Kevin Herrod
Creative Direction + Strategic Marketing Leadership
Summary
Summary
Bridging leadership, engineering, marketing, sales and customers to turn complex ideas into clear, compelling commercial stories.
Creative Director and strategic marketing leader with 15+ years guiding brands, integrated campaigns, technical storytelling and creative teams across energy, industrial technology, manufacturing, B2B and consumer markets. I translate complex products and business objectives into brand systems, go-to-market narratives and creative execution that help teams align, sales conversations move forward and customers understand why a solution matters.
Creative Leadership: Sets the creative vision and turns strategy into cohesive execution across brand, digital, print, video, presentations, experiential and sales-enablement channels.
Brand & Visual Systems: Builds and stewards scalable brand systems that create consistency without sacrificing the flexibility teams need to communicate effectively.
Technical Storytelling: Partners with executives, engineers, subject-matter experts and sales teams to make sophisticated products and technologies understandable, differentiated and commercially relevant.
Integrated Marketing & Commercilization: Connects positioning, content, campaigns and sales enablement around a clear customer value proposition—from strategic direction through hands-on execution.
Experience
Experience
Ricochet Creative
03/2014 – Present
Organizations engage Ricochet Creative when they need to bridge the gaps between leadership, engineering, operations, marketing, sales, and customers by translating complex technologies and business objectives into commercialization strategies, compelling customer value propositions, competitive market positioning, and sustainable business growth.
I help executive teams align stakeholders, accelerate commercialization, strengthen market positioning, and communicate complex ideas across industrial, energy, manufacturing, construction, technology, and consumer markets.
This work includes leading cross-functional teams delivering:
- Commercialization & Go-to-Market Strategy
- Technology Translation & Technical Marketing
- Strategic Communications & Stakeholder Alignment
- Brand Strategy & Market Positioning
- Sales Enablement & Customer Education
- AI-Assisted Research, Content Development & Workflow Optimization
Select Engagements:
Riize, LLC – Led commercialization and go-to-market strategy supporting the transition to a retail consumer supplements brand. Directed product positioning, packaging, website, advertising, customer communications, and launch of seven products in twelve months.
Enventure Global Technology – Executive Sponsor for the Expandable Liner Hanger Commercialization Charter Team, aligning executive leadership, engineering, sales, and commercialization stakeholders around a shared commercialization strategy supporting long-term growth.
Mohawk Energy – Led commercialization and market re-entry after Weatherford’s exclusive marketing agreement expired, re-establishing downhole technologies through integrated marketing, technical communications, and customer value propositions.
Brayton Construction – Built market credibility for a newly formed company with no completed projects by leveraging the leadership team’s experience, project portfolios, and client testimonials into a market position that accelerated business development.
Weatherford
01/2008 – 02/2014
Manager of Technical Documentation – Well Completion Technologies (WCT)
Led the Technical Documentation function for Weatherford’s Well Completion Technologies (WCT) business unit, providing leadership for documentation standards, visual communication, and operational excellence across nine global product lines.
- Directed a multidisciplinary team of technical writers, illustrators, and graphic designers supporting global product commercialization, customer education, and technical communications.
- Evaluated, redesigned, and standardized documentation processes to improve quality, consistency, scalability, and cross-functional efficiency. Chaired the Technical Work Instruction Committee, establishing documentation standards supporting API Q2 quality requirements.
- Partnered with engineering, manufacturing, quality, product management, and executive leadership to improve documentation quality, standardize technical communications, and translate complex technologies into clear, accurate, customer-focused information.
Senior Technical Designer – Well Construction Products (WCP)
Joined Weatherford as a contract Senior Graphic Designer supporting a single product line. Following a successful contract engagement, accepted a full-time role and progressively earned responsibility across five global product lines through a proven ability to translate complex engineering concepts into effective technical and marketing communications.
- Developed integrated marketing communications, technical illustrations, product literature, animations, presentations, and customer-facing materials that translated complex engineering concepts into compelling customer value and supported global product commercialization.
- Partnered with engineering, product management, sales, and marketing to strengthen product positioning, sales enablement, and customer understanding through technical communication and visual storytelling.
- Managed external creative partners while establishing quality standards for technical illustration, animation, photography, and brand consistency across global marketing initiatives.
Independent Contractor
Art Director | Creative Services Consultant
05/2000 – 01/2009
Built an independent consulting practice supporting organizations ranging from local businesses to Fortune 500 companies, partnering directly with executive leadership, marketing teams, engineers, and business owners to solve branding, communications, commercialization, and business development challenges. This period established the consulting philosophy that continues to define Ricochet Creative today: bridge organizational gaps, simplify complexity, and deliver business solutions that create measurable value.
Select Engagements:
Oil & Gas Consulting – Supported technical marketing, engineering communications, and creative initiatives for Schlumberger, Halliburton, Weatherford, and other energy companies. These engagements expanded both technical knowledge and industry relationships, ultimately leading to a full-time opportunity with Weatherford International.
Technical Response Planning Corporation – Initially engaged as a creative consultant before accepting an opportunity with Dynegy. Following the engagement, recruited back to establish and lead the company’s Creative Services department, demonstrating a consistent ability to earn expanded responsibility through results.
