danknauf@gmail.com
linkedin.com/in/danielknauf
Chicago, IL
312-404-3443
Page | 1
STRATEGY +
EXECUTION +
RELATIONSHIPS.
EVERY BUSINESS NEEDS THESE.
With 30 years of experience
across every aspect of
software development and
technology leadership, I have
learned a few key tenets that
serve as my guide.
I believe the work we do in
technology should lead to
strategic outcomes, not
outputs. When teams are
aligned to clear outcomes,
we produce work with every
bit of passion and heart as
the best artists in the world.
When done with integrity
and humanity, we can create
work that outlasts timeline
and revenue expectations.
I believe in working together
across disciplines, asking
ourselves to be open to
creative thinking to solve
problems in new ways, to
drive quality execution.
Today, that means
harnessing AI to amplify
what people can do,
connecting human expertise
with intelligent systems to
deliver outcomes neither
could achieve alone.
I believe in helping clients
and team members focus on
people first. Empathy and
inclusivity will produce not
only a better product, but
create better relationships
with customers and for those
involved.
When done well,
Strategy + Execution +
Relationships make
everything more fun, more
profitable, and more
sustainable.
THIS IS THE
WORK I DO.
DANIEL KNAUF
TECHNOLOGY LEADER
danknauf@gmail.com
linkedin.com/in/danielknauf
Chicago, IL
312-404-3443
Page | 2
PROFESSIONAL
SUMMARY
A technology leader with experience, focused on making a positive impact to businesses
using technology, storytelling, and engaging customer experiences. I leverage my
experience building technology solutions to grow brands’ businesses by offering
strategic points of view, innovative approaches, and unique perspectives on how to
solve business challenges with technology.
CORE STRENGTHS
Driving True Digital Transformation through modernization of
technology teams and processes to enable new business
models in the digital era.
Building High Performing, Collaborative Teams in the face of
industry disruption by leveraging servant leadership to
empower teams with true ownership of their product.
A Loyalty and Marketing Technology Expert that can bridge
traditional silos to build the right platform to maximize
customer experience and value.
Ability to Operate and Deliver in consulting organizations
where billability is important while also shaping talent in the
organization to match corporate growth strategies.
SKILLS
Agentic AI Platform Design
AI-Powered Ways of Working
Agile Methodologies (SAFe)
Cloud Migration
CX Transformation
DevOps & Automation
Digital Product Development
Digital Transformation
Leadership & Team Building
MarTech & E-Commerce
Multi-Agent Orchestration
CAREER TIMELINE
CLIENT & BRAND EXPERIENCE
Adobe, Inc.
Amazon
City of Chicago
Emaar Properties (Dubai)
Enterprise Mobility
Hilton Worldwide
Home Depot
Huawei (China)
Hyatt Hotels
Indigo Books (Canada)
Jinjiang International (China)
Kellogg Company
KPMG
LEGO Group
Manulife Insurance
McDonalds
Miral (Abu Dhabi)
NFL / Superbowl XLI
PepsiCo
Pizza Hut (Yum! Brands)
Procter & Gamble
Sam’s Club
SeaWorld
State of Michigan
State of Minnesota
State of New Jersey
Ulta Beauty
U.S. Bank
Walmart
Walt Disney Company
Whataburger
Wyndham Hotels & Resorts
Yas Island (Abu Dhabi)
.com
1998
2000 - 2008
2008
2020
Visual Basic
Developer
Multiple Technology
Consulting & Developer Roles
Vice President of
Technology
Chief Technology
Officer
Chief Technology
Officer
2023
Chief Technology
Officer, Americas
2024
danknauf@gmail.com
linkedin.com/in/danielknauf
Chicago, IL
312-404-3443
Page | 3
PROFESSIONAL
EXPERIENCE
Merkle, EVP, Chief Technology Officer, Americas
2024 - Current
Executive Vice President and CTO for Merkle Americas, responsible for defining and executing the
regional technology and AI strategy. This role spans market-facing innovation, agentic AI platform
development, and empowering Merkle's technical community to deliver transformative outcomes for
Fortune 500 clients, and leading AI focused advisory services.
Primary Responsibilities:
• Architected Merkle's AI strategy around two GTM initiatives: AI for CX, powering agentic
marketing and customer experiences, and AI for Enterprise, enabling organizations to adopt
and scale AI with speed and confidence.
• Led design and adoption of the Agentic Ways of Working platform, a unified delivery
workbench for Merkle that embeds AI agents into every phase of client delivery.
• Executive leader of Merkle’s AI Advisory practice, forward deploying consultants to client
environments to directly solve their biggest challenges with AI adoption and value realization.
• Drove AI capability deployment of Merkle AMERS workforce, shifting the organization from AI
pilots to proven, operationalized workflows across Fortune 500 client engagements.
• Served as executive technology sponsor for strategic client engagements in marketing,
commerce, and CX, supporting growth and market positioning within dentsu's global network.
Material+, Chief Technology Officer
2023 – 2024
Hired as Material's first CTO following the acquisition of Srijan, an India-based technology firm. As
CTO, my remit is to integrate existing US-based technology and data capabilities with our new India-
led technology offerings, and bring technology enablement to the insights, strategy, and loyalty
offerings across Material. Successfully sold the company to new private equity holders in 2024.
Primary Contributions:
• Drove increased pipeline throughput of technology solutions, by crafting go-to-market solutions
with primary partners, including Acquia, Salesforce, and Braze.
