Marla Bace, General Manager & Operations Executive
Marla Bace is currently the General Manager, Marketing and Operations at Circles a division of Sodexo, providing concierge services, event management, and customized rewards and experiences for customers and employees.
Previously, she served as Chief Marketing Officer and a member of the strategic management team for Brinton Eaton a national wealth advisory firm. In her recent role, she was responsible for all marketing and business development activities (e.g., public relations, branding efforts, marketing communications, pricing, customer relations and product development) as well as change management and employee development.
From 2007 until early 2009, Ms. Bace was the Head of Global Marketing Best Practices for UBS Wealth Management. In her role she was responsible for identifying and replicating emerging and leading practices within UBS and best practices from other companies across global marketing to drive revenues and enhance business efficiency.
Prior to UBS, Ms. Bace was Chief Marketing Officer at J.H. Cohn, the 16th largest accounting and consulting firm within the US. As a direct report to the CEO, Marla planned and administered a $6 million budget and was responsible for guiding marketing and practice development activities across eight regions. She grew a passive nine-person marketing effort into a dynamic, 24-person, fully integrated Marketing Department that was instrumental in growing the firm’s annual revenues from $123 million to $200 million over two years. The highlight was a public relations initiative which exceeded goals in the first year by over 125%.
Ms. Bace drove an innovative, targeted marketing campaign using the first-ever regional spokesperson for an accounting and consulting firm—New York Yankees Manager Joe Torre. The campaign, which included ads featuring Torre in mass-transit displays, public telephone kiosks, drive-time radio, The Wall Street Journal, Crain’s New York Business, CFO magazine, in both print and online, yielded a jump in brand awareness to 25% among the Firm’s key target audience from an estimated 0% within two years. Ms. Bace also managed the rollout of all external and internal communications to reflect the new brand. When she first joined the Firm as a Marketing Director, she coached the firm’s partners in client relations and prospecting to develop new business.
Prior to joining J.H. Cohn, Ms. Bace was Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales, at Financial Executives International (FEI), a 15,000-member professional association for CFOs, corporate controllers and treasurers. As a top-ranking member of the executive team for this $6.5 million nonprofit organization, Ms. Bace administered and controlled a $1.2 million operating budget. Under her leadership, FEI achieved an 8% year-over-year increase in revenue (compared to a 15% decline industry wide), a 30% increase in product sales and a 305% increase in customer base over two years.
She also served in the role of Chief Operating Officer for the Foundation affiliated with FEI. Ms. Bace implemented the rollout of the newly created FEI brand, coordinated all marketing activities for FEI, and unified its various sales functions into one customer-facing model. She worked directly with Fortune 500 senior financial executives, the FASB and SEC on a regular basis, and reported directly to a board of Fortune 500 senior financial executives.
Previously, Ms. Bace held numerous positions at Nabisco®, including Food Service Brand Manager for Single Serve cookies and crackers, Grey Poupon® and Cream of Wheat®. While in her role as Brand Manager, she reversed declining sales of Nabisco’s Cream of Wheat brand, delivering revenues at 5% over goal. She also played a team role in launching Cream Savers® and Cool Blasts®, with Cream Savers® growing to a $100 million annual business. Past responsibilities at Nabisco® include project management, risk management, process re-engineering and financial controls in various divisions of sales and marketing. She previously served as Director, Financial Services for Prudential Investments, where she was responsible for managing financial activities and implementing accounting policies to optimize productivity. She began her career at Ernst & Young as a CPA.
