MINNEAPOLIS, April 28, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Wealth Enhancement Group ("WEG"), an independent wealth management firm overseeing more than $54 billion in client assets, today announced that Jill Cress, Chief Marketing and Experience Officer for H&R Block Inc., has joined its Board of Directors.
Ms. Cress is an innovative and transformational consumer marketer who has led successful branding and engagement campaigns across multiple industries, from financial services firms and technology to legacy media such as National Geographic. Her addition to Wealth Enhancement Group's board underscores the firm's unwavering commitment to build the nation's leading registered investment advisor (RIA) platform by investing heavily in industry-leading talent and technology.
Jeff Dekko, CEO of Wealth Enhancement Group, said, "Jill's impressive global marketing expertise in branding, engagement and enterprise strategy at Fortune 500 companies is a tremendous asset and supports our long-term strategy of building a powerful board with executive and industry talent to guide Wealth Enhancement Group into the future. Her history of successfully developing and executing brand awareness and engagement campaigns, in combination with the experience of other distinguished members of our Board, will only further enable us to achieve our strategic goals."
Founded in 1997, Wealth Enhancement Group has emerged as one of the fastest-growing wealth management firms in the country. It has acquired more than a dozen firms over the last 18 months and more than doubled its assets under management since the end of 2020.
Ms. Cress leads H&R Block's marketing and communication efforts to drive growth and brand relevance. Previously, she led a global team of marketers at PayPal who are tasked with expanding engagement and revenue on PayPal and Venmo's platforms, which serve over 350 million customers worldwide. As National Geographic's Chief Marketing Officer, she led a brand overhaul that increased subscriptions by double-digits, partnered with peers to migrate magazine subscriptions to its digital platform and built platform-specific content strategies to increase customer engagement and significantly increase lifetime value. National Geographic's bold marketing ultimately led to its sale to Disney in 2019 as part of the 21st Century Fox acquisition.
Ms. Cress started her career at Mastercard, beginning as a sales and account manager before eventually becoming Senior Vice President of Global Consumer Marketing. Her responsibilities over her 20-year career at the company included B2B product and issuer marketing. She also envisioned and delivered the company's "Priceless" marketing architecture to support its transformation into a technology company.
She has been named to Forbes' list of the World's 50 Most Influential CMOs, the Forbes inaugural CMO Next List and Business Insider's 25 Most Innovative CMOs. She serves on the Boards of the Ad Council and New York Advertising Club.
"I am excited to be part of Wealth Enhancement Group's ongoing growth trajectory and to be able to lend my finance and technology expertise to its goal of integrating high-performing advisory firms, building local scale in strategic markets and identifying ways to support advisors with technology and back-office platforms," Ms. Cress said. "I look forward to helping the organization cement its status as a market leader."
