CMO Chats

Katie Marcham, VP of Marketing at ThoughtSpot, leads EMEA and APJ marketing for a global AI analytics company focused on making data accessible to every business user. With a non-linear career journey and deep experience across hardware and software, she operates at the intersection of pipeline generation, enterprise brand building, and product-led growth. Katie believes modern B2B marketing is ab...

Putney Cloos, Chief Marketing Officer at Bombora, leads marketing for a global B2B data company best known for pioneering intent data. With a career spanning brand management, consulting, financial services, and SaaS, she operates at the intersection of data, revenue, and go-to-market strategy. Putney believes modern marketing leadership is about harnessing high-quality data to power AI-driven gro...

Laura Holton, Head of Field Marketing at The Adaptavist Group, leads a globally distributed team focused on executive engagement, community, events, and pipeline acceleration. With experience across both sales and marketing in the technology and Atlassian ecosystems, she operates at the intersection of strategy, sales alignment, and experience-led growth. Laura believes modern marketing leadership...

Gabriel Madureira, Chief Marketing Officer at Azion, leads marketing for a platform that enables organisations to build, scale, and secure modern applications. With an engineering background and deep experience in developer-focused technology companies, he operates at the intersection of product, marketing, and go-to-market. Gabriel believes modern marketing leadership is about trust, technical cr...

Laurence Lepelley, Marketing Director at Nutanix for France and Northwest Africa, leads regional marketing strategy across diverse and fast-evolving markets within the IT industry. With more than a decade of experience, she focuses on building pipeline through close partnership with sales, connecting with senior decision-makers, and using data to deliver relevant, timely engagement. Laurence belie...

Karol Holdynski, Marketing and Inside Sales Director for international markets at Webfleet, leads global marketing strategy across regions outside Europe for one of the world’s leading fleet management solutions. With a strong focus on data-informed decision-making, end-to-end thinking, and continuous improvement, he champions marketing that drives real business impact rather than just activity. K...

Vanessa Gentile, Head of Marketing at Salesforce Switzerland, leads end-to-end marketing strategy at the intersection of brand, demand, and growth. With a strong emphasis on value-driven, customer-centred storytelling, she focuses on cutting through complexity to deliver relevance, clarity, and meaningful market impact beyond pipeline and revenue. Vanessa defines success as marketing that earns a...

Majken Nielsen, Senior Marketing Director for Northern Europe at Salesforce, leads modern marketing with a blend of strategic clarity, technological fluency, and empowered adaptability. Responsible for shaping and executing marketing strategy across eight countries and ten languages, she brings a regional perspective grounded in digital maturity and commercial accountability, with pipeline and pro...

Valeria Balaro, CMO at the technology consultancy Star, approaches modern marketing with a balance of strategic discipline, creativity, and deep curiosity. With an 18-year B2B career spanning financial services, market research, and technology, she leads marketing and new business with a sharp focus on growth, ROI, and relevance—particularly as Star expands from its startup roots to serving comple...

Vishal Alagh, Senior Director of Marketing at Datadog, approaches modern marketing as a discipline grounded in focus, clarity, and commercial accountability. Shaped by formative experience at Adobe and leadership roles across global B2B SaaS, he brings a pragmatic view of marketing that centres on one non-negotiable: pipeline as the ultimate measure of impact. He sees today’s marketer as an orches...

Evelyn Swaim, VP of Global Growth Marketing at Seismic, brings a clear view of what modern marketing must deliver: accountable growth, customer-centred engagement, and a demand engine powered by data and AI. She speaks to the importance of balancing intelligent automation with strategic focus, ensuring teams move fast without losing sight of substance. Evelyn also highlights how today’s marketing...

Edyta Malesza-Malatrat, CMO of Symfonia, sees the modern marketer as a balanced strategist who unites commercial discipline with creative ambition. Shaped by early training at Procter & Gamble and global leadership roles at Cisco and SAP, she brings a holistic view of marketing that goes far beyond communications. For Edyta, true value lies in proving marketing’s impact beyond narrow lead metr...

Mark Appel, CMO of Sendcloud, views today’s marketing leader as the champion of customer-centricity, ensuring every decision begins with genuine outside-in thinking rather than product-first assumptions. With 35 years of experience across sales and marketing, he defines success by building a predictable pipeline while deepening value within the existing customer base. For Mark, the greatest challe...

