Steve leads Merkle’s industry and consulting teams and is a member of our Executive Committee.

As a practitioner, Steve is focused on driving client value by embedding advanced customer insight into client customer strategies, marketing and customer operations. He is typically engaged in enterprise transformation projects that include reinventing multi-channel customer experiences and transforming the client organization to deliver the target experience. Steve has deep experience in insurance, healthcare payer and retail industries. He has been published extensively on the topics of CRM and business analytics, most recently in the CNBC guest blog and MIT’s Sloan Management Review.

Steve joined Merkle in January 2011 with 25 years experience in direct marketing and strategy consulting. He spent over 15 years at PwC Consulting/IBM Global Business Services, where during his tenure he held global strategy leadership roles in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Business Analytics and Optimization (BAO) practices. Prior to that, he was a consultant at A.T. Kearney and manager at Chadwicks of Boston.

Steve holds a Bachelor of Science in Economics from The Wharton School of Business, focused on entrepreneurship and management as well as an MBA from Harvard Business School, focused in general management and strategy.

Chris Crayner has developed and led customer marketing strategy, initiatives and functions for more than 15 years across the media and entertainment, pharmaceutical/consumer package goods and financial services industries. At Merkle, he leads the Enterprise Strategy Group focused on integrated marketing and CRM. Most recently he spent 7 years at The Walt Disney Company leading customer relationship marketing areas at the corporate level, and at both Theme Parks and Resorts. He served as Vice President, Global Customer Managed Relationships for Walt Disney Theme Parks and Resorts, responsible for customer relationship marketing strategies and initiatives worldwide. He has also served as Vice President, Technology – Corporate Brand Management where he led CRM business and technology strategy work across Disney’s diversified businesses.

In 2000, Greg joined Merkle to establish the company's database marketing agency group, which focuses primarily on nonprofit and membership-based clients. Greg has nearly 25 years of experience in innovating, developing and implementing industry-leading database marketing strategies and solutions for many of the largest organizations in America. Prior to joining Merkle, Greg was a founding partner of a specialty-drug, mail-order pharmacy, and president of a direct marketing agency. An industry thought leader, Greg frequently speaks at various direct marketing and strategy conferences, and is a regular contributor to industry publications and Merkle's Donor Power Blog.

Prior to joining Merkle in 2010, Margie served as the EVP of Strategic Services at Wunderman, where she oversaw the CRM strategy, account planning and analytics practices, working with clients such as CVS/Caremark, Nokia and Abbott Nutrition. Before Wunderman, Margie led the strategy practice at Razorfish for nearly 10 years, serving such major brands as Capital One, Staples and general mills. Margie began her career in general advertising at agencies including JWT and Y&R, followed by management positions in several direct marketing agencies, and as marketing manager for Microsoft’s MSN.

She is a frequent speaker on various customer relationship marketing topics at industry events, and has been published on the topic of customer strategy in several trade publications.

She holds an MBA in Marketing and an MS in Information Systems from University of Maryland and a BA in Sociology and Statistics from Columbia College in New York City.

Thomas is responsible for the strategic development and delivery of end-to-end programs derived from consumer insights to solve our clients' marketing challenges. As a seasoned marketing strategist with 17 years of customer and acquisition experience, Thomas consistently delivers innovation, quality and unparalleled service to our clients and drives new initiatives such as design and structure for loyalty programs, customer lifecycle marketing plans, channel integration planning, and full-year testing agendas to advance marketing results. Focusing on the Insurance and Wealth Management industries, he has delivered solutions for clients such as Allstate, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois, E*Trade, GEICO, GMACi, Northwestern Mutual, TIAA-CREF, and Unitrin Direct.

Prior to joining Merkle, Thomas was an executive at CFM Direct, a direct marketing agency specializing in financial services and insurance marketing. He started his career holding positions in Business Analysis and Marketing at First Union and Chevy Chase Bank. Thomas is an Honors graduate from Roanoke College.

Steve leads the quantitative solutions team for the Merkle's retail practice. He brings over 20 years of experience in customer-centric marketing, analytics, marketing research, strategic planning and vendor collaboration to his client engagements. Steve's background encompasses many industries, including retail, consumer goods, financial services, telecommunications and pharmaceutical, as well as supplier experience in advanced analytic projects. Prior to joining Merkle, Steve held leadership positions at Accenture, SymphonyIRI, Capital One and PepsiCo. Steve is currently a management/marketing PhD candidate at Virginia Commonwealth University. He earned an MBA from the University of Richmond and BBA from the College of William and Mary.

John leads a dedicated team of industry experts to support clients in insurance and wealth management. John has more than 15 years of customer relationship management and database marketing consulting experience in the insurance and financial services industries.

