Episodes

  • With women's sports on the mind, Jim's guest this week on The CMO Podcast is Shelley Zalis, the Founder and CEO of The Female Quotient, or FQ, the ten-year-old company that curates experiences, media, and solutions that advance gender equality. The FQ is famous for its Equality Lounges at some of the most important global gatherings–like Davos, CES, SXSW, and the Cannes Creativity Festival.

    One of Shelley’s mantras is “to conquer imposter syndrome you must believe in yourself," and she has vividly exemplified that conviction throughout her career. Shelley began her career in consumer research, and eventually founded a company in 2000 called OTX, a pioneer in the then-emerging field of online research. Then in 2010, Shelley sold OTX to research giant Ipsos and left in 2015 to found The Female Quotient.

    Shelley is also the co-founder of #SeeHer, a movement led by the Association of National Advertisers to increase the accurate portrayal of women and girls in advertising and media. Shelley is a supreme connector, a tireless advocate, and a great storyteller.

    Follow Shelley and her travels: https://www.instagram.com/shelleyzalis/

    and learn more about the Female Quotient: https://www.thefemalequotient.com/

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  • Joining Jim this week on The CMO Podcast is Mauro Porcini, the SVP and Chief Design Officer of PepsiCo, the $91 billion company by revenue. Pepsi’s founding dates back to 1893 with the invention of Pepsi-Cola in a small town in North Carolina. In 1965, the Pepsi company combined with Frito-lay to become PepsiCo, and has become one of the most admired food and beverage companies in the world, with brands that range from Cheetos to Mountain Dew to Gatorade to SodaStream to Quaker. 

    Mauro is the first Chief Design Officer to appear on the podcast. And speaking of firsts–Mauro was the first ever Global Chief Design Officer at 3M (where he spent 10 years) and PepsiCo, where he has thrived for the past 12 years. Mauro was born and raised outside Milan, Italy, studied at the National College of Art and Design, and earned a Masters at the Politecnico di Milano. Mauro is an evangelist for human-centric design and has an unrivaled artistic capacity and energy level. Not to mention, he’s stylish—with GQ Italy naming him one of the best dressed people in Italy. Tune in for a conversation with one of the top design thought leaders in the world.

    Follow Mauro on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mauroporcini/

    And pick up a copy of his recent book "The Human Side of Innovation: The Power of People in Love with People": https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/714051/the-human-side-of-innovation-by-mauro-porcini/

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  • The guest this week on The CMO Podcast is Michelle Froah, the Global Chief Marketing & Innovation Officer at The Educational Testing Service, or ETS. ETS is the largest private educational assessment organization in the world, serving 50 million people a year in 200 countries. You probably know them better for their products, which includes the GRE admission tests for graduate and professional school, and the TOEFL tests which prepare students for university study and immigration. ETS was founded in 1947 with headquarters in Princeton, New Jersey.

    Michelle is a veteran brand builder. She began her career in the 1990's in Manufacturing with Procter & Gamble, and then switched over to Brand Management at P&G, where she worked in beauty care. She left P&G after almost 18 years to work for Kimberly Clark in Asia, then returned to the US to work in senior marketing roles at Samsung and MetLife. About one year ago Michelle moved to the nonprofit sector, with ETS, where she has joined the executive team to help bring about a significant brand relaunch. Jim welcomes her to discuss this new ETS refresh, his own time at the company in the 1980's and how she looks to bring her good energy to each new project.

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  • This week on The CMO Podcast, Jim wraps up Women's History Month with Natalie Sunderland, the Global Head of Marketing and Communications at the Bank of New York Mellon, or BNY Mellon. This is definitely the oldest company Jim has featured on the show; BNY Mellon was established in 1784 by Alexander Hamilton, and became the first company listed on the NYSE. BNY Mellon holds nearly $48 trillion in assets under custody and/or administration. In 2024 it was one of Fortune’s Most Admired Companies, scoring high in innovation and people management.

