Sundt’s marketing team includes several seasoned professionals including Jamie Spaulding, who was recently promoted to senior marketing/proposal specialist. Based in our San Diego office, Jamie is responsible for creating winning project proposals across a wide range of construction market types. It’s a tough job that requires a lot of technical savvy, people skills, and industry knowledge.
Jamie has 13 years of marketing experience and a B.A. in Journalism & Technical Communication from Colorado State University. What else goes into making her a dynamite marketing professional and fun colleague? We decided to ask her a few questions to find out:
How long have you been with Sundt, and what drew you to the company?
I’ve worked in a plethora of industries, from television to nonprofit to manufacturing. When a marketing opportunity popped up at Sundt, I jumped at the chance to get involved in the A/E/C community. And it seems to be a good fit, as I’ve been with Sundt for six and half years now.
What are your job responsibilities?
Aside from trying to appear calm while herding cats, as senior marketing/proposal specialist I am responsible for preparation, creation, and composition of marketing packages, proposals and presentations and coordinating collaboration efforts with business development teams to develop winning pursuits. In addition, I schedule proposals and assign resources, which make me very popular (or not).
What are your biggest day-to-day work challenges?
Working in a constant deadline-driven world is not easy; being creative in one is formidable.
What are the most fun and rewarding parts of your job?
Winning, of course! In all seriousness, winning a pursuit not only means that we’ve made our internal clients happy, it means our external customers are going to get a service experience that will truly go beyond their expectations. And there is nothing more rewarding than a happy customer.
What’s the biggest winning project proposal you ever worked on?
I’ve been lucky enough to have worked on 25 winning proposals that resulted in over $1.4 billion in selected work for Sundt. Of those, the biggest and most memorable would have to be the $230 million San Diego International Airport Landside Expansion, which we submitted with joint venture partner Kiewit in 2008. I had only been doing proposals for a year, and here comes this highly complex, extremely technical, multi-partner pursuit. There were very long hours and little sleep in those months it took to produce the final proposal, but we won the job, and it was great to see all that hard work pay off.
How do you like to spend your free time?
When I’m not busy fixing Adobe InDesign software crashes on my computer, my passions outside of work include treasure hunting, traveling, watching flicks, hiking, playing with my Chihuahua named Disco, and laughing at it all.
Best advice you ever received?
If you fall off the horse, get back on and do it again!
Favorite kind of cuisine?
I love every cuisine as long as it has hot sauce or red peppers on it … the spicier the better!
Favorite sport (either to play or to watch)?
I used to ride horses competitively and I thoroughly enjoy watching a challenging grand prix.
Who or what has had a profound influence on you?
My dog. Yep, after 13 years I still get the same exact reaction from him every time I walk through the front door. Pure joy, happiness and complete unwavering companionship.