Myrlene Laroche

Myrlene Laroche is a strategist, educator, and founder and principal strategist of Merconsults, a strategy and decision intelligence consultancy. She advises organizations and business leaders on how to solve complex problems, strengthen strategic decision-making, and translate data, customer insights, and artificial intelligence into meaningful business outcomes.

Before focusing on Merconsults, Myrlene served as a Group Director of Strategy at Accenture Song, where she led strategic initiatives for major organizations across customer engagement, CRM, brand, marketing, and AI-enabled transformation. Her experience spans multiple industries and includes developing strategies for Fortune 500 companies through Accenture Song, Omnicom Group, and Publicis Groupe.

At Columbia University, Myrlene holds several teaching and academic roles across the School of Professional Studies. She is an adjunct professor in the Strategic Communication program, where she teaches Communications Research & Insights. The course equips graduate students to ask better questions, understand audience motivations, conduct quantitative and qualitative research, and translate findings into evidence-based communication strategies.

She also serves as a course associate for Leading Large Complex Projects in Columbia’s Information and Knowledge Strategy program. In this role, she supports students as they explore project leadership, risk management, knowledge utilization, and the planning and execution of complex global initiatives. In addition, Myrlene is a research associate for the Strategic Communication Capstone, advising student teams on quantitative survey design, qualitative focus groups, audience research, and the development of research-driven recommendations.

Myrlene is also an adjunct professor at Queens College, where she teaches courses in advertising and marketing through the Media Studies department and the Business and Liberal Arts Honors Program. Across her academic work, she helps students connect foundational principles with the evolving realities of business, technology, data, and artificial intelligence.

Her current work focuses on decision intelligence: the discipline of improving how organizations frame problems, evaluate information, challenge assumptions, and make consequential decisions. Her writing on AI adoption and strategic decision-making has appeared in FoundersMag and ValiantCEO. She also publishes original insights on strategy, decision-making, and artificial intelligence through the Merconsults Substack.

Myrlene serves as a judge for the Effie Awards and is the founder of Beyond the Title, a mentorship program designed to help women navigate their careers with greater clarity, confidence, and intention. Through mentorship, practical guidance, and candid conversations, the program helps participants strengthen their decision-making, build influence, prevent burnout, and develop identities that are not solely defined by their professional titles. This work reflects Myrlene’s broader commitment to developing emerging leaders who exercise sound judgment and lead beyond the boundaries of their formal roles.

She holds a Master of Science in Information and Knowledge Strategy from Columbia University, a certificate in entrepreneurship from Cornell University, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from St. John’s University.