RESUME
Creative Direction | Brand Strategy & Evolution
Designer by trade, systems thinker by nature. Over 25 years, I’ve built a career around identifying opportunities beyond the brief and pushing the work in that direction. The result has been stronger brands, more effective campaigns and experiences people actually remember.
CORE COMPETENCIES
Brand Strategy and Evolution, Creative Direction, Integrated Campaigns, Brand Systems, Design Governance, Editorial Design, Event & Experiential Design, Creative Leadership, Art Direction, Photography
PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
National Association of Convenience Stores | Alexandria, VA
Art Director (2025-2026)
• Transitioned the organization’s flagship magazine in-house after a decade with an outside agency, taking full design ownership across print and digital
• Expanded the publication’s visual language through AI-assisted illustration styles that extended across editorial and social channels
• Established style guidelines and production workflows that improved consistency, streamlined digital publishing and created a repeatable foundation for future issues
Alarm.com | McLean, VA
Creative Director (Official title: Associate Creative Director) (2023-2024)
• Built and led an 11-person in-house creative studio supporting video, web, email and print across B2B and B2C audiences
• Rebranded two subsidiaries from the ground up, creating scalable brand systems and launching new websites that unified each brand’s identity
• Expanded the visual identity for the company’s flagship Partner Summit into a scalable event system, creating distinct experiences for Residential and Commercial audiences while maintaining a unified brand presence
• Led the development of a sales and marketing portal and centralized asset library, increasing partner engagement by 200% within three months
Total Wine & More | Bethesda, MD
Art Director (2019-2023)
• Led a 5-person creative team supporting integrated campaigns, brand systems and retail experiences across 230+ locations
• Redesigned the gift card line, generating an additional $14M in annual revenue
• Created an enterprise-wide delivery platform that acquired 40K new customers within its first six months
• Reimagined a 300+ page wine guide as a modular educational and sales platform spanning 50+ categories, improving usability for customers and store teams
• Championed a shift from traditional photography to an illustration-led seasonal campaign, generating $11M in sales during its first week
• Brought photography production in-house, saving $60K annually while expanding creative capabilities across the team
Fathom Creative Agency | Washington DC
Senior Brand Designer & Project Manager (2017-2019)
• Selected to design pitch decks for Weber Shandwick, helping secure more than $100M in new business, including Harry Potter, Bud Light and Ritz Crackers
• Designed the Capitol Performance and Accountability Report, translating complex operational data into a clear, accessible publication for the U.S. Capitol campus and supporting 508-compliant digital distribution
• Led brand, campaign and event identity work across technology, government and nonprofit sectors
National Business Aviation Association | Washington DC
Art Director & Photographer (2006-2017)
• Built a print and digital publication from the ground up, growing it into an award-winning industry magazine generating more than $200K in annual advertising revenue
• Developed creative for the No User Fees advocacy campaign, including convention activations and materials that generated more contacts to Congress in two days than the organization achieved the previous year
• Led a brand evolution that modernized the organization’s visual identity and established a flexible system unifying print, digital, events and advocacy communications
• Created campaigns, environmental graphics and event experiences for seven national conferences annually, including NBAA-BACE, one of the largest aviation events in the world
• Brought photography in-house, building a custom library of member profiles, event coverage and general aviation imagery the organization continues to rely on today
Earlier experience
WorldatWork | Scottsdale, AZ | Senior Designer (2005–2006)
WorldatWork | Scottsdale, AZ | Senior Designer (2005–2006)
AWCI | Falls Church, VA | Graphic Designer (1999–2004)
CONSULTING EXPERIENCE
Erika Freber Design | Washington DC
Owner & Art Director (2001-present)
Creative partner for global brands and federal organizations including McDonald’s, EPA, FEMA, Arbonne and the World Bank. Lead brand strategy, creative direction and campaign development in print and digital, managing client relationships and execution end-to-end.
EDUCATION & AWARDS
• Bachelor of Fine Arts, Graphic Design; James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA
• Folio: Eddie and Ozzie, Azbee, Hermes, International Academy of Visual Arts, APEX and ASAE Gold Circle Award, Association Media and Publishing