Cmo Moves

What do agency leaders need right now? According to Ross Martin, maybe “a sanity check and a lobotomy.” Funny, yes. Also not entirely wrong.In this special episode of Marketing Vanguard, host Jenny Rooney spotlights the launch of Adweek’s Agencies Vanguard program with three founding members: Jessica Henrichs, CEO of DonerColle Partners; Ross Martin, President of Known; and Chioma Aduba, President of Droga5. Together, they unpack why agency leadership has become one of the most complex jobs in business, why competitors need spaces for radical honesty, and why the future of agencies cannot be solved in isolation.Jessica Henrichs is the CEO of DonerColle Partners and one of the founding members of Adweek’s Agencies Vanguard program. In this episode, she brings a clear perspective on adaptive leadership, the value of peer support and why agency leaders need to build belief through change rather than pretend they have every answer.Ross Martin is the President of Known and a founding member of Agencies Vanguard. K

Some of the biggest opportunities for marketing leaders exist in industries where marketing has historically had the least influence. In this episode of Marketing Vanguard, host Jenny Rooney sits down with Danielle Wuschke Paige, Chief Marketing and Growth Officer at Nixon Peabody, to explore what it takes to modernize marketing in a complex, relationship-driven industry. Danielle shares how her B2B and agency background prepared her for legal marketing, why trust and content matter more than flashy creative, and how she is evolving the function through stronger business strategy, thought leadership, and AI adoption.Danielle Wuschke Paige is the Chief Marketing and Growth Officer at Nixon Peabody, an Am Law 100 firm with offices across the United States and internationally. She leads the firm’s marketing and business development organization, with responsibility spanning brand strategy, communications, client engagement, strategic pursuits, digital, design, industry marketing, and practice growth.Danielle beg

What’s it going to take to build relevance in a brutal attention economy? In this episode of Marketing Vanguard, host Jennifer Rooney sits down with Jennifer Storms, Chief Marketing Officer of NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, to break it down. Jennifer traces her path from Olympic dreams to sports marketing to PepsiCo to NBCUniversal, sharing how NBCUniversal thinks about brand salience across NBC, Peacock, Bravo and NBC Sports, why the Olympics needed to be rebuilt as a year-round franchise and how Legendary February turned three separate live events into one unified cultural moment.Jennifer Storms is Chief Marketing Officer of NBCUniversal Television and Streaming, where she leads brand strategy, integrated marketing, media and consumer engagement across NBC, Peacock, Bravo and NBC Sports. Her career spans the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee, Turner Broadcasting, PepsiCo and NBCUniversal, giving her a rare perspective across sports, media, entertainment and consumer brands. At NBCU

The best journeys have the most unexpected turns. That’s Sam Allen’s story, and he’s sharing it in this episode of Marketing Vanguard. Tune in as host Jenny Rooney welcomes Sam, CEO of Iterable, to explore how AI is reshaping marketing technology, the future of the CMO role, and why strategic focus beats market-wide expansion for high-growth companies navigating unprecedented transformation.Sam Allen is the Chief Executive Officer of Iterable, a leading customer engagement platform transforming how enterprises leverage AI-driven personalization at scale. With nearly three decades of experience in technology, including prominent roles at Salesforce, where he managed a $100 million marketing technology budget and served as COO of the global marketing organization, Sam brings deep expertise in enterprise operations, marketing technology infrastructure, and strategic growth. His perspective on balancing human expertise with AI capabilities makes him a valuable figure in the marketing space, especially for senior

Marketing Vanguard continues live from Cannes as Jenny Rooney hosts a special Adweek House conversation with Mainardo de Nardis, Global President and COO of Edelman and Rani Al Hajji, Chief Growth and Transformation Officer, Personal Care at Unilever.This conversation cuts straight into one of marketing’s biggest modern problems: everyone has infinite opportunities, infinite channels and infinite reasons to do more. But the best marketers are not winning by doing more. They are winning by making sharper bets and doing less for more. Mainardo de Nardis is Global President and Chief Operating Officer of Edelman, with deep experience across full-service marketing, PR, digital, media, startups, AdTech, MarTech and global agency leadership. His perspective centers on how brands earn relevance and trust in a world where attention cannot simply be bought.Rani Al Hajji is Chief Growth and Transformation Officer, Personal Care at Unilever. With more than 25 years in marketing and consumer goods, including roles a

