Executive Conferences + Marketing Operations
Zenith Risk Strategies — Events, Brand & Demand Engine
One inaugural summit. Four cities. The CRM, content, and outreach engine behind them.
Project Overview
Built the marketing and event function from zero at Zenith Risk Strategies — producing the inaugural 2025 Cost Containment Summit, architecting the 2026 four-city Summer Series (Dallas · Hilton Head · Chicago · Denver), and standing up the Apollo.io CRM, four-persona outreach engine, and LinkedIn editorial OS the internal team now runs.
The Challenge
Broker conferences had become interchangeable and the demand engine behind them didn't exist. Zenith needed a format senior brokers would clear their calendar for, an internal team that could repeat it across four cities, and a CRM + content infrastructure to fill the rooms — without scaling headcount.
My Role
What I owned end-to-end.
- 01Event format design, run of show, and day-of production
- 02Speaker recruitment, prep packets, and on-stage flow
- 03Sponsor positioning, packages, and activation
- 04Vendor management, venue RFPs, and event financials
- 05Apollo.io CRM, segmentation, and multi-touch sequences
- 06Four-persona prospect framework and copy library
- 07LinkedIn editorial system and HubSpot integration
Strategy
The thinking before the doing.
Format as differentiation
Built the Broker Hot Seat — a candid, on-stage interview structure that put working brokers in the spotlight instead of vendor keynotes. The format became the marketing.
One OS, four cities
Codified vendor approvals, RFP pipelines, speaker packets, run of show, and financial trackers so Dallas, Hilton Head, Chicago, and Denver all launch from the same working baseline.
Personas before sequences
Built a four-persona framework — Broker, TPA, CFO/HR Director, Direct Primary Care Physician — with distinct messaging tracks so every send sounded like it was written for one person.
Inbound through founder voice
Treated LinkedIn as the proof layer — making the founders' point of view visible so outbound had something credible to land into.
Campaigns in four phases
Every event runs on a 29-day Announce → Educate → Convert → Retain campaign across LinkedIn, Apollo email, and Eventbrite — with 30-post monthly social calendars and three caption variations per post.
Execution
How it actually got built.
Three workstreams that turned the strategy into a working system — with the artifacts to prove it.
Vendor management & logistics
Built the vendor approval system and production document — AV, F&B, transitions, contingency cues, and city-specific logistics — so each event day runs itself.
Attendee management
Master invite list, RSVP tracking, and check-in pipeline — segmented by persona (Broker, TPA, CFO/HR, Physician) and synced from Apollo to on-site check-in.
Speaker coordination
Speaker tracker and prep packets — bio, session outline, AV requirements, travel, day-of schedule — for every contracted speaker across the series.
Apollo outbound sequences
Multi-step sequences with conditional logic per persona, segmented contact database, and event-registration pipeline integrated from invite to check-in.
LinkedIn editorial system
Monthly editorial themes, post templates, and a draft-review-publish workflow that turned founder time into consistent output.
CRM & HubSpot integration
Built HubSpot contact and deal pipeline, synced event attendee records between Apollo and HubSpot, and created automated post-event follow-up workflows with leadership dashboards.
Deliverables
What was handed over.
- 01Broker Hot Seat format & playbook
- 02Run of show + production binder per city
- 03Sponsor packages, prospectus, and activation guides
- 04Vendor approvals, RFP, and venue pipeline
- 05Master invite list, RSVP, and check-in system
- 06Per-event and master financial trackers
- 07Apollo.io database, segmentation, and 3 sequences
- 08Four-persona prospect framework and copy library
- 09LinkedIn editorial calendar & templates
- 10HubSpot pipeline, stages, and post-event automations
- 11Monthly analytics reports to leadership
Resources
Documents & related pages.
Selected Artifacts
Outcome
An event operating system Zenith now owns across four cities, a demand engine the internal team runs end-to-end, and an industry signal to match: Captive Consultancy of the Year Finalist (Captive Review Awards), with submission authored in-house.
5
Events produced (2025 – 2026)
200+
Total attendees across series
4
Cities on one operating system
4
Buyer personas defined
3
Email sequences built