Chris Van Wagoner
Fractional Chief Marketing Officer
Hi, I’m Chris Van Wagoner – a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer.
I’m Chris Van Wagoner, a Fractional Chief Marketing Officer who helps ambitious companies align story, strategy, and systems to drive sustainable growth. Over the past 15 years, I’ve led marketing transformations that turned complex funnels into predictable engines, delivering over $30M in pipeline, 149% NDR, and measurable lift across every stage of the customer journey.
My career has spanned emerging startups and global brands alike, from Numa and Gladly, where I built community-led growth programs and automated lifecycle marketing, to AdRoll and eBay, where I helped modernize how enterprise teams connect brand value to revenue outcomes.
Known for a blend of data-driven clarity and creative storytelling, I’ve helped organizations operationalize strategy without the overhead of a full-time CMO. My background includes leadership roles at eBay, partnerships with Shopify, and Execs in the Know, as well as consultation for CXL, Guess Jeans, and Hanes Brands.
What it’s like working with me
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"Chris sees what others miss. He helped us find the essence of our brand and made it simple enough for anyone to understand. Between that and getting us to embrace automation, we have generated millions in revenue. Efficiency without sacrificing who we are. That’s impact."
Adam Willis, President of Nestwell
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“Working with Chris was energizing. He had a way of turning dense, technical topics into playbooks people wanted to engage with. His time collaborating with us at CXL helped us develop practitioner insights that were foundational to our product offering.”
Laura Smous, Product Marketing Executive
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"Chris operates at altitude. He builds systems that align brand, demand, and operations without overcomplicating them. Every decision ties back to growth and the customer. The structures he left behind still guide how we scale."
Jimmy Shang, Head of Revenue Operations at Gladly
Case Studies
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By designing automated nurture and advocacy programs that converted user engagement signals into expansion opportunities, I generated more than $9M in pipeline for a B2B software company.
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Using AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Midjourney, I built and deployed a “Learn About AI Agents” campaign that doubled qualified traffic and improved pipeline conversion for an emerging AI technology brand.
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At AdRoll, I built an automated onboarding sequence informed by user data and behavior modeling. The program reduced churn by 63%, increased platform engagement 3.5X, and improved retention during a critical product transition.
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Expanding beyond paid ads into AI-demand capture, enrichment, and strategic partnerships, I generated 4,600 high-fit contacts and restored top-of-funnel conversion efficiency — helping a CX SaaS company recover its pipeline velocity.
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Implementing UTM-based attribution and a full-funnel analytics model, I tied thought leadership campaigns to $740K in attributable revenue and 375 new signups, demonstrating marketing’s direct influence on sales outcomes.
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Building a 10,000-member customer advocacy community, I turned customer storytelling into a pipeline engine that achieved 80% close rates on sourced opportunities and became a cornerstone of the company’s enterprise GTM motion.