This document is a resume for Melissa M. Schwister summarizing her professional experience working at VSA Partners, Inc. and previous roles. As an Associate Partner at VSA Partners, she is responsible for growing and maintaining $2-4 million in annual revenue through maintaining client relationships and delivering quality work. She has successfully grown revenue for clients like Hyatt and Harley-Davidson. Previously she worked as an Account Director and Account Manager, managing client accounts and projects with budgets up to $2 million for companies like IBM, Allstate, and Harley-Davidson.

1. Melissa M. Schwister
melissaschwister@gmail.com
773-960-9031
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
VSA Partners, Inc. Chicago, IL
Associate Partner, Client Engagement Sept 2007 – Present
• Responsible for growing and maintaining $2 – $4 million per year in revenue.
• Maintains and grows existing client relationships, leads team to deliver quality work, on-target
for client needs.
• Oversees creative production both online and offline.
• Ensures overall creative strength and quality of any and all program deliverables, in collaboration with
Creative Team.
• Manages account financial lifecycle, including estimates and revenue forecasts.
• Successfully grew Hyatt client revenue 70% over last 12 months.
• Successfully grew Harley-Davidson client revenue over year for 6 years.
• Work on large-scale brand positioning and identity project for leading hotel.
• Responds to new business opportunities with existing clients, writing proposals and closing deals.
• Proven client management skills.
Account Director March 2003 – Sept 2007
• Supervised client relationships and account development for all Harley-Davidson Motor Company projects,
including: Brand Development, Annual Reports, Parts and Accessories catalogs, Anniversary
Communications, Dealer Ad Planner and Dealer Communications. Led overall relationship management
and account growth.
• Participated in client task force with Harley-Davidson executives to improve Dealer direct mail program.
• Lead interaction with client teams for large brand-based programs, including: Chicago 2016 Olympic Bid,
Tishman Speyer, Toyota Truck Brands, Bell Canada Enterprises, McDonald’s Ventures, ConAgra Foods
Corporation, Snap-On, Citadel Investment Group, Allstate Financial, Discover Card, Aetna Financial,
Brunswick Billiards, The Newport Group and Goldman Sachs.
• Managed client relationships for all projects for firm’s highest billing client, IBM, for four years.
Projects included: Online and print annual reports, Progress and Well-being report, Corporate Citizenship
Report, Internal Corporate Communications and External Company Strategy documents.
• Co-managed creative teams with Creative Director and Senior Partners to ensure individual profitability and
overall client satisfaction.
• Led, trained and mentored a team of four account managers/coordinators.
• Maintained daily communications with Directors of Marketing and Corporate Communications
for Fortune 500 companies.
• Supervised 30+ consumer-marketing materials for Allstate Financial Group’s Lincoln Benefit Life
products. Managed content, production and design.
• Developed all project budgets and managed all monthly billing. Project budgets ranged from
$50,000 – $2 million.
• Scheduled and managed international and national photo shoots, including fee and expense management,
creative direction, usage rights and film supervision.
• Coordinated print production for all clients. Work included: printer selection, managing printers and
quotations, delivery of materials to printer and press check supervision.

2. Account Manager Jan 1999 – March 2003
• Developed an understanding of the client’s business, their needs, expectations, and requirements.
• Collaborated with the project team to drive the approach, deliverables, schedule and tools to deliver the
project within established constraints.
• Worked with client team to estimate costs and timing for tasks such as project strategy, functional design,
visual design, technology requirements, etc., utilizing established estimating process and tools.
• Prepared meeting agendas, proposals, schedules and vendor estimates.
• Lead point of contact for all client communications.
EDUCATION
Bachelor of Arts, Advertising, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI