Bio

Gerry Bavaro is an entrepreneurial, visionary digital marketing, ad-tech and mar-tech veteran with 20+ years of experience working with Fortune 500 clients at leading agencies and marketing services organizations. He helps drive the development of new products and capabilities that enable addressable, cross-channel experiences in an age where customer-centricity and personalization are critical. His experience in executive leadership, product, cross-channel marketing and media strategy, sales and client service continues to help businesses grow and lead in the data-driven world of marketing, media, and service. As Chief Strategy Officer at Merkury, Merkle's identity and data platform business, Gerry leads sales and marketing, solutions, and business operations teams focused on enabling clients to build and grow their own cookie-less Private Identity Graphs to drive cross-channel, personalized experiences and competitive advantage. Prior to his role at Merkury, Gerry was Global Chief Strategy Officer of M1, a first of its kind, people-based data platform he helped lead the development and growth of at Merkle and that is now Dentsu Aegis Network's people-based platform powering all of its agencies. He also held previous leadership positions as Chief Strategy Officer at Resolution Media, Omnicom Media Group’s global performance media agency, SVP, Performance Media at Digitas, Executive Vice President at Did-It, a pioneer in search marketing, and Account Director at AGENCY.COM where he led early digital strategy engagements for major brands like British Airways, Sprint and Met Life. Gerry received his B.B.A. in Marketing from Hofstra University. He is a recognized thought leader in the industry with articles and interviews published in AdAge, Adweek, AdExchanger, DM News, MediaPost, and other publications and is an active speaker in the industry. Gerry lives in Centerport, NY with his wife and two children (boy 7 years old, and daughter 10 years old).