DIRECTOR OF RESIDENT EXPERIENCE - CORTLAND
July 2016 - Present
Hold end-to-end ownership over all programming and customer experience initiatives supporting the brand. Increased loyalty and lease renewal rates by aligning resident interpersonal experiences with Cortland living. Drove company’s recognition as certified “Great Place to Work” (2020 & 2021) by creating EX programs as employee experience subject matter expert (SME). Managed project budgets in excess of $1.5M.
Strategy Leadership
Mapped the full-cycle customer journey, from prospect acquisition to customer retention. Identified pain points; created process opportunities to navigate effective program development.
Enhanced forecasting transparency by delivering high-level presentations to investors and executive board; showcased expected returns from resident experience strategy implementation.
Enabled program/product performance measurement accuracy and comparisons across asset portfolio by creating a scoring system to normalize metric data, allowing for a single score output.
Identified relevant KPIs; tracked Net Promoter Score, OSAT score, renewal rates, and resident surveys.
Leveraged data mapping, surveys, and statistics to design program development protocols aligning with/amplifying brand voice and capitalizing on residents’ psychological need for belonging/ acceptance.
Customer Experience Programming
Achieved 20% unit turn cost decrease, 5% to 15% insurance policy cost reductions, and increased qualified prospects by developing/implementing a Smoke-Free Policy across 180 communities.
Pioneered industry-first wellness program―Elevate by Cortland―offering residents free wellness services (fitness classes, personal training, nutritional consults, certification program). 75% of residents said they would renew lease because of program. Kingsley scores increased YoY.
Raised resident retention by architecting the Relocation Guarantee: a seamless process enabling current residents to move through the 250-community network without penalties or fees.
Created marketing and communication plan for mobile resident portal rollout: 95% of residents downloaded the app; generated a 25% increase in online payments.
Managed and mentored 250+ on-site resident experience managers and wellness champions.
Created the Resident Experience Guide: a playbook outlining resident engagement best practices.
Designed all fitness centers and managed vendors. Oversaw all fitness installs. Created proprietary formula for fitness center sizing based on aggregate usage data and market research.
Employee Experience Programming
Consulted for HR team as corporate wellness SME; designed and oversaw internal wellness program Thrive, including participation-related incentives providing HSA matching funds.
Improved employee engagement by launching corporate field days, family carnivals, and affinity groups.
Proactively initiated dialogue with company president to create a DEI initiative; presented proposals to leadership team, resulting in DEI leadership board and working council appointments.
Established ERGs and mentoring program to provide resources to marginalized populations.
Partnership Management
Managed RFP processes to identify best-in-class vendors with the capabilities to match company growth and consumer needs.
Thoroughly vetted partnerships that increased ancillary revenue and provided opportunities for event sponsorship and engagement.
Utilized company’s economy of scale to create mutually beneficial national pricing agreements to decrease OpEx.
Owner of 16 national MSA level corporate partnerships and regional marketplace vendor relationships.