Name: Pamela Carr Hagerman
Position for which you are a candidate: West Dundee Trustee
Why are you seeking this position?
As a West Dundee resident for 21 years, I am stepping up to offer my professional experience and knowledge to assist our town in dealing with two important issues, lost tax revenue and declining business morale. I would like to apply my significant retail and ecommerce marketing experience to rebuild West Dundee as a retail destination for future generations. West Dundee residents continue to see their taxes increase to compensate for shrinking retail revenue. Rather than continuing to ask for new tax increases, I would like to lead an initiative to successfully grow retail revenue to offset new expenses.
As a Digital Marketing professional, I have unique skills to migrate West Dundee beyond the status quo. We should be tapping into this mode of communication to aggressively sell our town as an attractive location to businesses and homeowners. I personally think it would be exciting to guide West Dundee through the discovery of breakthrough commerce ideas and digital community tools that facilitate attracting digitally savvy younger residents and families to our neighborhoods.
Finally, I would like to be a catalyst for producing new jobs in our area. West Dundee residents have experienced job losses due the recent pandemic. I would like to apply my extensive marketing knowledge to position West Dundee as a location for companies to relocate to. One example would be to entice industries thriving during the pandemic such as ecommerce distribution centers.
What experience and background do you have which qualifies you for this position?
As a retail and ecommerce marketing professional with over 20 years experience, I am uniquely skilled for building West Dundee into a retail destination. During my career, I have launched several successful ecommerce start and re-platform businesses for leading brands in multiple industries. This involved management of business strategy, site requirements, IT development vendors, merchandise onboarding, finance and legal requirements, marketing strategy and analytics. These competencies are directly applicable to supporting local businesses with omni-channel initiatives, and to developing an ecommerce leadership position for West Dundee.
Also, my broad integrated marketing experience (both online and offline) would enable me to contribute to marketing efforts for Village events and attractions, core brand positioning and strategy, marketing communications, market research and resident retention. My background includes marketing leadership roles at Sears, Grainger, Chicago Tribune, Kraft Foods, Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Illinois, Enesco Gift, Kiefer Aquatics and Zebra Technologies. My targeted education includes: BBA in Advertising from Western Michigan University, MS in Direct Marketing from Northwestern University, and Web Development Certification from Illinois Institute of Art. My technical and communication skills will be an asset to the Village of West Dundee team.
What will be your highest priorities if elected?
The top priority for West Dundee should be to turnaround retail sales declines and vacant properties in the Spring Hill Mall Corridor. For many years, West Dundee was a regional shopping destination for surrounding communities, and the tax revenue generated by Spring Hill Mall was a benefit to local residents. Since the 90’s, consumers have shifted preferences from interior malls, and competitive shopping developments have been built that have significantly reduced traffic to West Dundee. Recent pandemic restrictions and a shift to online shopping have further eroded retail sales in the Spring Hill Mall Corridor. A plan was developed in 2015, but only partially implemented. Now is the time to refresh the consumer preference data, and prioritize this revitalization effort.
Also, I believe that West Dundee should prioritize inventing a digital presence. The current Village website does an adequate job of storing relevant information, but lacks an interactive, community-building component for local involvement. Additionally, the social media pages are not frequently maintained, and do not encourage conversations or user-generated content. Creating a networking hub for a robust calendar, community feedback, social media monitoring, and sharing of ideas is critical for all growth efforts. We should also be reviewing best practices from larger adjacent towns to find ideas to make West Dundee more competitive for attracting new businesses.
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