As Global CEO of Merkle, Michael leads dentsu’s Customer Experience Management (CXM) Service Line, which encompasses the organization’s many capabilities and solutions in the areas of CX transformation, technology consulting, customer strategy, digital experience, commerce, CRM/loyalty, cloud solutions, data management, data solutions, and data science (AI/ML). He is responsible for more than $1.7 billion in annual (2022) revenue and oversees a staff of more than 16,000 employees in 30+ countries throughout the Americas, EMEA, and APAC.

Michael previously served as President of Merkle Americas and leader of the dentsu CXM Service Line in the Americas, overseeing all aspects of Merkle’s Americas regional operation, including sales, account management, solutions, services, and marketing. He was responsible for driving the P&L for Merkle Americas, representing more than 70% of the company’s global revenue and employee base. He led the team of more than 7,000 people charged with the core goal of delivering exceptional value for clients across the full spectrum of CXM competencies, including performance media, enterprise technology, CRM, data & analytics, digital & user experience, performance creative, loyalty & promotion, and customer strategy. Additionally, Michael spearheaded the acquisition of LiveArea, a global customer experience and commerce agency.

Prior to the Americas role, Michael served as President of Merkle’s Europe, Middle East, and Africa region (EMEA), leading a business of more than $400 million in annual revenue and a team of 3,500 employees in more than 30 offices in fifteen markets. During his four years leading the EMEA business, it experienced 5x growth and is now considered an industry leader in the core offerings of performance media, CRM, analytics, customer experience, and marketing technology. Merkle is currently eConsultancy’s fifth-largest full-service and marketing services provider and ninth-largest digital agency and was a finalist in Campaign’s Agency of the Year standings. Merkle EMEA has been recognized by The Drum, Forrester, and partners such as Adobe, Google, Salesforce, Pega, and Amazon Web Services. 

Michael led the acquisition of several industry leading businesses, including DWA, Aquila Insight, Divisadero, Oxyma, and Namics. He was recognized as one of Data IQ’s top 100 most influential people in data. He shares his expertise and point of view via features in industry publications, including Forbes, and as a panelist and speaker at industry and client events. 

Michael joined Merkle in 2015 as the Chief Operating Officer of Agency Services and moved to London in late 2016 to begin his transition into the regional leadership role.  Prior to Merkle, Michael held leadership roles at Razorfish, Schawk Retail Marketing, The Nielsen Company, and A.T. Kearney. He holds a bachelor of science from Vanderbilt University and an MBA from Indiana University's Kelley School of Business.

Pete Stein is President of Merkle Americas and leader of the dentsu Customer Experience Management (CXM) Service Line in the Americas. He oversees all aspects of Merkle’s Americas regional operation, including sales, account management, solutions, services, and marketing. He is responsible for driving the P&L for Merkle Americas, representing more than 70% of the company’s global revenue and employee base. His team of more than 7,000 is charged with the core goal of delivering exceptional value for clients across the full spectrum of CXM competencies, including performance media, enterprise technology, CRM, data & analytics, digital & user experience, commerce performance creative, loyalty & promotion, and customer strategy. In this position, Pete is a member of dentsu’s Americas Executive Team as well as Merkle’s Global Operations Committee.

Previously, Pete served as Global Lead of Experience & Commerce, leading Merkle’s team of CXM experts focused on customer experience transformation through experience and commerce technologies. His responsibilities included  recruiting, developing, and inspiring the team to achieve sustainable performance and retain deep client relationships globally for our experience and commerce services.

A 25-year industry veteran, Pete is a recognized leader with a proven track record of leading digital, media and consulting firms. Prior to joining Merkle in 2020, Pete served as the CEO of Huge, a global experience agency with 1,200 employees in 13 offices across the globe. Huge delivered world-class customer experience work to clients like Google, McDonalds, and P&G. Prior to that role, Pete spent more than 18 years at Razorfish, ultimately rising to global CEO of the organization. While at Razorfish, Pete expanded a base of digital offerings by creating new global capabilities in e-commerce, social, mobile, and programmatic media, delivering strong growth for clients.

Pete is actively involved in the advertising and digital community, having served on the Ad Council board and the Snap Client Council.

Margaret Wagner is the regional president of Merkle and CEO of dentsu’s Customer Experience Management (CXM) Service Line across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). She leads a business of $400 million in annual revenue and 3,500 employees across 34 offices in 14 markets. She is responsible for leading and developing a regional organisation that delivers customer experience transformation for clients as well as partnering with dentsu’s Creative and Media Service Lines on broader transformation programmes. 

Previously the UK and EMEA chief growth officer, Margaret built a regional platform for sales, alliances, and marketing that is consistent and scalable. These platforms support the growth of existing and new clients on complex customer experience transformation journeys across Merkle’s media, analytics, CX and technology service lines. She led our hugely successful Alliances business with key partners including Adobe, Google, Pega and Salesforce.

Margaret is a member of the Merkle Global Executive Committee and of the Regional Executive Team of Giulio Malegori, CEO, dentsu EMEA. She joined Merkle in Europe as it launched in the UK in 2015 after serving in senior leadership roles for RAPP and Wunderman. Margaret is the executive sponsor for Merkle's Gender pillar for the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion council. 

Merkle is part of Dentsu, which provides best-in-class services and solutions in media, CXM, and creative that are designed to help clients to win, keep and grow their best customers and achieve meaningful progress for their businesses.

John serves as Chief Executive Officer, Merkle APAC, including Australia and New Zealand, which make up the biggest markets by revenue in the region. As the leader of dentsu’s fastest- growing business in the region, John, overseeing a team of more than 2,000 across Oceania, South East Asia, China, Taiwan, and India, is responsible for driving growth in all aspects of customer experience transformation, including digital experience, ecommerce, technology consulting and implementation, customer strategy, data, and analytics.

John has a track record in delivering experience-led and digital-enabled transformations that are responsive to market change, driving performance outcomes and supporting growth. With more than 30 years’ experience at some of the world’s largest consulting firms, John has led major digital business and strategic programs in Australia and the United Kingdom, in addition to leading the growth of digital and experience consulting practices in Asia Pacific and globally.

A renowned early adopter and thought leader in all aspects of digital disruption, John forged a career focused on placing the customer at the heart of business decisions, delivering exceptional customer experience outcomes. He is recognized as a specialist in helping clients make sense of the rapidly changing digital landscape and developing strategies and visions that allow them to respond to that change.

John joined Merkle in February 2022. Previously, he was a senior Consulting partner at PwC, EY, and IBM. At PwC, he served as Chief Digital Officer. He established and led the PwC Digital Services and Experience Consulting practices and later served as the ASEANZ Digital Practice leader, before joining the global Experience Consulting leadership team.