Russ Ackerman

Russ Ackerman is a seasoned expert at building emerging markets and brands that drive global growth.

Russ’s background is in High Growth Markets such as China, India, Korea, Brazil, Mexico, Russia, ASEAN, Africa and Middle East. His experience comes from a specialized practice of a leading professional services firm, where he advises C-Level executives on investment to, and from, high growth emerging markets. In the global economy today, understanding the realities of emerging markets can make or break a global brand success. Previously, Russ pioneered entirely new consumer products markets and brands for Procter & Gamble and Mars in Eastern Europe; forged the first e-commerce markets for Bertelsmann worldwide; started up Internet markets for Prodigy across Africa; and led the growth of over 20 world class brands from M&Ms, Pantene and Mr. Clean to Kraft and Glade while at Grey and J Walter Thompson.

Russ is skilled at big-picture strategy and hands-on execution of solutions that drive results, and is passionate about building new uncharted markets and brands.  He is credited for developing the presence marketing model to penetrate post-Communist economies and frontier markets, as well as guiding new high growth-based companies as they globalize and build brands outside home markets and in the U.S.

He is author of From Marx to Market; a speaker at professional organizations such as Corporate Directors Group and International Executives Resource Group; and a contributor to Cornell and University of Virginia MBA programs.  Demonstrating his passion for the uncharted, early in his career Russ also traveled solo for one year to 20 emerging economies.