Building a Digital Marketing Machine: Richard Huang Marks 10 Years at IEC

When Richard Huang joined International Education Corporation (IEC) in 2015, the company’s marketing team could fit around a small conference table. Outsourced agencies handled most of the heavy lifting back then. Richard, brought in as Director of Search Engine Marketing, was tasked with something no one at IEC had attempted before: building a digital marketing channel in-house from the ground up.

“It was kind of like a startup in a certain way,” Richard said. “There wasn’t a blueprint. I was making it up as I went along.”

That entrepreneurial spirit has carried him through the past decade, during which he rose to Senior Director of Marketing and became a driving force behind IEC’s transformation into a digitally sophisticated education provider.

From IT Troubleshooter to Marketing Leader

Richard’s path into marketing wasn’t a straight line. After earning his degree in political science at UC Irvine, he took a job in IT support. A leader at his company saw his knack for technology and asked him to help “navigate digital” at a time when online advertising was still uncharted territory. That chance pivot sparked a two-decade career in digital marketing, with roles spanning real estate, education, and performance-based lead generation.

By the time he arrived at IEC, Richard had honed a versatile skill set across multiple industries. He quickly put it to work, overseeing search engine optimization (SEO), paid search advertising, website development, branding initiatives, and even emerging tools like chatbots. Today, he and his team manage the company’s suite of websites, build and optimize content, and steward multi-million-dollar advertising campaigns.

“Watching that kind of growth and knowing I helped build it—that’s been really rewarding,” he said.

Ownership, Growth, and Change

For Richard, the key to staying at IEC for 10 years is simple: ownership and the people.

“From the beginning, leadership encouraged me to be the ‘CEO of my position’,” he said. “I wasn’t taking over someone else’s playbook. I had the freedom to build channels, strategies, and a team from scratch. That sense of responsibility and pride in what we’ve created has kept me engaged.”

“One of the best parts about being at IEC is working with a world-class marketing team that also happens to be made up of genuinely good people. We’ve built a fun, creative environment where collaboration comes naturally, and I think the joy we take in our work really shines through in the results,” he said. “It makes the challenges exciting and the successes even more rewarding.”

“Rich has been instrumental in shaping IEC’s marketing strategy over the past decade. His vision, technical expertise, and ability to adapt in a constantly changing digital world have not only elevated our brands but also driven real growth for the company,” said Esther Duong, Vice President of Marketing.

“Beyond the results, Rich leads with integrity and creativity, inspiring his team and colleagues every day. We are fortunate to have him, and this milestone is a testament to his talent and dedication.”

Richard’s team of direct reports include two full-time staff, contractors, and agency partners. Their impact is vast. They’ve not only scaled IEC’s marketing presence but have also kept pace with the quickly evolving online marketing environment.

Nowhere is that more evident than with artificial intelligence (AI).

“AI is both an opportunity and a threat,” Richard said. “It can streamline what we do, make us more efficient, and help us scale. But when it comes to search—especially with Google—it’s a moving target. The pace of change in the last 18 months has been unlike anything I’ve seen.”

Planning a future strategy, Richard notes, requires anticipating an AI-driven search environment that didn’t even exist in IEC’s playbook as recently as last year. “That’s the nature of the beast in digital marketing,” he said. “We are constantly adapting to meet an ever-changing landscape.”

The Marketing Team celebrated Richard's 10th anniversary at IEC.

Life Beyond IEC

While his professional life has grown alongside IEC, so has his personal one. Richard married in 2019, became a father in 2020, and now juggles the challenges of leadership with raising a young son who turns six this year.

Outside the office, he finds joy in cooking, experimenting with recipes and fine-tuning signature dishes. He has also recently started picking up golf again. He’s also a lifelong Star Wars fan, as evidenced by the many action figures you’ll see in his office, though these days he spends less time collecting memorabilia and more time with his family.

Having grown up in Orange County and studied at UC Irvine, Richard is rooted in the community. “A lot of people who go to UCI end up staying,” he said. “There’s opportunity, a great lifestyle, and it’s been a good place to grow a career and raise a family.”

Looking Ahead

As he celebrates his 10-year anniversary, Richard sees his journey at IEC as more than a career milestone. It’s been a decade of building marketing channels, but also a career defined by adaptability, ownership, and innovation.

“I take pride in helping IEC grow,” he said. “Every website we’ve launched, every campaign we’ve scaled, every challenge we’ve tackled—it feels like a part of me. That’s why 10 years have gone by so quickly.”