    Natalie is Canadian by birth, studied at Queens University in Ontario, and joined American Express shortly after college. She stayed at AmEx for fourteen years, before moving to Citi for two years. Then she made a big jump in her career–she moved to California and joined the startup world, working at two fintech startups and one young health care company. In 2021 she decided to join BNY Mellon. As the company celebrates its 240th anniversary, Natalie joins Jim to talk about she works to build curiosity and pride within her team and beyond.

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  • It's tax season! On this week's episode of The CMO Podcast, Jim is joined by none other than Jill Cress, Chief Marketing and Experience Officer at H&R Block–the Kansas City-based company that has been helping people with their taxes since 1955. H&R Block is one of the most ubiquitous storefronts in America with thousands of offices–almost as many locations as McDonalds!

    H&R Block has a big business in tax preparation–revenue is approaching $4 billion–but their ambition is changing to something larger, anchored in their purpose to provide help and inspire confidence in their clients and communities. Jim talks to Jill about about reframing a 70-year-old brand–its challenges, its opportunities–and what H&R Block is learning along the way.

    Jill was a guest on the show way back in January 2020–when she was transitioning from her role as CMO at National Geographic to VP of Marketing at PayPal. Now Jill returns to talk about her time at H&R Block, just in time for you to finalize your own taxes.

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  • Happy Women's History Month! The CMO Podcast continues to celebrate key women leaders with Jim's guest this week–Deena LaMarque Piquion, the Chief Growth & Disruption Officer at Xerox, the 118-year-old workplace products and services company. Of course, Xerox holds a special place in brand history; like Kleenex, Google, and Coke, Xerox is one of the few brands that became synonymous with its category.

    Today, Xerox is a $7 billion company, and more diversified than the company you likely remember. Its current slogan, “We make Work, Work” says it all. In January, Xerox announced a new operating model and organizational structure to accelerate its progress; Deena was elevated from Chief Marketing Officer to her current position as part of that reorganization. 

    Deena is a first generation American; she studied Political Science and Government at Vassar, and earned a Masters at Georgetown in Foreign Service. Through a chance meeting at Georgetown with a CEO, Deena started her business career in Miami with Tech Data, a giant IT distribution company. Deena then spent 19 years at Tech Data before joining Xerox in 2019. Tune in for a conversation with a self-titled leader: "Mother, Inspirational Leader and Business-minded Executive. Dedicated to raising kind and productive kids.”  

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  • To kick off Women's History Month, Jim's guest today on The CMO Podcast is Lara Abrash, the Chair of Deloitte US. In June 2023, Lara was promoted to the Chair role, where she runs the largest professional services firm in the US, with about 170,000 people in her organization.

    Lara has worked at Deloitte for about 18 years, beginning as an audit partner in 2005. She earned her Bachelors in Economics at SUNY Albany, and her MBA in Accounting from Baruch College. Jim welcomes Lara on the podcast to talk about how she has approached leading the largest professional services firm in the US. Then, the show takes an interesting turn. Lara is an unabashed believer in the power of sports in building future women leaders, and the enormous economic opportunity for brands in the still massively underdeveloped area of women’s sports.

    Tune in for a conversation with an athlete herself–Lara still plays competitive softball–and learn how she looks to develop the next generation of women leaders through sports.

    Check out the "The real MVPs of business": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5XqZ4PlQCg

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  • This week, The CMO Podcast celebrates Black History Month with a special episode centered on the incredibly fast start-up of an organization called BECA–the Black Executive CMO Alliance. BECA is the 3-year-old brainchild of founder & CEO Jerri DeVard, the former CMO of Verizon, ADT and Office Depot.

    BECA is the only alliance created and composed of Black CMOs and CXOs to address the persistent diversity problems in America’s C-Suites and boardrooms. It has gained momentum in the short three years since its founding; its membership represents a collective market cap of $800 billion.

