- Creating pottery in my home studio
- Aspiring homesteader
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Catherine Ries
Tunkhannock,PA
Summary
Strategic affiliate and publisher development leader with 10+ years of experience driving revenue growth, marketplace expansion, and performance marketing initiatives across enterprise affiliate programs. Proven success managing multi-million-dollar partner portfolios, recruiting and developing high-value publishers, and leveraging data-driven insights to optimize performance, improve ROAS, and accelerate customer acquisition. Experienced in building long-term publisher relationships, negotiating strategic partnerships, and collaborating cross-functionally to deliver scalable growth. Recognized for combining analytical decision-making with relationship management to drive sustainable revenue and business impact.
Overview
10
10
years of professional experience
Work History
Senior Affiliate Manager
JustAnswer, a Pearl Company
Remote
01.2025 - Current
- Led the strategic growth and day-to-day management of a $4.5M affiliate marketing program, scaling revenue more than 350% from $1M through commission optimization, tiered CPA structures, custom partner incentives, and offer-level performance strategies.
- Increased affiliate channel ROAS from 129% to 202% while scaling revenue by implementing a data-driven partner investment strategy, optimizing trial vs. no-trial offer placement, restructuring commission models, and introducing granular CPA incentives tied to customer quality, device type, content category, and geographic performance.
- Owned affiliate channel strategy and performance, making data-driven decisions focused on ROAS, contribution margin, CPA efficiency, customer quality, and sustainable long-term growth.
- Converted a high-performing Google Display Network (GDN) partner into an affiliate partner, generating more than $250K in incremental contribution margin within six months and establishing the partner as a top-two revenue driver in the program.
- Developed and expanded strategic partnerships with publishers, media buyers, content affiliates, and emerging traffic sources by recommending category-specific offers, implementing advanced tracking frameworks, and identifying new monetization opportunities.
- Built transparent, consultative relationships with affiliate partners by sharing customer quality, engagement, and content performance insights, enabling partners to refine content strategies and improve acquisition outcomes.
- Served as the primary relationship owner for key affiliate partners, negotiating commercial terms, optimizing monetization strategies, and driving scalable growth initiatives.
- Analyzed partner-level performance data to identify trends, improve traffic quality, increase conversion rates, and maximize program profitability through LTV, retention, and contribution margin analysis.
- Led affiliate expansion initiatives through publisher recruitment, traffic diversification, and emerging acquisition channel development, reducing concentration risk while driving incremental revenue growth.
- Managed partner investment decisions and commission strategies using forecasted LTV, ROAS, contribution margin, and customer retention metrics to maximize long-term profitability and channel performance.
Senior Associate, Partner Growth
JustAnswer, a Pearl Company
Remote
02.2021 - 12.2024
- Managed top-performing affiliate and publisher partnerships within the Impact.com platform, driving revenue growth through strategic optimization, relationship management, and performance analysis.
- Executed partner recruitment and acquisition initiatives to expand affiliate reach, diversify traffic sources, and strengthen publisher relationships.
- Monitored daily performance metrics and campaign trends to identify opportunities to improve ROAS, conversion rates, and contribution margin.
- Implemented optimization strategies and program enhancements that increased publisher engagement, partner performance, and incremental revenue generation.
- Collaborated with internal stakeholders and external partners to support campaign launches, troubleshooting, and ongoing program improvements.
- Built long-term relationships with strategic publisher partners through consultative support, monetization guidance, and performance-driven account management.
Partner Sales Representative
JustAnswer, a Pearl Company
Remote
10.2019 - 02.2021
- Recruited and onboarded an average of 25 new content publishers per month through targeted outreach and prospecting initiatives, consistently expanding affiliate program reach and partner acquisition.
- Executed strategic prospecting campaigns to diversify the affiliate portfolio, strengthen category coverage, and identify high-value publisher partnerships across emerging traffic sources.
- Managed the full publisher onboarding lifecycle, collaborating with partners to successfully implement chat widgets, banners, text links, and custom promotional placements to maximize launch success.
- Optimized post-launch publisher performance through ongoing analysis, strategic consultation, and monetization recommendations, improving partner retention and long-term revenue contribution.
- Served as the primary point of contact for a portfolio of affiliate partners, providing performance insights, growth recommendations, and relationship management to drive sustained engagement.
