ABOUT
LevelUp leverages decades of experience to deliver high-quality service to clients across a diverse range of industries.
Our Mission
To propel our clients to market leadership through marketing excellence
Our Story
LevelUp was founded in 2021 by Debra Marino, a marketing veteran and seasoned senior executive with over 3 decades of experience, including nearly 20 years focused on B2B solutions and services. LevelUp has successfully helped clients across a wide variety of industries reinvigorate their brands and accelerate growth by driving impactful marketing strategies and optimizing excellence at the intersection of Marketing, Product, and Sales.
Consulting is about people and building trusted partnerships, and we never lose sight of that at LevelUp. We are recognized for operating with the highest levels of integrity and transparency, as well as for a commitment to producing high-quality project deliverables that drive impactful change for our clients.
The Team
Debra Marino, Founder and President
Debra Marino, has over 30 years of experience in technology, software, and services marketing strategy and execution. She has defined and implemented marketing strategies for leading organizations, including Compaq Computer, Hewlett-Packard, Datacert, and Veriforce.
In her senior leadership roles at both Datacert and Veriforce, Marino re-positioned the companies in existing and new markets, led the definition and execution of new marketing strategies, and revamped marketing operations. These efforts were instrumental in driving significant customer acquisition and organic revenue growth and in positioning the companies for acquisition (Datacert to Wolters Kluwer in 2014 and Veriforce to Thoma Bravo in 2019).
Marino has also led post-M&A marketing and product strategy, re-branding, and operational integration, as well as led dozens of pricing strategy and implementation efforts across multiple SaaS companies.
Debra is a rare combination of both a strategic and operational marketing leader. She has a unique ability to measure the ROI of marketing programs, providing invaluable insights to drive future marketing strategy decisions, as well as transparency to the board to ensure the appropriate level of marketing investment is being made.
— Louie Werderich, Vice Chairman of the Board and Former CEO, Veriforce
Kristy Ulmer, Senior Advisor
Kristy Ulmer, Senior Advisor at LevelUp, has nearly 20 years of experience in business, brand, marketing, and product strategy. She has advised companies such as Compaq Computer, Hewlett-Packard, Nerac, VeriFone, ChoicePoint, and Burrow Global.
Ulmer’s expertise lies in helping companies grow their business in ways that leverage core competencies and solve market needs. She has accomplished this by rebranding and repositioning organizations and product lines, targeting new markets, repackaging service offerings, generating new revenue streams, overhauling GTM strategies, and creating new business models. Her efforts have increased sales, averted downsizings, improved customer satisfaction, and increased brand awareness and equity.
Ulmer has held leadership positions in corporate marketing and strategy teams, marketing agencies and consulting firms. She holds a BA from Boston College and an MBA from Vanderbilt University.
Kristy is the most results-oriented marketer I know. And this she accomplishes by being dedicated to and focused on what benefits her clients. Her intelligent, rigorous work is one of the most effective means I've seen of connecting her clients' goals with real-world results.
– Paul Welty, PhD, Former President, COO & Technology Director at Merge Agency
Industry Experience
Our experience spans a diverse set of industries, but all the companies have one thing in common…they’re seeking to more effectively leverage marketing to achieve their growth objectives. Below is a sampling of the industries we’ve served.
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![Property Management & Maintenance Industry]()
Property Management & Maintenance
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![Health & Safety Solutions Industry]()
Health & Safety Solutions
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![Enterprise Legal Management]()
Enterprise Legal Management
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![Engineering & Construction Industry]()
Engineering & Construction
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![Oil & Gas Pipeline Regulatory Compliance Industry]()
Oil & Gas Pipeline Regulatory Compliance
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![eLearning Software & Services Industry]()
eLearning Software & Services
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![Association Management Software Industry]()
Association Management Software
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![Identity & Crendential Verification Industry]()
Identity & Crendential Verification
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![Research & Advisory Services Industry]()
Research & Advisory Services
While numerous prior marketing consultants have failed to grasp our industry or deliver quality, usable work, in a short period of time LevelUp demonstrated a clear understanding of our business and clients and has provided the strategic building blocks to elevate our market position, which we know will pay even greater dividends long-term.
Stephanie Balmer, President and CEO, ITS, Inc.
Debra is by far the most strategic and effective marketing professional I have ever worked with. Her approach to marketing delivers real, quantitative results that positively impact the bottom line and make the sales team’s job easier, enabling us to focus more on closing opportunities vs. generating leads.
Ryan Walker, Former SVP of Sales , HUVRdata, Inc.
Our Values
Our core values guide everything we do at LevelUp, ensuring our clients have a positive and valuable experience working with us.
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Integrity
We operate with complete transparency, honesty, and open communication, striving to be trusted, valued, and long-term partners to our clients.
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Collaboration
We are highly collaborative with our clients, listening carefully and with humility to their challenges and partnering with them to achieve their objectives.
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Excellence
Excellence is at the heart of everything we do. Good is not good enough for us. We lean into our expertise, thoroughness, and strong attention to detail to help ensure we exceed every client’s expectations.
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Passion
We are passionate about the value of marketing and the positive impact it can have on business success. We are thoroughly invested in helping our clients achieve success through marketing excellence.
Ready to learn more?
Reach out today to learn how LevelUp can help your company achieve its objectives and accelerate growth through marketing excellence.