Lance Koenig, managing partner at growth marketing consultancy Rival, is the College of Journalism and Mass Communications Worick Visiting Professor in Market Research for the 2025-2026 academic year. Koenig will be on campus from March 23-27, sharing his industry expertise with students on the national student advertising competition team and other advertising and public relations courses.
Koenig grew up in Lincoln and is a 1995 J-School alum. His agency career took off in 1999 at Arnold Worldwide, where he was a management supervisor. In 2002, he became EVP Head of Strategy at Bailey Lauerman and then joined Hill Holliday as VP Strategist in 2009.
He moved to Boston and spent four years at MullenLowe U.S. as their SVP Director of Strategy and moved to Chicago in 2015 to work at Leo Burnett as their EVP Strategy Director. While at MullenLowe, he received a 2015 Outstanding Alumni Award from the college and was recognized for his work on campaigns for Disney, The Washington Post, TD Ameritrade, ConAgra Foods, Bank of America, Merrill Lynch and JetBlue.
Koenig also lived in Toronto for almost two years, working for Forsman & Bodenfors as the company’s Chief Strategy Officer. In 2018, he began his role as Head of Global Strategy at The Martin Agency in Richmond, Virginia, and a few years later moved back to Chicago to work for Havas as their Chief Strategy Officer.
Read why Koenig believes in creativity that’s fueled by empathy
In 2024, he returned to Boston after being named Managing Partner and Chief Strategy Officer at Rival. In a press release announcing his hiring, CEO Eric Fulwiler shared what Koenig brings to the Rival team.
“Our mission with Rival is to build a home for the best marketing talent in the world to do the best work of their careers. For anyone who’s worked with Lance, you know he fits into that category…having worked with him at Mullen Lowe and watched what he’s done in his past few roles and for the wider marketing industry, I feel incredibly lucky and humbled that he’s chosen Rival for his next professional home. We have big plans for the next few years, and bringing Lance on board is a massive step towards realizing them.”
