During his 40-year consulting career, Gordon Wade developed a panoramic vision and deep insight into CPG marketing and value creation ecosystem. He was one of the three original developers of the Category Management discipline now used globally by every major retailer and manufacturer. Gordon recently led a 17- company blue ribbon committee in integrating all the new data and analytic approaches into CatMan 2.0. That committee included thought leading companies such as P&G, Mondelez, Walmart, Walgreens, McKinsey, Kantar Retail, JDA, IRI, Numerator and Brick meets click.  

Gordon also serves as one of three board members at the Category Management Association, a professional association with over 200 corporate members. His deep involvement with CatMan has given him an unparalleled understanding of the data, analytics, and processes driving modern CPG marketing. He understands where CPG marketing is and where it is going, because he interacts daily with the thought leaders on the retail, manufacturing, and solution provider community. For example, in 2017 Gordon led the embedment of CatMan 2.0 at Walmart and its 200 leading vendors.  

In recent years he has written numerous whitepapers on new technology and analytics, including AI, in-store robotics and e-Comm. Gordon also worked extensively with the advertising community through the Association of National Advertisers, the world’s largest marketing trade organization. In 2005, they asked him to create the process to make the marketing expenditure more accountable. He reviewed the approaches of 10 major companies, including P&G, IBM and Liberty Mutual. This effort resulted in two white papers establishing industry standards for marketing accountability. During his career, he consulted with scores of senior and operating-level executives at global companies in dozens of categories. Clients include companies such as Citicorp, IBM, Nestle, Unilever, P&G, Blue Yonder, Nielsen, Catalina Marketing, Coca Cola, Walmart, CVS, and 7-Eleven.  

Gordon is an alumnus of P&G’s marketing department and a graduate of Harvard University, where he was a Harvard National scholar. He lives in Kentucky with his wife, Jill and his noble dog, Heidi.