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Bridging the Gap

I spent 8 years inside one of the fastest-growing local media companies in the country, starting as a graphic designer and ending as VP of News & Design — overseeing 40+ publications, six managers, and 80+ reporters, editors, and designers across Texas.

 

I'm not the best graphic designer I've ever worked with, but I became the person everyone trusted to make the whole operation work. The promotions didn't come from being the most talented person in the room; they came from becoming the subject matter expert in how the operations actually worked, and then using that expertise to make everyone around me better.

 

Along the way I built a reputation, across executives, managers, developers, writers, editors, designers, and sales, as someone who could translate between all of them. I learned how each department thought, what they needed, and how to build systems that worked for all of them at once. When I stepped into the VP role, I wasn't starting from scratch. I was building on years of relationships and a track record that gave people reason to trust that if I didn't know the answer, I'd find the right person who did.

 

Expertise earned from the inside and relationships built across every level were the foundation that made everything else possible. The systems I built worked because people trusted the person building them.

 

That's what I bring to Bridge Collective Co. Not just the frameworks. The trust that makes them stick.

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Kaitlin Schmidt

Founder, Bridge Collective Co. 

[ C A R E E R   H I G H L I G H T S ]

Vice President, News & Design​

Community Impact (2025-2026)

  • Led a company-wide reporter workforce redesign, consolidating three job families into a unified geography-based model while developing new job descriptions, HR documentation, change management communications and financial models evaluating labor impacts across 40+ markets.
  • Rebuilt the company's annual print production schedule, balancing workload across three metro markets while maintaining press capacity constraints.
  • Directed a company-wide overhaul of editorial standards by developing governance documentation, communication plans, training materials, and implementation strategies that standardized quality across more than 40 publications.
  • Designed an operating cadence for the editorial and design leadership team, introducing structured planning, project tracking, and continuous improvement processes.

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Senior Design Manager/Design Manager

Community Impact (2020-2025)

  • Led the communication, training, and implementation strategy for a company-wide newspaper redesign that reduced department costs by 25%.

  • Redesigned the department's productivity measurement system, improving operational visibility and reducing proof production time by 50%.

  • Created cross-functional training programs using written documentation, video instruction, and live workshops.

  • Designed and launched an automated production workflow management system that improved resource allocation and reduced administrative workload for managers.

  • Authored organization-wide communications introducing new operational systems to more than 200 employees.

  • Conducted a company-wide production efficiency survey to identify workflow bottlenecks.

  • Led cross-functional collaboration to develop new production protocols, workflow standards, and training materials based on employee feedback.

  • Improved communication between editorial, design, and production teams through standardized documentation and process improvements.

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