Dynegy – Supported corporate marketing communications and investor relations until the Enron acquisition shifted internal priorities. Because legal restrictions prevented contractors from participating in acquisition-related activities, I was instructed to remain home while continuing to receive compensation rather than risk losing me as an established resource while normal business operations were suspended.
Painting Professionals – Engaged to develop the company’s first website by converting existing print marketing materials into an online presence. Having no prior web development experience, learned HTML over a single weekend and launched the completed website the following Monday, establishing an approach to rapidly mastering new technologies that has continued throughout my career.
Technical Response Planning Corporation
Manager of Creative Services
03/2002 – 10/2004
Recruited back to Technical Response Planning Corporation following an earlier consulting engagement to lead the Creative Services department after 9/11, when anticipated regulatory changes created the need to significantly increase production capacity without proportionally increasing headcount. Partnered with executive leadership to redesign workflows, eliminate operational bottlenecks, standardize processes, and integrate workflows across graphic design, data entry, and document production to create a more efficient, scalable operation.
- Evaluated the complete production lifecycle, identifying workflow constraints and implementing standardized processes, templates, best practices, and cross-functional training that significantly improved efficiency, scalability, and organizational responsiveness.
- Integrated graphic design, data entry, and document production into a cross-trained operation, eliminating single points of failure while creating a workforce capable of supporting approximately three times the previous production capacity without proportional staffing increases.
- Reduced operating costs by modernizing production technology, replacing legacy printing systems with faster, more cost-effective equipment while eliminating unnecessary service contract expenses.
- Directed corporate branding initiatives including website redesign, corporate collateral, proposal graphics, presentations, and trade show exhibits supporting business development and executive communications.
- When anticipated post-9/11 regulatory demand failed to materialize, the redesigned operating model enabled approximately one-third of the original staff to successfully maintain the organization’s existing production workload.
Parker Media Group
Manager of Animation & Illustration Services
09/1997 – 05/2000
Recruited from Compaq Computer Corporation to help scale Parker Media Group from a single-client technical illustration firm into a multi-client technical communications agency. Leveraged advanced technical illustration, visualization, and leadership experience to expand operational capacity, develop talent, and establish processes supporting multiple enterprise clients while serving as the primary client interface for one of the company’s largest accounts.
- Built and led a team of ten technical illustrators and animators, establishing production standards, mentoring staff, and implementing workflows that improved quality, consistency, and delivery across complex engineering visualization projects.
- Served as the primary client relationship manager for Compaq Computer Corporation, partnering directly with engineering, documentation, and product teams to coordinate priorities, manage deliverables, and ensure consistent execution across multiple business units.
- Helped transform Parker Media Group from a single-client startup into a growing technical communications agency by expanding service capacity, recruiting technical talent, developing standardized production processes, and supporting business growth.
- Partnered with executive leadership to develop corporate branding, website, marketing collateral, advertising, and business development materials while supporting expansion into new industries and enterprise accounts.
- Established scalable production standards and mentoring practices that enabled the technical illustration and animation team to operate independently while maintaining quality across a rapidly expanding workload.
Compaq Computer Corporation
Senior Technical Illustrator
02/1992 – 09/1997
Joined Compaq Computer Corporation as a contract Technical Illustrator supporting Technical Publications and Marketing. After being hired full-time as a Technical Illustrator I, I mastered Compaq’s newly adopted digital illustration technologies, developed the production standards and workflows for their successful adoption, and trained the entire illustration staff—including senior illustrators—while still serving as a Technical Illustrator I. In recognition of these contributions, I was promoted directly to Senior Technical Illustrator, bypassing the Technical Illustrator II level, before being recruited by Parker Media Group to help scale its technical illustration and animation business.
- Partnered directly with engineers, industrial designers, technical writers, and marketing teams to transform complex computer hardware and technologies into accurate technical illustrations supporting product documentation, technical publications, and marketing communications.
- Produced technical illustrations, exploded assemblies, installation procedures, service documentation, and product visualizations supporting multiple Compaq product lines.
- Collaborated with cross-functional product development teams to ensure technical accuracy while improving the clarity and usability of customer-facing technical communications.
- Established a reputation for technical innovation, process improvement, and knowledge transfer that became the foundation for future leadership opportunities throughout my career.
Software Proficiencies
Professional Skills
Portfolio
Portfolio
Testimonials
Testimonials
Amina Rivera
Kevin and I collaborated on numerous brand, safety and marketing projects. I always found him easy to work with, as did many of our internal clients. His professionalism, expertise and attention to detail made Kevin an invaluable part of the team.
Amie Smith
Kevin helped drive our company brand consistency and possessed a level of detail for nuances that he never hesitated to bring to our attention. I would say his attention to detail was more keen than other designers I’ve worked with in the past.
Brent Emerson
Kevin has the unique technical, creative and innovative skills across a broad spectrum of marketing and marketing communication platforms. Anything he has done for me or my organization was always outstanding.
Doug Wood
Professionalism, knowledge, preparedness, and creativity are just a few of the adjectives that describe Kevin. When you work with Kevin, you will definitely have someone who immediately rolls up their sleeves and goes to work. You will be hard-pressed to find anyone better.
Contact
Contact
Let’s Keep In Touch
For a quick contact scan the QR code to get all my info