JR Bolen

Strategic and solution-oriented marketing operations leader with extensive experience driving operational excellence and aligning cross-functional teams around a shared vision. Specialize in transforming complex B2C marketing ecosystems into structured, efficient, and foundationally solid operations empowering marketing teams to improve performance. Build collaborative bridges to ensure seamless execution of strategy by leveraging a marketing activity framework optimizing roles/responsibilities, processes, data, and technology. Leadership grounded in transparent communication, thoughtful innovation, and enabling teams to excel.

CORE STRENGTHS

• Marketing Operational Foundations & Frameworks
• Marketing Operational Performance Management
• Process Development, Improvement, & Optimization
• Relationship Building & Cross-Functional Collaboration
• Qualitative + Quantitative Analysis -> Informed Decision-Making
• Strategic, Critical, & Innovative Thinking
• Adaptability and Change Management
• Strategic & Operational Planning
• Creative Problem-Solving

Across roles, I’m known for balancing strategic vision with pragmatic execution, fostering strong partnerships, and creating systems that drive clarity, consistency, and impact. My work has focused on designing and scaling operational frameworks that empower marketing organizations to perform at their best. The frameworks are based on marketing activities—what Marketing does to achieve their goals collectively enabled by people, process, information, AND technology—resulting in increased efficiency, improvement of day-to-day execution, while sustaining strategic alignment. 

I’ve led cross-functional teams, driving operational excellence through strategic program management, end-to-end process optimization, ensuring data integrity, and the implementation of marketing technology. At Land O’Lakes, I built a foundational marketing activity framework then guided the creation of their first end-to-end marketing operational roadmap. I collaboratively drove streamlining the management of work, shifting from individual focus to organizational alignment. I orchestrated a new platform selection to improve management of creative assets while paving the path for easier content deployment automation. At Nike, I shaped global marketing foundationally by spearheading process governance along with instilling standard operating procedures, leading teams through complex transformation efforts, maturing operating models, and standing up the first Marketing Technology team.

I’m passionate about enhancing how Marketing teams and their partners operate, in turn, enabling people to do their best work.

Lifelong learner, leveraging various resources to continually expand by knowledgebase, while incorporating into practical work thus further growing and developing.