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.…

In this special two-for-one episode of The CMO Whisperer Podcast, host Steve Olenski welcomes two distinguished guests – John Kearon, Founder, System1 Group, and Joel Weinberger, Professor of Psychology, Derner School of Psychology. Together, they dive deep into the fascinating intersection of advertising, emotions, and decision-making, exploring how feelings drive actions and the role of familiarity and fear in marketing. From thought-provoking insights on the power of nostalgia to the balance between positivity and negativity in advertising, this conversation unpacks the science behind what makes campaigns truly resonate. Tune in to discover why "the more you feel, the more you do" and how brands can tap into human psychology to build stronger connections with their audiences.…

My guest today is Steven Fuld , the former Senior Vice President, Managing Director of Corporate Marketing at Sony Corporation of America . Steven led U.S. marketing efforts in collaboration with Sony's Tokyo headquarters and operating companies such as PlayStation, Sony Pictures, and Sony Electronics. His leadership spanned brand strategy and communications, enterprise marketing, technology, and loyalty program design. His team defined Sony's brand positioning, managed paid and organic channels, and created compelling content to strengthen market relevance. He spearheaded the development of an enterprise-wide martech stack that unified customer data, enabling deeper insights, predictive modeling, and targeted audience activation. Additionally, he oversaw a cross-company loyalty program, including co-branded credit cards like the Sony Card and PlayStation Card, all designed to drive engagement and sales. Before Sony, Steven was Managing Director at The Kessler Group , specializing in loyalty program design and co-branded credit cards. He also held roles in marketing and finance at Citigroup . He earned a B.A. in Political Science from Emory University . After leaving Sony, Steven took a few months off to recharge and reset. He is now actively pursuing roles that build on his experience leading marketing teams, enabling transitions, and rolling up his sleeves to get involved in the practice of marketing.…

My guest today is Tim McDermott. Tim is the President of the Philadelphia Union and Union Sports and Entertainment, overseeing all club business operations. Since joining the Union in 2016, his efforts have focused on increasing brand strength, expanding the fan base, and enhancing revenue opportunities, while maintaining a commitment to growing soccer and positively impacting the community. Under his leadership, the Union have achieved significant milestones, including record partnership revenues, the largest season ticket base to date, and historical highs in television ratings, social media engagement, and media coverage. Previously, Tim served as Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) for the Philadelphia 76ers (NBA), the Philadelphia Eagles (NFL), and the Washington Capitals (NHL). During his tenure with the Eagles, the team was recognized by Forbes as the fastest-growing brand in sports. In 2011, Tim was named to the '40 Under 40' by the Philadelphia Business Journal, and in 2014, he received the CMO Club Programmatic Marketing Award. His brother, Sean McDermott, is the head coach of the Buffalo Bills.…

My guest this week is Jenn Ogden-Reese, Chief Marketing Officer at On Location, a leading premium experiences company providing access to ticket packages with enhanced hospitality and premier end-to-end travel for bucket-list events. She has more than 25 years of experience building businesses and leading multi-platform marketing and strategy. Before joining On Location, she served as CMO at several high-growth companies, including 2U , an ed-tech company serving over 44 million registered learners, and SeatGeek , a leading mobile-first live event ticketing platform. Jenn launched her career at Time Inc. , marketing brands from Sports Illustrated Kids to InStyle to People , holding various leadership positions, including SVP of Consumer Marketing . Jenn also serves as the Board Chair of Global Glimpse , a nonprofit organization providing international travel and leadership experiences to high school students. A graduate of Dartmouth College , Jenn lives in Westchester County, New York . In her spare time, she enjoys attending live events, skiing, and being a dedicated sports mom to her three sons.…

My guest today is Suzanne Darmory , the former Chief Marketing Officer at Refundo , the only minority-owned fintech platform in the tax industry, committed to fostering inclusivity in the communities they serve. In addition to founding her own boutique agency, The AGNCY That Sold Agnesi , she has spent her career on both the client side—working with companies like IBM, L'Oréal, and Jackson Hewitt—and the agency side in New York (Arnold Deutsch, Gray, JWT) and London (Bates UK, Euro KG, Ogilvy Mather). Suzanne brings over 25 years of international experience championing Fortune 500 brands and articulating their visions through innovative marketing and advertising initiatives. Her track record of driving transformative change, paired with a relentless focus on results, has solidified her reputation as a renowned industry leader. She has been recognized by Marsum as one of the Top 100 Influencers in Marketing and Advertising , by Business Leaders Magazine as one of the Top 100 Business Leaders , and by Refinery29 as one of the 29 Most Powerful Women in Digital . She has also been featured on the Where Are the Boss Ladies list.…

My guest this week is Dara Treseder, the Chief Marketing Officer at Autodesk, a leading technology and software company that is transforming how the world is designed and made. She oversees global marketing, brand, communications, demand generation, e-commerce, and education business teams. As a veteran CMO, Dara has held key leadership roles, including Global Head of Marketing, Communications, and Membership at Peloton, CMO of Carbon, and CMO of GE Business Innovations and GE Ventures. Earlier in her career, she led marketing growth efforts at Apple and Goldman Sachs. She has been recognized by Forbes as the world’s most influential CMO—let me say that again—recognized by Forbes as the world’s most influential CMO. She was also the first Black person to be inducted into the Forbes CMO Hall of Fame. Beyond her professional achievements, Dara is a champion of public health, women’s issues, and diversity and belonging. If that wasn’t enough, she also serves on the boards of the Public Health Institute and Robin Hood. Finally, Dara graduated from Harvard with highest honors and holds an MBA from Stanford University.…