The CMO Whisperer

My guest today is Dave Neville, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Johnnie-O, where he oversees brand strategy, digital marketing, creative, CRM, and partnerships for one of the fastest-growing premium lifestyle apparel brands in the market. Dave's career has taken him from serving as a captain in the US Air Force to advising global companies as a strategy consultant at Oliver Wyman and into leadership roles with iconic brands like Callaway Golf and Titleist. 

Along the way, he's built a reputation for combining sharp strategic thinking with creative brand building and a relentless focus on growth. A graduate of the University of Notre Dame, with an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, Dave is passionate about developing high-performing teams, building enduring brands, and proving that the best marketing happens when creativity and data work hand in hand.

My guest today is Philip Auerbach, Chief Marketing Officer at Custom Ink. Phil has built an impressive career leading marketing and commercial strategy for some incredibly well-known brands. Before joining Custom Ink, he led executive leadership roles at Bumble, Dunkin', Linblad Expeditions, and Caesars Entertainment, helping each of them navigate growth, digital transformation, and changing customer expectations. 

One of the many things I find most interesting about Phil's career is its range. He's marketed everything from dating apps and donuts to travel experiences, gaming, and now custom apparel. There are not many marketing leaders who can say that. Get to know Phil's perspective on what he's learned along the way, what separates good marketing from great marketing, and how the role of the CMO continues to evolve.

My guest today is Will Leach, founder of Mindstate Group and a leading expert in behavioral science and decision-making. Will previously led PepsiCo's behavioral science lab and has worked with brands including PepsiCo, Disney, Mars, Capital One, and 7-Eleven to better understand why customers choose and how leaders can make smarter decisions. 

He's also the best-selling author of Marketing to Mindstates, and advises executive teams on behavioral science, AI-powered insights, and growth strategy.

My guest today is Liz Crisafi, a transformational marketing executive with more than 25 years of experience building iconic brands, accelerating growth, and creating customer experiences that drive loyalty and business results. Over the course of her career, she's held leadership roles at IHG Hotels and Resorts, Hornblower Group, Discovery Communications, Eastman Kodak, Kimberly-Clark, and Ogilvy.

With experience spanning hospitality, travel, media, entertainment, consumer products, and franchise businesses, Liz believes great marketing starts with hospitality by understanding people, anticipating their needs, creating memorable experiences, and building relationships that last. It's a philosophy that has guided her career and helped brands create moments customers remember, and most importantly, come back for.

Today, I welcome two guests to the show, Alma Derricks and Eliza VanCort, the co-creators of Ignite, a leadership experience built around a simple but incredibly timely idea. As technology and AI continue to reshape the workplace, the human skills that drive great leadership have never been more important. 

These two came to this work from very different directions. Alma has spent more than three decades building businesses, launching brands, and leading commercial strategy for organizations including Deloitte, HBO, Paramount, and Cirque du Soleil. Today she's the founder and managing partner of REV, where she helps organizations navigate moments of growth, reinvention, and transformation. On the other hand, Eliza is a best-selling author, communication strategist, Cornell University Fellow, TED speaker and former acting instructor whose work has helped executives and leadership teams become more confident, influential communicators in the moments that matter most. 

What started as a conversation became a collaboration, and that collaboration became Ignite. We spend less time talking about the program itself and spend more time talking about why it exists. What are they seeing inside executive teams? Why do communication and influence seem harder than ever? And most importantly, what human skills are becoming more valuable because of AI, not despite it?

My guest today is Jake Nishimura, Vice President of Marketing at Kiswe, a company that's quietly changing the way some of the biggest names in sports, music, and entertainment connect with fans around the world. Jake's career started on the live event side of the business, promoting concerts for artists like Tara Swift and Ed Sheeran before making the jump into streaming, where he's helped bring live experiences to audiences for everyone from Queen and the Rolling Stones to Jack Harlow. 

He's also been instrumental in helping Kiswe expand into the creator economy, working with bands like Smosh, Rhett and Link, and the Try Guys. Today, his role goes beyond partner marketing as he now leads Kiswe's broader B2B marketing efforts, giving him a unique perspective on where technology, content, community, and brand are all headed.

My guest today is Marie Bahl, Chief Marketing Officer at Uptempo. A few weeks ago, Marie published an article called Martech Built Empires—Now It Needs Bridges. More recently, she shared a manifesto with me that expanded on many of those ideas. Marie argues that marketers have spent years becoming data janitors, spreadsheet detectives, and professional explainers of their own value.

Instead of building brands, driving growth, and shaping business strategy, too many marketing teams are trapped by trying to prove they deserve a seat at the table. She also believes that AI won't fix that problem. In fact, if we don't address the underlying issues first, AI may simply help us fail faster. We're going to talk about why marketing finds itself in that position, what leaders are getting wrong about AI, and what it'll take for marketing to reclaim its role as a true growth engine.

My guest today is Andrea Eaton, Chief Revenue Officer at Ataccama. Andrea is a growth-focused executive with more than 20 years of experience helping tech companies scale revenue, transform go-to-market strategies, and navigate periods of rapid growth. Her career spans leadership roles across sales, marketing, revenue operations, and product marketing, giving her a truly unique perspective on what it takes to drive sustainable business results.

Now, before joining Ataccama, Andrea led global marketing at OutSystems, where she helped advance the company's AI-powered vision and integrated AI into marketing and sales development workflows. She's also served as Chief Revenue Officer at Bluefin Payment Systems and held senior leadership roles at several high-growth software and fintech companies.

My guest today is Mike Lane, CEO and co-founder of Fluency, the digital advertising operating system helping agencies scale paid media campaigns across every major digital ad channel.

Fluency manages more than 250,000 campaigns monthly and nearly $3 billion in annual media spend, giving Mike a unique lens into where advertising, automation, and AI are all headed. The company recently raised a $40 million Series A to accelerate its growing agentic AI capabilities. And today we're going to dig into what all that actually means for CMOs, marketing teams, and the future of advertising operations. 

Before Fluency, Mike was COO and co-founder of Dealer.com, which became the automotive retail industry's largest marketing and advertising platform. And finally, he's also an active angel investor, board advisor, and serves on several nonprofit boards. 

This episode is recorded live at BrandSmart, the longest-running brand marketing conference in the U.S. BrandSmart brings together noteworthy speakers and future-forward marketers — a who’s who of decision-makers and influencers — to share proven tools, smart ideas and inspiring stories. 

Joining the CMO Whisperer today is Christine Buck, CMO of MiniTab and AMA board member, as well as the 2024 AMA Chicago Marketer of the Year. Christine brings deep global experience and a sharp data-driven perspective to the table. She is a global advisor and thought leader supporting the transformation of the health ecosystem through information and technology. Christine leads the planning and development of global marketing strategy across all products, channels and regions. Christine’s experience is broad and uniquely global with almost 27 years of B2B sales and marketing expertise from roles held in financial services, software and consulting industries. Christine has built and led teams globally across brand management, creative, product marketing, research, pricing and analyst relations for leading firms Hootsuite, Morningstar, Huron Consulting, Accenture, Bank of America and Microsoft.