Chief Marketing Officer | Greater Sandusky Partnership

Organization Overview

The Greater Sandusky Partnership (GSP) is at a transformative moment of growth and regional impact. As the leading chamber and economic development organization for the Greater Sandusky Bay Region, GSP serves as both an advocate and catalyst for economic vitality, business development, tourism, and community engagement.

GSP is expanding its strategic impact through the integration of Shores & Islands Ohio, creating a unified approach to destination marketing, economic development, membership engagement, and regional branding. This evolution has created a newly established Chief Marketing Officer position designed to help shape and elevate the future identity and market presence of the region.

The organization is seeking a senior executive to lead brand, marketing, and promotional strategy for the region, while helping shape how marketing integrates with event and conference attraction, visitor experience, destination attraction partnerships, and destination management initiatives.

If you would like to apply, contact Lori Fain from Torch Group at lfain@torchgroup.com. 

Position Overview

The Chief Marketing Officer will serve as a key member of the executive leadership team and report directly to the CEO of the Greater Sandusky Partnership. The individual will lead all marketing, branding, communications, and promotional strategy initiatives for the organization while also serving as Managing Director for Shores & Islands Ohio.

The CMO will oversee a growing marketing organization of approximately 5-7 team members and will be responsible for strengthening brand awareness, driving regional visibility, integrating messaging across multiple stakeholder groups, and helping position the region as a destination for tourism, business investment, talent attraction, and community growth.

Key Opportunity Highlights

• Opportunity to build and shape a newly created executive leadership role
• Lead regional branding and destination marketing initiatives with broad community visibility
• Influence economic development, tourism, talent attraction, and community engagement strategy
• Partner closely with executive leadership, regional stakeholders, and community organizations
• Opportunity to unify and elevate multiple established brands under one strategic vision
• Lead a collaborative and mission-driven organization focused on regional impact and growth
• Visible leadership role with the opportunity to shape the future positioning of the region

Core Responsibilities

Brand Leadership & Strategy
• Lead stewardship and evolution of the regional brand portfolio
• Evaluate and strengthen market positioning across tourism, business, and community audiences
• Develop integrated brand messaging and long-term positioning strategy
• Build brand awareness both regionally and nationally

Strategic Marketing Leadership
• Own overall marketing strategy, planning, and execution
• Establish measurable KPIs and ROI metrics
• Oversee marketing budgets and resource allocation
• Ensure alignment between strategic objectives and campaign execution

Integrated Marketing & Communications
• Lead integrated marketing campaigns across digital, social, traditional, and experiential channels
• Align messaging across tourism, economic development, membership engagement, and regional partnerships
• Strengthen communications strategy and storytelling initiatives

Agency & Partner Management
• Lead agency relationships, RFP processes, and performance evaluation
• Collaborate with regional stakeholders and external partners to align creative and strategic efforts

Data & Analytics
• Build a data-driven marketing culture and measurement framework
• Integrate analytics and reporting systems to improve decision-making and performance tracking

Leadership & Team Development
• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing marketing organization
• Foster collaboration, accountability, creativity, and strategic thinking within the team

Candidate Profile

The ideal candidate will be a collaborative and strategic marketing executive who thrives in dynamic environments and enjoys balancing big-picture vision with hands-on leadership. The organization is seeking an individual who can influence across multiple stakeholder groups while bringing strong communication, branding, and leadership capabilities.

Key qualifications include:
• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Communications, Business, Nonprofit Management, or related field
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive marketing leadership experience
• Experience leading integrated brand and marketing strategies
• Proven success managing budgets and agency relationships
• Strong executive presence and communication skills
• Ability to operate effectively in fast-paced and evolving environments
• 6 + years of demonstrated experience leading leaders and developing high-performing teams
• Strong interpersonal, relationship-building, and collaboration skills
• Strategic mindset combined with operational execution capability

Culture & Leadership Style

The organization values leaders who are collaborative, adaptable, mission-driven, and comfortable navigating ambiguity while driving forward progress. The ideal executive will bring intellectual curiosity, humility, accountability, and a willingness to challenge ideas constructively when appropriate.

This individual should be energized by community impact, relationship building, strategic problem solving, and helping unify multiple stakeholders around a shared vision for growth and regional success.

To apply: Please contact Lori Fain from Torch Group at lfain@torchgroup.com.