EVP, Customer Strategy & Growth

This is a hybrid position that requires a minimum of 3 days per week in either our NY city office or Raleigh NC office.

Position Summary

The Executive Vice President, Customer Strategy and Growth, will sit at the intersection of marketing, data, digital, customer experience, and revenue optimization, with a singular mission: drive transformational growth across our customer base and digital platforms, and develop programs to maximize lifetime customer value while delivering world-class experiences.

This leader will be responsible for redefining how AKC acquires, engages, retains, and monetizes relationships across the full lifecycle of dog ownership. The role goes well beyond traditional brand marketing. The EVP will own customer strategy end to end - from sharpening AKC’s value proposition and relevance for modern dog owners to building data-driven engagement models, modernizing digital touchpoints, and unlocking long-term customer lifetime value.

Primary Job Duties

 Customer Strategy and Growth Leadership

Define and execute a unified customer strategy spanning acquisition, engagement, retention, and monetization across digital and offline touchpoints. Reframe the AKC customer relationship from largely transactional interactions to long-term, value-based engagement. Develop programs and offerings that increase customer lifetime value while delivering meaningful, trusted experiences.

Data and CRM Expertise

Build and leverage robust customer databases and CRM platforms to enable personalization, segmentation, analytics, and monetization. Translate customer insights and data analytics into actionable growth initiatives that drive measurable revenue and engagement lift. Establish disciplined measurement, testing, and optimization processes to maximize business impact and unlock new revenue streams.

Digital Platforms, Products, and Marketplaces

Lead the upgrade, growth, and optimization of customer-facing digital engagement platforms, including websites, apps, portals, or marketplaces. Oversee the design and execution of digital experiences that deepen loyalty, improve usability, and strengthen trust. Bring experience designing, launching, and monetizing digital marketplaces or e-commerce platforms, ideally in regulated or trust-based environments. Lead the development and growth of an AKC-branded online marketplace for dogs and AKC shop, ensuring a safe, secure, and compliant environment for breeders, exhibitors, and buyers.

Organizational Leadership and Cross-Functional Influence
Lead and integrate marketing, registration, and customer service into a single, customer-centered operating model. Partner closely with product, technology, operations, finance, and customer-facing teams to deliver seamless, end-to-end experiences. Build and lead high-performing teams, assess existing talent, and make thoughtful decisions about structure, capabilities, and resourcing.

Execution in Complex, Legacy Environments

Navigate an organization with long-standing processes, custom-built systems, and tenured stakeholders. Establish credibility quickly through subject-matter expertise, clarity of thinking, and early impact. Balance respect for institutional knowledge with the ability to challenge legacy assumptions and drive change.

Required Skills, Specialized Knowledge and Competency Requirements

Driving Results

Acts to surpass team goals, seizing opportunities to extend the limits of what is possible

Sets continually higher goals for the team that are ambitious but achievable

Identifies and acts on new opportunities that enable performance targets to be exceeded

Seeks new challenges and is energized by exceeding targets

Collaborating and Influencing

Identifies all necessary stakeholders and connects with them to gain support or agreement

Negotiates with a genuine give-and-take approach that takes all parties’ perspectives into account

Takes advantage of opportunities to build strategic relationships to achieve a specific outcome

Engages others in open dialogue and adapts own influence approach to different stakeholders in ways that address their interests or concerns

Anticipates emerging or potential conflicts among all stakeholders and takes steps to pre-empt them

Acting Strategically

Creates a 2-3-year roadmap or blueprint to implement the enterprise strategy in own area

Identifies and prioritizes the most critical future factors to consider in making decisions

Makes plans to address changes or trends in the external landscape (i.e. competitors, clients, and market segments) that affect own business or area

Develops plans that consider the impact beyond own area, location, function, or market

Other Relevant Information

• Proven success as a senior growth, customer strategy, or marketing leader responsible for driving measurable revenue and engagement outcomes.


• Deep expertise in CRM, customer databases, and monetization strategies, including segmentation, lifecycle marketing, and lifetime value optimization.


• Hands-on experience launching and scaling customer-facing websites, apps, portals, or digital platforms that serve as primary engagement channels.


• Demonstrated ability to translate e-commerce or digital performance insights into high-impact growth initiatives.


• Experience designing, launching, and monetizing digital marketplaces or transactional platforms.


• Exceptional analytical and strategic thinking skills, with the ability to synthesize data, market insights, and business objectives into clear priorities and action plans.


• Track record of building, leading, and inspiring cross-functional, high-performing teams.


• Comfort operating with urgency and accountability in environments facing revenue pressure and strategic inflection.


• Passion for mission-driven work and a genuine interest in serving dog owners, breeders, and the broader dog community.