Northern Borough Designs · NBD
About

The full picture.

Creative and technology leader, 20+ years. Brand strategy, creative direction, and digital marketing, with an operational and IT layer from running technology for a statewide nonprofit. Independent freelance creative consultancy under Northern Borough Designs (NBD) since the mid-2000s.

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The short version

What I actually do.

Creative and technology leader, 20+ years. Brand strategy, creative direction, and digital marketing, with an operational and IT layer from running technology for a statewide nonprofit.

A decade at HIPB2B (2014–2024), a B2B agency serving enterprise clients. Moved through Creative Manager to Art Director to Director of Marketing & Creative. Ran brand, creative, social, video, PR, and the marketing budget.

Since 2024, Program & Technology Director at NYSCAA, the New York State Community Action Association. Directing statewide IT and technology modernization across 47 Community Action Agencies, in partnership with the NYS Division of Community Services.

Independent freelance creative consultancy since the mid-2000s under Northern Borough Designs (NBD). Brand strategy, creative direction, and design. Not a studio, not a registered business. Small caseload, clients working with me directly.

Puerto Rican, from the South Bronx, now in the Capital Region of New York. Bilingual in English and Spanish. Dad to a young daughter.

Experience

Where I've been.

  1. 2024 → Present
    Program & Technology Director
    NYSCAA · New York State Community Action Association · Guilderland, NY
    • Direct technology, communications, and design strategy for New York's forty-seven-agency Community Action network in partnership with the NYS Division of Community Services. Full-platform brief: infrastructure, brand, and content.
    • Delivered a modernization integrating member management, LMS, communications, and IT infrastructure. Built a Discourse-based communication portal that gives all forty-seven agencies one place to talk.
    • Design and produce the network's annual reports, brochures, conference materials, LMS courseware, and internal publications, along with the print-and-digital production pipeline behind them.
    • Design and run the network's webinars, conferences, and virtual meetings, from production systems through live delivery.
    • Consolidated fragmented internal document systems with real tagging and findability, cutting the duplicate-search and version-confusion that comes with a distributed network.
    • Own vendor relationships, RFPs, security posture, and SLAs across IT support, hosting, and creative production. Lead brand, communications, and publications including advocacy campaigns and WCAG-compliant member resources.
  2. 2014 → 2024
    HIPB2B
    Castleton-on-Hudson, NY · Three roles over a decade at a B2B agency
    Director of Marketing & Creative 2020 → 2024
    • Led brand, creative, and marketing strategy for a B2B firm serving 1,200+ enterprise clients.
    • Built and owned the email program, landing pages, and lead-capture systems that powered every client campaign.
    • Directed social media strategy and video content across client and firm channels.
    • Led PR and media relations efforts to support brand positioning and thought leadership.
    • Partnered with business development on proposals and RFP responses to win new client engagements.
    • Owned the marketing budget across paid media, tools, and vendor spend.
    • Standardized creative operations, cutting client revision cycles 20% and increasing team throughput 10%.
    Art Director 2018 → 2020
    • Defined visual direction for B2B campaigns across email, landing pages, display, and print, partnering with marketing, sales, and account teams.
    • Built the cross-functional creative process and brand standards that carried through the firm's full client portfolio.
    Creative Manager 2014 → 2018
    • Managed the creative team and established the brand guidelines and QA process that became the foundation for the firm's creative operations as it scaled.
  3. 2004 → Present
    Freelance Creative & Brand Consultant
    Northern Borough Designs · Independent · Remote, nationwide · Concurrent with primary roles
    • Deliver brand identity, marketing sites, and campaign strategy for small businesses, nonprofits, and public-sector clients since 2004.
    • Kept the caseload small on purpose. Every project gets the full twenty years, not a junior handoff, and clients work with me directly with no agency layer.
    • Bilingual delivery (English and Spanish) when the audience needs it, which for a lot of Community Action and public-sector work is exactly the point.
Toolkit

What I work with.

Marketing & Analytics
GA4 · Google Ads (PPC) · SEO / AEO / GEO fundamentals · Salesforce · HubSpot · Marketo · Tableau · Power BI · Looker Studio
Design & Brand
Photoshop · Illustrator · InDesign · Figma · Canva · HTML & CSS · WordPress · Webflow · WCAG accessibility
Community & Content Platforms
Discourse · MemberClicks · LearningPool LMS · SharePoint · WordPress
Systems & Security
Microsoft 365 · Google Workspace · Okta SSO · Jamf & Intune (MDM) · Zoom · Webex
AI-Augmented Work
ChatGPT · Claude · Gemini · Perplexity · Midjourney · Adobe Firefly · Runway · Zapier · Make
Program Management
Workfront · Microsoft Project · Asana · Monday.com · Airtable · Notion
Education, certs, languages

Paper on the wall.

The College of Saint Rose, Albany, NY. Graphic Design, 4-year Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) program, 2000–2004.

Certifications: MECLABS Institute (Email Messaging Optimization); Google Ads (Search, Display & Measurement); Digital Marketer (Email & Social Media Specialist); HubSpot Academy (Content Marketing).

Languages: English and Spanish, both fluent since childhood.