Merkle (www.merkle.com), a leading customer relationship marketing (CRM) firm and the nation’s largest privately held agency, today announced the appointment of Jean Holder to executive vice president and chief financial officer. Holder brings her experience as a proven business transformational CFO who has operated across multiple functions at an enterprise level to Merkle.

“Merkle was a great match for my skills and experience.  My decision to join Merkle as CFO was also greatly influenced by how energized I am by Merkle’s culture - it enables an environment that is fast paced and with a sense of urgency for action, while retaining a sense of fun,” said Holder. “I am excited that my professional journey has led me here to contribute and be a part of a company that is poised for such unprecedented growth and global success.”

Holder’s experience in financial and operational management with global services companies was most recently as the senior vice president of operations at Quintiles.  Quintiles is the global market leader of biopharmaceutical development and commercial outsourcing services.  At Quintiles, Holder led an enterprise business transformation program to change core business and operating models, processes and systems.

Prior to Quintiles, Holder spent more than 25 years in a variety of financial and operational positions at Accenture, one of the world’s leading consulting companies. Throughout her tenure with Accenture, Holder was responsible for instilling financial and operational rigor through dynamic operating management models which met emerging business demands and supported the strategy of the company. In addition, she drove large scale change implementations for core business processes, key financial processes and specific enterprise transformations.

“Jean’s impressive depth as a financial and operational leader and her experience with global service organizations make her a perfect fit for Merkle’s CFO,” said David Williams, Chairman and CEO, Merkle. “Her collaborative nature and strategic mind set will be key to continuing to drive Merkle’s enterprise growth at scale.”