Kelsey Mikus Builds the Systems That Turn Marketing Strategy Into Action

For Kelsey Mikus, effective marketing depends on more than a compelling idea. It also requires the structure, communication, and coordination that move that idea from strategy to execution. Across collegiate athletics, sports entertainment, consumer brand marketing, agency work, and financial services, she has developed a career around bringing those elements together.

Now Growth Marketing Project Manager at PPB Capital Partners, Kelsey works across campaign execution, marketing operations, audience engagement, and performance reporting. The setting has changed considerably from her earlier work supporting athletic programs and live events, but a consistent challenge remains: translating broad objectives into organized plans that people can act on.

Lessons from athletics

Kelsey earned a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations/Journalism from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, with minors in Marketing and Business Administration. While attending UNLV, she served as Director of Marketing for the university’s Panhellenic Council and received Dean’s List recognition.

Her perspective was also shaped by her experience as a Division I swimming and diving student-athlete at the University of Vermont. The discipline, accountability, and team orientation required in collegiate athletics became practical foundations for her professional approach.

At UNLV Athletics, Kelsey worked in strategic communications supporting 17 varsity teams. Her responsibilities ranged from managing official social media platforms and developing publications to coordinating interviews, responding to media requests, and carrying out public relations initiatives. The work required her to balance the distinct needs of multiple programs in a visible, fast-moving environment.

She also built and managed a 19-person intern program. That responsibility gave her an opportunity to develop as a leader and mentor while establishing a coordinated team capable of supporting a broad communications operation.

Coordinating experiences at scale

Kelsey carried those skills into sports and entertainment marketing as Marketing and Event Management Director at X Group Hospitality. She led multi-city activations and promotional programs involving sponsors, athletes, venues, vendors, and internal teams. Among those projects, she helped build and execute the 2024 NHL Winter Classic Pink Whitney pregame events, which had more than 45,000 people in attendance.

As Field Marketing Manager for the Pacific Northwest at Cirkul, she managed regional and national experiential programs. Detailed planning connected brand and retail priorities with staffing, logistics, operations, external partners, and budget management. She also helped plan and execute Cirkul’s activation at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Swimming Trials, an event that drew more than 30,000 attendees.

These large-scale programs sharpened Kelsey’s ability to keep audience experience and operational execution in view at the same time. Each activation depended on many contributors understanding their roles, meeting deadlines, and working toward a consistent brand presentation.

Creating clarity behind the scenes

At Gregory FCA, Kelsey served as Project Manager, Firm Marketing and built the agency’s first formal centralized marketing function. She helped establish the strategy, infrastructure, workflows, and coordination supporting integrated campaigns, thought leadership, conferences, webinars, executive visibility, and broader brand initiatives.

Her responsibilities also included rebrand execution, award programs, leadership reporting, and vendor coordination. Building a function from the ground up reinforced her interest in creating practical systems that give teams greater clarity. Rather than treating process as an administrative layer, her work positioned it as a way to help people collaborate and advance shared priorities.

Connecting engagement with follow-up

At PPB Capital Partners, Kelsey applies that systems-focused approach to the firm’s relationships with wealth advisors. A significant part of her role involves developing HubSpot segmentation, automation, lead qualification, and attribution processes. These tools help connect marketing activity with relevant sales follow-up and provide greater visibility into audience engagement.

She also contributes to email campaigns, webinar promotion, LinkedIn outreach, and brand storytelling. Across those channels, the work calls for both cohesive communication and the operational framework needed to understand how initiatives perform.

The common thread throughout Kelsey’s career is a focus on purposeful execution. Whether coordinating a national event, establishing a marketing function, or improving a workflow, she works to make complex efforts more manageable. Her path demonstrates how project management, clear communication, and cross-functional collaboration can help marketing teams turn ambitious plans into sustained progress.