Shirley Lawson

MBA General Management 1988 - 1990

Worked as Career Counselor for other MBA Students, CFO for Student Lounge and Snack Bar.

Activities: Marketing Club, Black Business Students Association, CFO & Activities Coordinator - Student Lounge,

BA Political Science 1981 - 1985

Activities: Chair - Mary Lou Williams Cultural Center, Resident Advisor, Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.; Black Student Alliance

Shirley is uniquely experienced in strategic corporate and consumer marketing, which made her an effective change agent in Motorola's marketing departments. She had an exceptional record of developing top performing, cross-functional and cross-business teams in a large matrixed organization. Shirley is a srong leader who has a passion for the profession, sincere respect for people.

Shirley is a bright, energetic, results driven business executive. Self starter! Shirley is decisive and time bound balanced with human capital needs. Shirley is an outstanding team member, selfless, affable, and collegial. Shirley functions well in both a tactical and strategic environment. Very financially astute, A pragmatic problem solver. I would hire her again.

We tried at Team Products and ALCO to establish brand relationships that would add value to both the licensor and our businesses and Shirley was the key to making that happen. She presented our Company, as well as herself, to these partners as professional, market-oriented and committed to achieving business success. Anyone looking for a thoughtful, aggressive, professional that can build strong relationships with strategic partners should certainly consider Shirley.

She was able to use her strong subject matter expertise in marketing to gain credibility in serving her internal clients, the marketing leadership of the company.

I had the pleasure of working with Shirley at both Alco and Team Products. She is an intelligent and insightful professional. She has the ability to cross between finance and marketing/sales departments seamlessly, thereby increasing information flow and productivity. She is able to understand product specific attributes of a brand and develop successful strategies to market them. She also possesses the unique ability to bring a product full circle from initial concept to placement on a store shelf. Shirley would be a tremendous asset to any company.

Shirley was the leader of Alco's initiative to add brands to its broad product line in order to grow the company. She was very professional in reviewing well over 20 opportunities, building internal support for each of the recommended brands, and bringing 3 of them to the contract stage.

Shirley has the flexibility and creativity required to handle all aspects of projects dealing with a variety of marketing issues, and make valuable and insightful strategic recommendations to clients. Shirley regularly worked with demanding clients and tight deadlines, and did it with patience and intelligence. I highly recommend her.

As a marketer, Shirley has a clear grasp of marketing, planning and development of new products.

Shirley�s work ethic was professional. She communicated with all parties involved and extended herself to help others.

Shirley possesses the ability to manage projects and people effectively, because she is a devoted professional, a team player and is committed to her work.

Shirley has been a client on and off for over 10 years. She is an extremely knowledgeable person in many aspects of advertising/marketing. She is focused and passionate about her work and has assisted me in developing my marketing/advertising skills. Her enthusiasm is infectious.

In the midst of licensing development's storm of confusion, Shirley was a lighthouse, glowing with marketing strategy and focus. With her experience and resourcefulness she definitely aided us through some tough projects, tough deadlines and tough decisions. I learned a lot working with Shirley and recommend her, without a doubt that she will tackle whatever challenges are laid before her.

Shirley gave our small agency a chance to work with a large organization such as Wella Personal Care. We worked very closley together. She was extremely organized and clear as to what she wanted which made our job much easier. She understood her target audience which showed her marketing capibilities. I would look forward to working with her again.

I had the pleasure of working with Shirley on branded product and always found her to be very intelligent and insightful. She approached her role with enthusiasm and professionalism. Shirley has the ability to understand the nuances of a brand or property and then develop a way for that brand to succeed. I always found Shirley to be a self-starting professional with an impeccable reputation respected by both her colleagues at Alco and the vast network of licensing partners we met with. I would give Shirley the highest of recommendations!

Not only was Shirley an asset to Team Products, but was a mentor to me. Shirley is a smart, ambitious person and brought many bright ideas to the table. Shirley is a person who thinks outside the box and her work reflected that, her ideas were welcomed and received very positively. I would highly recommend her for a position at your company as she will be a very important asset to your business. She works extremely well with others and consider myself very lucky to have worked with her and been taught new ideas in business.

I have worked directly with Shirley on customer specific product development along with product presentations and have always found her to be well informed, professional, and detailed to the task at hand. I have also worked with Shirley at Trade Shows where she interacted with customers in a positive and knowledgeable fashion. She is a very intelligent person and an asset to those that she is involved with.
Jeffrey Rome- VP of Sales

I've always been amazed at Shirley's brand knowledge and prowess to find licensing leeds. Her sensitivity to brand cohesiveness made my job as packaging creative director much easier and her projects always moved smoothly from conception through production. We started working together during a major transition at ALCO and her work ethic and sense of humor create the perfect environment for working as a team.

Shirley is a detailed oriented person who was always on top of requests, helping ensure we had the information needed to effectively take her company’s product to market.

Shirley is a well organized, detail-oriented and strategic Manager. I admire her ability to adapt quickly to changes in the marketing place.

- Shirley is a highly professional, extremely efficient, knowledgeable and an valued asset for any company.
- Shirley is a motivator and can drive any company to success.
- Can work on many tasks while maintaining the deadlines and the focus on the objectives.
- Any company "dream" employee.

Shirley is a very nice and smart guy. We worked very closely on product development during pass year. Her responses were right to the point and have given me a very clear direction. I hope I can have an opportunity to work with her again in the future.

Shirley is a nice guy, and I am very happy worked with her before.
She is familiar in production in Chinese factory, and well understanding in product's properties.
I really hope I can work with her in the future.

Shirley is a multi talented marketing and sales professional. I can personally vouch for her intelligence and professionalism. I have been in business meetings with her at retailers such as WalMart, CVS, Rite Aid and BJs Wholesale Club and we have worked on many projects together.

Shirley is a very professional sourcing specialist, she always react to issues timely, her responses were right to the point and have given the team in China a very clear direction, we found her to be very approachable, and our team likes her very much.