The CMO Podcast

Karuna Rawal is the Chief Revenue Officer and Chief Marketing Officer of Nature's Fynd and Martha Williams is a consultant with Egon Zehnder specializing in the retail and consumer sectors.

This is the second installment of three episodes inspired by the 2023 Marketing Leadership Summit at the Kellogg School at Northwestern. The Summit is an annual gathering, organized by Kellogg faculty, with executives from Egon Zehnder and McKinsey.

Nature's Fynd is a remarkable company that emerged from NASA research on microbes in Yellowstone National Park, where they unearthed a groundbreaking nutritional fungi protein. This protein offers a sustainable alternative to traditional agriculture methods by significantly reducing resource consumption. The company has raised more than $500 million in capital, and its first consumer products are breakfast patties and dairy-free cream cheese. 

During this episode, Jim, Karuna and Martha discuss purpose, leadership, and resilience while reflecting on the summit. They provide advice on navigating career changes and Karuna shares what it’s like to be the CMO of a unicorn company.

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Alison Lewis is the Chief Growth Officer of Kimberly-Clark and Pree Rao co-leads Egon Zehnder’s Global marketing and sales practice. Egon Zehnder is a top leadership advisory firm, which includes executive search. Kimberly-Clark is a leading consumer goods firm, with revenue of $20 billion with brands like: Huggies, Kleenex, Cottonelle, Kotex and Scott. 

Both guests bring rich career paths in the CPG industry, with Alison having previously worked at Kraft-Heinz, Coca-Cola, and Johnson & Johnson, and Pree having worked at Unilever and Danone before joining Egon Zehnder over four years ago.

In this episode, Jim, Alison, and Pree reflect on the Kellogg Leadership Summit and highlight themes from Alison's keynote speech on leadership. They discuss the importance of having a growth mindset, using criticism as a motivator, and the evolving titles and roles of CMOs.

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Dara Treseder is the Chief Marketing Officer of Autodesk. The company’s tagline is “Make Anything,” and their software has made a significant impact on a number of industries, such as architecture, construction, media, entertainment, and manufacturing. Based in San Francisco, the company's revenue is north of $5 billion and growing.

As the leader of worldwide marketing, brand, communications, demand generation, and education business teams at Autodesk, Dara sets the strategy and goals for building the brand and marketing the product portfolio. Dara is a veteran in the industry, with previous experience as CMO at Peloton, Carbon, and GE Business Innovations & GE Ventures, and having led marketing and growth efforts at Apple and Goldman Sachs. In fact, last year, Forbes Magazine named her the #1 Most Influential CMO.

In this episode, Dara shares insights on being a people-first leader and the importance of serving your team. She and Jim discuss what drew her to Autodesk, lessons she learned from her parents that she continues to carry with her, and the essential capabilities that marketers must possess to be successful.

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As we wrap up Earth Month, Jim is joined by Marc Pritchard and Marchoe Northern of Procter & Gamble (P&G) to discuss their sustainability efforts. P&G is a 186-year-old renowned consumer goods company with $80 billions in sales. They host a portfolio of 25 billion-dollar brands, including Swiffer, Dawn, Pampers, Tide, and Oral-B. In recent years, P&G has taken a step further in their sustainable business practices by committing to achieving Net Zero Greenhouse Gas emissions by 2040.

Marc, the Chief Brand Officer at P&G, and Marchoe, SVP and GM of P&G's North American Home Care division, offer counsel to marketers on leading sustainability initiatives in their companies and emphasize the significance of reducing the mental load for consumers in the sustainability space. They also discuss the changes at P&G since Jim left 15 years ago and share why this issue is so important to them.

Listen as Jim, Marc, and Marchoe shed light on P&G's sustainability efforts and provide insights into how other companies can lead the way in sustainability.

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Sustainability has become more than a buzzword. People recognize the urgent need to protect our planet, and businesses are no different. Deloitte has stood at the forefront for over 20 years, helping organizations make progress towards delivering sustainable values and reimagining they way the work.

In this Office Hours episode, Jim is joined by Nelson Kunkel, the Chief Marketing Officer of Sustainability, Climate and Equity at Deloitte. He and Jim have a wide-ranging conversation about a CMO’s role in the sustainability space, why sustainability has a ‘story problem’ and more.

Discover more about Deloitte's sustainability initiatives at Deloitte.com/sustainability.

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Paul Rivera is the Chief Marketing Officer and Partner at The SpringHill Company, an entertainment development and production company founded by LeBron James and Maverick Carter. The company's mission is to inspire and empower individuals to achieve greatness, from creators to consumers.

