Fernando Academia Jr., CDMP, PCM

Full Stack Marketer | Digital Marketing Instructor | Speaker/Trainer

I solve marketing technology challenges for mid-market companies ($5M-$50M revenue) across FinTech, HealthTech, and E-commerce.

Build and optimize marketing technology ecosystems driving measurable outcomes:

→22x-31x ROI improvements through platform optimization
→100% client retention across $50K-$66K MRR portfolios
→12-40% performance gains in customer acquisition and retention
→Email engagement improvements from 12% to 40% through AI-powered automation

📌 My MarTech Expertise

Platform Strategy & Implementation
Marketing automation (Netcore Cloud, MoEngage, Salesforce, CleverTap), CRM systems (HubSpot, Odoo, Pipedrive), analytics platforms (Tableau, Looker Studio, Power BI)

AI-Powered Optimization
Customer segmentation, predictive analytics, campaign automation, personalization at scale

Integration Architecture
Connect marketing platforms with CRM, data lakes, e-commerce systems, and enterprise applications

Team Development
Build marketing technology capabilities through training, process design, and change management

📌 Experience Highlights

Previous Leadership:

• Strategic advisor managing portfolios for top 3 digital banks, largest telemedicine platform, international e-commerce brands, and 90M+ user digital wallet
• Marketing strategist for US-based growth consultancy serving 5-10 clients
• Instructor at CIIT Philippines, teaching digital marketing to 80%+ student satisfaction

📌 Education & Executive Training
Executive MBA, Asian Institute of Management (2025)

Executive Education:

‣ Digital Transformation (Global Network for Advanced Management, Dublin)
‣ Customer-Centric Innovation & Metrics (FGV EAESP, São Paulo)
‣ CMO Leadership Program (Asian Institute of Management)

🤝Fractional CMO Services
Available for select engagements helping companies:

→Audit and optimize marketing technology stacks
→Implement AI-powered customer engagement platforms
→Build customer data and segmentation strategies
→Develop marketing performance measurement frameworks
→Train teams on marketing automation and analytics

🚀 Current Venture
Building SukiNomics, a networked, gamification-powered loyalty platform transforming customer engagement for Philippine MSMEs.

Open to: Fractional CMO roles, advisory positions, and strategic partnerships with growth-stage companies needing marketing technology leadership.

Not available for: Direct competitors to telecommunications industry.

Member

Fernando Academia Jr., CDMP, PCM, CSSWB

Time to doubt if you’re really customer-centric…
Hear me out…

Just got this a few days back… My completion certificate for the Customer-Centric Innovation, Disruption and Metrics program with FGV EAESP  in São Paulo.

Three insights I am applying immediately that I see applicable to most enterprises in the Philippines:

1️⃣Customer value chains (not the Porter’s Value Chain) reveal where disruption happens.

Professor Thales Teixeira #decoupling framework shows that startups win by breaking apart activities incumbents bundle together.

The threat comes from unhappy customers, not new technology.

2️⃣Firm-side synergies are different from customer-side synergies.

Most companies optimize for their own efficiency. The winners optimize for customer convenience. 

Magazine Luiza’s transformation proved this works even in traditional retail.

3️⃣ Growth metrics must follow customer behavior.

Measuring what matters to the company is easy. Measuring what matters to customers requires discipline.

The gap between these two measurements signals opportunity or vulnerability.

Knowing this now, would you still say you have a customer-centric orientation?

OR are you inherently firm-centric trying to appear customer-focused?

Thank you to Professor Leandro Guissoni, Ph.D.  and the FGV team for an awesome learning experience.

Fernando Academia Jr, EMBA, CDMP, PCM

Marketing Technology and Digital Transformation Leader | Building SukiNomics | 15+ Years helping eCommerce/SaaS/FinTech scale with MarTech & Strategy

You bought the tools. You hired the people. You scheduled the meetings.

Why does nothing move?

Here is the uncomfortable truth:

Organizations invest in tools. They invest in campaigns. They invest in talent.

But nobody invests in the person who connects it all.

Look around your company right now.

Everyone attends meetings. Everyone brainstorms. Everyone operates within their own system.

But nobody owns active governance.

Nobody targets the silos. Nobody bridges the gaps between teams. Nobody connects the dots across sporadic efforts.

This is “the thing that no one owns.”

And it is killing your results.

Systems thinking calls this policy resistance. Multiple actors pull in different directions. Each resists changes made by others. Massive effort maintains a state nobody wants.

The data confirms it.

McKinsey found that martech is often used in isolation with little support, ownership, or visibility from senior leadership or the broader enterprise. 

Gartner reports that only 33% of martech capabilities are being used today. That number dropped from 58% in 2020 to 42% in 2022 to its current level. 

