Rich Shields is the chief marketing officer at the United Way Northwest Indiana. Shields offers a “big picture” vision of marketing and business initiatives. He joined the United Way in March 2023. Prior to that, he built the marketing department at Valparaiso-based Chester Inc. from the ground up. Early in his career, he was the director of government marketing at the former Crown ESA, an electrical engineering firm. He is HubSpot Digital Marketing Certified, and studied business administration at Columbia College Chicago.