Paul assumed the role of CMO at SpringHill in 2020, bringing with him a wealth of experience in marketing and content creation. A New York City native, Paul played professional basketball in Puerto Rico before embarking on a successful career in media and marketing. He worked for Dime Magazine and Nike for several years before joining Beats by Dre. In 2015, Paul co-founded The Robot Company, a consultancy that later became part of The SpringHill portfolio of companies.

In this episode, Paul shares insights into his journey as the first CMO of SpringHill, his toughest career decisions, and the importance of speaking to consumers in their language. He also talks about the value of surrounding yourself with the right people. Plus -- he and Jim bond over their shared experience as hosts and how they’ve evolved their skills over time.

But that's not all - we have a special treat for you at the end of the podcast! We are thrilled to have Suzanne Kounkel, Deloitte's Chief Marketing Officer, join us for a custom segment where we'll be discussing the findings of Deloitte's Global Marketing Trends Report for 2023. Suzanne will be sharing her insights on the latest trends and predictions for the marketing industry, and how businesses can leverage these trends.

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Samir Singh is the Global Chief Marketing Officer of Unilever Personal Care, a $13 billion dollar business encompassing famous brands such as Dove, Axe, Lifebuoy and Pepsodent. Unilever is one of the largest and most influential multinational consumer goods companies with sales of about $60 billion dollars. 

Samir has been at Unilever for 25 years, and was appointed to his new role almost a year ago after serving as EVP for Global Skin Cleansing and Oral Care. In his earlier stint as the Global Brand VP for Lifebuoy, Samir played a key role in building Lifebuoy's social mission to change the hand-washing behavior of 1 billion people. He led the path-breaking and award-winning 'Help a Child Reach 5' Lifebuoy campaign, which was made into a Harvard Business School case study.

In this episode, Jim and Samir reflect on the relationship between P&G and Unilever as competitors and the share the insights and knowledge they have gained from each other. Samir explains the benefits of laddering down instead of laddering up, and why brands should strive to create small moments of joy in everyday life. He also describes the transformational work he did with Lifebuoy to promote better hygiene and reduce child mortality rates in India.

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Andrea Sullivan is the Chief Marketing Officer for VaynerX, a dynamic media and communications company founded by Gary Vaynerchuk. VaynerX is the umbrella brand for nine companies in its portfolio – including Gallery Media Group, which produces The CMO Podcast. 

Andrea has worked on the VaynerX team for five years. A respected industry leader, she has served on the board of the Ad Council, the Ad Club of New York, the Miami Ad School, and the Creative Spirit. She is also a Professor of Branding at the School of Visual Arts in New York. Prior to her role at VaynerX, Andrea served as CMO of Interbrand and worked across Omnicom for over 15 years.

In this episode, Andrea and Jim chat about why she loves working at VaynerX, how to build strong and healthy brands, and shares her experience dealing with and overcoming imposter syndrome.

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Melissa Waters is the Chief Marketing Officer of Upwork, the world’s largest work marketplace. They connect businesses with independent talent – both freelance and full-time – in 180 countries. In 2022, Upwork’s talent community earned $3.8 billion in categories including app design, consulting, accounting, and creative services. But it's not just small businesses that benefit from Upwork; 30% of the Fortune 500 also use Upwork's platform. 

Melissa has worked as Upwork's CMO for about 16 months. She previously worked for a Who's Who of category-building companies like Lyft, Pandora, and Hims & Hers. She also served as the Global VP of Marketing at the Meta-owned platform, Instagram.

In this episode, Melissa explains why company culture should go beyond the "where" and how to keep people engaged in remote and hybrid environments. She and Jim also discuss the importance of empathetic leadership and why CMOs should have a GM mindset.

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Jocelyn Johnson is the Chief Marketing Officer of the Girl Scouts of the USA. Girl Scouts sell about 200 million boxes of cookies—nearly $800 million worth—during each cookie season. But there's so much more to Girl Scouts than just cookies. Started in 1912 with 18 girls in Savannah, Georgia, Girl Scouts is now the largest leadership organization for girls in the world, with 2.6 million girl and adult members worldwide. Some famous alumni include Serena Williams, Katie Couric, and Hillary Clinton.

Jocelyn is a Girl Scout alum herself and has been the CMO of Girl Scouts since May 2021. In this role, she oversees GSUSA's internal and external marketing and communications efforts and plays a crucial role in telling a clear narrative to internal and external stakeholders. Before her role at Girl Scouts, Jocelyn spent 28 years in various roles at GE. 

In this episode, Jocelyn shares the "learn, earn, and return" philosophy her parents taught her and how she applies it to her personal and professional life. She emphasizes the importance of networking and talks to Jim about how she stayed inspired while working almost 30 years at GE.

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