The CMO Whisperer

My guest this week is Brian Irving, the Chief Marketing Officer of Lyft.  Brian has over two decades of experience building and marketing iconic global brands, including Meta, Eventbrite, Apple, Google, Levi's, and Airbnb.  As CMO at Lyft, Brian leads all marketing, creative, and communications efforts for the brand. This includes developing strategy and executing product and brand marketing, over...

My guest this week is Christy Haskins, the VP and CMO of La-Z-Boy, leading the brand reinvigoration efforts of the nearly 100-year-old—yes, 100!—beloved brand across consumer marketing, digital commerce, consumer insights, and creative. Previously, Christy worked across brands and portfolios at Whirlpool Corporation and Nestlé Purina PetCare. Her experience spans brand management, shopper and reta...

My guest today is Steve Rotter, Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at DeepL, a Language AI platform that enables over 100,000 businesses to transform communications, reach new markets, and improve productivity. Steve is an entrepreneur, evangelist, and author, bringing over two decades of tech marketing leadership experience to his role as CMO. A two-time founder, he has had three successful exits and...

My guest today is Melton Littlepage, CMO of 1Password—trusted by more than 100,000 businesses to protect their data. 1Password gives you complete control over passwords and other sensitive business information.  Melton has a 20-plus-year track record of innovation, category creation, and growth acceleration at technology companies. Prior to joining 1Password, he was the CMO of Outreach—the leading...

In this special two-for-one episode of The CMO Whisperer Podcast, host Steve Olenski welcomes two distinguished guests – John Kearon, Founder, System1 Group, and Joel Weinberger, Professor of Psychology, Derner School of Psychology. Together, they dive deep into the fascinating intersection of advertising, emotions, and decision-making, exploring how feelings drive actions and the role of familiar...

  My guest today is Steven Fuld , the former Senior Vice President, Managing Director of Corporate Marketing at Sony Corporation of America . Steven led U.S. marketing efforts in collaboration with Sony's Tokyo headquarters and operating companies such as PlayStation, Sony Pictures, and Sony Electronics. His leadership spanned brand strategy and communications, enterprise marketing, technology, an...

  My guest today is Tim McDermott. Tim is the President of the Philadelphia Union and Union Sports and Entertainment, overseeing all club business operations. Since joining the Union in 2016, his efforts have focused on increasing brand strength, expanding the fan base, and enhancing revenue opportunities, while maintaining a commitment to growing soccer and positively impacting the community. Und...

  My guest this week is Jenn Ogden-Reese, Chief Marketing Officer at On Location, a leading premium experiences company providing access to ticket packages with enhanced hospitality and premier end-to-end travel for bucket-list events. She has more than 25 years of experience building businesses and leading multi-platform marketing and strategy. Before joining On Location, she served as CMO at sev...

  My guest today is Suzanne Darmory , the former Chief Marketing Officer at Refundo , the only minority-owned fintech platform in the tax industry, committed to fostering inclusivity in the communities they serve. In addition to founding her own boutique agency, The AGNCY That Sold Agnesi , she has spent her career on both the client side—working with companies like IBM, L'Oréal, and Jackson Hewit...

My guest this week is Dara Treseder, the Chief Marketing Officer at Autodesk, a leading technology and software company that is transforming how the world is designed and made. She oversees global marketing, brand, communications, demand generation, e-commerce, and education business teams. As a veteran CMO, Dara has held key leadership roles, including Global Head of Marketing, Communications, an...

  My guest this week is Thomas Prather, the Chief Marketing Officer at Smashburger. Thomas brings over 30 years of marketing expertise, beginning in automotive advertising, where he managed Cadillac's resurgence in 1995. He transitioned to the food and beverage industry in 2003, joining Starbucks and eventually becoming VP of U.S. Retail Marketing. At Starbucks, he drove growth across more than 17...

My guest this week is Andy Rebhun. Andy joined Cava as Chief Experience Officer in 2023. From 2019 to 2023, he held several senior leadership positions at El Pollo Loco, including Chief Marketing Officer and Vice President of Digital. Prior to that, he served in various marketing and digital leadership roles at McDonald's Corporation in Boston, Chicago, and Atlanta. Andy began his career in the Ac...

