Michael McLaren

Michael McLaren is a successful and dynamic business leader who has worked as an integrated communications specialist in a variety of international management roles in the U.S., Australia, Singapore and Japan. He has extensive experience in managing global integrated brand communication programs; working with key clients including IBM, Microsoft, Dell, Intel and Cisco.
Michael started working in Brand Management at Unilever and spent five years learning marketing at the packaged goods giant before entering the advertising industry. He joined McCann Worldgroup in 1999. McLaren first served as worldwide account director in San Francisco on Microsoft. He was named President of McCann Erickson USA in 2007. In 2009, he moved to Japan in the dual role of CEO of McCann Worldgroup Japan and Regional President for McCann Worldgroup Asia Pacific, where he oversaw operations in 14 countries.
In 2012, he returned to New York as CEO of MRM//McCann. In this role, he was responsible for overseeing global P&L, client relationships, network operations, international growth of the MRM//McCann global network.
Michael joined Merkle in September, 2016. As leader of the agency’s High-Tech practice, he helped craft Merkle’s strategic vision for serving that market, designing and delivering innovative, data-driven marketing solutions that meet the unique needs of its high-tech client base.
Michael was promoted to CEO, Merkle B2B Group in December 2019 – where he has full responsibility for the agency’s B-to-B offering, aggregating capabilities across the breadth of the DAN organization to build a go-to-market strategy that serves the unique requirements of B-to-B marketers.
Michael has a Bachelors degree in Business and an MBA from the Australian Graduate School of Management.