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 ..read more

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 e ..read more

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 b ..read more

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 Un ..read more

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 ..read more

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, t ..read more

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 ..read more

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 ..read more

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 ..read more

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 ..read more