Expedition Team

Lisa Ballard

Lisa Ballard, W-75


Alunae: W-75
Occupation: Marketing Communications and PR Professional
Atlanta/Savannah, GA

I'm excited about this project because the SEA Semester was the most important experience of my college career and I've always wanted to give back to the program. Given my degree program, I was the odd man out on my Westward cruise and my chosen profession is probably unusual among this group. I hope to contribute to the communications aspect of this project. Out-takes from my professional bio:

With nearly two decades of promoting technology products and services, Lisa Ballard has experience in an array of industries. For the last decade she has focused on public relations for a range of hi-tech clients including enterprise, database and application development software; Internet-based SaaS and other services; telecommunications; and consumer electronics. Her agency experience includes serving as senior vice president and technology practice leader for Manning Selvage & Lee, Atlanta, in addition to working with Fleishman-Hillard, Burson-Marsteller, and boutique firms specializing in hi-tech.

As the Senior Manager of Partner Development for Earthlink’s business development team Lisa managed strategic content and commerce partnerships valued in excess of $2.5 million annually, including Google, Vonage, The Weather Channel and CBS MarketWatch for enhanced corporate revenues and customer experience. In less than six months she doubled annual revenues from the most lucrative partnership, that with Google. Prior to concentrating on public relations, Lisa was marketing director for various business-to-business software and hardware vendors where she created and implemented marketing strategies that quickly and positively impacted revenues.

Lisa’s educational background of the Wharton School combined with a degree in systems engineering gives her a unique perspective from which to solve business communications challenges. She is able to quickly translate product features into competitive advantages that offer customers business benefits.




funding

Plastics at SEA: North Atlantic Expedition 2010 is funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Marine Debris Program. Additional funding provided by Sea Education Association and Henry L. and Grace Doherty Foundation. American Chemistry Council provided support for web-based outreach. Crew gear provided by Patagonia. This expedition is in collaboration with Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Woods Hole Sea Grant.