Max attended the College of Wooster in Wooster, Ohio, and he flew for United Express Airlines for a short period of time in the 90s, transitioning into technology sales in San Francisco in 1997. Max’s career path led him into retail marketing and advertising on digital channels. As the current vice president of strategic accounts at Coherent Path, an email marketing company for top retailers, his focus is on informing and transforming companies’ email programs into modern data-driven channels focused on revenue. Long gone are the days when a brand would plan a series of print ads in the newspaper and perhaps includes a radio or tv spot in their media mix. Today’s brands must reach their customers across an enormous variety of media, and any number of digital channels allows for very personalized communications.

“If I have a clear sense of what is going to engage my customer, then the question is on which channels should I deploy my message? It could be social media—Facebook ad or Instagram ad, for example—it could be email, or it could be our retail website. The key is developing a very personalized plan, so the next time we see this customer on our website, we know exactly what information to present.”