Bob Howland is a globally recognized expert, known for bringing analog businesses into the digital world. Bob has a unique ability to blend business needs and technology initiatives for maximum stakeholder benefit. He is a P&L executive turned digital evangelist, and a pioneer of bringing modern, composable business architecture to life through enhancements to people, processes, and technology. He is positioned to contribute immediately to a public or private corporate board.
For 30+ years, Bob has been a results-driven leader/advisor for both start-up and mature companies who appreciates and respects the impact of culture on strategic transformation. He had foundational experience with Fortune 50 companies like American Express, GE, J&J and mutual fund giant Vanguard, where he built the industry’s first customer-facing, transaction-enabled website. At GSI, he developed strategy and client expansion initiatives that fueled revenue growth from $300M to $1B+, ultimately leading to its acquisition by eBay for $2.4B.
Bob most recently was the first Chief Digital Officer for Dawn Foods, a global bakery ingredient manufacturing and distribution company, responsible for building the company’s digital capabilities from the ground up and integrating modern technology into the entire customer value chain. He designed and implemented a new eCommerce platform – his twenty-seventh such transformation – and developed the foundational business capabilities in support of a B2B eCommerce business. Bob also built the company’s new Digital Innovation Hub in Boston and drove the technology transition to a microservices, cloud, and AI-driven future.
Bob’s executive roles have all required significant board interactions. Bob reported to the CEO of Dawn Foods and attended all board meetings. This was the case for each of his roles across the last two decades. He also served on the Advisory Board of Collaborative Gain – a community of senior leaders who help each other lead innovation and customer-centric change. He was previously a board member of PHILADANCO.
He is currently the Chair of the MACH Alliance – an organization advocating for a composable mindset. The Alliance is reshaping how SaaS product companies go to market and how end user companies approach business transformations. The MACH Alliance has been an unbiased thought leader around AI and is actively building an agentic ecosystem. Bob is also a member of the Innovation Advisory Council of Vation Ventures, a forum to help shape enterprise innovation and the future of technology.
