Meredith Xcelerated Marketing Names James Herrera Executive Director, User Experience

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - May 9, 2014) -  Meredith Xcelerated Marketing (www.mxm.com) (MXM), the leading content-powered customer engagement agency, recently announced the appointment of James Herrera to Executive Director, User Experience, effective immediately. In this new position, Herrera will report directly to Steve Kerho, MXM's Chief Strategy Officer, and will be based out of the agency's Los Angeles office.

As Executive Director, User Experience, Herrera will lead the UX team and will oversee all client business on the West Coast, where his deep automotive experience will benefit MXM clients like Honda and Acura. He will also be working closely with creative, strategy and technology teams, supporting highly complex architectures for clients like Mercer and Allergan.

Herrera brings nearly two decades of experience in UX, interactive design and experience architecture to this new role, holding leadership positions at many of the industry's top digital shops throughout his career. Most recently, Herrera served as an Experience Director at Huge, working with creative and technical teams on new business projects for Google and Salesforce.com, among others.

"As MXM continues to evolve to support its growing digital business, Herrera's breadth of experience with data-rich websites and applications, new technologies, and multi-platform solutions, coupled with his keen eye for design, is a natural fit for the team," said Kerho. "James knows how to create consensus among diverse stakeholders and simply put, is a tremendous force from both a thought-leadership, and a client leadership, perspective. We are very excited to welcome him to the agency."

Herrera's background also includes heading up all functions of user experience design for Publicis & Hal Riney, Publicis Modem and Organic San Francisco, including experience strategy, information architecture, usability research and content strategy; working across clients including Scion, PayPal, Sam's Club, Bank of America, Hilton Worldwide, Walmart and Intel. Prior to that, he served in digital strategy roles at Autobytel and The Designory in Los Angeles, where he led the design of NissanUSA.com and Infiniti.com, as well as global web initiatives.

"At the heart of any successful design is empathy for the user. Knowing what they need and why, and how to present it, is both a rational and an emotional equation. What excites me about MXM is its 'content first' approach to experience design and content strategy," said Herrera. "The teams' work is grounded in answering consumer needs by exposing them to meaningful, relevant and motivating content that shapes and drives their purchase decisions."

Meredith Xcelerated Marketing (MXM) is a leading content-powered, customer engagement agency that provides fully integrated marketing solutions for some of the world's top brands, including Kraft, Lowe's, Chrysler, NBC Universal, and Victoria's Secret. Through its rich 40-year history, MXM has established itself as the dominant force in custom content and customer relationship marketing platforms. Strategic acquisitions in mobile, digital, social media and database analytics have significantly broadened the agency's capabilities, and in October 2011, MXM expanded globally through a strategic investment in London-based iris worldwide. MXM employs over 600 people globally and is a part of Meredith Corporation (NYSE: MDP), a publicly-owned media and marketing company serving American women. Visit www.mxm.com for more information.