Now at the helm of Brand Rules, LLC, Charlie Hughes is one of the nation’s foremost experts on branding, a subject he approaches from the experienced no-nonsense perspective of a CEO. “We live in an over-served world driven by unrealistic expectations, and the toughest challenge in this environment is to set yourself apart...which is the purpose of branding. By building strong brands with real value, you build strong bottom lines.”

To spell out how to and how not to do that, Charlie and co-author William Jeanes published their first book, Branding Iron, in September 2006. Subtitled “Branding Lessons from the Meltdown of the U.S. Auto Industry,” Branding Iron has earned critical acclaim both in and outside of the auto industry. Advertising Age named it number two on their “Ten books you should have read” in 2006

Charlie has worked on 11 automotive brands, both domestic and import, and at the Doyle Dane Bernbach advertising agency. He headed marketing efforts for the U.S. operations of Fiat, Lancia, Porsche-Audi and Volkswagen, but Charlie is best known for his successes with Land Rover and Mazda.As the founding CEO of Land Rover in North America, Charlie built a fully operational organization and dealer body in 15 months. He took Land Rover sales from zero in 1986 to 22,000 in 1998. He successfully introduced Range Rover and then Land Rover to Americans, and in so doing created the luxury sport utility segment. Along the way Land Rover broke new ground in automotive retailing by creating Land Rover Centres—a truly branded retail experience—and founded Land Rover University, which graduated passionate retail associates to staff Land Rover Centres.More recently, he served as President and CEO of Mazda North American Operations.  During his employment with Mazda, Hughes redefined and established Mazda’s position in the U.S. and Canadian markets as “Mazda…always the soul of a sports car!” and introduced the popular “Zoom-Zoom” advertising campaign.Charlie holds a Master's of Business Administration in Marketing from Simon School of Business, University of Rochester, and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Lafayette College in Pennsylvania. He has served on the Board of Directors for Land Rover North America and on the Board of Trustees at Dillard University.

He was Chairman of the Mazda Foundation and served on the St. Francis Medical Center Foundation Board; UCI, Graduate School of Management Advisory Board; Simon School Executive Advisory Committee at the University of Rochester, and as Chairman of the Association of International Automobile Manufacturers. He recently has joined the Board of Advisors of Mooney Aircraft Company, Inc. and Nerium Biotechnology, Inc.