Merkle (www.merkle.com), the nation’s largest and fastest growing independent customer relationship marketing (CRM) agency, today announced that it has hired Aaron Tellier as vice president, insurance and wealth management practice. Tellier will be focused on broadening Merkle’s capabilities in the wealth management space. With Tellier’s extensive experience in the wealth management business, his industry perspective will be instrumental in helping Merkle’s clients work to build effective, strategic and profitable CRM solutions across their organizations.

Aaron Tellier joins Merkle from Merrill Lynch, where he was vice president, sales and marketing operations. At Merrill Lynch, Tellier led a cross-functional CRM organization that combined analytics, technology, business strategy, sales and marketing execution services across the company’s US wealth management, MerrillEdge and personal retirement businesses. He also managed CRM infrastructures including the Salesforce.com platform which supported more than 20,000 financial advisors, client associates and specialists. In 2010, his efforts earned Merrill Lynch a CRM Enterprise Excellence award from Gartner and 1to1 Media.

Prior to this role, Tellier was the vice president, marketing and client strategy, at the Bank of Montreal. In this position, he led the multi-channel marketing strategy across wealth management, private banking and online brokerage business units. He holds a BS in political science from the US Naval Academy and an MBA from Yale School of Business Management.

Tellier said, “In today’s volatile wealth management marketplace, financial organizations are seeking new ways to deepen their relationships with advisors and clients alike. Companies are changing their business models, and channels are evolving … and so are the ways to interact with your client. Being a part of Merkle gives me the unique opportunity to help address these challenges and have a broad impact across the industry.”

“Aaron Tellier brings to Merkle an expansive industry expertise and innovative approach to evolving wealth management business models,” said John Lee, senior vice president and practice leader, Merkle. “As a thought leader, he knows how to apply the classical marketing techniques together with new trends in big data, digital and technology. Not only will Merkle benefit from his wealth of knowledge and experience, but more importantly, our clients will see the positive outcomes from their CRM efforts.”