Jon Houston is a seasoned executive in Sales, New Business Development, and Marketing Strategy, leveraging expertise in strategic partnerships and planning, organizational leadership, and team development to optimize business operations and substantially enhance revenue streams. With progressive experience in robust sales and marketing initiatives, Mr. Houston has established an exemplary record of success across multiple business verticals.
Mr. Houston’s career began in 2005 at Ritter’s Frozen Custard, an award-winning premium ice cream chain, as the General Manager. As the operational leader, Mr. Houston demonstrated the ability to effectively supervise two locations simultaneously, while also improving performance for a team of approximately 15 staff members. Further, Mr. Houston planned and executed all daily business accounting activities to maintain a financially health operation in accordance with annual forecasts and long-term objectives.
Then, Mr. Houston joined University of Michigan Credit Union— a non-profit financial cooperative owned and operated by its members—comprising more than 80K affiliates and assets of more than $700M as the Community Relations Manager. Here, Jon Houston immediately established himself as not only a top-performer, but a critical innovator adept at designing and spearheading robust marketing and brand development initiatives. In this role, Mr. Houston redefined success and built integral relationships with community and university stakeholders to plan and execute events attracting as many as 100K attendees at iconic locations such as Michigan Stadium, ultimately expanding organizational awareness and improving reputation with key demographics.
After an accomplished four years in this role, Mr. Houston earned a promotion to the role of Business Development Manager, where he led efforts for a team of 12 and entirely surpassed internal expectations. Promoting robust coaching and professional development efforts for sales teams, he transformed performance at every juncture to generate multimillion-dollar revenue far in excess of initial forecasts. Additionally, in coordination with company leadership, Mr. Houston designed and deployed targeted sales programs to substantially improve profit margins in limited timespans, each expanding in scope and revenue generation from the last.
Upon his departure for the University of Michigan Credit Union, Mr. Houston drove significant business transformations at Oxford Companies and Pop-A-Lock. During his tenure at Oxford as the Associate Director of Commercial Business, he championed a cultural reconstitution predicated on increased sales training and advanced negotiations to increase the pipeline of high-potential leads. Following his time with Oxford, Mr. Houston assumed a role as Director of Operations at Pop-a-Lock where he established the enterprise as an industry leader, optimized brand management, and augmented year-over-year (YOY) sales growth.
Recently, as the Director of Sales at TotalCAE, Mr. Houston has built a wealth of knowledge regarding an entirely new industry— high-performance computing (HPC) simulation—to cultivate new business and drive organizational development. In a short tenure thus far, Mr. Houston has already improved a multitude of key business processes, created a technologically agile operation, and instituted a strategic sales plan to establish forecasts and communicate internal expectations for both short- and long-term performance.
Mr. Houston possesses a Master of Science in Business Leadership and a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration. Mr. Houston currently resides in Ann Arbor, MI, where he continues to further develop his professional and business skillsets, and he intends to secure a position in an organization as a change agent championing innovative sales and marketing initiatives, while continuing to coach and mentor internal stakeholders.