Columbia, MD, February 16, 2022

Pete Stein Named President, Merkle Americas

Merkle (www.merkle.com), dentsu’s leading technology-enabled, data-driven customer experience management (CXM) company, has appointed Pete Stein as the new president of Merkle Americas. The announcement comes after Michael Komasinski, who previously served in this role, was named as Merkle’s global CEO at the beginning of 2022.

“Pete exemplifies a strong leader with his vast experience, strategic vision, and deep operational ability. He is well respected by his colleagues at Merkle and throughout the industry, and I am thrilled to have him lead our Americas team,” said Michael Komasinski, global CEO, Merkle.

Since 2020, Stein has been the global lead for Merkle’s Experience and Commerce practice. In 2021, Stein was instrumental in the acquisition of LiveArea, bolstering Merkle’s global experience and commerce capabilities and further positioning the business as a go-to experience partner for brands around the world.

“Pete is both an exceptional leader and a trusted industry expert in experience, commerce, and digital transformation. Since he arrived at dentsu in 2020, he has continued to attract top talent in this space – bringing the brightest minds together to do their best work with Merkle’s leading capability,” said Jacki Kelley, CEO, dentsu Americas. “As we continue to bring fully integrated solutions to our clients, I have no doubt that Pete will ensure this critical capability is completely integrated across the dentsu network, and accessible to all of our clients.”

“I am excited about the opportunity to lead Merkle Americas and our clients as we take the customer experience transformation journey together,” said Stein. “As I strive to solidify and grow this region, which represents 70 percent of Merkle’s global revenue, I also vow to drive a renewed emphasis on company culture, including a continued focus on Merkle’s DEI efforts, and to partner with dentsu Americas leadership to meet the changing needs of our clients.”

Stein joined Merkle in 2020 from global experience agency, Huge. As CEO at Huge, he led a team of 1,200 people across 13 offices, building upon Huge’s strength as a global experience agency rooted in user-centric design to deliver unified brand experiences. Prior to that role, he served as general manager at Fullscreen Media. Additionally, Stein spent more than 18 years at Razorfish, rising to global CEO. At Razorfish, he expanded a base of digital offerings by creating new global capabilities in e-commerce, social, mobile, and programmatic media.