Activate Marketing Services Announces New CEO and President to Strategically Expand Expertise and Boost Rapid Growth

SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 6, 2022 — Activate, one of the country’s leading B2B tech-demand generation companies under the Next Fifteen umbrella of companies, announces the appointment of Chris Rooke as CEO and Thomas “Shep” Sheppard as President and Chief Revenue Officer. As the company transforms from startup to world-class enterprise, Activate’s co-founders Edward Grossman and Martha Schwartz will remain with the company and continue to set the vision, Grossman as Co-Chair and Chief Strategy Officer and Schwartz as Co-Chair and Chief Growth Officer.

Rooke is a true digital native well versed in online marketing for digital clients with 25 years of C-suite leadership and innovation success in content, digital media, and advertising technology and marketing services. He will power the company’s push to systematize data and scale its record-breaking momentum by focusing on product innovation, commercial development, and customer success.

“The demand generation and revenue marketing space continue to grow at an unprecedented pace, and we do not see that slowing anytime soon,” said Rooke. “Activate understands how to engage the B2B tech buyer better than anyone, and we continue to deliver the highest quality business outcomes available to our customers. I could not be more excited to lead our amazing team, and continue working with Martha and Ed as we introduce the next iterations of our capabilities and innovate the breadth and depth of how we drive success for our customers.”

Thomas “Shep” Sheppard previously served as a Captain in the U.S. Army followed by 12 years as a sales executive at IBM, where he and his sales teams were the end clients for Activate’s clients. Sheppard understands how technology is used, bought, and sold, and will help Activate gain an even deeper understanding of the minds of its customers across the market in a way that would otherwise not be accessible organically.

“While Activate products are traditionally bought by marketers, they really are beneficial for sellers as well,” said Sheppard. “Particularly when you look at some of the lower sales funnel offerings we have. The ability to solve problems for both sets of stakeholders simultaneously will be increasingly important in the future. Having run enterprise sales for one of the largest tech companies in the world, I’m excited to leverage my knowledge on how customers use demand generation campaigns to drive sales conversations and lead us to even greater success.”

Activate services the country’s top tech companies, such as Adobe, AWS, Cisco, Google, Oracle, and Salesforce,  and has earned a rising spot on Inc’s list of America’s fastest growing companies three years in a row. In an environment where many marketing companies are struggling to achieve a return on marketing spend and are inundated with promotions, Activate takes a human-centered approach to engaging buyers and focuses on measurable returns.

Activate is building its bench of leadership as part of a multi-year plan to reach $100M in revenue as its expertise in developing buyer insights, high-performance content, and lead-nurture programs is more valued than ever in the marketplace. Both Rooke and Sheppard together will be pivotal in progressing the company’s winning formula of data and supply, product and go-to-market, and scaling the team. “The future of Activate has never been brighter—our unique pipeline-driving demand generation services are in demand across the industry,” said Grossman. “Martha and I are so excited to work with both Chris and Shep to scale Activate to new heights as we continue to smash records for years to come.”

For more information, please contact:
Activate Marketing Services
Lunie Caetano 
lunie@activatems.com 
(516) 361-0188