Sylvia M. Feinman
 smfeinman@aol.com

Professional Profile

Professional writer with a successful track record in the health care, computer, energy and aerospace industries; with skills in project management, editing, interviewing, market research and team building. Equally comfortable in highly technical and consumer service environments and possessing superior communication skills.

Experience

Freelance Writer (March, 1999 to present)

  • Conducted interviews and wrote articles for consumer publications about health issues facing individuals with diabetes. Articles ranged from medical advances in the field to summary and discussion of scholarly articles published in medical journals.
  • My challenge as a freelance writer is to develop a comprehensive understanding of each industry and then create interesting, factually correct copy that is useful to consumers and lay people with varying degrees of education and familiarity with the subject matter.

U.S. CARE, Santa Monica, California

Director of Communications (April, 1998 to February, 1999)

  • Created communication campaigns for marketing of Long-Term Care programs to specific consumer groups.
  • Wrote material for targeted direct mail and print media campaigns.
  • Interfaced with all vendors and agencies to facilitate advertising and product placement in major markets.
  • Acted as point person for benefits and human resources offices for employer groups, setting up and managing on-site seminars and program roll-outs.
  • Managed telemarketing and customer service functions, had complete responsibility for all personnel issues, team motivation and reporting.
  • Created market research and maintained corporate database for assessing success of communications campaigns.

EDISON SOURCE, an Edison International Company, City of Industry, California

Proposal Manager (November, 1997 to April, 1998)

  • Researched and documented procedures for implementing large account migration to direct access environment.
  • Managed and coordinated responses to Requests for Proposals, including all necessary interface with clients and senior management.
  • Prepared reports and documentation of procedures and proposal activity for affiliate contacts.
  • Standardized responses, facilitated staffing and personnel management and simplified the proposal process by providing generic proposal and marketing documents.

Proposal (RFP) Supervisor (January, 1997 to November, 1997)

  • Created and generated multi-million dollar comprehensive energy proposals and presentations for the business opportunities created by the deregulation of the electricity and natural gas market.
  • Generated 80 proposals and 60 graphics-intensive presentations in 1997.

FHP HEALTH CARE, Cerritos, California

RFP Unit Supervisor (November, 1996 to January, 1997)

  • Managed a staff of five individuals who responded to Requests for Proposals, Requests for Information, Surveys and GeoAccess Reports.
  • Developed all policies and procedures for the unit and chaired weekly unit meetings.
  • Developed, enhanced and validated standard proposal responses.
  • Wrote "RFP Operations Manual" for direct reports and internal clients.
  • Member of the broker relations marketing team. Created innovative survey instruments to promote new products to brokers not familiar with the health care industry.

Senior Technical Writer (June, 1996 to November, 1996)

  • Lead writer for proposal unit, edited and organized coworkers' written proposals and internal correspondence.
  • Wrote customized responses to client proposals. Completed over 70 proposals in five month period.
  • Rewrote and edited centralized database to ensure consistency and accuracy of all corporate marketing and information and ease of use.

HEALTH NET, Woodland Hills, California

Senior Technical Writer (April, 1995 to June, 1996)

  • Managed proposal writing and production in the Woodland Hills Corporate Office.
  • Chosen for the position of National Specialist for multi-state proposals, renewals and surveys.
  • Created successful relationships among sales representatives and key contacts in every area of the corporation, including members of two distinct companies working together as a result of a corporate merger.
  • Lead writer for template creation project to standardize proposal responses.

DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION, New York, New York

Project Manager (August, 1990 to June, 1994)

  • Created newsletters, press releases and flyers for consumers, making technical issues and complex new product developments understandable and compelling.
  • Proposal management, writing, editing and publishing in the Manhattan, Long Island, Westchester, Albany and New Jersey offices.
  • Achieved increasingly aggressive multi-million dollar sales goals for five years.
  • Incorporated sophisticated graphics into sales proposals and presentations.
  • Developed and maintained technical library.

Sales Assistant (September, 1989 to August, 1990)

GRUMMAN DATA SYSTEMS, Woodbury, New York, Personnel Administrator
CONTRACTORS' PLANNING GROUP, INC., Garden City, New York, Personal Lines Underwriter

Education
J.D., Hofstra University School of Law, Lester Fortunoff Scholarship Recipient
B.A., English Literature, Mathematics Minor, Molloy College, Summa Cum Laude

Extra-curricular Activities
Campaign Writer and Strategist
Member, New York State Bar Association
Horse-racing Handicapper
Private tutor, all levels of mathematics