---
title: about | rise strategic consulting + jimena ballina
description: "meet jimena ballina, founder + owner of rise: a global travel + tourism consultancy specializing in sales, distribution + profitable growth."
---
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resume
# jimena ballina
owner + founder | principal consultant
commercial strategy
fractional commercial leadership
15+ years building revenue, distribution, partnerships, and international growth across travel, tourism + hospitality.
[mailto:jimena@risestrategicconsulting.com](mailto:jimena@risestrategicconsulting.com)
## areas of expertise
commercial strategy + growth | travel trade + B2B distribution | strategic partnerships + account management | international market entry + expansion | OTA + wholesale distribution | revenue + contribution margin optimization | sales enablement + commercial operations | supplier + partner strategy | API + systems implementation oversight | AI + workflow automation | go-to-market strategy
## experience
rise strategic consulting, llc | owner + founder | july 2025 - present
founder of rise strategic consulting. 15 years building B2B + B2C distribution for travel + hospitality brands globally
**previous + current engagements**
[Go City](http://www.gocity.com) | serving as an embedded account manager, overseeing trade partner relationships in the US + Europe, such as Viator, Musement, Attraction Tickets Direct, Tripster, and more.
[New York Yankees](https://www.mlb.com/yankees) | directing trade development strategy for game tickets + stadium tours, building B2B distribution through wholesalers, OTAs + travel agencies in the Mexico market.
[Unplanned Detours](https://unplannedetours.com/) | assisting with travel trade strategy + securing new partnerships, and advising on revenue + margin optimization.
**building the firm**
designed + built rise's CRM in HubSpot from scratch: custom property architecture for source markets, destinations sold, client segmentation; and a single partner-recruitment pipeline serving rise's own business development + client-side outreach across roughly 2,200 travel trade companies.
layered an AI-assisted commercial operations system on top of the CRM: a weekly travel-trade news scan that qualifies + dedupes new leads against rise's service criteria, single-target research runs producing verified contacts + a ranked lead angle per account, automated pipeline monitoring that surfaces fresh, specific reasons to re-open stalled conversations + an outreach engine that drafts every message for personal review before anything sends.
automated twice-monthly client invoicing end to end in Make.com, pulling billable hours from calendar data, generating the invoice in QuickBooks + routing it for approval.
built the governance layer: monthly time reconciliation against billable buckets + contracted hour caps, with documented operating rules so every workflow produces the same output as employees are onboarded.
Miki Travel | business development manager | february 2025 - june 2025
created and led Miki Travel's North American market penetration strategy
identified target audiences and ideal client profiles in the MICE and leisure tour operator sectors in the US market.
launched a new database of prospective clients, conducting client outreach to secure new partnerships.
created branding, value proposition, and messaging for the US market and corresponding operations, sales, and marketing tools.
established the onboarding operational processes with cross-departmental collaboration to overcome challenges specific to the US market and support new partnerships.
mapped the B2B distribution strategy for the Miki team to follow through EOY.
Evette Staffing | sales manager | december 2023 - february 2025
connected animal hospitals to veterinarians to secure staffing coverage
contracted new veterinary clinics in 13 states across the East Coast, becoming the #1 salesperson on a team of 10 salespeople nationwide and generating over $1 million in gross profit for Evette in 2024.
managed relationships with corporate regional managers, such as VCA, and signed a national agreement with the [ASPCA.](https://www.aspca.org/)
coached employees on sales tactics and objection handling, mentoring individuals on the sales and scheduling teams to help improve their cold calls and emails, conversion rates, and problem-solve issues in their territories.
performed sales enablement functions by creating new processes to improve workflow for the sales team, such as the implementation of Yesware, and trained the team on best practices for its use.
assisted in veterinarian recruiting strategy by identifying the best markets to hire new talent based on demand and current coverage.
Go City | director of enterprise partnerships + global trade sales | march 2015 - july 2023
developed B2B distribution for Go City attraction passes
**previous roles**
senior manager - global trade sales | january 2019 - december 2019
manager - global trade sales | march 2015 - december 2018
**scope of work**
managed key accounts generating 90% of the department's revenue, such as [Costco](https://www.costco.com/), [Groupon](https://www.groupon.com/), [Expedia](http://expedia.com), [EBG](http://ticketsatwork.com), [Hotelbeds](https://www.hbxgroup.com/), [GetYourGuide](http://www.getyourguide.com), and more.
responsible for a quota of $100+ million, compared to original quota of $545,000 as a global trade sales manager.
analyzed and interpreted data such as gross profit per product, market trends, individual partner website's unique visitors and conversion rates to select marketing investments, develop growth strategies, and plan country-specific market penetration.
developed and executed strategies to grow accounts and exceed sales targets, with a focus on contribution margin rather than top-line revenue.
created market penetration strategy for Brazil and Mexico, hiring an in-market team to generate brand awareness, contract new partnerships, and grow business via existing wholesale partnerships, which generated a 230% ROI in the first full year and served as the model for the global in-market representation strategy.
secured exclusivity deals with select top partners such as the largest online travel agency in Mexico, guaranteeing Go City attraction passes would be the only type of attraction pass sold via these channels.
led API integrations with major e-commerce sites, coordinating with tech teams to optimize product delivery and user experience.
TripAdvisor | business listings, sales executive - latin america | april 2013 – march 2015
sold digital marketing and advertising space to hoteliers
**previous roles**
business listings, telesales executive – latin america | april 2013 - august 2014
SeatGuru (TripAdvisor) | content coordinator | march 2012 - september 2012
**scope of work**
ranked #1 telesales executive for the year in 2014 prompting promotion to sales executive and #1 sales executive in the latam region each month.
overcame objections using data such as conversion rates, unique visitor's to hotels' TripAdvisor listings, and created ROI projections.
mentored telesales and sales executives, assisting in creating strategies to reach their monthly quotas.
Nuxeo | marketing manager | october 2012 – april 2013
managed marketing initiatives for the content management platform
designed, implemented and analyzed the performance of online campaigns such as email blasts to promote content and events and drip campaigns to nurture leads.
maintained website content, tracking the performance with particular focus on SEO/SEM techniques and web analytics.
hosted events such as webinars and occasional in-person conferences.
managed media relations and leveraged social channels to engage with clients and trade journalists.
wrote and edited content such as announcements, webpages, and blog posts.
## education + training
**Boston University**
bachelor of science - communication | may 2011
**San Diego State University**
World Campus - management training | 2018
## languages
**Spanish**
native speaker
**English**
native speaker
**Portuguese**
conversant
### ready to put 15+ years of distribution, partnerships + commercial strategy to work?
[let's talk.](https://www.risestrategicconsulting.com/en/contact?hsLang=en)
**about**
rise strategic consulting is a boutique travel + tourism consultancy helping businesses generate incremental revenue through smarter strategy, stronger partnerships + better technology.
[mailto:elevate@risestrategicconsulting.com](mailto:elevate@risestrategicconsulting.com)
[explore](https://www.risestrategicconsulting.com/en/about?hsLang=en)
- [about](https://www.risestrategicconsulting.com/en/about?hsLang=en)
- [services](https://www.risestrategicconsulting.com/en/services?hsLang=en)
- [events](https://www.risestrategicconsulting.com/en/events?hsLang=en)
- [contact](https://www.risestrategicconsulting.com/en/contact?hsLang=en)
- [insights](https://www.risestrategicconsulting.com/en/insights?hsLang=en)
268 post rd, ste 200, fairfield, connecticut
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