David acquired Merkle in 1988 and became its 24th employee. Today, Merkle has more than 1600 employees in locations in the United States, China and London, and is the nation’s largest and fastest-growing independent Customer Relationship Marketing (CRM) agency.

Under David’s leadership, Merkle has sustained 25% annual growth over the last 20 years and was recognized as a market leader by Forrester Research in 2003, 2006 and 2007. In 2012, Advertising Age ranked Merkle as the 24th largest agency of any discipline worldwide and the 6th largest CRM/Direct agency in the U.S. Also in 2012, Merkle was named to the “Ten Agencies to Watch” list in Advertising Age’s A-List Issue. David was recognized by Winning Workplaces and Fortune Magazine as one of America’s Best Bosses of 2006, and was the 2007 Maryland Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. 

David served for 6 years (2006-2011) on the Board of Directors of the Direct Marketing Association where he also served on its Executive Committee.  He currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees at the Howard County General Hospital: A Member of Johns Hopkins Medicine. David is a frequent speaker at industry events and has written numerous articles and white papers about topics such as Customer Relationship Marketing, Database Marketing and Analytics, Digital Media and Marketing Technology.

He began his career at Butcher & Singer, a Philadelphia-based investment bank, and holds a Bachelor of Science in business administration from Shippensburg University in Pennsylvania.

Craig’s responsibilities are three-fold: marketing, corporate development and management of Merkle’s customer experience business unit. In this role, Craig is charged with developing the enterprise marketing strategy and overseeing the team that manages all of Merkle’s marketing activities, encompassing demand generation, industry marketing, product marketing and marketing communications functions that include public relations, events and advertising. He also leads Merkle’s corporate development ventures, including the evaluation of acquisition opportunities, as well as championing the company's innovation initiatives, in which new capabilities are incubated and developed. Additionally, Craig manages the customer experience group, a business unit comprised of digital media capabilities including social, search, display, email and mobile, as well as creative and communication services which encompass experience design, communications consulting, and direct/digital marketing studio and production.

Previously, Craig was corporate vice president of Merkle’s Content Solutions Group and led a team that further established Merkle’s proprietary data solutions and offerings. He has also served as co-leader of the company’s Quantitative Solutions Group, a core pillar of Merkle’s strategy.

Prior to joining Merkle in 2006, Craig had a long career at Metromail, and then Experian (which acquired Metromail in the late 1990s). Among his positions there were vice president of data licensing, director of market development, director of interactive marketing, and various sales management positions. Craig joined Merkle after serving as senior vice president of sales and account management for Experian Marketing Services.

Craig holds a political science degree from Hofstra University.

With a career built on bringing the conceptual strengths of brand advertising to bear in the business of response marketing, Mark has earned the trust of clients the world over for work that’s breakthrough in concept and impactful on the bottom line. Before joining Merkle, Mark was Managing Partner and Chief Creative Officer at OgilvyOne Worldwide, and prior to Ogilvy was Executive Creative Director at Wunderman/Young & Rubicam. To date, Mark’s award-filled portfolio showcases results-driving work across the full spectrum of marketing media for dominant brands including British Airways, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, General Electric, Federal Express, NBC, Miles Laboratories, Astra Zeneca, American Express, Sprint, and other category leaders. He is a frequent speaker at national events and regularly serves as judge in a variety of international industry award shows.

Ron has more than 14 years of experience in quantitative analytics and database marketing. At Merkle, Ron has led strategic engagements with clients like Dell and NIKE. Ron’s area of focus is developing analytically-based strategies for improving marketing performance. Prior to joining Merkle, Ron held positions at Hostway, a leading web hosting company for small businesses, InfoWorks, a member of Rapp Collins Worldwide, and Market Knowledge, now part of Equifax. Ron holds a Master of Science in Applied Math from DePaul University and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Chicago.

As the General Manager of Merkle’s Data Solutions Group, Ozgur oversees the delivery of analytically driven data sourcing and optimization solutions for Merkle’s clients. Ozgur has 14 years of experience in building, implementing and integrating database marketing solutions for many Fortune 500 clients. Ozgur’s CRM experience stretches across many functional areas such as strategy, analytics, infrastructure, data content and many clients, including Capital One, DIRECTV, T Rowe Price, Glaxo Smith Kline, Procter&Gamble and 21st Century.