    Jim is joined by three leaders whose lives have been impacted by BECA:

    -Gail Petersen: Chief Marketing Officer & Executive Vice President, Global Marketing & Communications at Ecolab, a global leader in water, hygiene and infection prevention solutions

    -DeLu Jackson: Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer for the home-security company ADT

    -Christina Marshall-Valdez: Director of Commercialization, Southeast Asia, SC Johnson–the large, privately held consumer products company. Christina is a BECA Future Leader who has recently graduated as part of the first cohort of The BECA Playbook.

    Learn more about BECA at https://blackexec.com/

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  • Just in time for the month of love, this week's guest on The CMO Podcast is Michelle Crossan-Matos, the Chief Marketing Officer for Ulta Beauty. Founded in 1990, Ulta Beauty is the largest beauty retailer in the US, with sales in the $11 billion range, and growing. It offers a wide range of beauty products and salon services: 25,000 products online and across their nearly 1400 stores, from 500 well established AND emerging brands.

    Ulta Beauty is not just big; the company is highly innovative in how they think about their store associates, their retail media, their loyalty program, and how they work with brand partners. 

    Michelle was born and raised in Glasgow, Scotland. She graduated from the University of Strathclyde Business School before joining P&G in Europe. After 16 years at P&G, Michelle held CMO roles at Vertu, the luxury tech brand, and Samsung US. Michelle joined Ulta about one year ago. She has two middle-school-aged children, and splits her time between Puerto Rico and the Chicago area, where Ulta Beauty is based. 

    Of special note: Jim had the previous CMO of Ulta Beauty, Shelley Haus, on the show in October 2020. Shelley was one of the brightest stars in the industry, and sadly passed away in the summer of 2022. So, it is with poignancy that Jim welcomes her successor.

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  • Tune in this week for The CMO Podcast's fifth annual Super Bowl Roundtable Discussion! Important marketers provide insight into how they created their Super Bowl ads and share their thoughts on the biggest marketing day of the year.

    Jim welcomes special co-host, Gary Vaynerchuk, Chairman of VaynerX & CEO at VaynerMedia. 

    Joining this year's conversation:

    Brett O'Brien (CMO of PepsiCo Foods North America)

    Kory Marchisotto (CMO of e.l.f. Beauty and President at Keys Soulcare)

    Russell Wager (VP Marketing for KIA America)

    Gabrielle Wesley (CMO of Mars Wrigley North America)

    Andrea Zaretsky (CMO of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management)

    Michelle Deignan (VP of Marketing & GM of OREO)

    Adam Kornblum (SVP & Global Head of Digital Marketing at CeraVe)

    David Corns (CMO of Open Door)

    Eric Edge (Managing Director, Marketing & Advertising for Alaska Air)

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  • This week's guest on The CMO Podcast is Vineet Mehra, the Chief Marketing Officer of Chime. The 12-year-old fintech company was founded by Chris Britt and Ryan King as an alternative to traditional banking. Interesting marketing trivia: many believe the official launch of the company was in April 2014, when Chime was featured on "Dr. Phil."

    Chime is a private company, with a mission to bring financial peace of mind to its customers. It has raised more than $2 billion in funding from a Who’s Who in venture capital. Revenue is estimated to be about $1 billion, with more than 20 million customers.

    Vineet was last on The CMO Podcast in May 2020, when he was the Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Customer Officer at Walgreens Boots Alliance. Vineet, like Jim, began his career at P&G. Following nine years at P&G, Vineet worked at General Mills, Novartis, Johnson & Johnson, and Ancestry. Last time Jim and Vineet spoke, he had dreams of starting a pizzeria–so tune in for an update on that, plus a whole lot more.

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  • Jim's guests on The CMO Podcast are entrepreneurs Mike Zelkind and Tisha Livingston, founders of 80 Acres Farms. Mike is the CEO of 80 Acre Farms and Tisha is the CEO of Infinite Acres, a subsidiary of 80 Acres and the tech platform that powers the company.

