Merkle Appoints Stefan Van Der Wielen as Leader of EMEA Decisioning Practice

Merkle,  a leading technology-enabled, data-driven performance marketing agency, has hired Stefan van der Wielen to lead the further expansion of its EMEA Pega alliance, as Merkle continues to grow in the region.

In this newly created role, van der Wielen will help clients adopt and integrate Pega, which provides automated customer engagement and next-best-action decisioning, into their marketing technology stack.

Van der Wielen joins Merkle from Pegasystems, where he was regional delivery director, responsible for leading a group of expert consultants throughout EMEA and Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Since its first major European acquisition in 2015, Merkle has rapidly expanded to 1,400 employees in EMEA, with 14 offices across five countries. It is continuing to aggressively build its offering in the region to help brands practice people-based marketing (PBM).

In 2016 Merkle and Pegasystems united to deliver real-time personalisation between digital advertising, customer service and marketing channels. Last year, the two companies launched a marketing technology integration capability to unify adtech and martech to enable more effective and relevant digital ad campaigns and omni-channel experiences. Pegasystems is now the technology of choice for many of Merkle’s biggest clients, including RBS, Vodafone, British Airways and EE.

Van der Wielen will report to Sam Taverner, EVP, Merkle EMEA, for marketing solutions, who said: “Stefan has a strong background in programme management and organisational change as well as second-to-none experience in developing tech capabilities and growing talent. This makes him well placed to lead and grow our Pega practice in EMEA, and I look forward to working with him at a pivotal time for Merkle.”

Van der Wielen added: “I am proud to be joining such a talented team at Merkle, whilst being able to continue working with Pegasystems. In a time where many of our customers and partners are changing their customer approach to personalised, one-to-one relationships, it is great to be able to contribute to the changes they need to make.’’