Sameer Shaik, Director of Marketing at Qentelli, views the modern marketer as an Integrator who connects brand, revenue, creativity, and data. He defines success by equipping the sales team with "ammunition" to win the first discussion. Shaik believes the future is human plus AI , where storytelling and empathy balance technology to drive real-time business outcomes. 🎧 Watch the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ f...

Gaurav Tandon, Regional Marketing Head and Global Events Lead at Netcore Cloud, shares his vision of the modern marketer as an integrator who connects product with market, technology with creativity, and brand with revenue. He believes success lies in building predictable, revenue-focused marketing engines and mastering the art of earning attention—the hardest currency today. While AI powers effic...

Sameer Thakkar, VP of Marketing at SAS, defines the modern marketing leader's role as a "Force Multiplier" for the entire business. He emphasizes that all three core marketing pillars—Brand, Demand, and Engagement—are being transformed by AI. Marketers must embrace the convergence of B2B and B2C because the buyer is a "human being" influenced by consumer habits. While battl...

Dorota Martinez, Head of Marketing for ANZ at Tech Data APAC, explores how measurability, self-awareness, and breaking down silos are redefining modern B2B marketing. She emphasizes that marketing’s true purpose is growth, and why the leader must function as a "Connector" to achieve it. For Dorota, success means setting clear KPIs and overcoming the B2B attribution challenge in long sale...

Alexander de Leon, Group Vice President of Marketing at PropertyGuru Group, explores how creativity, courage, and culture are redefining modern marketing. Drawing from his experience at Google, Meta, and HBO, he shares why marketing’s true purpose is growth—and why it takes empowered, hands-on teams to achieve it. For Alexander, success means cutting through bureaucracy, building brands people lov...

Ismael Garcia, Chief Marketing Officer at Civitatis, shares how AI, data, and simplicity are reshaping the modern marketing landscape. He discusses why adaptability matters more than ever as AI transforms creativity, content, and search—and how marketers must balance experimentation with human connection. Drawing on his global experience across tech giants like Microsoft and Google, Ismael emphasi...

Suzana Ristevski, Chief Marketing Officer for Australia and New Zealand at Google, discusses how AI, collaboration, and customer advocacy are shaping the next era of marketing. She shares why growth remains the CMO’s ultimate mandate, how AI enables deeper customer understanding and personalisation, and why breaking silos is key to success. Suzana also reflects on marketing’s evolving role as a co...

Phesephony Naidoo, Marketing Director for ANZ at Concentrix, highlights brand, demand, and customer experience as marketing’s core pillars. She points to data as today’s biggest opportunity, urges clarity in value propositions, including knowing what not to do, and envisions a future where marketing earns its seat at the C-suite table. Her advice: stay curious and embrace diverse paths in the age...

Vivienne Horsfall, Director of Field Marketing, APJ at Transmit Security, shares why authenticity, empathy, and orchestration are at the heart of modern marketing leadership. She reflects on breaking down silos by blending fraud prevention with customer identity, and how executive roundtables create real pipeline impact when sales and marketing align. Vivienne also highlights the growing challenge...

Arunima Mehta, Head of Global Brand Marketing at FSS, shares why success today is defined by action, not campaigns. She reflects on fragmented buyer journeys, the need for always-on engagement, and the impact of flagship events like Simply Payments in driving thought leadership and networking. Arunima also highlights AI as the biggest opportunity for CMOs, accelerating execution while stressing th...

Sue-Ann Prentice, CMO of Fluke Corporation, shares why curiosity and continuous learning are essential traits for today’s marketer. She reflects on positioning marketing as the organisation’s growth engine, aligning with sales where “the magic happens,” and the role of flagship events like Accelerate in strengthening customer engagement. Sue Ann also discusses AI as both an opportunity and a chall...

Sam Shrager, CMO of BCB Group, shares why the modern marketer must act as an Integrator , aligning brand, sales, product, and compliance. She reflects on building stronger sales-marketing relationships, evolving event strategies to deliver measurable ROI, and why CRM hygiene underpins success. Sam also discusses AI as a creative “starter for ten” and the continued importance of networking as marke...