who is flexible, versatile and a pro at maintaining a sense of humor under pressure.   Expertise includes: 

Corporate Communications
Events
Media Relations
Social Media
Executive Communications
Communication Strategy
Public Relations
Branding/Brand Strategy
Internal Communications
Change Management
Employee Engagement
Investor Relations
Content Marketing
Thought Leadership
Crisis Communications
Digital Marketing
Marketing
Corporate Reputation
Marketing Strategy

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Sandy Schwan

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