Richard K Howe
CEO

Richard is the CEO of Kowabunga!

For more than 20 years, Richard K. Howe has been on the fore front of global marketing innovations in software, services, data, analytics, branding and operations. In roles whose titles have included Chief Executive Officer, Chief Marketing Officer, Strategy & M&A Officer, General Manager, Sales Manager, Product Line Manager, Software Manager and Advance Projects Manager,

Richard's vision and business acumen have allowed him to consistently drive company growth objectives through the execution of business strategies designed to meet market changes and/or mitigate competitive threats around the world.

For many of these strategies, Richard has assumed the operational leadership role over the groups including geographical responsibilities in the USA, EMEA and APAC. Richards' skills are unique in that he has successfully managed the operational differences between businesses both small and large and brings direct experience across functions in Marketing, Sales, Operations, Delivery Services, and R&D. Additionally, Richard has had the experience of directly managing world-class software, services and software-as-a-service operations. The collective impact of his efforts across the businesses he has influenced can be measured in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

His tenacity and willingness to address tough issues head on often places Richard on the front line of change. Since 2005 as the Chief Marketing / Strategy and M&A Officer at the Acxiom Corporation, a multi-billion dollar, multi-national information Services Company, Richard has taken a mature business with a proud legacy that serves the direct mail industry and transformed it into a world leading Interactive Marketing Services concern. Through a combination of organic and acquired strategies, Richard has added on average, approximately $115 million dollars per year in new revenue at an average operating income of approximately 19%.

Richard's educational background includes an undergraduate degree in engineering from Concordia University and a master's degree in engineering from McGill University in Canada. Richard graduated first in his class at these institutions and was the recipient of numerous university and government scholarships.

Most recently, as Chief Marketing Officer at Acxiom (NASDAQ: ACXM), Richard built a global marketing organization from the ground up. Acxiom's technology culture and decentralized organizational model materialized itself in single channel messaging that was inconsistent by product, service, industry and geography. Additionally, the company had no consistent brand identity or strategy. Further, the companies' product investment strategies were often ill aligned with the market and not optimized by maximum opportunity to the shareholders. Richard consolidated the company's global shared marketing functions including public relations, communications, events, creative, proposal development, website, media buying, executive briefing centers, analysts/investor relations and lead management programs. This set the agenda for a common messaging, positioning and branding strategy across the globe for Acxiom.

As CMO, Richard also introduced a product marketing function which he organized by line-of-business, making this unit responsible for defining marketing programs across all channels. Additionally, he implemented direct marketing programs which addressed offline and online channels including direct mail, email, outbound calling, banner advertising and website interactions. Concurrently, he introduced a standard commercialization process for product management and implemented a process for product development which included governance for investment decisions in an effort to ensure optimal prioritization of investment dollars across the enterprise. Richard's marketing organization has driven programs that have delivered in excess of $130 million dollars in revenue. These re-branding and positioning efforts were recently recognized at the 2008 American Business Awards where Richard's marketing group was awarded the "Stevie" for best marketing organization in the country. The marketing organization at Acxiom under Richard's leadership has also been recognized by the American and Arkansas adverting federations.

As Chief Strategy & M&A Officer at Acxiom, Richard has had the responsibility to introduce organic, acquired and partnership strategies which will fuel the companies' future growth. Due to Richard's strong leadership and determination, he has often been tasked with taking over struggling business units where operational strategies were needed to improve profitability. To this end, in 2005 Richard took over responsibility for the companies' $150 million annual information products division and through a combination of operational improvements and divestitures was able to improve profitability within 12 months by $14 million dollars annually.

In 2006 Richard built and operated the companies' first consulting practice. Introducing practice, utilization and chargeability disciplines Richard brought to Acxiom's go-to-market a more consulting driven approach to sales. The business will deliver $30 million dollars in revenue in 2008. In 2006 Richard led a strategy to purchase a $4 million annual services company in Shanghai China (China-Loop). By combining that operation with a similar sized business in Australia, Richard was able to advance the companies globalization strategy while significantly contributing to growth. The business will deliver $25 million dollars of profitable revenue in 2008.

In 2006 Richard led a strategy to acquire an interactive services company (Digital-Impact) in California. This acquisition was the catalyst for the companies' migration from a mature business serving the direct mail industry to one capitalizing on its direct-to-consumer expertise within the newer marketing channels online. Furthering this transition for Acxiom, in 2007 Richard also purchased a $2 million annual banner advertising company (Echo-Target) in an effort to expand the companies' services to the internet advertising channel and he simultaneously innovated, organically, a product that would allow marketers to leverage demographic data for targeting online advertisements. Collectively, these digital businesses will deliver in excess of $70 million dollars in revenue in 2008 having grown on average in excess of 25% since acquisition or construction.

In 2007 Richard led a strategy to distribute the companies' core products through leading technology providers like Oracle, HP, SAP and EMC. Prior to this time, the company had never pursued distribution other than through a direct sales model. As part of this strategy, Richard was able to successfully sell to EMC for $30 million dollars a software asset that was ill aligned with Acxiom's' core competency, while at the same time retaining the rights to use that asset in the marketplace. In addition to the sale of the technology, the strategy has resulted in signed contracts that total in excess of $35 million dollars in revenue. Additionally, Richard formed relationships with a number of high profile digital advertising networks like Right-Media, Value-Click and Double-Click to expand Acxiom's display advertising services and distribute its core information products.