Fractional CEO · CMO · Executive Advisor

Two-time Inc. 5000 CEO.
Working on your growth.

I help founder-led and investor-backed companies turn scattered marketing, operating friction, and stalled growth into clear priorities, accountable execution, and commercial momentum.

See the proof
Ari Banerjee
ARI BANERJEEBrand pedigree.
CEO judgment.
Operator accountability.

Inc. 5000 CEO

181%Three-year growth · 2023

113%Three-year growth · 2024

25+Years in growth and leadership

The difference

I do not advise from the sidelines. I have built companies, led teams, acquired businesses, carried payroll, and made growth decisions with real money on the line.

The work begins with the consequential question: what is stopping this company from becoming more valuable? Then we make the priorities visible, give the right people ownership, and build a cadence that survives after the meeting ends.

Three ways to engage

Choose the mandate. Keep the accountability.

01

Fractional CMO

Turn marketing activity into accountable growth.

Positioning, go-to-market strategy, demand generation, customer experience, team alignment, and the scorecard that connects them to revenue.

02

Fractional CEO

Scale the company without burying the founder.

Commercial priorities, pricing, pipeline, operating cadence, decision rights, and leadership accountability—installed with the realities of cash and capacity in view.

03

Executive Advisor

Bring operator judgment into consequential decisions.

Growth governance, AI and digital transformation, acquisition integration, brand reputation, and founder-to-management alignment.

Where the work begins

When the business has outgrown the way it is being led.

Illustrated founder carrying plans while a team works behind him
Too much is still sitting with the founder.
Illustrated leadership team reviewing marketing work
Marketing is moving without a commercial spine.
Illustrated executive leading a consequential discussion
The next decision needs judgment, not another presentation.

Selected brand experience

Global names. Founder-level consequences.

Experience across agency, corporate, executive, and advisory roles. Brand names indicate work experience, not current endorsement.

McDonald’s
Walmart
Lexus
Air India
Siemens
Olympus
Uber
Ascensus

The evidence

Built it. Led it. Operated it.

Inc. 50002023 · 2024View verified profile ↗

01

Built

From founder ambition to two Inc. 5000 rankings.

Ari founded Consumer51 in 2011 and built an international marketing-technology business across the United States, Australia, and India. The company ranked No. 2,903 in 2023 with 181% three-year growth and No. 4,004 in 2024 with 113% growth.

02

Led

Agency craft. Enterprise discipline.

His career spans DDB, Grey Worldwide, Mangos, Lincoln Financial, and marketing leadership at private-equity-backed Ascensus—experience that connects creative judgment with governance, scale, and measurable business outcomes.

03

Operated

The advice has to survive Monday morning.

Ari owns and operates businesses across technology, retail, hospitality, property services, real estate, and investing. He has carried payroll, integrated acquisitions, managed vendors, allocated capital, and watched strategy meet the weekly numbers.

Executive résumé

One career. Three kinds of mandate.

The application version is a six-page executive credentials brochure. Each spread has one job: proposition, problem, mandate, proof, career progression, or next conversation.

Download the executive brochure

2011–Now

Founder & CEO

Consumer51

Built an international marketing-technology company; led acquisitions, P&L, talent, client growth, and two consecutive Inc. 5000 rankings.

2023–Now

Portfolio Owner & Operator

Private ventures and real assets

Operating exposure across retail, hospitality, property services, real estate, and investing—where pricing, labor, capital, and customer experience meet.

2012–2017

Director, Marketing & Communications

Ascensus

Led integrated marketing in a private-equity-backed financial-services environment with complex stakeholders, governance, and scale.

2001–2012

Advertising, Brand & Copy Leadership

DDB · Grey · Mangos · Lincoln Financial

Built the brand and consumer foundation behind later CEO work, including assignments for major national and global brands.

Education: master’s degrees in Media Management and Communication Management; bachelor’s in Electronics Engineering.

Ari Banerjee

The short version

A strategist who became the person carrying the consequences.

Ari began in advertising at DDB and Grey, working on national and global brands. He moved into corporate leadership, then founded, acquired, and operated companies of his own. That path changed the advice: ideas still matter, but cash, capacity, people, timing, and accountability decide whether they create value.

Today, he brings that combined perspective to companies that need senior judgment without adding another full-time executive layer.

Philadelphia100 BoardInc. Leadership ForumExecutive Leaders RadioGoldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses

What people remember

He’s able to think big, while still managing all of the details.

Joanne deMennaFormer SVP / Director of Strategy, Mangos

No other graduate assistant has ever impressed me with such a complete sense of business.

Anita BarrettFormer Visiting Assistant Professor, Southern Illinois University

I’ve never seen him with an idea that doesn’t hit dead on.

Louis WittigAssociate Creative Director / Writer, Grey

Selective executive engagements

Bring senior judgment into the business
before the next decision gets expensive.

The first conversation is about the company, the constraint, and whether the mandate is worth solving together. No public rate card. No canned package.