John Stauffer Email & Phone Number

I am the Chief Strategy Officer for Merkle, an integrated experience consultancy. I lead a team of 135+ strategists across our Business Consulting, Experience & Commerce, and Technology Strategy groups. I have P&L responsibility for the strategy practice within Merkle in the Americas and serve on the firm's Americas OpCo.Some accomplishments in my time as CSO:- As P&L owner, I led 26% YoY growth, double the industry growth rate for CX consulting services;- Grew the org to 135+ highly skilled strategists;- Delivered growth while maintaining margin targets in a publicly traded holding co.;- Led the integration of previously disconnected strategy teams into one winning operating model;- Wrote the Business Agility & Growth value proposition for Merkle's new go-to-market positioning;- Delivered high-profile new business wins, organic client growth, and high marks from analysts ranging from Forrester, IDC, and Everest;- Launched a Business Value Architecture team, linking CX gains to business impact.With 20 years of consulting experience across Asia and the U.S., my mission is to foster the growth of our community of strategists, ensuring that we deliver the very best work for our clients and that our people grow and thrive in their careers.Before Merkle, I was the Managing Director of Strategy at DEG, a full-service digital agency that was acquired by Dentsu and integrated into Merkle's Experience & Commerce group. There, I doubled the size of our strategy practice and won multiple awards for our work in CRM, commerce, web, social, and customer analytics. Before that, I held regional strategy leadership roles at Ogilvy, where I worked with global brands across CPG, auto, retail, and B2B sectors, and won a Cannes Lion for Ford.In addition to leading strategy teams, I also volunteer as a court-appointed special advocate for children in the family court system.

Listed skills include Digital Strategy, Social Media, Strategy, Social Media Measurement, and 28 others.