I'm Eric Howard, a Chief Marketing Officer based in the Pittsburgh area, and I've spent over 20 years doing the same core thing in a lot of different rooms: turning marketing into a function the rest of the business actually trusts.
That sounds simple. It rarely is. Marketing gets treated as a cost center in a lot of organizations, something that produces nice-looking assets while sales and finance make the real decisions. I've spent my career pushing against that, building marketing teams and systems that generate pipeline, hold up under a CFO's scrutiny, and earn a real seat in the strategy conversation.
Where it started
My path into B2B marketing leadership ran through consumer goods first. I spent years in brand and category roles at companies like GNC, Ultimate Nutrition, and SmartShake, learning how to build demand for a product on a shelf competing against a hundred others. That early experience shaped how I think about positioning to this day: if you can't explain why someone should pick you in a crowded aisle, you don't have a marketing problem, you have a clarity problem.
From there I moved into B2B and enterprise software, first at Orange Logic, then at Simio, where I've spent the majority of my career, and at TROY Group in between. Each stop added a different layer: digital transformation, marketing operations, demand generation, MarTech modernization, and eventually full P&L-level marketing leadership as CMO.
What I actually care about
I care about marketing that connects to revenue. Not marketing that looks good in a deck, marketing that shows up in the pipeline report and the board meeting. I've built the infrastructure for that more than once: rebuilding a website on a modern platform, migrating a company off a legacy CMS, standing up lead scoring and attribution that a sales team actually trusts, and building the scorecards that let a CEO see marketing's impact in five minutes instead of fifty.
I also care about how teams get built, not just what they produce. I lead from behind. I'd rather build the conditions for my team to do their best work and get out of the way than sit in the middle of every decision. That approach has let me build small, high-output marketing organizations that punch well above their headcount.
Outside the office
I live in the Pittsburgh area with my family, including two bichon frises and a golden retriever who have strong opinions about my work-from-home schedule. I'm a lifelong Steelers and Pirates fan, which means I've had a lot of practice thinking about brand loyalty, fan engagement, and what it takes to rebuild trust after a rough stretch. I also travel when I can, most recently planning a Mediterranean cruise, because a change of scenery is usually where my best strategic thinking happens.
Why this site exists
I built this site the way I'd want a marketing site built for a client: fast, clear, and useful, with content that actually says something instead of filling space. If you want the deeper version of my career, my Experience & Education page has the full history. If you want to know how I think about the work itself, start with Expertise. And if you just want to talk, my Contact page has everything you need.