# Keith J. Connell, MBA, PhD (c)

> Keith J. Connell, MBA, is a senior marketing leader, corporate trainer and professor in Barrie, Ontario with 30+ years in brand strategy, digital marketing, learning and development, and higher education.

## Key facts

- Name: Keith J. Connell, MBA, PhD (c)
- Roles: Senior marketing leader, corporate trainer, professor
- Based in: 16 Patrick Drive, Barrie, ON L4N 5Z1
- Phone: 705-984-8428
- Availability: Open to on-site, hybrid and remote roles across Ontario, and willing to relocate.
- Experience: 29+ years in marketing, communications and leadership; teaching postsecondary since 2018
- Education: PhD candidate (Educational Leadership and Policy, University of Windsor); MBA (University of Fredericton)
- Email: keith@keithjconnell.com

## Selected results

- 30+ years of marketing and communications leadership (Career)
- $8M+ direct B2B sales growth linked to marketing automation and segmentation (Nedco)
- 50%+ year-over-year growth in program applications through integrated digital strategy (Georgian College)
- 37+ countries supported by integrated campaigns and brand standards (DSC)
- 53% average increase in client digital presence through data-informed content strategy (Turtleback Canada)
- 500+ college and university students taught and mentored (Teaching)
- 100% cRM adoption across a 15-person sales team within 60 days (Paging Network of Canada)
- 80%+ drop in support requests after redesigned, peer-coached training (Paging Network of Canada)
- 60% reduction in trade show costs while growing attendance 8% year over year (Visioneering)
- 81.9% of social reach generated from non-followers through organic discoverability (Georgian College)
- 33.7% increase in LinkedIn impressions over 90 days (Georgian College)
- 14% improvement in intervention outcomes across a cohort of 165 using an early warning system (Lakehead University)
- 12% customer loyalty increase through CRM-driven segmentation and lifecycle workflows (Nedco)
- 8% average client revenue growth per engagement across the consulting practice (Turtleback Canada)
- $0 textbook cost for students after building thecollegeprof.ca (The College Prof)

## Mission

My mission is to turn complexity into clarity: to build marketing strategies people can execute, learning experiences people remember and teams that keep growing after I leave the room, by combining three decades of industry leadership with evidence-informed teaching and genuine care for people.

## Main pages

- [About: vision of leadership, mentoring and strategy](https://keithjconnell.com/about)
- [Résumé (HTML, with PDF download)](https://keithjconnell.com/resume)
- [Career journey timeline](https://keithjconnell.com/journey)
- [Projects and case studies](https://keithjconnell.com/projects)
- [Media Room: video, podcast and articles](https://keithjconnell.com/media-room)
- [Interview Room: live chat with Keith and answers to common interview questions](https://keithjconnell.com/interview-room)
- [Contact](https://keithjconnell.com/contact)

## Case studies

- [How a data-driven social media strategy reversed the trajectory of a digital content program](https://keithjconnell.com/projects/data-driven-social-strategy-georgian): A strong program with weak visibility. A disciplined, data-informed content strategy turned real program activity into discoverable stories, and applications grew by more than half.
- [How an AI-paired development process transformed engagement, understanding and access](https://keithjconnell.com/projects/ai-paired-course-platform): Students were juggling costly, scattered resources and arriving at assessments underprepared. I built a free, hand-coded learning platform organised around the questions students actually ask, with AI tools as development partners and my…
- [When engineering and marketing finally spoke the same language: modernising Visioneering's digital infrastructure](https://keithjconnell.com/projects/visioneering-digital-infrastructure): Specifiers depended on the website for technical documents, but every update needed a coder and could take weeks. By rebuilding the workflow around how engineers worked, publishing time fell from weeks to hours and traffic rose 27%.
- [When the system changes but the people haven't: leading a CRM adoption that transformed an inside sales team](https://keithjconnell.com/projects/crm-adoption-inside-sales): A new CRM met a team of 15 experienced reps who trusted their notebooks. Small-group training on real accounts, two peer coaches and consistent expectations turned resistance into advocacy within 90 days.
- [Algometric: a social media analytics platform](https://keithjconnell.com/projects/algometric): A multi-tenant social media analytics and content platform built from scratch: a colour-coded publishing calendar, approval workflows, stacked performance dashboards and a Meta Graph API driver for Instagram and Facebook, delivered as an…
- [HVOT league management system](https://keithjconnell.com/projects/hvot-league-system): A custom PHP 8 MVC platform that runs every part of a recreational hockey league: registrations and renewals, member registry, treasurer tools, team messaging, live game timekeeping with PDF gamesheets, standings with tiebreaker logic…
- [QuickHits project management and time tracking](https://keithjconnell.com/projects/quickhits): A PHP 8 MVC project management and time tracking application with a Trello-style board, Gantt charts and a mobile-first progressive web app interface. A companion app, JobTracker Pro, manages applications, companies, interviews and…
- [The College Prof Canada podcast](https://keithjconnell.com/projects/college-prof-canada-podcast): A weekly podcast on the science of social media algorithms, the death of passive media consumption, legal landmines for content creators, the technology gap in education and why human friction is the new scarcity. Recorded and produced in…
- [Accessible website for Empower Simcoe](https://keithjconnell.com/projects/empower-simcoe-aoda-website): Website strategy, design and launch for a community agency, built in full compliance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.

## Recent articles

- [Leadership That Lasts: Creating Success Through People](https://keithjconnell.com/media-room/articles/leadership-that-lasts-creating-success-through-people)
- [Psychological Safety in the Classroom as a Persistence Strategy](https://keithjconnell.com/media-room/articles/psychological-safety-in-the-classroom-as-a-persistence-strategy)
- [Keith and Suzanne Connell Partner For Their New Book Chapter On International Students](https://keithjconnell.com/media-room/articles/keithand-suzanne-connell-partner-for-their-new-book-chapter-on-international-students)
- [Canada's International Student Surge and Decline: Rethinking Pedagogy in a Changing Higher Education Landscape](https://keithjconnell.com/media-room/articles/canada-s-international-student-surge-and-decline-rethinking-pedagogy-in-a-changing-higher-education-landscape)
- [Leading Through Digital Disruption: Coaching and Mentoring Your Team as People, Not Numbers](https://keithjconnell.com/media-room/articles/leading-through-digital-disruption-coaching-and-mentoring-your-team-as-people-not-numbers)
- [Belonging Is Not Accidental: Designing the Conditions for Student Persistence](https://keithjconnell.com/media-room/articles/belonging-is-not-accidental-designing-the-conditions-for-student-persistence)
- [Synthetic Colleagues: What It Means for Organisational Culture When AI Becomes a Team Member](https://keithjconnell.com/media-room/articles/synthetic-colleagues-what-it-means-for-organisational-culture-when-ai-becomes-a-team-member)
- [Building Inclusive Programs from the Inside Out: A Leader's Framework](https://keithjconnell.com/media-room/articles/building-inclusive-programs-from-the-inside-out-a-leader-s-framework)
- [The Foundations of Engagement: Clear Goals, Constructive Criticism, and Transparency in Leadership](https://keithjconnell.com/media-room/articles/the-foundations-of-engagement-clear-goals-constructive-criticism-and-transparency-in-leadership)
- [From Instinct to Insight: Using Data Analytics to Drive Informed Decisions in High-Performing Organisations](https://keithjconnell.com/media-room/articles/from-instinct-to-insight-using-data-analytics-to-drive-informed-decisions-in-high-performing-organisations)

A longer version with full experience, education, publications and answers to common interview questions is at https://keithjconnell.com/llms-full.txt