Mark Leiter is Chairman of Leiter & Company, a strategy consulting and investment firm that strengthens the performance of Business-to-Business (B2B) organizations. 

His core expertise extends from crafting corporate and business-unit strategy through to creating effective strategic communications. The substance of Mark’s strategy work typically involves identifying new growth and go-to-market ideas and innovations.

During his career, Mark has worked with over 150 organizations across two dozen industry sectors on strategy development. He has deep industry experience in professional and business services; information and research services; financial services; and the technology and telecommunications sector.

His experience spans pure start-up ventures through to corporations generating $100 billion+ in annual revenues. Mark has approached strategic discussions and decisions as an operating executive, strategy consultant, board member and capital investor.

Mark recently served as Chief Strategy Officer for Nielsen, an S&P 500 information services company with 40,000 associates spanning over 100 countries. He was a member of the CEO’s senior leadership team and the firm’s executive council. Prior to his appointment as Chief Strategy Officer, he served as a corporate Executive Vice President and in multiple division President operating roles.

During his tenure working with Nielsen from 2006 through 2016—initially as a consultant to the firm, and later as a full-time executive—Mark played a central role in shaping Nielsen’s growth strategy. He was part of a team that took the company public and tripled the firm’s enterprise value from $9 billion to $27 billion. Nielsen’s private equity sponsors were Blackstone, Carlyle Group, Centerview Capital, Hellman & Friedman, KKR and Thomas H. Lee Partners.

Mark started his career in 1990 at Bain & Company as a charter member of the loyalty practice. He subsequently joined McKinsey & Company, where he was a member of the North American marketing practice leadership team as well as a founder and co-leader of McKinsey’s branding and business-to-business (B2B) marketing practices.

After McKinsey, he was Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Strategy Officer at Viant, a pioneer in building digital businesses. He then served as a Senior Partner and Managing Director at Cap Gemini Ernst & Young (CGEY), with worldwide responsibility for the corporation’s marketing activities while also serving on the global leadership team for the strategy and transformation practice. 

He departed CGEY to start Leiter & Company, and Nielsen became a client in 2006.

He is the author of Crafting Strategy in an Accelerating World: practical advice from Chief Strategy Officers operating in global, public corporations (World 50; 2018). His perspectives have been shared across media, including Bloomberg, Business Strategy Review, Consulting Magazine, The Economist, Knowledge@Wharton and The McKinsey Quarterly.

Mark is a Distinguished Strategy Fellow and Global Advisory Council member at The Conference Board. He is a Trustee of The Committee for Economic Development, and serves on the Board of Directors of InMoment and the Save the Music Foundation. He is a Partner at Pereg Ventures, a venture capital firm and serves in Senior Advisor roles at The Council and Oaklins.

During his career, Mark has served in over a dozen Board of Directors and/or Advisory Board roles.

Mark was a research fellow at Harvard Business School, holds an M.A. from Harvard University and a B.A., summa cum laude, from the State University of New York at Albany.

Beyond his business life, he is a jazz musician who plays alto and soprano sax while also collecting guitars. He lives in New York.