National Executive Board Member

Ralph Santana
Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer
HARMAN International

HARMAN International Industries, Incorporated, the leading global audio and infotainment group (NYSE: HAR) named Ralph Santana the new Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of HARMAN on April 1, 2013. As Chief Marketing Officer, Ralph will assume responsibility for leading the global marketing organization and driving HARMAN's worldwide marketing strategy - creating dynamic marketing programs that drive profitable growth across HARMAN's lines of business.

Ralph joins HARMAN from Samsung Electronics America, where he was Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for Samsung North America. His responsibilities included accountability for Samsung's brand communications, digital marketing, market intelligence, and product innovation team in North America.

Previously, he spent 16 years at PepsiCo where he held a variety of executive marketing and senior product management roles that spanned North America and international business units. In that role, he managed the strategic brand development and marketing for the Pepsi-Cola trademark – including positioning, communication strategy and creative development – in the United States and Canada. Ralph spearheaded a massive re-launch of Pepsi-Cola that transcends new positioning/advertising and includes adopting a new consumer engagement model as well as branded entertainment and new media opportunities. Prior, he was the Vice President of sports, media, branded entertainment and interactive marketing. This included responsibility for the company’s sports marketing strategy and advertising related to its sponsorship of properties including the NFL, MLB, NHL, MLS and the Dew Tour. Under Ralph’s leadership in this position, the interactive marketing group was awarded the prestigious Webby Award for the Best Sports Marketing web-site and Direct Marketing News voted PNAB’s data base marketing efforts #1 in the beverage industry. He also engineered a landmark deal with racing icon Dale Earnhardt Jr. that transformed PNAB’s energy drink business. PNAB was also named Sports Sponsor of the Year by Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal. Prior to that role, Ralph was VP of consumer promotions and customer marketing, where he spearheaded the company’s national consumer promotions and retail marketing efforts. Ralph led a number of successful and high-profile national promotions, including the “Capture Lex and Win” sweepstakes in conjunction with the theatrical release of the film Superman Returns and the “Pepsi Cool Tones and Motorola Phones” promotion, which awarded consumers original ring tones written and recorded by top musical artists like Mariah Carey and Mary J. Blige. In that capacity, he also led account-specific marketing programs with PNAB’s largest retail customers such as Wal-Mart, Target, Kroger and 7-Eleven. Ralph has been with PepsiCo for nearly 14 years. His career includes a breadth of international and domestic brand marketing assignments that span both the food and beverage categories. He began his career in Pepsi-Cola International working on the rollout of one of PepsiCo’s first successful global product innovations (Pepsi Max). His international beverage experience also included a role as the marketing executive responsible for the Caribbean region, where he introduced several new products and TV campaigns. Other international work included a global brand assignment in Frito-Lay’s International division. Here Ralph was responsible for international brand strategy and creative development on Doritos. Ralph also spent two years in Frito-Lay’s North American operation, where he led the domestic marketing behind a portfolio of products including Fritos and Tostitos. Ralph was honored with Street & Smith’s prestigious 40 Under 40 Award in 2007. He was also included in Business Week’s Power 100 list of the most influential people in sports. Ralph earned his undergraduate degree in English Literature from Dartmouth College and his MBA from Duke University. Ralph and his wife Shellene have two children. Ralph is a member of the New York City Chapter Board of NSMN.