CMO Moves July 2025
July saw 39 new CMOs step into the spotlight worldwide: 23 women + 16 men.
Internal promotions remain rare, with just 7 rising through the ranks. The vast majority, 32, were external hires, and for 17 of them, it’s their first time at the C-suite table.
The U.S. continued to lead the charge, accounting for 25 of the new appointments across 16 states. New York was first place with 5 hires, followed by California with 4, and Massachusetts and Virginia with 2 each.
Across the pond, England added 3 new CMOs to its roster, with France and the UAE close behind at 2 apiece. Other countries making moves included Canada, Denmark, India, Ireland, Japan, the Philippines, and Spain.
On the industry front, Tech remains the biggest appointer of CMOs, bringing in 15 new marketing leads. Professional Services followed with 6, Retail with 5, and both CPG and Healthcare welcomed 3 new CMOs each.
CMO Appointments by Sector
- Tech: 15
- Professional Services: 6
- Retail: 5
- CPG: 3
- BioTech, Pharma, Healthcare: 3
- Construction: 2
- Manufacturing: 2
- Financial Services: 2
- Government: 1
Spotlight on Recent Appointments:
- Estée Lauder: Aude Gandon has been named Estée Lauder’s first Chief Digital and Marketing Officer, reporting directly to the CEO from August 1. With experience at Google and Nestlé, she is expected to unify digital and brand functions to accelerate the company’s “Beauty Reimagined” turnaround amid falling revenues and investor pressure.
- Vanta: Scott Holden joined Vanta as CMO on July 15, bringing his track record of making complex categories memorable at Salesforce, ThoughtSpot, and Brex. He will oversee the full go-to-market engine, aiming to differentiate Vanta in a crowded compliance market through bold branding and founder-led storytelling.
- Webflow: Webflow appointed Dave Steer as CMO, drawing on his success at GitLab in scaling marketing discipline while keeping storytelling central. He will focus on positioning Webflow as an enterprise-ready no-code platform by blending creative brand voice with process rigor and AI-enabled customer insights.
- Ollie: Allison Stadd has joined Ollie as its first CMO, overseeing growth, lifecycle, creative, insights, and customer service to scale its subscription pet-food model. Known for unifying brand and performance at Shipt and shaping Shake Shack’s cult voice, she is expected to build loyalty and cross-channel storytelling in a fiercely competitive fresh-pet-food market.
- Sendbird: Charles Studt has been appointed CMO of Sendbird, bringing experience from Qualtrics where he turned complex tech into CFO-ready stories. His remit is to position Sendbird’s AI-powered proactive support vision as indispensable in the $40B contact-center market, turning “agentic AI” from buzzword into measurable business value.
- GEMS Education: Suad Merchant steps into her first CMO role at GEMS Education, leading marketing for 60+ schools and 130k students worldwide. With a track record of narrative-driven rebranding at Mashreq Bank and a pragmatic approach to AI and data privacy, she is expected to deliver purpose-led storytelling, Martech upgrades, and a possible global brand refresh as education investment in the UAE accelerates.
Click the links below to read more about each CMO and the scope of their new mandates:
