Marketbridge Announces Appointment of Bob Ray to Board of Directors

Experienced B2B Marketing Agency Leader Will Provide Guidance to Global Growth Consultancy and Marketing Services Firm

BETHESDA, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Marketbridge, a leading integrated growth consulting and marketing firm, today announced the appointment of Bob Ray to its Board of Directors, effective immediately. Ray will provide strategic guidance on Marketbridge’s organic and inorganic growth priorities to expand the company’s unique focus on aligning a scaled consulting and marketing services business rooted in data and technology.

As a strategic advisor and board director to professional services and software companies in the marketing sector, Ray draws on thirty years of leadership experience running marketing agencies and overseeing global teams in technology firms, ranging from startups to enterprise-scaled businesses. Most recently, he served as CEO of Merkle B2B, an award-winning agency that is part of dentsu’s global advertising network. He has worked with some of the world’s most iconic brands, including AWS, Oracle, Cisco, JP Morgan, and GE.

Before joining Merkle B2B, Ray held senior executive roles at DWA, gyro, Enterasys Networks, and Nortel Networks, among others.

“Marketing and C-Suite leaders face increasing complexity in driving go-to-market strategies, data-driven execution, and digital transformation. Traditional consulting firms excel at strategy but lack execution, while agencies drive execution but aren’t always aligned with the broader growth strategy,” said Ray. “A hybrid firm like Marketbridge fills this void by integrating both – consulting insights and scalable activation – providing clients with actionable, performance-driven marketing solutions at a time when they need it the most.”

Ray will work closely with Marketbridge CEO John Shomaker; Tony Brindisi, co-founder and managing partner, RTC Partners; and the rest of the Board to propel Marketbridge’s strategic vision forward.

“We are thrilled to welcome Bob to the Board of Directors and eager to collaborate with him on our next chapter of growth,” said John Shomaker, CEO of Marketbridge. “Bob’s leadership experience running data-driven marketing agencies and clear vision will be invaluable as we further blend our global consulting and agency offerings for client solutions that drive predictable growth for our clients.”

Ray’s appointment advances the Board’s leadership and Marketbridge’s unique value proposition. “Marketbridge is addressing a decade-long pain point for growth executives: fragmentation across media, products, channels, teams, and yes, providers. Only Marketbridge provides a seamless connection between strategy, data and execution – at scale,” said Ray. “The next phase of marketing will belong to firms like Marketbridge that move faster and smarter by connecting strategy and execution, marketing, and sales, while driving an ethos of data-driven insights and decision-making at all points in the go-to-market engine,” he said.

About Marketbridge
Marketbridge is a leading integrated growth consulting and marketing services firm that accelerates performance from strategy through execution. With a team of 310 professionals across global locations including Boston, D.C., San Francisco, Seattle, London, and Canada, Marketbridge partners with over 150 clients worldwide, including Amazon Web Services, AMD, MetLife, Elevance, Flex and CERN.

For more information, visit marketbridge.com.