Two years and nine months ago (at the time of writing this post) I embarked on a journey. I knew this journey would be unlike any I had encountered—I was correct; but like every worthy journey, this one has come to a close. My time as VP Global Digital Marketing at MasterCard has been rewarding, fun, frustrating, at times maddening, profoundly enriching and most of all educational. I have worked on numerous award-winning campaigns, helped to build a global infrastructure for digital marketing operations and got to work with remarkable startups as part of MasterCard’s incubator. I have learned a great deal about marketing operations and execution in Asian markets (and other markets worldwide), global sponsorships, payment networks and a variety of other valuable areas—but now it is time to move on.
I like to think my impact on MasterCard’s marketing department will endure beyond my tenure. Digital marketing at MasterCard looks very different relative to when I began and while I recognize that this is due to the tireless work done by many marketing executives around the world, I hope my influence will remain; if only slightly.
My experience at MasterCard revealed how gratifying the role of “change-agent” can be; so much so that the next leg of my career will continue down this path. More specifically I will be working with marketers to help execute amazing branded consumer experiences for the post digital age. I will focus on a few key areas; consumer loyalty in the age of mobility, cross-channel marketing attribution and big data analytics, product growth and the role of user experience and finally, marketing from the inside out—by this I am referring to the modern imperative to focus on product excellence as a core tenet of any marketing and growth strategy (this may seem obvious to some, but it isn’t for many).
In order to accomplish the aforementioned vision I have partnered with a variety of companies. I am consulting for some and joining the board of others. To start, I will be working with innovative “moment targeting” platform, Kiip. I worked with Kiip during my tenure at MasterCard and fell in love with their technology and long-term vision. In addition I will be working with Accomplice.io, a next generation cross channel media marketing platform. Finally, I will resume work as consultant to my old friends from Something Massive whom I sold my agency to in 2012. I worked for Something Massive until leaving for MasterCard and I hired them for various projects during my time at MasterCard—I never stopped being a fan of their work.
Despite the plans I have put in place, the honest truth is that the core catalyst behind my professional choices are personal—sometimes you have to follow your heart and amazingly, the heart has a way of reprioritizing what you once thought was most important. I have relocated to the San Francisco Bay Area; traded my NYC subway pass for a car and my winter coat for many layers of clothing in preparation for the most unique climate patterns on the planet.
I would like to thank my team at MasterCard for a Priceless ride; it will forever be a part of me.