Meet Bob Van Rossum -
President of MarketPro
Visionary Leadership, Lasting Impact
Bob Van Rossum has led 1,000+ successful marketing executive placements and counting.
Bob Van Rossum has been a leader in the recruiting and executive search industry for over 25 years. He has placed Directors and Chief Marketing Officers and everything in between, in every marketing discipline and within every industry.
Decades of
Executive Search
Success
With 25+ years of experience, Bob has built MarketPro into the go-to firm for marketing executive search.
- 1,000+ Marketing Leaders Placed
- 400+ Executive Searches Personally Led
- 250 Professionals Hired in 90 Days for GM/Carat
- Experience Across All Marketing Disciplines & Industries
Currently he is responsible for general management of MarketPro and leads our most senior executive level placements. As President, Bob is responsible for overall strategic direction, growth, hiring and employee management. Under his leadership, MarketPro has experienced consistent growth, earning the distinction as the go-to search firm for marketing executives.
Bob has personally led and completed over 400 searches and led teams that have completed another 500+. Bob’s focus has always been on finding a win for the client and a win for the candidate. Overall, CMO tenure is the shortest in the C-Suite, Bob has led MarketPro to be uniquely positioned to solve that problem and create new hires for our clients that have a lasting impact on their businesses.
A Proven Partner to Iconic Brands
Bob has placed top talent at Fortune 500 companies, high-growth brands, and PE-backed ventures. With a major focus on working with PE-backed companies and top brands, a partial list where Bob has placed executive level marketing talent includes:
A Record-Setting RPO Initiative
When Carat needed 250 hires in 90 days, Bob’s leadership delivered with 90%+ retention.
- 153 Hires in 90 Days
- 90%+ Retention at 1-Year
- Largest Marketing RPO Project in the U.S.
In 2012, Bob architected and led the largest marketing-specific RPO (Recruitment Process Outsourcing) project ever performed in the US. General Motors (GM) fired their media agency and hired Carat (Aegis Media) to take over all their media work. Carat had to open an office in Detroit and hire 250 people in 90 days per their agreement with GM.
MarketPro was initially contracted to hire half (125) of the team members. It was quickly apparent that MarketPro was succeeding where other resources were struggling, so Carat added an additional 25 positions to MarketPro’s agreement. When all was wrapped up, MarketPro hired 153 team members for Carat in 90 days, with over 90% retention one-year later. This retention rate was significantly higher than previous and smaller RPO projects that Carat had done with other vendors.
Industry Leadership & Background
Finance Graduate. AMA Board Member. Business Builder.
- UNC Greensboro – Finance Degree
- Comac (Iron Mountain) Turnaround
- Joined MarketPro in 1999
- AMA Executive Board (5 years)
- AMA Executive Advisory (10 years)
Prior to joining MarketPro in 1999, Bob led Comac's (a direct marketing company) Atlanta facility into profitability. A division of Iron Mountain, Comac is the United States' leading direct response fulfillment company. When Bob joined the Atlanta facility, it was losing money fast. Within 18 months, he turned it into the top performing facility in the country.
Bob served for five years on the Executive Board of the Atlanta Chapter of the American Marketing Association (AMA) and for ten years on their Executive Advisory Board.
Bob is a graduate of the University of North Carolina - Greensboro, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in finance.
Shaping Tomorrow’s Marketing Leaders
Bob Van Rossum interviews top CMOs to uncover the real strategies behind career growth. These episodes reflect Bob’s commitment to mentoring rising marketers and connecting them with insights that drive lasting leadership success.
"We thoroughly vet all marketing executive candidates for experience, skill set, leadership, and culture fit so you can be sure you're making the right hire the first time. That's why our placements have an industry-leading retention rate of 98%."