Michael Rovner

I make regulated financial products and modernization initiatives legible to the market.

My work focuses on financial services, fintech, and enterprise SaaS—where modernization, regulatory context, and customer comprehension intersect. I translate product complexity and transformation themes into external narrative, category POV, and product marketing initiatives that support adoption, market education, and enterprise growth.

My background spans thought leadership, product marketing, and industry strategy across financial services, enterprise software, and regulated markets. Previous projects include workforce modernization narratives for Indeed (NYT/T Brand), enterprise financial operations positioning for Intuit, financial services modernization for Chase, and digital transformation insights for SAP/SAPinsider.

Today, my work centers on modernization strategy, industry narrative, and PMM for organizations navigating changing customer behavior, regulatory expectations, and platform adoption across FS and fintech.

Financial Services: BNY, Deloitte, EY, Fidelity, J.P. Morgan, KPMG, MetLife, and PwC

Technology: Adobe, Amazon Ads, AWS, BlackLine, Dell, HP, IBM, Intel, Indeed, Intuit, Lenovo, Microsoft, Protiviti, Red Hat, SAP, and ServiceNow

Product Marketing
Editorial & Business Strategy
Revenue Generation
Strategic Partnerships
Market Education
Team Leadership
Branded Content Development

cointelegraph

Progressives are losing the crypto future

The Cut

You Spent Five Years Hiding That You Can Actually Cook

Addiction in Isolation

Adjusting to video-chat 12-step meetings.

How to Be Sober

If you’re looking to stay sober, first: Shut up.

new york post

Inside man

Col. case

Money talks

Wall Street Journal

Skate Shop Operators-Turned-Vodka Distillers Help Pernod Ricard’s Local Effort

Partners in OUR/Vodka’s upcoming Manhattan distillery wondered if a visit from the spirits company’s talent scout was a practical joke

Diller, Von Furstenberg Invest in Co-Working Company

The New York City-based firm offers space with a private club-style membership

Clothier J. Press Looks to Spur U.S. Sales with New Midtown N.Y. Store

New store expected to generate 25% of U.S. sales

Herbal Supplement Has Some New Yorkers Talking, Instead of Coughing

Some claim success with Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa, but experts warn of the risks of taking such products

Rolling stone

Meshach’s Vest: The Strange Journey of a Heavy Metal Treasure

An Oregon's metalhead's prized garment went missing and ended up in an NYC Macy's display. Now he's fighting to get it back

inc.

Hershey’s Chief Global Knowledge Officer on Adapting for Today

Harness opportunity in today’s rapidly changing marketplace.

How to Build a New Brand in an Age-Old Business

After eight years of investment, William Grant’s Monkey Shoulder is now a world-wide brand. Here’s how it happened.

The Marketing Genius Behind #StarbucksWeddings

See how the leading coffee retailer managed to capture opportunity by paying attention to its customers’ more unusual social behaviors.

H&R Block’s CMO on How to Segment Your Audience

Know your audience, says H&R Block CMO Kathy Collins. It’s the only path to growth.

Heineken Brews up 3 Digital Strategy Tips

Take a page out of the Heineken digital strategy book.

How to Build a Brand Newsroom Like GE

As more companies discover the value of participating in a conversation with their consumers, we get a closer look at how they do it at GE, where their brand newsroom means business.

SAP INSIDER

Wipro’s Sustainable Fashion Rental Solution

Sustainable CTOs Balance Sustainability and Digitalization

intuit enterprise Suite

Product Marketing | Narrative Strategy | Market Education

Enterprise Financial Operations Modernization

This New York Times branded content project launched awareness for Intuit's new Enterprise Suite product.

The Challenge: Growing businesses were managing fragmented financial operations across multiple tools, limiting visibility and slowing decision-making.

The Approach: Structured a problem-solution narrative linking six financial pain points (visibility, profitability, engagement, compliance, cash flow, scalability) to Enterprise Suite capabilities. SMEs validated technical and regulatory context.

The Outcome: Connected real operational friction to concrete solutions (ASC 606 revenue workflows, SSO). The content educated prospects, increased product understanding, and strengthened credibility for launch in a competitive category.

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Project Management: Chris Retcho  | Writer: Jennifer Goforth Gregory | Art Direction: Katie Belloff | Design: Ellie Friedman

personal essay

the new york times

The Two Michael Rovners

I first became aware of the other Michael Rovner nearly five years ago.

I was living in the West Village of Manhattan, at 67 Jane Street. He was at 67 Morton. Occasionally, his mail arrived at my apartment, and I wondered if I was legally allowed to open it. The New York City public school system was trying to reach him, so I gleaned that he, too, was a dad. I walked the letters over to his building and left them in his lobby.

Not long after that, I was participating on a panel for AdWeek magazine when the moderator introduced me by reading my bio — only I hadn’t done any of the impressive things she described. Initially, I was confused, and for a moment I considered just going with it. When she got to the part where I’d won a regional Emmy Award, I said, “Excuse me, but you’ve got the wrong Michael Rovner.”

