The brief: Digital commercialization leader for parent company.

Engagement summary: Placement at a PE-backed multi-brand QSR platform at the portfolio level, working across six brands shortly after a major brand acquisition closed. Started in digital commercialization, then led portfolio-wide digital retail and ecommerce, managing a 50-person global team, $1.5B in commerce-enabled integrations, and infrastructure serving a $30B brand ecosystem. Moved into the acquired brand to lead its transformation. Promoted to CMO.

The role required someone with opposing experience: digital infrastructure and brand transformation, not one or the other. His resume suggested adjacent experience. His career arc suggested someone who'd been solving this exact problem across multiple contexts. I recommended the conversation. Eight years and a CMO promotion later, he's still there.

Value creation:

• Built portfolio-wide Integration Platform: centralized e-commerce, loyalty, and personalization across six brands

• Managed $1.5B in delivery and commerce-enabled integrations

• Scaled "order ahead" platform, turning multi-stall locations into a competitive advantage over single-lane drive-thrus

• Led first holistic brand relaunch in portfolio history, replacing an 18-year legacy campaign

• Drove pandemic-era performance: system sales surged 21% in 2020 while the industry averaged 1.7% growth

Results:

• $1.5B in commerce-enabled integrations managed across portfolio

• 50-person global team built (product, analytics, ecommerce, UX)

• First holistic brand relaunch in portfolio history

• Promoted to Chief Marketing Officer after 8 years, overseeing 3,500+ locations

• "Best hire I ever made" — Chief Commercial Officer

Why it matters: Not a bolt-on digital hire. A transformation leader who built portfolio-wide infrastructure, then applied it to unlock value in an acquired asset. The combination required to convert deal thesis into realized value.

The brief: Digital acquisition lead, brand repositioning, customer experience transformation.

Engagement summary: Three leadership placements at a privately held credit card issuer ranked in the bottom quartile of the US market. Ownership structure mirrors PE dynamics: performance accountability, compressed timelines, disciplined capital allocation. One built the digital engine. One repositioned the brand. One owns the digital experience. Together: complete marketing transformation.

Value creation:

CMO -

• Built digital acquisition engine: direct-mail to integrated DRTV, national TV, streaming, always-on content

• Built AI-ready content strategy: half of team dedicated to content structured for AI/search ingestion

• 11+ years tenure, promoted from EVP to CMO

SVP Brand -

• Repositioned from "we'll approve you" to "credit-building partner"

• Built sports-anchored brand strategy across major league partnerships

• ~9 years tenure, promoted SVP Communications → SVP Marketing

SVP Digital Experience -

• Transformed customer engagement from direct mail/phone to digital-first servicing

• Mobile app: 4.7-4.8 star ratings (rare in subprime segment), 10M+ downloads

• 9+ years tenure, promoted twice: VP → SVP Customer Engagement → SVP Digital Experience

Results:

• Three placements, 25+ years combined tenure

• All three promoted

• Growth from ~10M to 17M+ active accounts

• Bottom quartile → Top 25 US credit card issuers

Why it matters: Where most PE-style environments experience mid-hold-period leadership resets, three hires delivered continuity across a decade and a complete marketing transformation. Engine. Brand. Experience. All three remain.

The brief: Programmatic specialist to build first in-house trading desk.

Engagement summary: Introduced via consulting partners who were architecting the company's strategy to build the first in-house programmatic trading desk, one of the first efforts of its kind at this scale. Strategy work identified the need, TMG found the builder. The role required a technical polymath capable of zero-to-one buildouts and navigating Fortune 50 stakeholders. Agency background (deployed global programmatic infrastructure for a major tech client at global agency) combined with builder mindset.

Value creation:

• Built first in-house Programmatic Trading Desk from scratch, pioneering shift from agency-managed to internally-owned activation

• Expanded scope systematically: Programmatic → Social → SEM/SEO → Ad Ops → Marketplace/Affiliate

• Now leads digital activation across 20+ businesses in company's highest-margin division

• Team manages full activation stack across major social and programmatic platforms

• Award-winning campaign execution

• Foundation for company's current push toward 75% ad automation

Results:

• Multiple promotions to VP

• 9+ years tenure where 2-3 years is typical

• Scope expansion from single channel to all digital activation

• Consistently hired and developed talent, scaling team over 9 years

Why it matters: Consulting-originated search with pre-validated mandate and full leadership buy-in. Candidate started Day 1 with clarity. The "programmatic specialist" became the VP architecting the company's entire digital activation infrastructure, now central to their automation strategy.