Rich M Smith
I’m an executive advisor and behavioral marketing strategist with more than 30 years of experience leading growth across some of the most competitive sectors – financial services, healthcare, insurance, mortgage, and technology. I blend behavioral science, human psychology, and real-world executive experience to remove the smoke and mirrors from marketing and give leaders a process they can rely on. My work removes the guesswork from strategy, aligns leadership around clear decision-making, and gives companies a practical path to predictable performance.
30 years Of Building What Matters.
From launching the first Platinum MasterCard to scaling companies past $100M — every chapter built on one principle: understand why people decide, then make it actionable.
Present
Founder & Executive Advisor
Rich M. Smith Growth Studio
Working directly with CEOs and executive teams to rebuild positioning, sharpen messaging, and create the strategic alignment that turns marketing investment into predictable revenue.
2019 – 2022
Strategic Advisor — Positioning for Acquisition
Jornaya
Led positioning strategy that contributed to a successful nine-figure acquisition by Verisk Analytics.
2016 – 2019
Chief Marketing Officer
Recovery Centers of America
Led marketing transformation for a healthcare brand navigating explosive growth. Scaled the organization from early-stage revenue to over $100 million in under two years.
2013 – 2016
EVP & Chief Marketing Officer
Ditech Financial
Scaled Ditech into a top-10 mortgage originator through aggressive brand and performance marketing strategy in a highly competitive, post-recession lending landscape.
2008 – 2013
Head of Marketing
AIG Bank (now 21st Mortgage)
Led AIG Bank’s marketing transformation during the 2008 financial crisis — one of the most challenging operating environments in modern financial services history.
Early Career
Product Launch & Brand Leadership
Financial Services / Banking
Led the launch of the first Platinum MasterCard and Visa in the United States, establishing the foundational frameworks that would define his approach to positioning and launch strategy.
Why I Do This Work
"I bridge the gap between marketing and leadership by revealing the why behind your strategy — and showing you how to use your unique edge to scale."
Most marketing fails because leaders don’t trust it. They can’t see the logic behind it. They can’t connect the investment to the outcome. So they second-guess, stall, and eventually abandon the process.
My entire career has been built around solving that problem. I use behavioral science and human psychology to decode why marketing works — and then translate that into language that CEOs, boards, and investors can understand, trust, and apply.
The result is alignment. And alignment is what turns marketing from a cost center into a growth engine.
CORE VALUES
No smoke and mirrors. If I can’t explain it clearly, I don’t use it.
Every recommendation is grounded in data, patterns, and behavioral science.
I prioritize what works in the real world over what looks good in a deck.
Leadership teams have to believe in their strategy before it can perform.
Every engagement ends with a clearer, faster path to measurable results.
Complex ideas translated into boardroom-ready language. Always.
Press & Media
aS sEEN & hEARD
Adweek
Profiled as the CMO behind Ditech’s post-mortgage-crisis brand revival, growing loan production from zero to nearly $19 billion.
HousingWire
Recognized for driving PenFed’s direct-to-consumer channel to over 100% growth and 90% increase in mortgage member penetration.
Target Marketing Magazine
Full cover feature profile. Also recognized with the 2015 Benjamin Franklin Award from the Philadelphia Direct Marketing Association.
CustomerThink
Published articles include “Using Behavioral Data to Drive Better Customer Experiences,” “Say Goodbye to Personas,” and “The Death of the Cookie Doesn’t Mean a Return to Old Ways of Marketing.”
Gramercy Institute
Award winner (2015, 2016, 2021, 2022), award judge (2015, 2018), Financial Marketer TV interview guest, and conference panelist.
Speaking & Appearances
Keynotes That Change How Teams Think
From national conferences and private CMO forums to podcast conversations with today’s top business minds — Rich brings the Revenue Science perspective wherever leaders gather.
The most common reason great strategies fail has nothing to do with the strategy. It’s about the gap between what leaders say and what the market hears.
Behavioral Science · Strategy
How CEOs can stop guessing at ROI and start treating demand generation as a measurable, repeatable system.
Growth · Leadership
Why the most durable competitive advantages aren’t built on features or price — they’re built on positioning that competitors simply cannot replicate.
Positioning · Ceo Strategy
A practical walkthrough of the behavioral triggers that drive purchase decisions — and how to build them into every stage of the customer journey.
Psychology · Sales
Parc 55, San Francisco, CA – Master of Ceremonies / Conference Chair
North America’s largest senior-level digital marketing event for financial services, featuring executives from JP Morgan, Visa, Mastercard, and more.
Arizona – Conference Speaker
Invitation-based forum for senior marketing and financial services leaders. Topics: brand strategy, executive marketing leadership, growth in financial services.
MGM Grand / Paris Las Vegas, NV – Conference Speaker
One of the largest lead generation conferences in the world. Topics: digital customer acquisition, mortgage marketing, behavioral data in performance marketing.
Chicago, IL – Conference Speaker
Topics: performance marketing, B2C growth strategy, lead quality and conversion.
Philadelphia, PA – Conference Speaker
Topics: data-driven marketing, behavioral consumer data, customer acquisition strategy.
Philadelphia, PA – Forum Speaker
Topic: How to build and scale a metrics-driven demand generation engine.
New York City – Award Judge, Award Winner, CMO Interview Guest
One of financial marketing’s most prestigious annual gatherings. Rich has participated as both a judge evaluating peers and a multi-category award winner across multiple years. Featured in a live CMO interview with Gramercy Institute CEO Bill Wreaks (2021).
New York, NY – Co-Chair
Exclusive, invitation-only gathering of Fortune 1000 CMOs. Participation by nomination from the Governing Body.
Ready to Work Together?
Whether you’re looking for a keynote speaker, a strategic advisor, or a fractional CMO — let’s find the intersection of your unique edge and the growth you’re after.