• Created a global shared services practice for 500+ technologists, including organizational
transformation laddering up to an entirely re-integrated company operating model.
• Created integrated go-to-market offerings linking technology, data & analytics, customer data
platforms, CX engagement, CRM, and loyalty offerings.
• Led global AI strategy for novel applications of Generative AI, LLMs, and NLG.
ICF Next, Chief Technology Officer
2020 – 2022
CTO and overall technology executive for ICF Next, the commercial marketing division of ICF
International (Nasdaq: ICFI). Accountable for overall technology strategy and delivery of experience-
led transformation, MarTech platform solutions, Agile Transformation, and product engineering for
Tally, the leader-quadrant loyalty product for Travel, Hospitality, and Retail customers. Exited late
2022 upon successful sale of business units to private equity.
Primary Contributions:
• Lead organizational and operational aspects of engineering, quality, and automation teams
spanning a global distributed delivery team in the US, Canada, and India.
• MarTech-at-Scale for global customers, built on Adobe Marketing Cloud solutions.
• Cloud strategy for Tally, ICF Next’s leader-quadrant loyalty platform for T&H and Retail.
• Driving growth and engineering maturity through DevOps culture, talent development, and agile
delivery tools & methods.
danknauf@gmail.com
linkedin.com/in/danielknauf
Chicago, IL
312-404-3443
Page | 4
Publicis Sapient, Vice President, Technology
2008 – 2020
Engineering leader for Digital Business Transformation programs, leading global technology teams up
to 115 people on accounts with revenues of $25M+ YoY. Worked onsite in the U.S., Canada, U.K.,
Europe, India, Middle East, and China. Held an internal designation of Central Region technology lead.
Notable Achievements
• Contributed to 16% growth of regional revenue from €164M to €191M in 2017 and 7% growth to
€205M in 2018, leading North America in regional growth both years
• Grew technology revenue in major accounts, including McDonald’s, USAA, U.S. Bank, and Cargill
• Created national training programs for software, data, and experience engineering to raise the bar
of junior consultant skills, while shortening onboarding time from 90 days to 30 days
• Built and led Sapient's Sitecore global practice from the ground-up, creating €40M in new annual
service revenue and establishing Platinum level partnership with Sitecore.
Prior Titles at Publicis Sapient (Sapient, SapientNitro, SapientRazorfish)
• 2015 – 2017: Director, Technology and Sitecore Global Practice Lead
• 2012 – 2015: Senior Manager, Technology
• 2008 – 2012: Manager, Technology
Previous Work Experience
2000 - 2008
2006 – 2008 Electronic Knowledge Interchange (EKI Digital)
Roles: Consultant, Specializing in Microsoft Technologies
Developed custom software products for Walmart and Sam’s Club in Bentonville, Arkansas. Worked
directly with client stakeholders to design software to automate U.S. customs processes for
international fright.
2004 – 2006 Information Resources, Inc. In-Store Solutions Group
Roles: U.S. Automation Leader and Software Analyst
Mobile development based on Windows 95 tablets and Dell PDA devices for the purpose of
collecting grocery store data. Promoted to U.S. Automation Lead to automate data processing and
analytics for key clients such as PepsiCo.
2002 – 2004 Agate Software, Inc.
Roles: Project Manager and Internet Applications Developer
Worked on projects for State governments to convert paper-based grant funding to online forms and
digital workflow. Worked onsite with the states of Michigan, Minnesota, and New Jersey.
2000 – 2002 James Madison College, Michigan State University
Roles: Information Systems Administrator and Lead Applications Developer
Acted as the Dean’s chief advisor on technology for the College. Complete overhaul and deployment
of all networked computing infrastructure. Designed, coded, and managed College website.
danknauf@gmail.com
linkedin.com/in/danielknauf
Chicago, IL
312-404-3443
Page | 5
EDUCATION +
CREDENTIALS
FORMAL EDUCATION
M.B.A., Kellogg School of Management,
Northwestern University
B.S., Computer Science,
Michigan State University
Executive Education Courses:
Product Management, and Cyber Security
Coller School of Management, Recanati School
of Business, Tel Aviv University
Executive Education Courses:
Consumer Psychology and Deal Making in Asia
HKUST Business School, Hong Kong University of
Science and Technology
ADDITIONAL CREDENTIALS
CERTIFICATIONS
• AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner
• AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Associate
• Scaled Agile Framework for Enterprise (SAFe) 4.6,
5.0, 5.1, 6.0
• Microsoft Certified Professional; Various
Specializations for .Net, SQL Server, and
SharePoint
MEMBERSHIPS
• Forbes Technology Council
• Adobe Partner Advisory Board
• CXO Collaborate
• Sitecore Most Valuable Professional, Ambassador
(2018 – 2020)
THOUGHT LEADERSHIP
Driving Continuous Marketing Innovation through Connected Platforms
Adobe Summit, April 2026
The Agentic AI Playbook: Build Smarter Automation with Practical Use Cases
Merkle.com, January 2026
Real-World Lessons from Building with Salesforce Agentforce
Merkle.com, February 2025
AI Agent Harmony: Composing The Future of AI Collaboration
Forbes.com, February 2025
How Businesses Can Separate AI Hype from Practical Impact and Value
Forbes.com, February 2024
AI in the Workplace: Rapid Transformation Demands a Culture of Continuous Learning
LinkedIn.com, February 2024
Forbes Technology Council, Multiple Expert Panels
Forbes.com, August 2023 to Present