Are marketers making a fatal mistake by treating AI as just a cost-cutting tool? The Marketing Vanguard Cannes series continues as host Jenny Rooney sits down with Jonathan Adashek, SVP, Marketing and Communications at IBM, to unpack how marketers should be treating AI, today. He breaks down how at IBM, it is becoming a way to rethink processes and drive measurable growth, their “client zero” approach, $4.5 billion in savings over three years and why the company now does half the number of events it did two years ago.Jonathan Adashek is SVP, Marketing and Communications at IBM, where he leads marketing, communications, and CSR. He joined IBM in January 2020 as Chief Communications Officer and took on the marketing portfolio in January 2022. In his role, Jonathan helps shape IBM’s global narrative as the company sharpens its focus around hybrid cloud, AI and open technology. His background in communications and politics gives him a distinct view of marketing: build a clear story, bring people on the journ

Marketing Vanguard continues live from Cannes. Host Jenny Rooney sits down with Mark Kirkham, Chief Marketing Officer at PepsiCo Beverages US, to break down why Cannes only works when CMOs show up with clear intention. Mark explains how AI has moved from tech hype to operational reality, why disruption cycles collapsed from five years to five months, and why honest peer debate is the only way marketing leaders stay ahead.Mark Kirkham is Chief Marketing Officer of PepsiCo Beverages US, where he leads brand, category, and marketing programs across Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Starry, Bubly, and Mug. A 15-year PepsiCo veteran, Mark has held global and regional marketing leadership roles including Chief Marketing Officer, International Beverages, VP of Global Sports, Juice and Energy, and Head of Marketing & Innovation for Western Europe. His work has included Pepsi’s UEFA Champions League partnership, the global Pepsi Taste Challenge, expansion of Gatorade and Mountain Dew across international markets, and award-win

The Marketing Vanguard Cannes series continues as host Jenny Rooney sits down with Lara Balazs, Chief Marketing Officer and EVP of Global Marketing at Adobe. In this episode, Lara breaks down why enterprise AI adoption is shifting toward tangible workflow wins. She highlights how heavyweights like the NFL, Disney and L’Oréal deploy Adobe Firefly to automate manual asset scaling while protecting proprietary IP. Learn why human empathy, brand trust and strategic judgment remain irreplaceable in the age of generative AI.Lara Balazs is Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President, Global Marketing at Adobe, where she leads global marketing and communications, drives profitable growth and helps build Adobe’s brand in the AI era. Before joining Adobe in 2024, Lara was Chief Marketing Officer and General Manager, Strategic Partner Group at Intuit, where she led marketing and communications across the company’s brands and also served as general manager of Intuit’s ProTax group. She has also held marketing lea

Marketing Vanguard continues its Cannes 2026 series as host Jenny Rooney sits down with Todd Kaplan, Chief Marketing Officer of North America at Kraft Heinz. In this conversation, Todd makes a sharp case for something the industry has almost talked itself out of - marketing is supposed to be fun. He shares why the best work often comes when teams are loose, curious and plugged into culture, not buried under PowerPoints and over-serious process.Todd Kaplan is Chief Marketing Officer, North America at The Kraft Heinz Company, where he leads marketing across a $25B food and beverage portfolio spanning more than 70 brands and 50 categories. His remit includes creative, strategy, innovation, media, digital, insights, sports and entertainment partnerships, portfolio marketing and Kraft Heinz’s in-house creative content studio, The Kitchen. Before Kraft Heinz, Todd served as Chief Marketing Officer of Pepsi, where he helped bring the brand back into the cultural zeitgeist through platforms like the Pepsi Super Bowl

