November 17, 2025 – Affiliate Marketing Dustin Howes and Harnessing Power Melissa Fors Shackelford

Dustin Howes – Affiliate Management Expert, Founder of Coalition Marketing and Performance Marketing Manager

Affiliate programs are built to be a slow burn… if you’re doing everything right… you can safely expect to have a 20% boost in revenue coming from this channel.

Dustin Howes is a seasoned affiliate marketing expert with more than 15 years of experience helping companies build successful performance partnerships. He has held key roles across the industry, including positions in fraud prevention at Commission Junction, compliance at Impact Radius, business development at The Search Monitor, and performance marketing management at WP Engine. As the founder of Coalition Marketing, Dustin focuses on affiliate manager training and partner recruitment, supported by his custom tool Affistash. His approach is shaped by a unique background that includes military life during his childhood and competing as a professional poker player, giving him a strategic and disciplined perspective on business. Dustin lives in Placerville, California with his wife and two children and enjoys hiking, pickleball, WordPress tinkering, and cheering for the San Francisco Giants. Melissa Fors Shackelford – Author of Harnessing Purpose: A Marketer’s Guide to Inspiring Connection 

If you really think it through when you’re at the early stages with your company, you really think about what are we doing, what do we stand for, and how are we going to do more than sell products and services, then you know what your North Star is.

Melissa Fors Shackelford is a distinguished marketing strategist, advisor and author whose mission is to help purpose-driven leaders and organizations clarify their voice, connect meaningfully with their audiences and grow with integrity. With more than 20 years of experience working at the intersection of healthcare, brand strategy and mission-focused marketing, she has led national campaigns, guided high-growth startups and supported Fortune 100 brands in building connection and trust in complex systems. She is the author of the Amazon #1 bestselling book Harnessing Purpose: A Marketer’s Guide to Inspiring Connection, in which she draws on over 25 years of executive marketing experience to show how aligning personal and organizational purpose can transform brands, teams and outcomes. Melissa holds an MBA in Marketing from the University of St. Thomas and a BA from the University of Minnesota. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband, their spirited Shih Tzu and three step-daughters, and she continues to study Japanese, a passion born from her time living abroad.