Earl joined Marketing Science Institute as Chief Marketing Officer in 2004, responsible for the recruitment and retention of corporate members and the development of funding sources for research programs. He served as principal spokesperson for MSI to its business constituencies and the business community in general. Since 2018, he has been Chief Knowledge Officer, ensuring that MSI corporate members and the wider marketing community have access to the latest marketing science through Working Papers, Webinars and related content.

Prior to joining MSI, Earl was at Research International (now Kantar) where he was Senior Vice President and US Leader of the Branding and Communications Practice. He has a Ph.D. in sociology from Harvard University, and a B.A. in psychology and sociology from Rice University.

Earl is the author of numerous articles on global branding and brand communities, and co-authored a paper, “Managing Global Brands to Meet Consumer Expectations” which won top prizes at the ESOMAR global conference in 2003 and was described by the jury as “highly actionable and useful to global marketers; an outstanding contribution to the topic of globalization.” His book, The Masterbrand Mandate, written with Lynn B. Upshaw (Wiley 2000), was awarded the Atticus “Grand Prix” award by WPP Group in 2000. He is the co-author (with Douglas B. Holt and John A. Quelch) of “How Global Brands Compete,” in the September 2004 issue of Harvard Business Review.