Craig Dempster

Craig has been a member of the Merkle executive leadership team for nearly 15 years. In his role as Global CEO, he is responsible for the company’s many service lines, including customer relationship management (CRM), enterprise technology, data, analytics, performance media, user experience, performance creative, promotion and loyalty solutions, and customer strategy consulting. He oversees a staff of more than 9,700 employees in over 50 locations throughout the Americas, EMEA, and APAC.

Craig has been a direct report of Merkle’s Chairman and previous long-time CEO David Williams for more than a decade, playing an integral part in driving the company’s growth and profitability as it climbed to $1 billion in annual revenue. In his previous role as President, Merkle Americas, he was responsible for all aspects of Merkle’s North American operation, including sales, account management, solutions, services, and marketing. He was responsible for driving the P&L for Merkle Americas, representing more than 80% of the agency’s revenue and employee base. He led a team of more than 4,000 employees charged with the core goal of delivering exceptional value for clients across the full spectrum of people-based marketing competencies.

In 2016, Merkle joined Dentsu Aegis Network. Today, Craig serves on the Americas executive team as head of the CRM Line of Business in the Americas, including leadership of the other CRM brands within Dentsu: Cardinal Path, an award-winning analytics and marketing optimization consultancy; 360i, an integrated, analytically driven creative agency; and gyro, a full-service B-to-B creative powerhouse.

In 2015, Craig and John Lee, Merkle’s Chief Strategy Officer, co-authored a book titled “The Rise of the Platform Marketer,” which explores the competencies that marketers need in order to win in a world of digital addressability at scale.
Craig is a frequent speaker and writer on the topic of CRM and digital media and has been published in numerous publications, including Advertising Age, AdExchanger, DM News, and Ad Week. He provides expert guest commentary on trends in the digital advertising space for various print, online, and television news outlets, most recently appearing on CNBC’s Squawk Box. Craig holds a political science degree from Hofstra University.