Name Jeff Bell | Role Executive | |
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Born February 18, 1962 (age 62) ( 1962-02-18 ) Education Bachelor of Arts in History and Spanish; Master of Arts in Economics; Master of Business Administration Occupation CEO of LegalShield
Chairman of the Board of DOMedia People also search for Ralph S. Mason III, Harland Stonecipher, Geoff Bell Alma mater Kenyon College, Johns Hopkins University, Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania | ||
Jeff Bell (b. February 18, 1962) is an American chief executive and marketing leader. He is the CEO of LegalShield, an Ada, Oklahoma-based corporation that markets pre-paid legal services solutions in the United States and Canada. He also serves as chairman of the board of DOMedia LLC and as a venture partner of NCT Ventures LLC.
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Bell worked at Ford Motor Company from 1991 to 2001, Chrysler from 2001 to 2006, and Microsoft from 2006 to 2008, and has also worked for NBCUniversal. He has served on the boards of Kenyon College and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Early life and education
Jeff Bell was born and raised in Oklahoma City; his parents and grandparents were native to the city. He attended college in Ohio, graduating from Kenyon College in 1984. Bell earned his Master's degree in international relations and economics from the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University in 1988, and his Master of Business Administration in finance and marketing from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1989.
Career
Bell's professional background is in consumer marketing and sales for global brands and companies, including Ford Motor Company, Chrysler, Microsoft, and NBCUniversal. He joined Ford's new business development team in 1989 after graduating from Wharton. He held several positions during his tenure at Ford, including product and marketing manager of large cars from 1994 to 1996, general manager of fleet rental and leasing at Ford of Europe (1997), and managing director of Ford Spain (1999).
Bell left Ford in 2001 to join Chrysler, where he also held several executive positions. In his role as vice president of marketing communications, he oversaw advertising for the Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep brands. Bell later served as vice president of the DaimlerChrysler's Chrysler and Jeep divisions, and has been credited with launching the Chrysler 300, select Jeep Wrangler and Chrysler Town & Country models, and the "grab life by the horns" marketing campaign. He helped Chrysler vehicles appears in television programming and other media, and ran Jeep campaigns integrating the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers and Tomb Raider II, in which Lara Croft drives one of the brand's models to Mount Kilimanjaro. In 2005, Advertising Age named Bell and Chrysler "Interactive Marketer of the Year" and "Online Marketer of the Year", respectively. He also received Mediapost Online's "All-Star Award" in 2005, and was named one of the "21 Most Intriguing People in Marketing" by Min magazine. In February 2006, Bell became vice president of product strategy at Chrysler Group. While in that role he led a gaming strategy for Chrysler that included the development of more than 40 online games used by over 3 million people.
Bell joined Microsoft in mid 2006. In his role as corporate vice president of global marketing within the company's interactive entertainment business, he led marketing efforts for Microsoft Windows games and the Xbox console and associated games. The Xbox division had its first profitable year during Bell's tenure. He is also credited with leading marketing campaigns for Gears of War and Halo 3, and growing the number of Xbox Live subscribers from four million to twelve million in two years. In 2007, Bell was named Advertising Age's "Entertainment Marketer of the Year" and included in its "Marketing 50" list in 2008. He was also included in Min magazine's advertising and marketing "Sweet 16" list as part of its annual "Best of Web" awards. Bell left Microsoft in mid 2008.
In 2012, Bell led NBCUniversal's marketing efforts in the health and fitness field, developing the "Challenge America" campaign which was incorporated into the NBC competition reality television series The Biggest Loser, specifically its fourteenth season. As of 2014, he was serving as a director of NCT Ventures.
On July 1, 2014, Bell was appointed CEO of LegalShield, a legal service product company, replacing Rip Mason, who began serving as executive chairman of the company's board. In 2016, Advertising Age published an article written by Bell, in which he responded to the November 6 episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver about multi-level marketing. In the op-ed, Bell said he left the Direct Selling Association's board and cancelled LegalShield's (which he says has used "ethical direct sales strategies since 1993") membership over the organization's failure to protect and regulate the marketing industry, especially in regards to unethical multi-level marketing schemes.
Board service
Bell was named chairman of the Columbus, Ohio-based out-of-home advertising company DoMedia Columbus in May 2009, a position he continues to hold, as of 2014. He was also serving on Kenyon College's board of trustees in 2009. Bell has served on the National Multiple Sclerosis Society's board of directors, and also serves on the global advisory board of the Wharton Future of Advertising Program, which is affiliated with his alma mater, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Personal life
Bell has lived in England, the U.S. states of Michigan and New Jersey, Spain, and Washington, D.C. As of 2009, he owns a home in Seattle.