Angela J Design

About

Portrait of Angela Kelley

Angela Kelley

Founder, Angela J Design

I turn strategy into results by putting people at the center of execution.

Over 25 years, I've led brand, marketing, customer experience, and growth as a CMO and executive, and served nonprofits as a board member and advisor.

Plans succeed when people are clear and committed. I align teams, clarify ownership, and build routines that keep work moving, all focused on the people you serve.

View my LinkedIn profile
  • 25+ years leading brand, marketing, customer experience, and growth
  • Two-time CMO for large tech companies
  • Nonprofit board member and advisor

What I believe

01

Clarity is kindness.

Teams do their best work when they know what matters, who owns it, and what done looks like.

02

Simple beats perfect.

The best routine is the one your team will still be running a year from now.

03

Mission first, always.

Every project, meeting, and dashboard should trace back to the people you serve.

Selected Work

Plans that made it to practice

The same discipline that grows a $1B company works for a community organization: clear owners, honest measures and a customer who feels the difference.

01

Dun & Bradstreet · Chief of Staff

Turning a $1B+ budget into decisions the executive team could act on

The challenge

Annual planning across sales, product, technology, marketing and operations needed to connect company strategy to where money and people actually went.

What I did

Ran the annual planning process, joining top-down targets with bottom-up plans, surfacing investment choices and aligning executives on them. Managed strategic programs from pricing to new-product launches for the COO's 2,000-person organization.

$1B+
cost base allocated
2K
employees in scope

02

Dun & Bradstreet · Head of Customer Experience

Building the company's first Customer Experience function

The challenge

Support for 114,000 customers was costly, and friction in the product and operations kept sending customers back to the service desk.

What I did

Stood up a 500-person CX organization with a $75M budget. Analyzed 17,000+ inquiries to map customer journeys, fixed the root causes with product and operations, and launched a revenue retention program.

95%
customer retention
+0.9pp
YoY retention, $1B+ base

03

Sterling · CMO & Head of Client Experience

One marketing engine across many business units, through an IPO

The challenge

A fast-growing hiring-services company had marketing scattered across vertical business units, with no shared goals or measures.

What I did

Centralized marketing around business outcomes, tied every unit's plan to shared KPIs, and led a 250-person global support team serving 50,000+ clients.

$29.7M
marketing-sourced revenue, 2021
66%
lead conversion, 2023

04

Avid · Chief Marketing Officer

Redefining brand and go-to-market for a $300M media technology company

The challenge

A PE-backed software, hardware and services company needed one clear brand and go-to-market approach across enterprise, direct-to-consumer and its large installed base.

What I did

Rebuilt brand, go-to-market and marketing execution, leading enterprise, D2C, product and customer marketing as one team.

$90M
eCommerce ARR, 2025
$79M
influenced pipeline, 2025

Experience

Where I've done the work.

More than 25 years leading teams, brands, and growth, now focused on helping organizations, especially mission-driven ones, turn strategy into results.

Nonprofit Advisory

New York, NY

A New York cultural and community center, founded in 1874, offering talks, performances, and classes.

A 6-month advisory engagement translating strategy recommendations from large consulting firms into day-to-day execution with staff to improve the patron experience.

Exactly what I do: turn the strategy deck into work your team owns and runs.

Visit 92nd Street Y

Morristown, NJ

A multi-service human services nonprofit serving children, families, veterans, seniors, and caregivers in Morris County.

Guiding marketing strategy and accountability at the board level for a mission-driven organization.

Exactly what I do: lead committee members, advise staff, and guide our marketing agency on best practices.

Visit Cornerstone Family Programs & Morristown Neighborhood House

A nonprofit using technology and data to improve the diagnosis and treatment of anxiety and depression.

Provided board-level guidance on strategy and growth to a mission-driven organization at the intersection of technology and mental health.

Exactly what I do: help a young nonprofit sharpen its strategy and turn it into focused priorities.

Visit Singula Institute

Corporate Leadership

A PE-backed media technology company whose software and hardware power film, TV, news, and music production.

Redefined brand, go-to-market, and execution, aligning enterprise, consumer, product, and customer marketing teams around clear priorities, owners, and KPIs for eCommerce revenue and enterprise pipeline.

Exactly what I do: reenergize a legacy brand and build an enterprise marketing function from the ground up.

Visit Avid

A global provider of background and identity screening services, now part of First Advantage.

Centralized marketing across business units through an IPO, tying every unit's plan to shared KPIs for sourced revenue, lead conversion, and client experience.

Exactly what I do: define the KPIs that matter, align every team to them, and report results leadership can act on.

Visit Sterling

A leading global provider of business decisioning data and analytics.

Nearly a decade in progressively senior roles: leading marketing programs, serving as chief of staff, and building the company's customer experience function.

Exactly what I do: translate executive priorities into cross-functional projects, owners, and routines that improve the customer experience.

Visit Dun & Bradstreet

One of the largest wireless carriers in the United States.

Led marketing strategy and execution across advertising, collateral, and in-store merchandising for a national telecom brand.

Exactly what I do: turn brand strategy into consistent, on-the-ground execution at scale.

Visit Verizon Wireless

Thought Leadership

New Jersey's flagship public research university.

Helped develop the curriculum for the Customer Experience Certificate Program and taught a course on integrating CX programs into corporate environments.

Exactly what I do: teach teams how to build customer experience into the way the organization already works.

Visit Rutgers University

Let's talk about your plan.

Tell me where you are. We'll talk through what's working, what's stuck, and what a realistic next step looks like.

Start a conversation