Craig McDonogh, Founder of Ethicore Advisors
Craig McDonogh
Founder, Ethicore Advisors
Carlsbad, CA
University of San Francisco — Digital Marketing 2026 Program Advisor

The marketer who was asking the questions nobody else was asking.

I've spent most of my career at enterprise software companies - ServiceNow, BMC Software, Perspectium, Forma.ai, and others - building marketing programs, evaluating vendors, and trying to figure out how to reach the right buyers at the right moment with the right message.

Along the way, I watched AI move from a buzzword on conference slides to a tool that was actually running parts of the marketing stack. And I noticed something: the people making those decisions (people just like me) weren't getting much useful guidance. The AI ethics conversation was happening in academic papers and policy circles, not in marketing strategy sessions.

The guidance that did exist was mostly written by people who'd never had to hit a pipeline number, navigate a compliance review, or explain a campaign decision to a skeptical CMO. It was theoretically correct but practically useless.

So I founded Ethicore Advisors to be the thing I wished had existed during my marketing career: a practical, business-fluent resource for enterprise teams who are trying to do the right thing with AI without slowing down or falling behind.

I'm not selling software. I don't have a certification program or a proprietary framework with a catchy name. I'm a marketing insider who knows where the risks are hiding... because I've been in the rooms where the decisions get made.

If you want a sense of how I think before we talk, the free tools on the resources page are a good starting point - including a monthly AI regulatory tracker and a risk landscape across the marketing stack.

Career Background

Three decades on the inside.

2024 — Present
Ethicore Advisors
Founder & Principal Advisor

AI ethics advisory for enterprise marketing teams. Helping large companies deploy AI in marketing responsibly through advisory retainers, governance frameworks, training, and speaking.

Prior Roles
Forma.ai · Perspectium · Imgix
CMO/VP of Marketing

High-growth AI & SaaS environments where marketing teams move fast, tooling decisions happen quickly, and the gap between "we can do this" and "we should do this" gets blurry.

Prior Roles
ServiceNow
Senior Director of Product Marketing

Enterprise marketing at scale - demand generation, product marketing, go-to-market strategy for one of the world's largest enterprise software platforms.

Prior Roles
BMC Software & Remedy Corporation
Product Marketing Leadership

B2B marketing in a complex, highly regulated enterprise environment - where the intersection of technology, compliance, and customer expectations was a daily reality.

How I Work

A few things that shape every engagement.

🎯

Business-first, not compliance-first

I start from what you're actually trying to accomplish, then figure out where the risks are. Ethics as a competitive advantage, not a speed bump.

🔍

Specific, not generic

Every company's AI risk profile is different. I don't hand you a framework built for a different industry, team size, or stack. I learn yours.

🤝

No vendor interest, ever

I don't sell, implement, or receive referral fees from any technology product. My only interest is giving you advice that's actually right for your organization.

📋

Deliverables you'll actually use

Not a 200-page report that lives in a shared folder. Practical outputs like checklists, decision frameworks, and talking points - built for how real teams operate.

Fluent in marketing speed

I've lived inside the quarterly cycle. I know what "we need this by end of week" actually means, and I work accordingly.

🧭

Honest, even when it's uncomfortable

If I see a problem, I'll tell you clearly. I'd rather have a hard conversation before a campaign launches than an expensive one after.

Why Ethicore

The question I kept asking myself.

By the time AI started showing up in marketing operations in a serious way, I'd already spent decades watching enterprise software companies move fast on technology decisions and clean up the mess later. Data privacy. Brand safety. Algorithmic amplification. The pattern was consistent: move fast, discover the problem when it's expensive, fix it under pressure.

"I didn't want to build another framework. I wanted to be the person in the room who'd already seen what happens when nobody asks the right questions, and could help organizations ask them before the problem shows up."
— Craig McDonogh, Founder

That's what Ethicore is. Not a consultancy with a methodology to sell. A practitioner with enough scar tissue to recognize risk early and enough business fluency to help you do something about it.

Want to know if we're a good fit?

A 30-minute call is usually all it takes. No prep required - just a conversation.

Schedule a 30-Minute Call →