Prior to joining Merkle in 2008, 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 Insurance and Financial Services CRM practice. John has also held management positions with Rapp Collins Worldwide and BearingPoint where he managed direct response, interactive, and loyalty programs across multiple industries. As an insurance and financial services specialist, he has delivered marketing and CRM solutions to clients such as AARP, Aetna, AG Edwards, Allstate, American Express Farmers, GEICO, MetLife, NY Life and US Bank.

John is a graduate of Franklin and Marshall College.

David Magrini has vast experience in the insurance and financial services arena, having come to Merkle after leading the Individual acquisition marketing efforts for Prudential Retirement plans for the past 2 years. Prior to this, he led the direct to consumer and group marketing efforts for Aetna in the Medicare and Individual marketplaces for 3 years.

His primary focus at Aetna was on understanding the individual decision-making process for how people make healthcare choices in this marketplace, and then translating this consumer-directed knowledge into marketing strategies across all channels of distribution. David's efforts and experience at Aetna produced notable results. He led all marketing activities for Aetna Medicare's entry into the prescription drug plan market in 2006. He built robust campaign management reporting capabilities including lead and acquisition profile analytics, direct marketing media management, and execution that delivered 300,000 new member acquisitions in 6 weeks. Real time results reporting allowed for media mix optimization across channels and markets.

Over 3 years, David was the architect of segmentation strategies that drove targeted messaging and media to most attractive audiences, enabling Aetna to achieve improvements in cost per lead and cost per acquisition measurements across all media channels, including direct response TV, direct mail, Web, and telesales.

Bill joined Merkle in 2003 and is charged with  bringing together data, analytics, and technology to enable marketing performance. He has significant experience in marketing analytics, creating solutions for clients that drive targeting, insights, and measurement. His experiences also include the processes and technology that drive marketing; including data warehousing and campaign management (strategy, process, environment, tools). 

Craig is responsible for driving enterprise-level transformation and strategic organizational change for Merkle’s customers across the Travel, Media & Entertainment and Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) industry verticals. Prior to Merkle, Frampton was Director of Global Customer Marketing at SAS, where he was responsible for transforming and leading all aspects of their customer marketing organization. Prior to SAS, he was a Sr. Manager in Capgemini’s Media and Entertainment Marketing Transformation consulting practice, where he was responsible for leading large-scale sales and marketing transformation initiatives for clients such as Warner Brothers, Warner Home Video, Sony Pictures, The Walt Disney Studio, and MGM Home Entertainment. In addition, he served as a senior leader with The Walt Disney Company, responsible for leading the functional transformation component of a global sales, marketing, and operations for Walt Disney Parks & Resorts worldwide. Frampton began his career in the Change Enablement & Transformation practice at Accenture.

Gerry has 30 years' experience in database marketing and marketing analytics. Over that time he has provided services for clients in publishing, retail, transportation, banking, insurance, telecom, technology, packaged goods, not-for-profit and the public sector.

Gerry has significant hands-on experience working in the database marketing arena in data-centric, analytical/modeling and strategic consulting roles. He has built and managed the analytics/database marketing practices for three major Boston area ad agencies. Prior to joining Merkle in 2010 Gerry ran his own analytics/database marketing practice for over 8 years, providing customer marketing support to a wide range of clients as well as consulting for several regional ad agencies. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with a BS in Medical Technology and Public Health.

Leah is a versatile leader with a passion for excellence and actionable, insight-driven initiatives rooted in a sound marketing strategy. By orchestrating data, processes, technology, and analytics, she delivers measurable marketing results. Most recently, Leah has delivered Integrated Customer Marketing solutions comprised of segmentation, marketing mix optimization, and executive dash boarding to transform client decisioning. In her six years with Merkle, Leah has also led marketing services efforts comprised of database marketing, campaign management, and reporting.

Prior to joining Merkle, Leah spent five years at Accenture in the CRM practice, where she focused on capability design, process and organization design, and program management. She has also held market research and online marketing positions. Her experience spans multiple industries, including cable/satellite, insurance, telecommunications, and travel and entertainment. Leah holds a BA and an MBA from the University of Texas at Austin.

Prior to joining Merkle, Rob was a principal in the Allant Group’s Professional Services practice, specializing in analytic solutions for clients in the telecommunications/cable sector.  While there, he led Allant’s analytics engagements for two of the country’s largest MSOs, supporting closed-loop marketing programs that serviced greater than 50% of the available US footprint.  Rob has also worked with clients such as Sprint/Nextel, Washington Mutual, and E*TRADE during his earlier tenure with Accenture.