Brand events as commercial infrastructure.

The challenge

First Republic Bank was a premium private bank built on white-glove, high-net-worth client service. The brand operated in a category where most marketing leans on demand generation — direct mail, paid media, traditional channels. First Republic needed something different: brand experiences that were the client-acquisition motion. Hospitality, partnerships, and events designed as commercial infrastructure rather than marketing add-ons.

I came in as VP of Marketing reporting to the CMO with a dotted-line to the CEO and CCO. The role centered on luxury hospitality design, premium partnership strategy, and driving client engagement and growth through exclusive experiences and digital communications.

The work

Inaugural Chase Center luxury hospitality partnership. I negotiated First Republic's Chase Center deal — a first-of-kind luxury hospitality partnership integrating sports, entertainment, and banking brand presence. The partnership became the anchor Bay Area hospitality property for the bank's premium client program.

Inaugural SoFi Stadium partnership. Same approach, East-Coast counterpart structurally. Two flagship venue partnerships designed as platforms — not one-off sponsorships.

A premium event program built as client-acquisition infrastructure. I created an in-person and hybrid events program integrating sports, entertainment, and industry experts — matching banking and wealth-management clients to elite sports experiences. The hospitality program operated across Bay Area and East Coast properties: Chase Center, SoFi Stadium, Barclays Center / Brooklyn Nets, San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Rams, and broader NFL / NBA / MLB activations.

The matchmaking model. The events were structured as commercial relationships from the start. Client segments — PE firms, VC firms, non-profits, tech SMBs, family office, private banking — each got the experiences that mapped to their lives. The events drove convertible leads for the bank rather than generic brand impressions.

The CRM and martech foundation underneath. I built and implemented the CRM and martech stack that made the program measurable, set the creative vision for North America demand generation and brand campaigns, and collaborated with Sales and Product on regional marketing strategies across personal banking, personal lending, and SMB growth.

The outcome

The premium hospitality program delivered a client event NPS of 88 against a 70 organization-wide benchmark — a 18-point lift that confirmed the events were doing more than entertaining existing clients. They were converting, retaining, and upgrading relationships in ways the bank's traditional marketing channels weren't.

The lesson generalizes: when brand experiences are designed as commercial infrastructure — with the segmentation, the matchmaking logic, the measurement underneath — they outperform "marketing events" by an order of magnitude. That instinct is one I've carried into partnership and sponsorship work for every client since.

First Republic Bank was acquired by JPMorgan Chase in 2023.