Building client relationships.
Creating teams and systems. Retaining clients.
Twenty-five years leading enterprise accounts on the agency and consultancy side, running $6M to $90M portfolios for retail, restaurant, financial services, and healthcare brands. I work two ways.
For agencies and consultancies: an interim senior account lead, a closer on a must-win pitch, or the client partnership system your team runs without the founder in every meeting.
For brands: get more from your marketing partners, or create the in-house capability to need them less.
Every engagement is fixed-scope, with a one-page scope and a fixed price within 48 hours of a first call
About Dina Light-McNeely
Dina spent twenty-five years on the agency and consultancy side of Fortune 500 relationships, most recently as a strategic client partner at a global commerce consultancy and, before that, running a $90M media and integrated portfolio for a holding-company network. She has owned P&Ls from $6M to $90M, hired and coached the account leads who ran them, and held the highest client and team satisfaction scores in her group for five consecutive years.
Her clients have included grocery, restaurant, financial services, retail, beauty, hospitality and healthcare brands. The American Advertising Federation named her one of its Top 20 Women in Advertising. She taught digital marketing in the MBA and BBA programs at SMU's Cox School of Business, and in 2025 the ANA published her research on the audience-targeting gap in U.S. marketing.
She works from Dallas with agencies and brands anywhere.
My Services
-
For CEOs, chief growth officers and heads of client service, at the moments that cost the most: a senior account lead has left, a must-win pitch is weeks out, a client churned without warning, or a big renewal is coming and planning is ad hoc.
Interim account lead. I run one or two enterprise accounts, two to three days a week for three to six months: the client relationship, the team, the plan, the growth targets. No ramp, no headcount.
Pitch and RFP sprint. I lead or co-lead a must-win pitch over four to six weeks: strategy, story, team casting, rehearsal, and a client-side read of what will land.
Client partnership operating system. A three-to-four-week assessment of how your client team plans, runs QBRs and decides which RFPs to chase, then a four-week install of the system it runs on: planning calendar and templates, a QBR format clients show up for, an RFP go/no-go playbook, and an account health scorecard that flags risk early.
-
For CMOs and VPs of Marketing, Digital or Commerce, usually in their first year in the seat. I spent 25 years on the agency side of these relationships, so I know what partners won't tell you and what it takes to get their best work.
Agency partner review. A four-week look at each partner on scope, fees, team, results, and how the relationship is really working, measured against what the business needs next, with a keep, fix, consolidate or replace call. Priced per partner assessed. If a pitch follows, I write the brief, build the shortlist, and run it.
In-housing plan. Three to four weeks to decide what work moves in-house and in what order, the roles and cost to do it, and what stays with partners, including the transition plan for the agencies affected. Interim leadership of the new team through its first quarter is available.
Marketing and commerce roadmap. Four weeks to a 12-18 month roadmap for a new marketing or commerce leader: priorities, sequencing, partner and platform decisions, budget shape, and the operating cadence to run it.
Download My Research
In 2025, the ANA published my paper, "The $15 Trillion Dollar Advantage," on the gap in audience targeting in U.S. marketing. Enter your info for the PDF.
What people say about dina light-mcneely