Read that again.

Two-thirds of what you paid for sits unused.

The problem is not that the tools lack power. Organizations lack the infrastructure, proficiencies, governance and integration to make use of them. 

47% of martech decision-makers cite stack complexity and integration challenges as key blockers that prevent them from getting value from their tools. 

So what is actually missing?

Someone needs to connect Marketing campaign data to IT infrastructure. Someone needs to align Brand messaging with Customer Experience touchpoints. Someone needs to feed Customer Support insights back into Product roadmaps. Someone needs to translate what Analytics discovered into what Operations can execute. Someone needs to ensure Customer Success metrics inform Marketing’s next move.

In systems thinking, this is the highest leverage point: information flows. Who knows what. Where data goes. What gets measured and reported. Missing feedback is one of the most common causes of system malfunction.

Here is the problem.

That role requires focus. That role requires authority. That role rarely exists on org charts.

Without cross-functional buy-in or visibility, every team tries to solve their problems their own way, leading to redundancy. 

So companies accumulate 75 tools on average. They tolerate overlapping functions. They accept data sitting in silos.

They resource everything except the integration layer.

The outcome gap is not a capability problem. It is a governance problem.

If you want enterprise outcomes, prioritize enterprise coordination.

No alternative text description for this image

Channel handoffs are where revenue goes to die. This breakdown from NRF 2026 shows how to fix it with two real examples. Read full post below 👇 

This matches what I see in enterprise environments.

Fragmented architectures where customer context resets at every channel switch.

The cost shows up in abandoned journeys and manual workarounds.

The critical shift: manage omnichannel as a business capability, not as separate channel initiatives.

Read more below 👇

SVP Latam | Global Executive & Board Member | P&L & Business Transformation | Bridging AI, Strategy & Behavioral Science for Sustainable Growth

Omnicanalidade e Agentic Commerce 

Operar uma única jornada, com continuidade de contexto, dados e execução, foi um dos pontos que destaquei na NRF 2026 ao discutir a evolução para Agentic Commerce.

Omnicanalidade sem fricção acontece quando essa jornada deixa de reiniciar a cada troca de canal e passa a ser operada de forma contínua entre digital e loja. Do contrário, o impacto aparece em abandono, queda de produtividade, exceções operacionais e aumento de custos.

Essa capacidade exige integração de canais, estoque e dados, garantindo reconhecimento do cliente em todos os pontos de contato. 

Isso viabiliza decisões mais rápidas, com governança, e sustenta a evolução para Agentic Commerce, quando decisões antes manuais passam a ser orquestradas por sistemas e agentes, sob regras claras de risco, serviço e custo.

Para mostrar a execução, compartilhei dois exemplos reais da Thoughtworks: 

↳ transformação do fluxo de venda em loja com um app que leva contexto e conclusão para a ponta; 
↳ e Click and Collect tratado como decisão dinâmica para melhorar previsibilidade, produtividade e cumprimento da promessa e uso de IA e Agentes no processo.

Para a agenda executiva, isso precisa ser tratado como capacidade de negócio, não como projeto de canal. 

Na sua operação, omnicanalidade é iniciativa por canal ou capacidade ponta a ponta com governança e evolução clara rumo a Agentic Commerce?
___

English Version:

Operating a single journey with continuous context, data, and execution was one of the points I highlighted at NRF 2026 when discussing the evolution toward Agentic Commerce.

Frictionless omnichannel happens when the journey no longer resets at every channel change and is instead operated continuously across digital and physical touchpoints. 

When it does reset, the impact shows up in abandonment, lower productivity, operational exceptions, and higher costs.

This capability depends on integrating channels, inventory, and data, ensuring consistent customer recognition across touchpoints.

That enables faster, governed decisions and supports the shift toward Agentic Commerce, where previously manual decisions are orchestrated by systems and agents under clear constraints around risk, service, and cost.

To illustrate execution, I shared two real Thoughtworks examples: 

↳ transforming in-store sales with an app that brings context and completion to the frontline; 
​​↳ and Click and Collect treated as a dynamic decision to improve predictability, productivity, and promise-keeping ( AI and Agents embedded in the operation).

From an executive perspective, this must be managed as a business capability, not a channel project. 

In your organization, is omnichannel managed by channel initiatives or as an end-to-end capability with a clear path toward Agentic Commerce?

Fear sat at my table for years.
I burned through it. This is what remained.

I managed 5 concurrent jobs at one point.

I delivered well enough to win awards.

3 career resets. Each one compounded.

I learned...
...in classrooms,
...in masterminds
...in conversations
...through certifications,
...through YouTube,
...and through execution.

