Chris Olberding

Christopher
Olberding

Brand Technology Marketing

I've founded, scaled, and sold a digital agency, led acquisition for a Top 50 U.S. bank, and built measurement infrastructure from the ground up. The through-line is building modern marketing functions. Right now that means figuring out what AI actually changes about how marketing organizations operate, measure, and make decisions, and what it doesn't.

What I Do

Strategy & Growth

Marketing strategy, go-to-market planning, and customer acquisition tied directly to business objectives.

Brand & Positioning

Brand development, messaging, and market entry, from early-stage positioning to enterprise repositioning.

Team Building

Hiring, developing, and structuring marketing teams from startup to enterprise scale.

Data & Measurement

Attribution frameworks, media mix modeling, analytics infrastructure, and honest reporting on what's actually working.

Media & Channel Optimization

Paid search, social, programmatic, CTV, direct mail. Channel strategy, budget allocation, and performance management across the full mix.

Digital Native

Two decades across design, development, and marketing — now applying that to how AI fits into the way teams actually work. I've been a designer and developer, and built and managed teams of both.

Where I've Been

2023 – Present

VP, Marketing

Top 50 U.S. Commercial Bank

Leading consumer acquisition during a major corporate transition. Eight-figure budgets, $3B in new deposit acquisition in 2025, and building the measurement infrastructure to know what's actually working.

2021 – 2022

Fractional CMO & CPO

B2G Data Platform / B2C Content Platform

Repositioned a government-focused SaaS company for investor readiness. Led product and technology for a subscription content platform with 100K+ active subscribers.

2007 – 2021

Founder & Managing Director

Full-Service Digital Agency

Built the region's largest digital agency from nothing: $3MM+ revenue, 25 people, enterprise clients across government, sports, financial services, and healthcare. Exited via acquisition.

1998 – 2006

University of Florida

BA, Political Science / Doctoral Program (ABD), Comparative Politics & Statistics

The quantitative training that still shapes how I think about measurement, and the political theory that taught me every system has incentives worth understanding.

My Operating Principles

Align the incentives.

Customer value, employee investment, and profitability are in constant tension. The discipline is refusing to sacrifice one for the others, and being honest when they pull against each other.

Profit isn't a secret.

Everyone in an organization is engaged in making money. When leadership pretends otherwise, every hard decision looks arbitrary or dishonest. Name the goal and people can actually work toward it.

Invest in your people. Mean it.

Your team gives effort and results. In return, you owe them development, honest feedback, and genuine investment in where they're going next. That's the deal.

Lead from the front.

Leaders who stay fluent across brand, product, technology, and performance marketing make better decisions and better partners to their teams.

Do the research.

"Data-driven" has become a way to sound rigorous while still deciding from the gut. Take the time to understand what the evidence actually says, even when the answer is complicated or inconvenient.

Tribal knowledge doesn't scale.

Most organizations solve the same problems over and over. Rigorous testing, capturing what's learned, and applying it broadly turns progress into an upward arrow, not a loop.

Shaped By

The baloney detection kit Carl Sagan The first step is wanting the truth more than wanting to be right.
Meaning as choice Viktor Frankl You can't control what happens. You can control what it means.
The humanist skeptic Kurt Vonnegut See the absurdity clearly. Stay kind anyway.
Range over specialization David Epstein Generalists find what specialists miss.
Legibility vs. reality James C. Scott The map is never the territory, especially when institutions draw it.
Systems thinking Donella Meadows Every problem is a system. Change the system, not the symptom.

Off the Clock

Fatherhood

Two sons, 13 and 9. Those two goobers are the most important things in my life.

Arsenal

Hope and heartbreak are part of the deal, but starting to believe it's our year. COYG!

Cello

Started late, improving slowly, playing every day. Has been rewarding.

Cooking

I enjoy cooking and hosting for friends and family. My oldest is my sous chef.

Watercolor

A medium that punishes you for trying to control it. Somehow relaxing.

Sci-Fi

Vonnegut, Herbert, Asimov, Delany, Simmons, Banks. The weirder the better.

Let's connect.

I'm always happy to talk about technology, design, or whatever interesting problem you're working on.

Get in touch LinkedIn