Ozgur is the recipient of multiple awards within Merkle, including the Exceptional Client, Operational Excellence, Database Marketing Excellence and most recently the Chairman’s Award, which is the highest recognition within Merkle. Ozgur has spoken at various Predictive Analytics and Database Marketing Events globally. Ozgur holds a B.S degree in industrial engineering and an MBA degree with a focus on marketing and management information systems from the University of Georgia.

Joe has been in the data processing industry since 1984. Joe’s last 15 years have been in specializing international and business to business database and customer relationship marketing (CRM) capabilities for Fortune 500 companies. He has overseen the creation of over 30 CRM databases in the last 11 years. He has a solid industry reputation for delivering these databases cost-effectively, on budget and on time. Joe has written white papers on b-to-b marketing and international database best practices and is considered an expert at understanding strengths and weakness of many different approaches. 

John leads Merkle’s industry practices in Insurance and Wealth Management, Life Sciences, and Travel, Media, and Entertainment. John has more than 16 years of agency, management consulting, and industry-side experience in digital media, marketing strategy, technology, and analytics. John has been a part of the senior management team since 2008 and currently serves on Merkle’s executive committee.

Prior to joining Merkle, John played executive roles in marketing, distribution and technology in Liberty Mutual’s Personal Markets division. He was previously a senior manager in CapGemini’s Financial Services consulting practice. John has also held agency management positions with Razorfish and Rapp Collins Worldwide. Some of John’s most significant clients have included MetLife, Travelers, WellPoint, American Express, US Bank, GlaxoSmithkline, and AARP.

John is a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College and lives in Wellesley, MA.

Will is a member of Merkle’s executive leadership team and vice president and general manager of Merkle’s Retail Banking and Consumer Finance group. In this role, Will is responsible for existing client relationships, growth and profitability of the business, and the continued application of Merkle’s core value proposition into the Retail Banking space. With more than 12 years experience in relationship marketing, Will leads a dedicated team of CRM marketing experts, across disciplines.

Before joining Merkle in early 2008, Will spent five years in the Asia Pacific for Acxiom Corporation as a member of Acxiom’s regional leadership team. In this role, Will worked to integrate Acxiom’s acquisitions in the region into an organized regional footprint. During that time Will built and led sales and marketing teams and worked with leading global brands, defining and implementing region-specific CRM strategies. Prior to his overseas assignment, Will held various roles with Acxiom in the US.

Will holds a BS in international economics from Louisiana State University.

Pete Mehr has more than 13 years of experience leading and supporting marketing programs for pharmaceutical firms. Pete is responsible for developing and overseeing the execution of Merkle’s customer strategy development for the healthcare industry. These customer centric initiatives include physician relationship marketing programs, consumer/patient relationship marketing programs, managed care integration, promotion “media mix” allocation approaches and market research initiatives.

Prior to this role, Pete was responsible for one of Merkle’s client teams, managing relationships with P&G, AARP and Life Line, among others, both from a strategic marketing view as well as a tactical perspective. These areas include segmentation, response modeling and other strategic analyses; database development and enhancement; and content solutions.

Before joining Merkle, Pete was Vice President of Health Products Research, Inc., a division of inVentiv Health. At HPR Pete was instrumental in doubling the size of the company while expanding the company’s product portfolio. Pete supported clients in developing and implementing marketing and sales strategy, including sales force size and structure analysis, segmentation, promotion mix analysis, promotion optimization analysis, sales force territory alignments, and direct-to-consumer advertising tracking and optimization. Pete’s clients included GSK, AstraZeneca, Sanofi Aventis, Shire, Abbott Laboratories, Pfizer, and numerous divisions of Johnson and Johnson.

Prior to HPR, Pete worked at AT&T in the Consumer Marketing Organization, where he was a leader in the customer retention marketing and customer acquisition marketing areas.

Pete holds a Ph.D. in Econometrics from Rutgers University, and had his dissertation published in the Journal of Econometrics.

Peter Vandre currently leads Merkle’s digital analytics group. During his career at Merkle, Peter built Merkle’s digital analytics practice and led the development of Merkle’s digital data integration product. Additionally, he has led analytical engagements with such clients as Dell, Samsung, NIKE, DIRECTV, GEICO, Urban Outfitters, Disney, and others. He has extensive experience in CRM strategy and measurement and has recently been recognized for his work in customer engagement modeling and integrated measurement.

