The CMO Whisperer

My guest this week is making his second appearance on the CMO Whisperer podcast, and for good reason. He’s a CMO who’s helped Fortune 500 companies, startups, and even a scratch-made pizza shop break through the noise. He’s driven $350 million in revenue from one campaign. He’s sparked 45% growth in online grocery and built brands that lead with meaning and scale with precision. 

With over 25 years in the game, Bruce Hershey isn’t just a marketer—he’s a builder, a breaker, and someone who’s redefining what it means to be a CMO. Bruce brings a rare mix of creative courage and operational discipline. But more than that, to me personally, he’s a friend and a mentor—someone I continue to learn from every time we talk, including right now. 

He’s back to share what’s working, what’s next, and how we lead with heart in an algorithmic world. And while he’s never one to brag, let’s just say any company looking to level up should be paying close attention—because Bruce is more than ready for whatever’s next. And it’s going to be big. 

My guest this week is someone whose career path may not be linear, but it's been anything but boring.  Jason Chebib started out in some of London’s top ad agencies, including Ogilvy, Publicis, J. Walter Thompson, and BBDO, where he worked alongside CMOs and future CMOs at brands like Shell, Unilever, Dyson, Mars, and Ford. 

Then came a pivot—from creating campaigns to teaching the science behind them. Jason traveled the world, training the next generation of marketers in what actually works when it comes to growing brands. 

Eventually, he jumped back into the deep end—this time client-side at Diageo. First in Amsterdam, working on global strategy for Johnnie Walker, and then in New York as Head of Planning for Diageo North America, where he shaped the future of brands like Smirnoff, Baileys, Guinness, and Captain Morgan. 

Now fully rooted in the U.S., Jason has worn many hats—from advising agencies to serving as Committee Chair of Agency Relations at the ANA and Co-Chair of the Marketing Society in New York. He brings the kind of perspective that only comes from being deep in the trenches: agency, client, strategy, research, and education. 

And while he's not one to chase titles, let's just say his next chapter is wide open—and any brand would be lucky to have him. 

I am proud to call him my friend, my confidant, my mentor: Jason Chebib. 

My guest this week is Tory Pachis, CMO of Amica Mutual Insurance Company, based in Lincoln, Rhode Island. Tory is a seasoned insurance executive with nearly 25 years of industry experience. 

At Amica, he oversees five core areas within the marketing department: marketing, data science, media and platform, branding and communications, operations and project management, and digital experience. He joined the company in 2020 as Vice President of Marketing and has since led a brand renaissance. That includes bringing on a new advertising agency of record and refreshing Amica’s logo and brand platform. 

Tory has also pushed the brand to pursue larger and more impactful opportunities to build name recognition. A couple of standout examples include the now-infamous Boston Celtics jersey patch — recognizable to any sports fan — and the naming rights to Providence’s 13,000-seat arena, now known as the Amica Mutual Pavilion. 

He holds a BA in Journalism and an MA in Marketing Communications from the University of Connecticut. Outside of work, Tory enjoys time with his wife, Stacy, and their four children: Sophia, Christian, Jayden, and Rosie. You’ll often find him coaching his kids’ basketball games or serving the community through his work with Foster Forward, a nonprofit that empowers lives impacted by foster care. 

My guest this week is Doug Zarkin, a transformative leader in branding and marketing, known for his quick-thinking, human approach. His career highlights are many, including co-founding breakthrough advertising, youth entertainment, and lifestyle marketing campaigns; leading the successful launch of Avon’s mark. brand; and elevating Victoria’s Secret PINK into a national powerhouse. He also played a key role in driving brand transformations at Kenwood and Pro Vision. 

Doug is currently serving as Chief Brand Officer at NPC Brands, overseeing multiple companies. His achievements are detailed in his incredibly insightful book Moving Your Brand Out of the Friend Zone, available on Amazon and other major retailers. You can learn more about Doug and his work at dougzarkin.com. 

And one final career highlight, Doug, that I’m going to add to your bio: you're the very first guest on CMO Whisperer. 

My guest this week is an award-winning marketer, business executive, strategist, and brand innovator. Daniel Cherry III has extensive experience across sports, CPG, lifestyle, music and entertainment, and luxury consumer categories. He’s had a storied career working with some of the world’s most iconic brands, including DC Comics, Activision Blizzard Esports, the New Jersey Devils, the New York Cosmos, and now Adidas.

His work has earned numerous awards and recognitions, including a Grammy nomination—we’ve got to get into that—a spot on Sports Business Journal's Top 40 Under 40, the Adweek Vanguard Award, and several Effies for advertising effectiveness. Daniel is also a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, a husband, and a proud father of two amazing daughters. 

My guest this week is Randi Stipes, the Chief Marketing Officer at The Weather Company, one of the world's most trusted brands and most accurate forecasters. No stranger to marketing transformation, Randi challenges marketers to think differently about the weather and its business implications across every industry. With nearly three decades in media and marketing, she has served in a variety of roles across product, editorial, sales, and marketing, all of which have provided her with a unique perspective to unlock creativity and drive high performance on the teams she manages. 

In her previous role at IBM, she led developer marketing and brand advertising, where she was instrumental in launching IBM's brand platform "Let's Create." She has received the industry's top recognitions and awards from Cannes Lions, Drum Festival, Media Globe Awards, and many more. She is proud to have been part of the 2024 award-winning "Weather Kids" global campaign, created in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme, the World Meteorological Organization, and The Weather Channel. The campaign calls for urgent climate action for future generations. 

As an advocate for positive industry and societal disruption, she sits on the boards of the Ad Council, BRIDGE, and the ANA Brand Council. She's also a mentor at the Marketing Academy. 

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, overseeing the creative studio, managing social media, and handling external communications. 

Prior to joining Lyft, Brian was responsible for "branding the metaverse"—a phrase I love—while promoting a range of new product initiatives in the sector, including Oculus, Quest goggles, Ray-Ban smart glasses, and the Horizon VR world. At Meta, he led the Quest Pro launch, bringing the first-ever integrated sports partnership to the company with a multi-year content marketing and product deal in collaboration with the NBA. 

Previously, Brian was the CMO of Eventbrite, where he played a key role during the company’s IPO and launched its first-ever brand campaign, Made for Those Who Do. 

At Airbnb, he introduced a new marketing and product positioning strategy called Live There, which encouraged travelers to "travel like a local" rather than being a tourist. 

Brian’s path into marketing was nontraditional. He started as a financial analyst and business planning manager before transitioning into account management roles at Digitas and RAPP. Eventually, he moved in-house to lead brand marketing. Currently, Brian is based in San Francisco, where he lives with his son and his dog. 

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 retail marketing, innovation, and category management across well-known brands like KitchenAid, Whirlpool, Beautiful, and Veega.

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 has been part of three unicorn companies. 

Steve is deeply passionate about innovative marketing, AI, and branding. Prior to DeepL, Steve served as CMO of FourKites, where he spearheaded remarkable growth and revenue increases through targeted, account-based, and product-led growth (PLG) strategies, serving industry titans like Coca-Cola, Walmart, and Ford. His expertise also extends to CMO roles at OutSystems and Acrolinx, where he drove unicorn growth, established category leadership, and facilitated successful acquisitions. 

He has also held leading marketing positions at Adobe. 

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 sales execution platform—helping individual sales reps and entire revenue organizations create more pipelines and close more deals. 

At Outreach, Melton led global teams responsible for strategic communications, brand, demand generation, customer expansion, product marketing, community, and sales development.