Fractional CMO

​Deep work in the categories defining the next decade: legal tech, conversational AI, and fintech

Knowable/LexisNexis

Leads up 50%. 37% revenue increase.
​Built through acquisition.​
​
Built the marketing organization from scratch, repositioned the category, and brought an industry-first AI product to market.

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Creative Virtual 

Pipeline up 30%. Engagement up 40%. CAC cut 48%.

Built the global marketing function and repositioned the technology for this early conversational AI pioneer serving Fortune 1000 contact centers for the AI era.

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Amazon Pay

A multi-million-dollar strategy built to take Amazon Pay global.

​ Delivered the strategy, systems, and operational playbook to drive adoption among small and enterprise retailers worldwide.

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Growth Advisory

We've advised founders and leadership teams through the growth decisions that make or break the next stage: positioning, go-to-market, team structure, and when to move versus when to wait.

• Goldman Sachs: Business Advisor for  11 founders through growth and go-to-market strategy as part of Goldman's program for Black-owned businesses.
• ​FiveTran: Advised co-founder on go-to-market strategy for the data middleware startup at an early stage. 
• Braze (formerly Appboy): Repositioned the brand from developer-first to marketer-led, aligning narrative with enterprise growth

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​Coming Soon: ​A community and platform for underserved founders scaling real businesses, extending the growth counsel she gives one-on-one to the founders who need it most. 

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Board Advisory

​Our founder has over a decade of board service across small- to billion-dollar nonprofits, bringing a versatile acumen that helps build leaders and strengthen boards so you can speed decision-making, reduce risk, and accelerate growth with confidence.

Karen McFarlane, Founder & CEO, Certified Board Director

Governance credentials

• Board Director and Vice Chair, Hudson Valley Credit Union ($8B+ in assets, top 50 U.S. credit union, top 5 in New York State)
• National Association of Corporate Directors (Directorship Certification)
• Former President, American Marketing Association National Professional Chapters Council 
• Former President, American Marketing Association of New York
• Columbia Business School (Corporate Governance)
• The Wharton School (Executive Compensation)
• MIT (Executive Certificate in Management & Leadership, in progress)

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Board Leadership Accelerator

When the American Marketing Association cut its professional development budget for chapter leaders by two-thirds and eliminated the program that trained hundreds of chapter leaders a year, Karen rebuilt it. As Council President, she designed a leaner leadership and governance program (live workshops, on-demand curriculum, and an in-person intensive for incoming presidents and presidents-elect) aligned to the volunteer leadership cycle.

The pilot reached 75% of chapters, earned 100% satisfaction, and restored national leadership development at a fraction of the cost. The model now runs annually across 70 chapters.

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Who we've
​built with

We've worked with some of the world's most ambitious brands with deep roots in tech, SaaS, and AI, spanning finance, legal, ecommerce, media, education, and mission-driven organizations.

Acxiom
Amazon Pay
Bedford Democratic Committee
Braze (formerly Appboy)
ByteDelta
CALM Dispute Firm
CareAcademy
Center for Competitive Management
Colorado Creative Industries
​Connection Engine
Creative Virtual
DoubleClick
​Fivetran
Fuel3
Goldman Sachs
IronPoint
Knowable / LexisNexis
​Latino Foundation of Colorado
LetterShop
NameScan
nChannel

​PaperTrl
Particle Media
PaySimple
​PivotDesk
​PKP Technologies
Prodigy Internet
ProfitLinq
Reality Check Media
Return Path
Rippowam Cisqua School
RSL Media
Shedlight
Simply Hydronics
Smartling
​SponsorHub
Subway
Taproot Foundation
Teaching Matters
TekServe
ThreeOverFour
​Town of Bedford
Twillio SendGrid

Your business could be the next one.​

Start with Groundwork. We'll figure out where you are and where to focus next.

start with groundwork