    Listeners are likely not familiar with this company, but should be. The nine-year old startup has raised more than $250 Million and revolutionized farming. 80 Acres is a pioneer in indoor, vertical farming. Imagine a farm that does not need sun, soil or favorable weather. It also does not use pesticides, and instead utilizes 100% renewable energy and 97% less water than a traditional farm, making it 300x more productive. 80 Acres Farms produce now appears in Kroger, Whole Foods, and other select retailers.

    Mike and Tisha met while working together at Pierre Foods. Both had backgrounds in supply chain management before becoming partners and founding 80 Acres in 2015. Tune in for a conversation with a new breed of farmers, who have a true sense of conviction to help make a better world.

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  • Before we get too far into 2024, let's look back at the five major business themes from the 50-plus CMO Podcasts recorded last year. To apply these lessons to our work this year, we have invited three previous CMO Podcast guests to join us for a fruitful discussion.

    First, Jim welcomes Julius Robinson, the Chief Sales & Marketing Officer for the US and Canada for Marriott International. Second, Samatha Maltin, Chief Marketing Officer for Sesame Workshop, the non-profit educational organization behind Sesame Street, one of the best-loved brands in the world. And the third guest is Jay Livingston, the Chief Marketing Officer at Shake Shack. 

    Tune in for an ambitious episode–to reveal the five themes from CMOs in 2023, and to invite our guests to share their insights and advice on each theme. 

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  • Jim's guest today on The CMO Podcast is Jessica Correa, the Chief Marketing Officer of Unleashed Brands, the most interesting company you have probably not heard of. It is a portfolio company of brands that focus on youth development, including Urban Air Adventure Parks, Little Gym, Snapology, and Premier Martial Arts. The business model of Unleashed Brands is similar to a franchise model–they partner with founders and help them scale with support in human resources, technology, finance, marketing, legal and insurance. Systemwide revenue is in the $800 million range.

    Jessica is an experienced marketer. After a BA from University of Tennessee in business and French, and an MBA from Emerson, Jessica spent nearly 13 years at Royal Caribbean. Jessica then took on CMO-like roles at Carpet One Floor & Home, Planet Fitness, and Urban Air Adventure Parks, before getting promoted to CMO of all Unleashed Brands. Tune in for a conversation with a CMO who thinks a lot about how kids learn, play and grow.

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  • We're still feeling that party energy of the holidays as Jim welcomes Taylor Berry, the VP of Brand Marketing at Tito’s Handmade Vodka, to The CMO Podcast. Austin-based Tito’s may be handmade, but it is no small brand. Tito’s is the number 1 best-selling vodka brand in the US, with revenue in the $2 billion range. Its story is a classic American Dream saga. Bert “Tito” Beveridge–yes Beveridge is his real last name–founded the brand in 1995 after failed ventures in the oil and drilling industry, and in mortgage lending. 

    Taylor has worked at Tito’s about 5 and a half years, with four years as the head of brand marketing. An LA native and graduate of USC, Taylor now makes Austin his home. Interestingly, Tito’s is Taylor’s first time on the client side; he spent the first several years of his career on the agency side, working with the creative powerhouses TBWA/Media Arts, Droga 5, and SS+K. So, pour yourself a Tito’s cocktail, and listen up as Taylor takes us behind the scenes of one of the great brand stories of our times. Plus, he announces the “With Tito’s” brand platform and the Tito's Spokescart.

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  • Ring in the new year with the CMO Podcast as Jim welcomes Jonathan Knight, the SVP, Head of Games for The New York Times. The Times Games include the famous New York Times Crossword Puzzle, The Mini Crossword, Wordle, Spelling Bee, Connections, and Tiles. Founded in 1851, The New York Times is one of the oldest and most respected brands in the world, with nearly 10 million subscribers.

    Jonathan knows a lot about building brands with high and lasting consumer engagement and loyalty. He has worked in the gaming industry for nearly 30 years, holding roles at Activision in the early days, then Electronic Arts as the senior leader on the Sims franchise. Jonathan then moved to Zynga and Warner Brothers Games before joining the New York Times Games in the fall of 2020.