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

Marketing Vanguard continues its Cannes 2026 series as host Jenny Rooney sits down with Doug Sweeny, CMO of ŌURA. In this conversation, Doug shares how ŌURA has evolved from a sleep-focused wearable into a broader health and readiness platform, helping people understand what is happening inside their bodies before it shows up in their day. He gets into how ŌURA’s mission-led positioning, hardware innovation, and partnership ecosystem are helping the brand define what the next phase of wearable health looks like.Doug Sweeny is the Chief Marketing Officer at ŌURA, a leading smart ring and wearable health technology company. With 15 years of agency experience and leadership roles across brands like Levi’s, Nest and One Medical, Doug has built a career around mission-driven companies that combine technology, usefulness and real-world impact. At ŌURA, Doug leads marketing for a brand that has moved beyond sleep tracking into a wider health platform spanning stress, resilience, cardiovascular health, metabolic heal

If you think the story behind AI is a productivity-led one, you’re wrong. Our series from Cannes 2026 continues as host Jenny Rooney sits down with Rafa Flores, Chief Product and Growth Officer at Treasure AI. In this one, Rafa cuts through the noise around AI adoption and AI-selling and gets into the real issue CMOs are facing: teams are not just unsure about AI; they are scared of what it could mean for their roles. He reveals how forcing AI adoption from the top can backfire, royally and why real AI success should be measured through revenue and conversion impact. Rafa Flores is the Chief Product and Growth Officer at Treasure AI, where he brings nearly two decades of experience across product development, engineering, growth strategy and partnerships. With an engineering background and a deeply practical view of how enterprise teams adopt technology, Rafa works at the intersection of AI, product-led growth and human-centered transformation. At Treasure AI, Rafa helps global brands rethink how AI can

Marketing Vanguard continues its Cannes 2026 series as host Jenny Rooney sits down with Jill Kramer, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Mastercard. In this conversation, Jill reveals the false binaries marketing keeps boxing itself into: AI vs. creativity, brand vs. performance, strategy vs. execution, “what’s in” vs. what’s "dead." Her point is clear: the strongest marketing does not live at the extremes. It lives in the gray area where accountability, emotion, creativity, and business outcomes all have to work together.Jill Kramer is the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Mastercard, bringing deep experience across brand strategy, creative leadership and enterprise marketing transformation. Before joining Mastercard, she held senior leadership roles at Accenture, where she progressed from Head of Advertising, then brand, and finally, to Chief Marketing and Communications Officer. Earlier, she also built her foundation on the agency side at BBDO. At Mastercard, Jill brings a perspective

The “Marketing Vanguard at Cannes” series continues as host Jenny Rooney sits down with Julia Goldin, Chief Marketing and Product Officer at LEGO. In this conversation, Julia shares how LEGO has grown from a children’s toy company into a global experience brand loved by kids, teens and adults, without losing the creative system that made it iconic in the first place. She offers insights into the discipline behind that growth: knowing what to say no to, protecting authenticity, taking calculated risks and treating mistakes as part of the work. Julia Goldin is the Chief Marketing and Product Officer at LEGO, where she has spent 11 years helping shape the brand into a multi-generational creative experience. Under her leadership, LEGO has grown across children, teens and adults, while expanding its connection with girls and women builders. From LEGO SmartPlay to high-profile partnerships with Formula 1 and World Cup campaigns, she has helped LEGO push into new spaces while staying grounded in authenticity, t

This episode of Marketing Vanguard comes straight from Cannes 2026 as host Jenny Rooney sits down with Nathan Rosenberg, Chief Marketing and Brand Experiences Officer at Virgin Voyages. They discuss why the best and most real marketing happens when a customer is telling their friends the story of what they experienced, how Virgin Voyages turns crew culture into customer loyalty, and why repeat rate should sit much closer to the center of marketing strategy.Nathan Rosenberg is the Chief Marketing and Brand Experiences Officer at Virgin Voyages, where he has spent 14 years building one of the most distinctive experience-led brands in travel. With 26 years across the Virgin organization, Nathan brings a deeply human-centered approach to marketing, culture, and brand strategy. At Virgin Voyages, his work spans far beyond campaigns. He champions the full experience of the brand, from how guests feel when they step onto a ship to how crew members are supported to deliver memorable service. His philosophy is simple