Solo. With teams. In chaos. In structure.
Follower. Connector. Leader

In abundance. In famine.

I performed when resources were plentiful.
I performed when there was nothing left but willpower.

But none of that mattered until I dealt with fear.
↳Fear of office politics and its unspoken rules.
↳Fear of being overlooked.
↳Fear of being misunderstood.
↳Fear of being seen as arrogant.
↳Fear of being stuck in environments that do not match my pace.

Fear had a seat at my table for years.

I processed all of it.
Extracted the signal from the noise.
Kept what served me.

I no longer carry those fears.

What remains:
↳ Clear intentions about what I am building
↳ The resets. The repetitions. Enough to trust myself to lead.
↳ Freedom to choose the mission. Not just the job.
↳ Directness without tiptoeing around egos
↳ Genuine care for people and outcomes
↳ Comfort with mistakes. I course-correct fast.
↳ Relentless drive. A sense of urgency that moves before the room is ready.

BUT fear does not disappear on its own.

You burn through it until it stops controlling you.
What remains is who you actually are.

That clarity is the signal. Fear was the noise.

I build things that connect the dots — between technology and truth, systems and people, curiosity and impact.

For more than 15 years, I led technology for a billion-dollar global enterprise, modernizing ERP, AI, and supply chains that fed millions of customers every day. It was equal parts engineering and empathy — translating business ambition into digital transformation that actually worked.

That experience taught me something important: technology isn’t powerful because it’s complex — it’s powerful because it’s real. Grounded. Useful. Human.

That belief drives everything I do now.

At VORTX.AI, I’m leading a team that’s redefining how AI learns from the world around it. We’re building the world’s first Grounded AI platform, combining satellite intelligence, geospatial data, and anti-spoofing systems to make AI more trustworthy — for industries that can’t afford to be wrong. From New York to Bengaluru, we’re building truth at planetary scale through partnerships with NVIDIA and Seraphim Space.

With AIRONCLAD Technology & Advisors, I help enterprises bring the promise of AI down to earth — with tools like SpendIQ for predictive cost optimization and ResearchIQ for personalized executive insight. And through CIOs for CIOs, I’ve helped create a global peer network where technology leaders share playbooks, not pitches.

I’ve always believed innovation should feel as natural as curiosity. That’s why I still code, prototype, and experiment — whether it’s training AI models, exploring the chemistry of food molecules, or mapping patterns between leadership, sport, and design.

Travel keeps me curious. Sports keep me honest. Food keeps me grounded.
Together, they remind me that creativity isn’t a discipline — it’s a habit.

🏆 Recognition & Media
New York Enterprise CIO of the Year (ORBIE Awards) • BT150 Global Transformation Leader • Top 5 Digital Transformation Leader (Manufacturing Leadership Council) • Featured in WSJ CIO Journal, Cloud Wars, and Acceleration Economy


Suvajit Basu

Retail doesn't have an AI problem. It has a decision problem.
Here's a stat that should make every retail executive pause: 90% of retail organizations call themselves AI-adopters, but only 30% report measurable business value from analytics.¹
That 60-point gap? It's not a technology problem. It's a decision enablement problem.
Most retailers already have the tech stack:
Data lakes ✓
BI tools ✓
Forecasting engines ✓
Dashboards galore ✓
Yet every Monday, the same questions surface:
Why did sales dip in Region X? Was it price, promo, supply, or weather? And who owns the decision?
The uncomfortable truth heading into NRF 2026:
Dashboards describe. Decisions demand understanding.
Retail leaders aren't asking for more charts, prettier visuals, or faster refresh rates.
They're asking for:
Context — what's really happening
Causality — why it's happening
Confidence — the clarity to act
AI that can't explain why is just automation theater.
NRF 2026 will be loud. The winners will be the platforms that help executives stop debating and start deciding.
Question for the retail community: What's the one decision your dashboards still can't answer?
¹ McKinsey & Company: "The State of AI in Business" (2025)

🛰 Co-Founder & Co-CEO, VORTX.AI | Building Grounded AI & Space Intelligence Systems | Former CIO of a Billion-Plus Global Enterprise | Exited Founder | NY CIO of the Year

Electricity without wires! Fiery electricity, lightning, wireless transmission comes together in this innovation. 

Do we need this? Is it safe? I once was 200 ft from a lightning strike, effects were not good. 

Also noted, the rise of Helsinki as an innovation hub. 

#electricity #finland #invention #wireless

Republic Day. India Gate. A moment that stays with you. 🇮🇳

Standing here, watching disciplined ranks move forward with quiet resolve, you feel it—the weight of sacrifice, the strength of institutions, and the meaning of sovereignty earned, protected, and exercised.

