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Employment
Contractual
Expertise
Military
Professional

Mr. Whidden has been employed to analyze markets, create promotional programs, conduct marketing events, design trade show exhibits, produce corporate videos, run ad campaigns and more — all for shaping products for success and to expand market share for the company's investors and employees welfare.

Creative Services Manager for CCN (largest PPO in California and 3rd largest PPO in U.S. with over 250 sales offices nationwide) for five years until company was sold. Created web graphics and linked promotional site subsets. Worked directly with corporate senior management on planning objectives and tactical solutions for introducing a variety of healthcare services to markets. Provided marketing analysis for advertising and public relations promotions for use in regional and national markets, produced ads and collateral materials; maintained and customized data sheets (as requested by over 250 individual field offices) for over 70 specific health insurance services.
Supervisor, Advertising and Graphics, Hughes Aircraft, Industrial Products Division where he created ads, collateral materials and public relations activities that included news releases, product promotions, promotional event planning, photography, etc. for seven high-tech industrial products (Lasers, Infra-Red technology, computer board welders and bonders, aircraft wire testing systems and the world’s largest digital projector) for two years until the division was divided and relocated from California to other states.
Grossmont Union High School District (employed seven years) — Instructor of Computer Graphics providinga full course of marketing communications to over 1500 adult women incarcerated in the San Diego County jail system. The set of courses began with a communication course followed by a marketing course (focused on identifying a market they had a need or desire to reach by designing an ad, brochure or another promotional medium using their new skills). Next they take a course on designing and refining the layouts of promotional materials created using CorelDraw, Photoshop and Illustrator. And last, a course on how to shape their portfolio to attract a possible employer after leaving jail. My responsibilities included: curriculum design, instruction, evaluation of student progress, and management of student grades and records.

Over the years, I've been able to secure on-going and contractual relationships with companies who appreciate my capabilities...

Over the years, I have served in the broad field of marketing communication and have had the time build many skills.

1. Marketing Communications (Public Relations/Advertising)

Served with the U. S. Air Force for eight years of active duty and 12 years of reserve duty. Retired with the rank of Major.

• Public information officer, Charleston AFB — On publicity team for arrival of first operational C-5 Galaxy aircraft (then the world's largest aircraft), escorted nationial members of the press and magazine editors, responsible for publicatin of a base newspaper, worked with the commanding general to establsh and maintain good relations between Charleston Air Force Base and the City of Charleston (SC), designed and managed a construction team of 20 airmen to build a parade float used in the parade celebrating the 300th anniversary of Charleston, arranged press conferences for high-ranking visitors (including a U.S. Vice President) and was awarded the Air Force's highest noncombat medal, the Air Force Commendation Medal, for outstanding performance of duty.
• Served with Air Force Recruiting Service as an Advertising and Publicity Officer for the Manhattan and Long Island, New York metro area and worked directly with the Air Force's international advertising and publicity agency. Supervised Air Force recruiting advertising and publicity for the New York City area (Manhattan and Long Island). Subsequently managed advertising and publicity for the Western Tier of New York State (Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse), a market area ranked ninth largest in the U.S. His efforts achieved publicity for the Air Force in Time magazine; a feature article with double-truck, photo-montage in Section B of the Sunday New York Times newspaper and over 12 hours of television coverage achieved via his planning of three-day media visits to television and radio stations by Air Force Generals (Chiefs of: USAF Personnel, Nurse Corps, Women in the Air Force, and the highest ranking black general in the Air Force) from Manhattan to Buffalo, NY.
• Chief, Catalog Division, Community College of the Air Force, Was responsible for overseeing the production of a 500-page college catalog detailing the credit hours accredited by the National Association of Schools and Colleges for over a thousand Air Force training courses. Duties included writing introductory text and course descriptions, catalog art and layout, production planning, supervising a staff of three, overseeing printing of the catalog anda quarterly newsletter and administration of the office tasks (personnel reviews, memos to other offices, contracts, etc.)

A belief in professionalism and participation in professional groups has always been important to Mr. Whdden.

Current participations

Past participations

Honors

Site Map

Sketches....

Mankind was introduced to photography in 1839. A few

art critics sensed that something big had taken place, but, for the most part, every one was in awe of photography's ability to mirror objects in real life with great accuracy and detail. Within one week, a few insightful critics said that "Painting is Dead." It would take 20 more years for Claude Monet to reach adulthood, take painting lessons and give us the first modern painting style an art critic would sarcastically name" Impressionism". In a way, painting was dead — well at least realistic painting in the classic sense. A new kind of realism evolved, however, one where objects, if painted at all, were distorted in shape, color, line and shadow to better "express" the feelings and to heigthen the message of the art work. Edvard Munch's painting entiltled 'The Scream," exemplifies distortion of the paint so that it becomes an inherent factor of the message. Today, we know that painting is still with us in a bold way. And that photography, although it is now even better at portraying objects and color than before, has yet to replace the artistic pre-eminance that painting held from the Renaissance to the mid-1800s. Surprisingly, In the late 1400s, Leonardo da Vinci wrote in one of his notebooks, that for a painting to appear realistic it needed to have the painting's surface smooth like glass. It took great handicraft to do this. Today, this is a skill that's lost. And no one really seems to notice that we no longer need to care because painting is now all about the splattered and scratched surface of the painting and, it;'s now photography who owns the glossy surface, an achieverment that requires no handicraft .