- Developed and nurtured strategic publisher partnerships that contributed to affiliate channel revenue growth and expanded market presence across key verticals.
- Partnered cross-functionally with product, marketing, and operations teams to streamline onboarding processes, improve partner experiences, and increase operational efficiency.
- Maintained a robust pipeline of prospective publishers using CRM and affiliate marketplace tools, ensuring a consistent flow of new partnership opportunities and program growth.
Associate, Affiliate Marketing
Acceleration Partners
Remote
10.2018 - 10.2019
- Managed day-to-day execution and optimization of affiliate programs for six core client accounts across Impact.com, ShareASale, Linkshare, and CJ Affiliate.
- Developed and launched promotional campaigns, newsletters, and optimization initiatives aligned with client revenue and publisher growth objectives.
- Produced weekly and monthly performance reporting with actionable insights to support partner development, publisher optimization, and affiliate strategy.
- Conducted fraud monitoring and FTC compliance reviews to ensure program integrity and adherence to industry standards.
- Collaborated with publishers, clients, and internal stakeholders to support account growth, campaign execution, and performance improvements.
Senior Associate, Publisher Development
Partnerize (formerly Pepperjam)
Wilkes-Barre, PA
09.2017 - 10.2018
- Managed relationships with 150+ top revenue-generating publishers, providing strategic recommendations to improve monetization opportunities, placement optimization, and overall partner value.
- Supported publisher growth initiatives through consultative relationship management, performance analysis, and strategic account development.
- Created an internal optimization resource consolidating publisher placement opportunities and monetization insights to support client services teams.
- Increased publisher visibility and engagement through blog content, newsletters, promotional features, and strategic communication initiatives.
- Conducted gap analyses and ad hoc reporting to identify growth opportunities for publishers, advertisers, and affiliate clients.
Marketing Analyst
American Telecast Products
Exton, PA
01.2016 - 07.2017
- Transitioned from internship into a full-time marketing analyst role following graduation.
- Maintained performance reporting and analyzed campaign data to support affiliate marketing and customer acquisition initiatives.
- Coordinated promotional communications with affiliate management agencies and external partners.
- Assisted with bi-weekly training sessions for customer service chat agents to improve engagement, conversion quality, and customer experience.
Education
Bachelor of Science - Marketing
West Chester University of Pennsylvania
West Chester, PA2016
Skills
- Affiliate strategy development
- Affiliate Recruitment
- Performance marketing expertise
- Revenue growth strategy
- Publisher relationship management
- Collaborative project management
- Analytical problem-solving
- Attention to detail
- Partner Acquisition & Traffic Diversification
- Data Analysis & Performance Reporting
- ROAS, CPA & Contribution Margin Optimization
- Long-term planning
- Proficient in Impactcom
- Excel proficiency
Accomplishments
- Managed and helped scale a multi-million-dollar affiliate marketing program focused on profitable customer acquisition and sustainable channel growth.
- Developed and expanded strategic partnerships across publisher, content, and performance marketing verticals to drive incremental revenue opportunities.
- Recruited, onboarded, and optimized affiliate and publisher partnerships across diverse traffic sources and monetization models.
- Improved affiliate channel performance through data-driven optimization strategies focused on ROAS, contribution margin, conversion rate, and partner scalability.
- Led affiliate expansion initiatives through traffic diversification, emerging partner development, and strategic growth planning.
- Collaborated cross-functionally with product, engineering, analytics, marketing, and compliance teams to support operational improvements and scalable affiliate growth initiatives.
- Managed and strengthened relationships with high-value revenue-driving partners through strategic consultation, optimization planning, and long-term account development.
Interests
Timeline
Senior Affiliate Manager
JustAnswer, a Pearl Company
01.2025 - Current
Senior Associate, Partner Growth
JustAnswer, a Pearl Company
02.2021 - 12.2024
Partner Sales Representative
JustAnswer, a Pearl Company
10.2019 - 02.2021
Associate, Affiliate Marketing
Acceleration Partners
10.2018 - 10.2019
Senior Associate, Publisher Development
Partnerize (formerly Pepperjam)
09.2017 - 10.2018
Marketing Analyst
American Telecast Products
01.2016 - 07.2017
Bachelor of Science - Marketing
West Chester University of Pennsylvania