Gaining the knowledge and skills required to leverage Digital Asset Management systems to organize, classify, and retrieve digital assets, including photos, video files, audio clips, animations, and other digital assets, has become a sought-after goal for many professionals in every type of business and industry.
The Digital Asset Management Certificate Program, offered by Continuing and Professional Studies at the School of Communication and Information, Rutgers University, provides the cutting-edge education and internationally-recognized industry certificates needed to succeed in DAM through its Bronze Certificate and advanced Silver Certificate programs.
“As the first in the world to offer a rich Digital Asset Management (DAM) Certificate, Rutgers University is committed to partnering with individuals and industry leaders in the ongoing equipping of professionals in the arena of DAM,” said Julie Johnson, Ed.D., the Director of Continuing and Professional Studies at SC&I.
To better meet the growing demand from professionals eager to engage in the course work of the DAM program, Continuing and Professional Studies is increasing their lineup of instructors with a group of new instructors who are leaders in the Digital Asset Management industry. Joining an extremely accomplished instructional team, these new instructors are highly experienced and knowledgeable, collectively having worked for brands including Amazon, Clinique, Cricut, Digizuite, Disney, Drexel University College of Medicine, Elsevier, Flowers Foods, Macy’s, NASCAR Media Group, Nature Publishing Group, NIKE, Novartis, Time Inc., Vineyard Vines, and Victoria’s Secret.
In addition to the classes, the DAM program offers additional opportunities for students to engage with leaders in the field of DAM. From informal career development conversations to bi-monthly webinars, and opening doors for networking opportunities, our instructors are committed to supporting their student's professional journey.
The new faculty members are:
Charlotte Brown is the Director of Digital Asset Management at Clinique, an Estee Lauder Company. In her past roles as a Digital Asset Manager, Brown has been responsible for selecting and migrating content to a new DAM platform while establishing every facet of the content workflow, from content creation to curation to asset distribution, along with administrating technology development as a key lead and training users about how to use the DAM to support their roles and drive content usage.
Brown has been responsible for defining and implementing metadata standards, taxonomy, creating ways of working guidelines, onboarding Librarian Services support teams, and designing governance models while tracking and analyzing key performance indicators to determine workflow and systems effectiveness at high-volume companies like Clinique, Vineyard Vines, Coty Inc., Macy’s, Time Inc., and Disney, NASCAR Media Group, Origami Air Co., LA Library, Victoria’s Secret.
Cameron has been organizing assets, whether analog, digital, or analog to digital for discovery and reuse since 1989. Cameron embraces usability challenges and appreciates that it is not enough to find an asset but to also know if an asset can readily be reused. Her team is extending DAM from one business unit to the entire global Google Marketing organization to promote discovery, rights management, reuse, and reporting.
Finding commonality at this scale may seem daunting, so having comprehensive user stories that describe the needs of each user type is critical to stay focused. Staying nimble and agile are also key to meet the demands of a growing business while maintaining a core structure and best practices to consistently guide the users on their journey. Having a sense of humor helps as well.
Grimm has been directing DAM, taxonomy, and enterprise content programs in the U.S. and Europe since the mid-1990s, for companies, museums, and archives large and small, including Women.com, Nature Publishing Group, Drexel University College of Medicine, Elsevier, GSK, Amazon and many more. She has worked as a DAM product owner, trainer, and administrator in-house, as a consultant and on the vendor side.
Recent roles include her positions at Global Director, DAM, at Novartis and VP DAM Evangelist at Digizuite. She holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Archaeology and an MS-LIS, all of which have been extremely useful in her career, in both predictable and wildly unexpected ways. She is a regular writer, speaker, and podcaster, both in and beyond the DAM space. Find her in Dublin, Ireland, or at lisagrimm.com.
Lehnert is an information and knowledge management professional with over twenty years of experience in taxonomy, text analytics, search, and content and records management. He has developed enterprise taxonomies and knowledge development and retrieval strategies as a consultant and full-time employee in a broad range of industries.
He writes about and is a frequent speaker on industry topics in company-sponsored webinars, large conferences like KMWorld, and a host of other venues. Lehnert is Principal Taxonomist at NIKE, Inc., the world's largest supplier of athletic shoes and apparel and a major manufacturer of sports equipment.
Stefaniak Smith has an extensive background in Creative Operations at industry-leading fashion, beauty, and technology brands. She is currently the Director of Creative Operations for craft-favorite Cricut, where she is responsible for implementing and evolving best-in-class project management for their in-house Creative agency. Stefaniak Smith also oversees the localization team, who help bring Cricut global in 30+ languages.
Before arriving at Cricut, she served as the Director of Creative Operations for Victoria’s Secret & Co., overseeing the e-commerce photography studio, asset management, video project management, and the editorial sample closet. Before Victoria’s Secret, she held positions at Ralph Lauren as a Product Copywriter and Briogeo Haircare as the Senior Project Manager in Product Development.
Surdez's background in digital asset management is complemented by experience in a variety of library, archival, creative, and virtual reality environments. Surdez is currently a DAM Manager and Archivist-in-Residence for Origami Air Co., and a Librarian and Digital Projects Manager for LA County Library.
Surdez holds a Master of Management, Library and Information Science (MMLIS) from the Marshall School of Business at USC, and a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing from Dornsife College at USC. Most recently, Dione achieved an Advanced Certificate in DAM from SC&I and has been a Teaching Assistant in the program for several courses.
Wear develops successful digital asset and data management discipline through years of extensive experience driving technology advancements and efficiencies across a diverse set of industries. Wear has built systems for award-winning broadcasting at NASCAR Media Group, billion-dollar big box retail at Academy Sports + Outdoor, groundbreaking research at California Academy of Sciences and streaming films and series for Imagicomm Entertainment.
Currently, he is building a new digital asset management and product information management (PIM) program for Flowers Foods, expediting consumer packaging goods marketing collateral to our physical and digital shelves.
Learn more about the Digital Asset Management Certificate Program on the Continuing and Professional Development website.
In addition to the Digital Asset Management Certificate, Continuing and Professional Studies offers corporate training and additional certificates in Business Communication and Public Relations. Each certificate is designed to advance students’ careers by sharpening the current and core skills they need to land their next promotion or job opportunity while earning Continuing Education Units (CEUs). Courses are taught by professionals who are experts and leaders in their fields.
Come discover Rutgers University and start your journey towards skilling up in 2023.
For additional information, contact: Julie Johnson, Ed.D., Director of Continuing and Professional Studies. Email: JulieLynn.Johnson@rutgers.edu Phone: 848-932-7055
