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Chief Marketing Officer · Growth Operator

Marketing isn't a department. It's the growth system of the business.

I'm Rich Bernich. For more than 20 years I've led marketing for growth-stage and private-equity-backed companies — building the brands, demand engines and teams that turn ambition into revenue. Today I'm CMO at Liberty Home Guard. This is where I write about what's working.

Now: Chief Marketing Officer 20+ years at the CMO / VP level PE-backed & growth-stage operator Based in Long Island, NY
How I lead

Three beliefs that shape every plan I write.

01

Revenue is the scoreboard.

Impressions and awards are nice. Pipeline, CAC, LTV and contribution margin are the job. Every program I run has a line of sight to the P&L — and the CFO can see it too.

02

Brand and demand are one motion.

Performance without brand gets more expensive every quarter. Brand without performance can't prove itself. The best marketing organizations build both on the same data and the same story.

03

AI is an operating model, not a tool.

The winners won't be the teams that use the most AI tools. They'll be the ones that redesign how work gets done — faster insight, leaner production, and personalization at a scale that was impossible two years ago.

About

Built for the moments that matter: scale, integration, and transformation.

I do my best work when a company is at an inflection point — post-investment, mid-acquisition, entering new markets, or rebuilding marketing for the AI era.

I've spent two decades leading marketing in categories where trust is the product and every lead has a real cost: home services, healthcare, financial services and lending. That's taught me to be equal parts brand builder and performance operator.

At HomeX / Universe Home Services, I led marketing for a PE-backed home services platform — unifying brands, building scalable demand across locations, and supporting growth through acquisition. Today, as CMO of Liberty Home Guard, I'm focused on building a modern, AI-enabled growth engine for a consumer brand in the home warranty space.

Along the way I've led marketing for a regional bank, a major physician network, a multi-site physical therapy group, a specialty veterinary hospital and a mortgage lender. Different industries, same mandate: grow faster, spend smarter, and make the brand worth choosing.

  • Chief Marketing Officer
    Liberty Home Guard · 2026 – Present

    Leading brand, acquisition and lifecycle marketing for a fast-growing home warranty brand.

  • VP, Head of Marketing
    HomeX / Universe Home Services

    Marketing for a PE-backed, multi-brand home services platform built through acquisition.

  • Director of Digital Marketing
    NY Physical Therapy & Wellness

    Digital demand and patient acquisition across a multi-location practice.

  • Director of Marketing
    Esquire Bank

    Brand and growth marketing for a specialty commercial bank.

  • Director of Marketing
    NYU Physician Partners

    Marketing for a large physician network inside a leading academic health system.

  • Director of Marketing
    Long Island Veterinary Specialists · US Mortgage Corporation

    Building brand and referral demand in specialty healthcare and lending.

Where I add value

The playbook.

Demand Generation

Full-funnel acquisition engines with clear unit economics — paid, search, partnerships and lifecycle working as one system.

Brand Positioning

Sharp positioning that gives sales an edge, lowers acquisition cost and earns pricing power.

Digital Transformation

Modern martech, clean data and measurement leadership can trust — so decisions get made on evidence, not opinion.

AI-Driven Growth

Putting AI to work on the P&L: content velocity, smarter targeting, predictive insight and leaner teams.

M&A Marketing

Brand architecture, integration and go-to-market for platforms growing through acquisition.

Multi-Location Scaling

Repeatable local marketing playbooks that hold quality while the footprint grows.

Latest thinking

From the blog.

All posts →
Uncategorized

A practical framework for using AI as a CMO

AI can help marketers move faster, but only when it is connected to a clear business objective. This practical framework shows how to use AI for research, creation, and optimization while keeping strategy and human judgment at the center.

September 28, 2026 · 7 min read

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