Chris Wallner

About Chris Wallner

Chris is a Chief Outsiders CMO and accomplished marketing, product management, development and e-commerce executive. With a track record of major wins in the technology and financial industry, Chris is recognized for identifying and transforming customer needs into simple, innovative and quickly embraced solutions, tools and resources while delivering proven value to a company. He skillfully builds top performing teams to achieve superior, consistent results that significantly increase profitability.

How Chris has Helped Businesses Grow

• Facilitated a 10x increase in year-over-year profitability working with the CEO and leadership to align projects and marketing organization with strategic objectives and delivering a comprehensive marketing plan at a credit union.
• Developed critical insights to redefine target customer and focus then built marketing from the ground up, including branding, positioning, messaging, marketing strategy, and marketing plan at a fast-growing software-as-a-service firm. 
• Optimized marketing across a variety of delivery mechanisms, developed growth marketing strategies and plan, redirected website redesign, and configured sales and marketing automation and content management at a fast-growing staffing firm.
• Delivered the company digital vision, strategy and 18-month implementation plan and road map heading e-channels at a regional bank. 
• Led the effort to diversify funding by significantly growing retail store profitability and developing a planned giving program as treasurer and then board president of a $5 million non-profit.  
• Grew annual fee revenue $3.6 million over three years, instituting annual review to optimize fee income and align value delivered at a regional bank.
• Transformed a complex and redundant product line into two easy-to-sell, feature-rich products.  First at one of the nation’s largest banks to successfully launch two major products in all states and distribution channels simultaneously.

Client Resources

• Case Study: Anti-Money Laundering Firm Goes All In, Generates Phenomenal Growth

• Eliminate Marketing Info Overload with These 10 KPIs
• How Financial Services Companies Can Navigate the Expected Economic Downturn
• A More Perfect Union: Four Keys to Credit Union Profitability
• “Less is More”: Four Steps to Aligning Your Project Queue and Goals Today

Client Case Studies

• Anti-Money Laundering Firm Goes All In, Generates Phenomenal Growth

Executive Experience

• SVP of Product Management, Strategic Partnerships & Digital Channels, Rabobank, N.A.
• SVP of Home Equity Product Management, Wells Fargo & Co.
• SVP of Internet Technology, Strategy & Product Management, Bank of America
• Senior Director of Product Development and Underwriting, iOwn.com (financial technology start-up)

Clients Served

• PrimeWay Federal Credit Union (Financial Services)
• Efficient Technology, Inc. (Information Technology and Services)
• AML RightSource (Financial Services)
• Van Deusen & Levitt Associates (Marketing)
• XYPRO (Software)
• Holland's Custom Cabinets (Construction)
• VAST IT Services (Managed Service Provider)
• TaxAudit (Consumer Service Provider)
• A veterinary business start-up (Professional and Consumer Service Provider)
• A national financial services company (Financial Services)
• Leonardo247 (Software as a Service (SaaS))
• Intercare Insurance (Third Party Administrator)
• A national risk and payment solutions provider (Financial Services)

Education

• Master of Science, University of California at Davis
• Bachelor of Science, University of California at Davis

Testimonials

“We’ve grown this company in the last two years from 450 to 1,000 FTE. We couldn’t have achieved that without the assistance from Chris Wallner and Chief Outsiders.”

Frank Ewing, CEO, AML RightSource

 

"It was pleasure working with Chris. He quickly earned the respect of the executive team and, in particular, he worked well with our existing CMO and marketing team. He is a strong leader, listener, problem solver and influencer. He provided methodology for organizational project prioritization, and he worked with our CMO to realign the marketing organization chart, calculate campaign ROIs, prioritize campaigns, and create an enhanced marketing plan. Bravo!"

Annette Zimmerman, President and CEO, PRIMEWAY FCU

 

"Chris is a great listener who can accurately and quickly synthesize a dynamic group discussion into targeted action items that suit the needs of the team."

Robin Johnson, VP, Rabobank

 

"Chris is known for leading and motivating diverse, matrixed teams across highly complex organizations."

Pamela Rooney, SVP, Wells Fargo

 

"Chris is truly an exceptional leader. His business strategy and recommendations are well thought out and acknowledge both opportunities and consequences."

Dianne Kush, Commercial Card Program Manager, Union Bank

 

"Chris is incredibly strong at breaking down complex problems into smaller, more manageable pieces."

Pedro Ferrer, SVP, Rabobank

 

"Chris is an outstanding disciplined manager that I have worked with both at Bank of America and Wells Fargo in e-commerce and consumer product management and development roles."

Sean Dowdall, GM and CMO, Landis Communications

 

"Chris is creative and versatile. In his role as fair lending chief, he created market and customer segmented products and marketing programs, community lending training programs and represented the company in front of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) several times."

Joel Russo, CEO, M1Marketing

 

"Chris was exactly what we needed! His approach to marketing is to get the facts straight before building strategy, which makes sense because you don't want a strategy based on your own bias and perception. He also delivered exactly what was promised - a strategic review of what we're doing, a solid understanding of our customer, a foundation for growing our company and a tactical plan to effect the changes we need. Chris brought top-quality marketing expertise to our company when we couldn't afford someone of his caliber full-time. We've enjoyed working with him as he's easy-going and does what he says he'll do. I highly recommend Chris to anyone considering adding him to your team."

Richard Walker, CEO, Quik!

 

"Thank you, Chris Wallner, in more ways than one. We consider you a large part of our success."

Intercare Holdings Insurance Services

Download Chris's Resume Here