Kate Darcy
Founder & Senior Experience Strategist
Kate is an accomplished Marketing and Customer Experience Strategist. Before beginning her consulting practice in 2015, she built and managed both Product and Content Marketing teams for CME Group – the world’s leading derivatives marketplace, with a strong focus on digital marketing and thought leadership. She has experience in innovation, strategy development, human experience design and results-driven B2B and B2C marketing.
Kate also has a proven ability to build productive and diverse teams from the ground up, excelling in highly complex, ever-changing environments. She is a proactive problem solver recognized for driving innovative and customer-focused approaches., while pivoting easily between creative and analytical challenges.
Kate’s professional experience is unique in that she was a part of the dramatic evolution of one of the oldest, and now largest, trading exchanges in the world. When she joined CME Group, it was pre-IPO, operating as a start-up in many respects, (despite its age). However, change came quickly with an IPO, several re-brands, & two major acquisitions - in less than seven years - followed by significant global expansion, across Europe, LATAM & Asia.
While serving in several leadership positions, Kate had the opportunity to:
-
Manage the marketing for a global product portfolio generating over $1.2B in annual revenue.
-
Initiate some of the first digital marketing initiatives including: webinars, videos, online courses, email newsletters, web content and social media networking.
-
Help create and evolve the structure and processes for the Marketing Division.
-
Create and scale a new Market Education Department, along with a company-wide thought leadership and content marketing initiative.
This dynamic experience paved the way for her current work in Experience Management consulting, where she works with companies of all sizes to better define the white space, improve customer understanding, map customer and employee journeys, identify and alleviate pain points and build strategic, prioritized roadmaps to drive real value. With her background in both finance and marketing, Kate has a true understanding of both sides of the equation.
Kate received her MBA from Northwestern University and her undergraduate degree in Finance and Marketing from the University of Dayton. She lives in Chicago, Illinois, but can often be found back in her original hometown of Cleveland, Ohio where her roots still run deep.