About Me

STEPHEN MONACO

Recognized Authority • Strategic Planning & Execution • Marketing Strategy • Profitable Growth • Go-to-Market Strategy • Branding & Positioning • Customer Insights & Engagement • Product Marketing • International Business • Digital Marketing • MarTech • Blockchain • AI • Technology Commercialization

Stephen Monaco has 30+ years of experience as a senior-level marketing executive and is sought after as a trusted advisor. He is a creative thinker with a remarkable track record of success. His passion and drive, combined with sound judgment, leadership skills, and hands-on experience, evoke confidence and create clarity of purpose amongst collaborative teams and focus throughout organizations—an insightful decision-maker who helps achieve strategic objectives and goals.

With no outside funding, no bank loan, and no line of credit, Monaco bootstrapped his tech startup company, Datastorm Technologies and led it to reach $50 million in annual revenue, reaching #376 on the Inc. 500 List.

His marketing prowess is the driving force behind the best-selling PC data communications program of all time, ProComm, which Datastorm Technologies published in 11 languages. Stephen negotiated the successful acquisition of Datastorm Technologies for $71 million in stock and an undisclosed sum of cash by a publicly traded NASDAQ company in Los Angeles, which was subsequently acquired by Symantec.

Monaco’s marketing strategies in this regard are, literally, textbook examples used in the Instructor’s Resource Manual for Philip Kotler’s, “Marketing Management – 11th Edition” for graduate students to better understand both the positioning, and the pricing models he utilized to soundly defeat Microsoft, who withdrew their competitive product from the highly competitive market niche—an actual real-world David vs. Goliath business story.

Monaco has served as Chief Marketing Officer for several North American companies, worked in marketing for Warner Bros. Television at their HQ in Burbank, California; and serves as a strategic business and marketing consultant in the US, Canada, and Europe. His clients have included renowned entities such as IBM, Microsoft, Symantec, Oracle, 20th Century Fox, Edelman Public Relations Worldwide, Quarterdeck, Digital River/element5, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, (IEEE); as well as mid-sized corporations, early-stage companies, and funded startups.

In 2015, Monaco was selected to be one of the original official members of the IBM Futurist Group. He collaborates with other IBM Futurists, IBM executives deciphering “what’s next” and how rapidly evolving technologies like AI and blockchain are impacting business. In addition, he advises key IBM clients on complex, pressing issues critical to their success.

Stephen is one of only 16 out of over 95 Futurists worldwide to attain the status of Adjunct Professor for the IBM Cognitive College.  He professionally represents IBM at their huge conferences and is a paid contributor for writing original content for IBM.com.

Stephen is one of a select group of thought leaders featured in eBooks published by both IBM (2016) and Oracle (2017) on the topics of digital marketing and e-commerce, respectively.  In 2021, Verifone placed Monaco at #57 on their published list of the Top 60 E-commerce Experts.

Monaco is the Amazon best-selling author of the business strategy and marketing book, “Insightful Knowledge” published in February 2013, and selected by the C-Suite Book Club as a Showcase title as one of their World’s Best Business Books. His second book in the “Insightful Knowledge” series was published in September 2024.

He has been featured in publications like Forbes, BusinessWeek, The Wall Street Journal, Inc. Magazine, USA Today, High Net Worth Magazine, The Los Angeles Times, The Kansas City Star, InfoWorld, PC Magazine, the American Marketing Association’s “Marketing Thought Leaders” to name a few. In 2016, Stephen was listed as one of the Top 100 CMOs followed on Twitter in the book, “Chief Marketing Officers at Work” by Josh Steimle. Clear Point Strategy identified Monaco as one of the Top 9 Strategy Consultants.

Stephen is a respected public speaker featured at The Kauffman Foundation, universities, and industry conferences, sharing the platform with executives from Google, YouTube, IBM, Twitter, Dell, Advanced Micro Devices, (AMD), Pepsi, Intuit, etc.

Following his speech about strategy at the inaugural Digital Summit in Dallas in 2012, @StephenMonaco ‘trended’ on Twitter as one of the Top 10 most mentioned names.

Monaco earned an MBA from the University of Wales–Cardiff in the UK with an emphasis in both marketing and e-business.  All curriculum was licensed from the Harvard Business School. As part of his graduate studies, he completed Professor Michael Porter’s course, Microeconomics of Competitiveness and Corporate Strategy.

Master’s Dissertation: “An Analysis of the Internet’s Impact on Mass Media,” published in 2008.

He began his undergraduate studies at the University of Missouri, then graduated from Pinnacle College of Los Angeles with a degree in Recording Engineering / Recording Arts Technology.

EXECUTIVE EDUCATION

Cornell University: Certificates earned in Data-Driven Marketing: Leveraging Big Data for Business, and Customer Segmentation: A Scientific Approach to Marketing.

UCLA: Certificates earned in Online Brand Management, Consumer Behavior and Decision Making, Economic and Strategic Fundamentals, Building Brands, Legal and Ethical Issues When Marketing Online, Leveraging Customer Relations: Building Customer Equity, and Relationship Marketing.

European Institute of Business Administration (INSEAD): Graduate studies in Blockchain Revolution Specialization, including Introduction to Blockchain Technologies, Transacting on the Blockchain, Blockchain and Business: Applications and Implications, and Blockchain Opportunity Analysis.

Vanderbilt University: Generative Artificial Intelligence for Leaders