James Tikkanen
Chicago
Summary
Marketing-minded professional with hands-on experience shaping messaging, campaigns, and creative assets across sales and event environments. Skilled at gathering customer and market insights, translating them into sharper campaign strategy, and partnering cross-functionally to keep brand messaging consistent and on-target. Comfortable using CRM and performance data to evaluate what's working and refine outreach and creative for stronger engagement.
Overview
2
2
years of professional experience
Work History
Sales Development Representative, Delivery Solutions
Rehrig Pacific Company
Chicago, IL
03.2026 - Current
- Partner with Marketing on lead nurturing efforts, providing direct feedback on messaging and campaign effectiveness that shapes targeted outreach to the Food Service, Beer, and Beverage markets.
- Surface customer insights, objections, and emerging market needs to leadership, informing go-to-market and campaign strategy for the Delivery Solutions portfolio.
- Apply CRM and pipeline data to evaluate lead quality and conversion trends, using those insights to refine outreach scripts and messaging.
- Build working knowledge of Delivery Solutions products and target markets to keep outreach and content accurate and relevant.
- Hybrid
Business Development Representative
Groupon
Chicago, IL
07.2025 - 03.2026
- Ensured merchant promotions were visually compelling and on-brand, directly shaping content that maximized clicks and conversions.
- Negotiated promotional details and offer structure with merchants, balancing brand positioning with customer appeal.
- Tracked outreach and campaign performance in Salesforce, using engagement data to identify what content and messaging drove results.
Independent Contractor
Encore Worldwide
Chicago, IL
05.2024 - 08.2024
- Oversaw production and delivery of creative assets for in-person events, coordinating across teams to meet client specifications and deadlines.
- Evaluated customer needs and feedback to identify opportunities for product and service improvement.
- Analyzed user feedback to surface actionable insights for continuous improvement.
Education
Bachelor of Arts - Creative Advertising & General Business
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI05.2025
Skills
- Market insights
- Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Asset production
- CRM & Performance Data
- Customer Focus
- Content development
- Sales Process Optimization
- New market research
Timeline
Sales Development Representative, Delivery Solutions
Rehrig Pacific Company
03.2026 - Current
Business Development Representative
Groupon
07.2025 - 03.2026
Independent Contractor
Encore Worldwide
05.2024 - 08.2024
Bachelor of Arts - Creative Advertising & General Business
Michigan State University