Rod Ford is president and chief executive officer of marketing technology company CognitiveDATA, a Merkle Company. He also serves on the Merkle Executive Team. Rod founded CognitiveDATA in 2001 in response to market need for tighter integration between ecommerce and mail order fulfillment systems to facilitate the customer experience and ensure operational integrity. Headquartered in Little Rock, Arkansas, with offices in Chicago, Columbia, Minneapolis, and New York, CognitiveDATA is recognized as a leader in new innovations that improve the quality of customer and marketing data.
CognitiveDATA is the fourth technology company launched by Rod in the past 20 years. Under Rod’s leadership, CognitiveDATA has been named for three consecutive years to Inc. Magazine’s list of fastest growing private companies. The company has also been recognized as a Deloitte Fast 500 recipient for its impressive growth as a technology company. CognitiveDATA’s innovative data quality technology and data science capabilities have received national acclaim, including recognition by the National Center of Database Marketing as an Innovation Award winner.
Prior to founding his first technology company, Rod worked as a systems and sales engineer for Cargill and Rockwell Automation. An active member of the direct marketing community, Rod has served on the Direct Marketing Association’s Marketing Technology Council. He is a frequent speaker at industry events. He holds a degree in mechanical engineering from University of Arkansas.