 My guest today is David Edelman. David's the former CMO of Aetna, and he's currently a senior lecturer in marketing at Harvard Business School. I've known David well over 10 years and we had an absolutely fascinating conversation focussing initially on AI and and the customer experience. One of David's recent HBR articles was " Customer Experience in the Age of AI " which are two topics that are...

 My guest today is Jeanniey Walden . Jeanniey is the senior vice president and CMO of Rite Aid and Thrifty Ice Cream. Her decades of experience span Fortune 500 companies and startups across a whole host of industries, including retail, health and wellness, consulting, ad agencies, fintech. Everything. If that weren't enough, she's also the host of her own network TV show called Liftoff. 

 My guest this week is a good friend who also happens to be one of the most influential marketers in the world, Raja Rajamannar, the CMO of Mastercard. Over his 10 years with the brand, he has transformed Mastercard into one of the top 10 most valuable brands in the world. At the helm of the iconic priceless platform, he and his team are on the cutting edge of experiential multi sensory marketing...

 My guest this week is Dr. Marcus Collins, an award winning marketer, best selling author and former chief strategy officer at Wieden+Kennedy, and currently a marketing professor at the university of Michigan. Part marketing professor, part chief strategy officer, Dr. Marcus prescribes lots of advice for brand health. 

 My guest this week has been everywhere, man—or seemingly everywhere—from Converse to Starbucks to Procter & Gamble, to Coca-Cola, to his current role as Chief Brand Officer at Topgolf. I met Jeff Cottrill many moons ago during my days at Forbes . What an amazing conversation we had! We touched on so many different topics. You're really going to enjoy it. 

My guest this week is Edithann Ramey, the Chief Marketing Officer at Six Flags Entertainment, where she oversees marketing strategy, consumer experience, CRM, group sales, and revenue management for North America's largest regional theme and water park company. Before joining Six Flags, Edith Ann was CMO at On the Border, a Mexican casual dining chain where she developed the brand's global marketi...

My guest today is Adam Hanft, one of the few strategic and creative brands who has achieved success with Fortune 500 companies and startups. He sits on the boards of Scotts Miracle-Gro and 1-800 Flowers, and works with dozens of entrepreneurial founders to tell their essential stories across all channels. From a jolly and nimbleness to stripping away layers of bureaucracy to putting action and acc...

My guest this week is Amina Pasha, CMO of Thrive Market. With more than a decade of experience in CPG marketing at P&G, followed by a pivotal role at The Honest Company, Pasha serves as the guardian of Thrive Market’s mission-driven, e-commerce powerhouse. Thrive Market is now celebrating its 10th anniversary this November 10th by humanizing the online grocery mission—making healthy and sustai...

My guest this week is Nic Chidiac, Chief Strategy Officer for Razorfish, where he oversees brand and experience strategy. He's worked with CMOs from the biggest brands in the world across a wider range of categories, including QSR, travel, tech, automotive and government. Formerly with Leo Burnett, Nic brings a global lens to his CMO perspective as well, having spent his career working across mark...

My guest this week is Oksana Sobol. Oksana leads the insights function at The Clorox Company, where she's implementing an agile, fast, and consumer centric insights model. Her global career spans everything from brand marketing and market research in her native Ukraine, and then the Czech Republic. She's worked for big companies like Nielsen, Kraft Foods, Unilever, J&J, and Mondelez. Links Oks...

My guest this week is former NBA player, Channing Frye. After an illustrious 14 year career, which included winning a championship in Cleveland with none other than LeBron James. Channing is now lead analyst for Warner Brothers Discovery, where he hosts the multitude of shows, including handles on NBA TV and his cohost of a very popular podcast with another NBA player, Richard Jefferson.  Channing...

My guest today is Doug Zarkin, former CMO of Pearle Vision and current Chief Brand Officer of Good Feet Worldwide. Doug's won Effie Awards and Cleo Awards and countless other awards that I can't even think of. I've known Doug for well over 10 years, and he is absolutely one of the brightest minds in all of marketing that I've ever met. Our conversation ranges from his thoughts on why emotions are...

Lee Roth is the co-founder of The Actionists , a platform designed to make marketing more actionable for businesses. He is an experienced marketer, entrepreneur, and agency leader. Driven by solving global, industry, and company problems, Lee founded the Action List with his co-founder, Pio Schunker. Lee has a diverse background in marketing, having worked at various levels in organizations such a...