Cmo Moves

The Cannes 2026 series of Marketing Vanguard continues as host Jenny Rooney sits down with Uzma Rawn Dowler, CMO & SVP, Global Corporate Partnerships at Major League Baseball. In this conversation, Uzma shares why fandom is not a behavior. It is identity. And why, for MLB, that changes the entire marketing equation. She gets into how baseball’s eight-month season creates a daily storytelling engine, why partner integration needs to feel organic to the fan experience and how MLB thinks about brand building through commercialization, culture and community. Uzma Rawn Dowler is the CMO & SVP, Global Corporate Partnerships at Major League Baseball, where she leads marketing for one of the world’s most iconic sports leagues. After more than a decade working across sponsorships and partnerships at MLB, Uzma stepped into the CMO role with a rare dual perspective: how to protect and build the MLB brand while also helping partners solve real business problems through baseball. Her work sits at the intersec