Consumer electronics marketing has a bad habit: it talks too much about the product and not enough about the person buying it. In this episode of Marketing Vanguard, Sarah Larsen, CMO at Hisense USA, joins Jenny Rooney to unpack why she’s throwing tech-speak out the window and rebuilding marketing around sell-out, consumer behavior, and real-life relevance. As Hisense’s first overarching CMO, Sarah shares how she’s reinforcing one sharp mandate: marketing needs to move product.Sarah Larsen is the Chief Marketing Officer at Hisense USA, where she is the first leader to hold the company’s newly created overarching CMO role. With 30 years of experience across PR, earned media, social, digital, paid media, sponsorships, and consumer electronics, Sarah brings a nontraditional path to modern marketing leadership. Before joining Hisense, Sarah built deep category expertise through roles connected to brands like LG, Samsung, and Motorola. At Hisense, she now leads a broad remit spanning product marketing, product man

This episode of Marketing Vanguard comes straight from Cannes 2026. Join us as host Jenny Rooney catches up with Dara Treseder, Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer at Autodesk. Together, they explore why this AI era is also the “golden era” for creatives, why human ingenuity still runs the game while AI raises the floor and why trust is the one thing that isn’t up for debate. She raises a valid point: knowing what not to do with AI is just as important as knowing what to do with it. Dara Treseder is Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer at Autodesk, renowned for her expertise in B2B brand storytelling and AI-integrated marketing strategy. With a background in transforming major enterprise organizations including GE and Carbon, she has pioneered approaches that balance human creativity with technological innovation. Her leadership in establishing Autodesk as the official design and make platform for the LA 2028 Olympics and her commitment to a $350 million initiative for AI workforce credentialing demonstr

While everyone’s chasing data and AI-driven targeted marketing, Natasha Madan’s keeping humanity at the centre of it all. In this episode of Marketing Vanguard, the Head of Marketing at Intuit Credit Karma shares why blending art and science is essential to modern marketing. She dives into the how of building human connections that trump personalization algorithms and repositioning legacy brands for new generations while taking us behind the scenes of her groundbreaking work launching Prime Day at Amazon. Natasha Madan is Head of Marketing at Intuit Credit Karma, known for her expertise in brand strategy, customer-centric marketing and combining art with data science. With a background spanning CPG at Nestlé, where she honed customer insights across iconic candy brands, to Amazon, where she helped build Prime into a cultural phenomenon driving 30% of member growth, Natasha brings a rare blend of brand-building and performance marketing excellence. Her work bridging mission-driven fintech with sophisticat

Marketing leaders are often told to be more strategic, but how does that really play out in the day-to-day? In this episode of Marketing Vanguard, Michael Lacorazza, Executive Vice President and CMO of U.S. Bank, unpacks the biggest leadership lessons behind his career across Lexus, Toyota, and Wells Fargo, to name a few. He shares why customer-centricity is still the foundation of great marketing, how CMOs can build stronger alignment with business partners, and why understanding the P&L is no longer optional for marketing leaders who want a bigger seat at the table.Michael Lacorazza is the Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at U.S. Bank, one of the nation’s largest banks. With more than two decades of experience across automotive, hospitality, financial services, agency leadership and private equity-backed business transformation, Michael brings a deeply commercial view of brand, customer experience and enterprise growth. At U.S. Bank, Michael leads marketing, customer experience, and

CMOs are being dubbed the new "unicorns," but is the journey as magical as it sounds? In this episode of Marketing Vanguard, host Jenny Rooney sits down with Tim Rosa, CEO of Somnee, to explore the rare and valuable career trajectory from Chief Marketing Officer to Chief Executive Officer, and why brand-driven leaders are uniquely positioned to scale transformative companies in the health and wellness space. He shares valuable insights from Somnee’s journey of disrupting a $585B industry. Tim Rosa is the CEO of Somnee, a clinical-grade sleep technology and neuroscience company, bringing expertise in brand building, go-to-market strategy, and scaling consumer health companies. With a distinguished background spanning agency work, sports marketing, and seven years as CMO at Fitbit, Tim has developed a unique playbook for translating complex science into compelling consumer narratives. His work at Fitbit and now at Somnee has demonstrated that CMOs with operational acumen and cross-functional experience are