Hello & Welcome
I’M Peter D. Horst
INDEPENDENT BOARD DIRECTOR | STRATEGIC ADVISOR | EXECUTIVE LEADER IN
GROWTH, TRANSFORMATION, & AI
Fortune 500 executive, public company board director, and strategic advisor with 30+ years of experience driving growth, transformation, and innovation across financial services, consumer products, technology, and consulting. Proven leader in helping organizations navigate strategic inflection points, from digital transformation and brand evolution to AI adoption and emerging technology opportunities. Board experience spanning public company governance, AI-native startups, cybersecurity, and mission-driven organizations. Recognized Forbes World’s 50 Most Influential CMO and recipient of the CMO Club Marketing Innovation Award.
Peter D. Horst
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Alexandria, VA
contact@cmoinc.com
Linkedin Profile
TOP SKILLS
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE & BOARD LEADERSHIP
STRATEGIC GROWTH & VALUE CREATION
AI STRATEGY & RESPONSIBLE INNOVATION
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION
ENTERPRISE BRAND STRATEGY
BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATION
CUSTOMER-CENTRIC GROWTH STRATEGIES
ORGANIZATIONAL TRANSFORMATION
CEO & EXECUTIVE ADVISORY
REPUTATION MANAGEMENT & STAKEHOLDER TRUST
MERGERS, ACQUISITIONS & BRAND INTEGRATION
MARKET INTELLIGENCE & CONSUMER INSIGHTS
PROVEN TRACK RECORD IN
Strategic Growth & Value Creation
- Led growth strategies that transformed Capital One from a mono-line credit card company into a diversified, top-tier financial services brand.
- Drove significant business growth at TD Ameritrade, increasing the customer base from 90,000 to 500,000 accounts while expanding revenues from $65M to $650M.
- Created high-value innovation pipelines at Hershey, generating more than $200M in potential pipeline value through product, packaging, digital, and business model innovation.
- Developed market strategies and customer insights capabilities that improved acquisition, engagement, and brand performance across multiple industries.
- Advised executive teams on growth strategy, positioning, innovation, and market opportunities through consulting engagements with global organizations.
Transformation, Innovation & Emerging Technology
- Guided organizations through major transformations involving digital disruption, changing consumer behavior, competitive pressure, and evolving business models.
- Led enterprise marketing transformation initiatives at Hershey and Capital One, modernizing capabilities across digital, analytics, innovation, and customer engagement.
- Chair of an AI-native company developing intelligent automation solutions for enterprise deal processes, advising on product-market fit, scaling strategy, and growth opportunities.
- Advisor to organizations focused on AI advancement and cybersecurity, providing governance perspective on responsible adoption of emerging technologies.
- Experienced in balancing innovation opportunities with operational, reputational, and strategic risks facing modern enterprises.
Board Governance, Leadership & Strategic Counsel
- Independent Director of Peapack-Gladstone Financial (NASDAQ: PGC), a publicly traded $7B commercial bank, serving on the Governance Committee.
- Provides board-level counsel on strategy, succession planning, governance effectiveness, risk, and long-term value creation.
- Brings Fortune 500 executive experience to board discussions involving growth, technology, customer strategy, and organizational effectiveness.
- Led global teams and complex organizations through periods of significant change, including restructuring, acquisitions, and the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Recognized for expertise in brand trust, reputation management, and navigating the evolving information environment impacting organizations and stakeholders.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Peter is a big idea executive. He was transformative in moving what was mostly a service oriented business to a recurring subscription based revenue model (long before the concept of SaaS was born) at TruSecure. He has an innate talent for talking big hard to get your arms around problems, breaking them down into manageable pieces and executing to positive results. I have used Peter over the years in my other business ventures and highly value his insight and guidance.
Peter is an inspirational leader and truly authentic marketer. He has that rare combination of impressive strategic vision along with an ability to challenge teams to deliver results in support of that vision. Peter’s ability to tell a compelling story to develop strategy is unparalleled. I worked for Peter for over ten years at Capital One where his leadership drove groundbreaking innovation in marketing, product development, customer experience and brand development. He deeply cares about people as well as the business, and is always working to develop the team while delivering business results.