...

Writer: Michael Rovner | Commissioning Editor: Stella Bugbee  | Editor: Jim Windolf | Illustrator: Dadu Shin

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indeed

Category POV | Thought Leadership | Narrative Strategy

AI & Skills-Based Hiring Narrative

This New York Times branded content project repositioned Indeed's AI hiring narrative from job elimination concerns to responsible innovation.

The Challenge: AI hiring narratives focused on bias and job displacement, creating public skepticism and regulatory scrutiny.

The Approach: Built a counter-narrative anchored in skills-based matching, DEIB leadership, transparency, and responsible AI regulation. Credibility came from data and third-party validation vs. marketing claims.

The Outcome: Reframed AI as a tool that helps people get jobs rather than eliminates them. Data reinforced performance (skills-based hiring 5x more predictive), supporting both editorial integrity and category positioning.

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Project Management: Sarah Mann | Art Direction: Kris Taifalos | Design: Tramain Bentinck | Creative Producer: Ada Chen | Illustrator: Andy Goodman

indeed

Category POV | Thought Leadership | Narrative Strategy

How Employee Wellbeing Became a Key Driver For Growth

The second New York Times branded content project for Indeed transformed employee wellbeing from HR initiative to business imperative.

The Challenge: Workplace wellbeing was considered an HR perk, not a driver of productivity, retention, or business performance.

The Approach: Used proprietary data from Indeed’s Work Wellbeing Report to connect wellbeing indicators to measurable economic and organizational outcomes. Narrative moved from problem → validation → application.

The Outcome: Elevated wellbeing to a competitive talent metric (66% consider wellbeing in job decisions). Positioned Indeed’s platform as both talent intelligence and employer decision support.

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Project Management: Sarah Mann | Art Direction: Kris Taifalos | Design: Tramain Bentinck | Creative Producer: Ada Chen | Illustrator: KAAN Illustration

chase

Market Education | FS Narrative | Category POV

SMB Financial Services Adoption

JP Morgan Chase’s flagship small business content series reimagined how financial institutions can engage entrepreneurs through editorial storytelling.

The Challenge: SMBs perceived financial services content as transactional and uninspired, reducing engagement and brand affinity.

The Approach: Editorial and multimedia storytelling focused on real SMB motivations, macro trends, and community profiles. Balanced authenticity, service value, and brand goals across platforms.

The Outcome: Produced a multi-format content series that established a more credible model for FS branded storytelling, driving higher trust and sustained engagement with entrepreneurs.

Commissioning Editor: Jesse Oxfeld  | Writer: Brian O’Connor

adobe

Market Education | Enterprise Narrative | Thought Leadership

Retail IoT & Customer Experience Transformation

Adobe’s beacon technology storytelling shifted retail IoT from niche innovation to must-have customer experience driver.

The Challenge: Retailers viewed beacon technology as experimental and peripheral to customer experience initiatives.

The Approach: Combined explanatory storytelling with real retail use cases to demonstrate how beacons improved loyalty, in-store engagement, and ROI. Framed technology within Adobe’s broader CX leadership narrative.

The Outcome: Shifted perception from innovation novelty to essential infrastructure for modern omnichannel retail. Supported sales enablement and industry event positioning.

intuit enterprise Suite

Executive Messaging | Narrative Strategy | Market Education

C-Suite Finance Messaging (Audio)

The Challenge: CFOs and finance leaders ignored traditional text-heavy B2B content; strategic messaging struggled to reach or resonate with this audience.

The Approach: Leveraged The Daily as a trusted editorial channel to deliver concise, story-driven audio aligning Intuit’s value props to finance team priorities (visibility, compliance, faster decisions).

The Outcome: Delivered 5x engagement among C-level finance audiences and increased product awareness. Audio became a repeatable channel for high-value executive reach.

Project Management: Chris Retcho  | Audio Producer: Sam Mouser

Personal Essay

The New York Times

My Very Brief Career as the World’s Worst Detective

“This is not an easy place to get hired,” said a fellow analyst at the company, an elite, private-sector global intelligence organization.

The vetting process was rigorous: an extensive background check, drug testing, fingerprinting, half a dozen interviews and months of waiting.

The company recruited highly decorated F.B.I. agents, state and federal prosecutors, and the most senior members of law enforcement.

I had worked as a gossip columnist and as an editor for a couple of celebrity weekly magazines. My expense account was $20,000 per week. I hustled, got drunk and got dirt. Somebody thought this qualified me to be a private investigator. That somebody was wrong.

“When we look into a new hire at a senior level, we treat them the same way we do a subject under investigation,” an executive said.

By the time I heard this, I had been at the company for two months and I was halfway through my 30-day P.I.P. (Personal Improvement Performance review). I didn’t need to be Inspector Poirot to detect that the jig was up.

...

Writer: Michael Rovner | Commissioning Editor: Stella Bugbee  | Editor: Anya Strzemien | Illustrator: Jackson Gibbs

Read This on NYTimes.com ↗