    Tune in for a thoughtful conversation about how brands can learn from the high-growth gaming category, and what leaders at large could learn from popular and lasting game brands.

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  • Join us for one final episode to wrap up the year as Jim welcomes MJ DePalma, the Global Director of Cultural & Inclusive Business Impact at Microsoft. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates, Microsoft is now a $200 billion by revenue–and growing–company with 220,000 employees. The company has also made headlines more than usual this year with its investment in OpenAI.

    MJ is a UCLA graduate with a psychology degree, and has worked at Microsoft twice in her career–once for four years, and now going on 10 years in her current stint. She has held her role as Global Director for more than five years. MJ has a gift for inspiring and motivating people, and looks to the Microsoft Purpose Playbook as the best tool to drive herself and her team to be more welcoming and inclusive.

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  • Today's guest on The CMO Podcast is Shira Feuer, the Chief Marketing Officer of Trinny London, the seven-year-old, digital-first, global beauty brand founded by Trinny Woodall. Founder Trinny Woodall has been an influential personality on the fashion and beauty scene since the 90s, when she started a Daily Telegraph Ready-to-Wear column with Susannah Constantine. The column morphed into the BBC series What Not to Wear. Since its founding in 2017, Trinny London has succeeded within the beauty space, leaning on its number one purpose – to give everyone the tools they need to feel their best.

    Shira hails from Canada, where she attended McGill University, but had always felt a calling overseas. Shira began her career in banking, which allowed her to move to London...where she discovered quickly that a career in finance was not for her. From there, she dove into marketing, making her way to a seminal experience at Burberry, before joining the team at Trinny London in 2019. She recently celebrated five years as CMO of the company.

    With the holidays upon us, join Jim as he welcomes a CMO who can find inspiration from everywhere, and tease a few great gift options for your loved ones!

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  • Jim's guest today on The CMO Podcast is Tamara Mendelsohn, the Chief Marketing Officer for Eventbrite. The 17-year-old global self-service ticketing platform for live experiences allows anyone to create, share, find and attend events. The app showcases music festivals, marathons, conferences, community rallies, fundraisers, gaming competitions–and even air guitar contests. 12 years after its founding, Eventbrite went public. The company’s purpose is simple: to bring the world together through live experiences. The company certainly delivers that purpose, with five million events last year, nearly 300 million tickets, 800,000 creators using the platform, and a yearly revenue approaching $300 million.

    Tamara joined Evenbrite in 2009, when the company was only three years old, and she was appointed Chief Marketing Officer about 3 and a half years ago. Before Eventbrite, Tamara spent four years as a Senior Analyst at Forrester, where she specialized in ecommerce and multichannel retail. Tamara studied comparative literature and economics at Wellesley College, and earned her MBA from the Sloan School of Management at MIT. Tune in for a conversation with a CMO who loves connecting and community!

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  • Jim's guest this week on The CMO Podcast is Derek Yarbrough, the Chief Marketing Officer at the J.Crew Group, where he looks over the J.Crew and Madewell brands. J.Crew began in 1983–40 years ago–with its first catalog. Since then it has grown to a multi-billion dollar clothing and accessories business, with hundreds of specialty retail stores, about 150 outlet stores, and a thriving on-line business. With its sister brand Madewell launching in 2006.

    Derek has been at J.Crew for about 13 years, and most of those years on the Madewell brand, before being promoted to CMO of the J.Crew group in 2021. After graduating from Stanford with an Urban Studies degree, Derek worked briefly as a consultant before joining the startup WalMart.com as employee #33. From there Derek worked in direct-to-consumer marketing at several companies with memorable names including, Hips&Curves.com, Flirtcatalog.com, and Abbey Roads Programs.

    As the J.Crew celebrates their 40 year anniversary, Derek joins Jim to talk his entrepreneur career which led to the brand, and how inspired he is by the fans who have stayed true through all these years.

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