Peter has spent the last 7 years at Merkle and has more than 13 years of consulting, analytics, and strategic marketing experience. He earned an MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Megan joined Merkle in November 2010 to develop and launch the Merkle trading desk. As vice president and general manger of the digital media group, she has built an industry-leading team, delivering targeted media programs, insights and measurement to leading brands such as GEICO, Motorola Mobility, and Nespresso. In her role, Megan is responsible for sales, service, partnerships, product development and the growth and profitability of the digital media practice.

Prior to joining Merkle, Megan led the Professional Services team at the Right Media Exchange, a Yahoo Company. She was responsible for Right Media’s Demand Side Platform (DSP) relationships including brands such as P&G, as well as consulting services for the Agency Trading desks. Previously, she led the publisher services team which included the deployment and integration of Yahoo APAC & EU on to the Right Media platform.

Megan received a Master’s of E-Commerce from Bond University, in Queensland, Australia. She also holds a BA from University of San Diego where she majored in Business Administration and Information Systems. She is a member of Step Up Women’s Network, which bridges communities of professional women and underserved teen girls through mentorship, networking and advancement. Megan frequently speaks at industry events, focusing on topics such as display technology eco-system; the agency perspective evolution; the convergence of Search/Display/Mobile/Social; and measurement & attribution.

Chris is responsible for the operations, profitability, and strategic planning for Merkle Mobile. Chris has more than 15 years of experience helping Fortune 1000 companies implement marketing solutions and strategies.

Prior to Merkle, Chris was vice president of global sales at iLoop, responsible for leading the company through a significant growth phase, expanding the business from 20 to more than 150 clients in North America and Europe. In addition to being responsible for all mobile platform licensing and campaign services revenue, he created channel relationships with digital marketing companies including Comcast Spotlight, DoubleClick, Google, Money Mailer, who resold iLoop’s products and services.

Scott has more than 10 years of experience developing and implementing analytical solutions into marketing programs for many different companies, including GEICO, AEGON, MBNA, Fidelity, DirectTV, Eli Lilly, GSK, and Dell. Prior to joining Merkle, Scott worked for American Express as a statistician and modeler and taught graduate students statistical methods and experimental design at Cornell University. Scott has dual BS degrees in Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Statistics from The University of Rochester, a MS degree in Statistics from Cornell University, and an MBA from Johns Hopkins University.

Scott has been honored with several awards within Merkle, including The “Merkled” Award (Employee of the Year), Database Marketing Excellence, Outstanding Achievement, and the Chairman’s Award, which is the highest recognition within Merkle. Scott’s team also won the NCDM Excellence Award in the Modeling and Analytics Area with GEICO in 2005. Additionally, Scott has presented numerous times at the NCDM and DM Days, and has published 3 white papers for Merkle since 2008.

Deb has more than 15 years of experience working with FT500 companies to drive growth through innovative customer relationship strategies. Deb is responsible for healthcare client management, strategy and solution integration and has significant experience working with top pharmaceuticals and biotechs on professional and consumer marketing with companies such as Merck, Boehringer-Inglelheim, Sanofi-Aventis, Shire, Abbott, Roche Diagnostics, Medco Health, Aetna, Bristol-Meyers Squibb and Pfizer.

Prior to joining Merkle, Deb was a Managing Partner leading Fair Isaac’s Pharmaceutical Marketing Practice where she oversaw strategy, execution, sales and client management for Consumer and Physician direct marketing programs. Deb has an Ed.M. in human cognitive development and educational media from Harvard Graduate School of Education and a B.S. from University of Massachusetts.

Kent has been consulting in healthcare for more than 10 years in the areas of healthcare provider segmentation, brand channel integration, CRM, marketing analytics and direct-to-consumer. Kent is published extensively in a variety of journals including, Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy, Formulary, the Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics, and the Journal of Database Marketing. Kent is recognized as an expert in the area of factors influencing physician prescribing, and was the author of the chapter on Prescribing Behavior in Social and Behavioral Aspects of Pharmaceutical Care, 2nd Edition, released in March, 2009.

Kent has worked with a number of clients in the healthcare vertical including Sanofi Aventis, Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Genetech, Gilead, Johnson & Johnson and Proctor & Gamble.

Kent has a BS from the University of Guelph, an MS from the University of Saskatchewan, and a PhD in Pharmaceutical Strategy and Policy from Dalhousie University. His PhD dissertation focused on the influence of pharmaceutical marketing strategy on physician prescribing behavior. Additionally, he holds the position of Adjunct Professor, College of Pharmacy, Dalhousie University, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, is a former Professor of Marketing at Acadia University in Nova Scotia, and holds the designation of Chartered Chemist.