A republic isn’t built on noise or convenience.
It’s built on duty, resilience, and the collective will to govern ourselves.

In a rapidly shifting world order—where power is contested, technology reshapes influence, and sovereignty is tested every day—Republic Day feels more relevant than ever.

A strong republic stands tall not because it is loud—but because it is grounded in values, discipline, and purpose.

Happy Republic Day. Jan 26th. 

#RepublicDay #IndiaGate #Sovereignty #NewWorldOrder #NationBuilding #Leadership #EnduringValues #india

Take Control of Your Personal Data - Today on #DataPrivacyDay 2026—‘You have the power to take charge of your data’—but this just happened:
I casually mentioned a restaurant name out loud in my car. No typing, no search, no app open. Hours later at home, YouTube recommends a video of that exact restaurant.
No coincidence? Google Assistant’s ‘always listening’ for ‘Hey Google’ has a history of false activations recording ambient speech—leading to the $68M settlement this month over privacy violations and unintended data use for ads/recommendations.

Confession: Google remains my daily essential despite these red flags.

Has Google (or any app) eerily ‘known’ something you only said aloud? 

Share your story below—what was it, which service, and do you still use it?

#TakeChargeOfYourData #GooglePrivacy

The "January Factory Reset" is officially here.

The final week of January 2026 just sent a shockwave through the US corporate landscape:
• Amazon: 16,000 corporate roles cut Wednesday (30,000 total since October).
• UPS: 30,000 jobs being cut to "further deploy automation."
• Meta: 1,500 roles gone in Reality Labs as budgets pivot to AI.
• The Toll: 22,000+ tech layoffs this month alone.

We are witnessing the end of the "Great Resignation" and the brutal start of the "Great Re-invention."
Companies aren't just "restructuring"—they are liquidating headcount to fund $100B+ AI bets. 

If your value is based on "process management," the floor is moving. If your value is based on AI-driven outcomes, you are the architect.

The Great Resignation is dead. The Great Re-invention has begun.
CEOs aren't just cutting; they are re-funding for the AI wars. Don’t just "Job Hug." Build your brand. 

#TechLayoffs #AmazonLayoffs #UPS #AI2026 #CareerPivot

With 22k+ USA layoffs this month, how are you playing the 2026 job market?


𝐓𝐡𝐞 "𝐐𝐮𝐢𝐞𝐭" 𝐆𝐥𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐟𝐭: Today is Friday, January 30, 2026. This week’s news cycle has been dominated by the loud and the volatile—geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and a tech sector grappling with an "AI reality check."

But if you look past the noise, the real tectonic shifts are happening in places many are still calling "un-hyped."

𝟭. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 $𝟭 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗕𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝗺

Eli Lilly ($LLY) is currently sitting on a market cap of over $𝟵𝟲𝟴 𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻. We’ve spent the last two years obsessing over GPU chips and LLMs, yet one of the most significant wealth-creation engines in history is coming from 𝗯𝗶𝗼𝗹𝗼𝗴𝘆, not just silicon. The massive scale of the GLP-1 market is rewriting the rules of healthcare and consumer behavior simultaneously.

𝟮. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 "𝗠𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗹𝗹" 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗹𝘀

While headlines focus on Western protectionism and tariffs, India and the EU just finalized a landmark Free Trade Agreement this week (January 27).
● 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲: A free trade zone of 𝟮 𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲.
● 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁: Massive tariff slashes (e.g., EU cars in India dropping from 110% to 10%) and a multi-billion dollar integration of global supply chains.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗳𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

We often look to Silicon Valley to tell us what the "future" looks like. But right now, the future is being written in pharma labs in Indianapolis and trade offices in New Delhi.

As leaders, are we too narrow in where we look for disruption? If your 2026 strategy is 100% focused on software and domestic policy, you might be missing the actual movement of the global needle.

𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁: Progress is often quiet before it’s transformative. Where are you looking for the "quiet" signals today?

#GlobalTrade #EliLilly #IndiaEU #BusinessStrategy #Innovation #FutureOfWork

The January Tech "Factory Reset" hit India hard this week.

The numbers are a wake-up call for Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Pune:
• Amazon India: 500+ corporate roles cut in BLR/HYD (part of 16,000 global).
• TCS: 12,000 roles (2% of staff) being reduced through the March quarter.
• Global Total: 22,000+ tech layoffs this month alone.
The "Great Resignation" is over. Welcome to the "Great Re-invention."
Companies are reallocating billions from headcount to AI infrastructure. If your role is repeatable, it’s at risk. If you are building a brand around AI-fluency, you are the future.

#india #jobs #layoffs

With 22k layoffs this month, what is your 2026 strategy?

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Suvajit Basu

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The Battle

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Suvajit Basu

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Engagements

Likes

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