Today we’re announcing the nominations for the top 20 CMOs in New England.
In all, 37 people made it on the list. Many of them are known marketing stars, from both massive brands and fast-growing startups. Included, for example, are Anne Finucane of Bank of America, and John Frascotti of Hasbro — representatives of the region’s multibillion-dollar brands. There’s Mike Volpe of the fast-growing newly public company Hubspot. And also making the list are the lead marketers of startups Actifio, Qvidian and Applause.
We’re hoping this list will spur more insights from you about these candidates, and which among them should make the final 20. Go here by Friday to express your support of up to three candidates on the list.
Next, we'll select the top 20 from this list, and recognize the winners at next week’s GrowthBeat Summit in Boston on June 1-2, where we’re also inviting the best CMOs around the country to speak and network. We invite you to apply to join us to celebrate
Tom Wentworth | CMO | Acquia |
Mike Troiano | CMO | Actifio |
Barbara Goose | CMO | Altisource |
Matt Johnston | CMO and Chief Strategy Officer | Applause |
Rob Cosinuke | SVP & Chief Marketing Officer | Athena Health |
Maria Feicht | Chief Brand Officer | Au Bon Pain Franchising Corporation |
Anne Finucane | Global Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer | Bank of America |
Bari Harlam | EVP, Marketing and Membership | BJ's Wholesale Club |
Lauren Flaherty | CMO | CA Technologies |
Geoff Cottrill | CMO | Converse Inc. |
John Costello | President, Global Marketing & Innovation | Dunkin'brands, Inc. |
Kyle York | CMO | Dyn |
Vala Afshar | CMO | Extreme Networks |
John Frascotti | President, Hasbro Brands | Hasbro, Inc. |
Mike Volpe | CMO | Hubspot |
Ed Gaudet | Former CMO | Imprivata |
Julie Ginches | CMO | Kahuna |
Steve Fuller | CMO | L. L. Bean |
Josh Todd | CMO | Localytics |
Heather Smiley | CMO | Mass Mutual |
Kirby Wadsworth | CMO | Mendix |
Liz Vanzura | CMO | MMB |
Jennifer Halloran | VP, Head of Corporate Marketing | Mobiquity |
Michael R. Hall | VP Digital | NESN |
Jim McNiel | VP, WW Marketing | NetScout |
Paul Conforti | CMO | Ocean State Job Lot |
Robert Tas | SVP and CMO | Pegasystems |
Christopher Faust | CMO | Qvidian |
Inga Stenta | Global Marketing & Experiential Director | Reebok International Ltd. |
Marianne Budnik | CMO | Simplivity |
Renato Valentim | Co-founder | Tavern in the Square |
Barbara Messing | CMO | TripAdvisor |
Shawn LaVana | Head of Marketing | Virgin Pulse |
Peter Vescuso | CMO | VoltDB |
Brian Harrington | CMO | Zipcar |
Hila Nir | CMO/VP of Marketing | ZoomInfo |
Gary Lombardo | VP of Marketing | CashStar |
See bottom for more details.
Details
We’re looking specifically for those who have done the best job growing their company over the past year. VentureBeat launched the competition to recognize the best CMOs in New England.
Many of the finalists will carry the CMO title, but we recognize that not every leading marketer carries that title. Other titles will be considered — VPs of Marketing, Chief Digital Officers, and so on. The candidate should carry the growth mandate for their companies and also rank as their companies’ top marketer.
Marketers from all industries were considered. And in our selection of the final 20, we’ll take vertical differences into account. For example, a marketer of an apparel company may not have grown as fast as a mobile ad network. But that’s okay, because we’ll also consider how the company is doing versus its industry peers.
Here are the main criteria we want to consider, which align with the focus of next week’s GrowthBeat Summit. Which marketers have achieved impressive growth by:
1. Articulating a well-honed and creative “story” for their company’s product 2. Leveraging technology to have the right conversations with the right customers in the right channels
It’s our belief that these two elements, creativity and technology, need to be fused together properly to create significant growth.
Please make your votes by Friday, May 29.
Our panel of experts — made up of myself, our VP of Research John Koetsier, among others — will choose the winners based on careful consideration of the votes and accompanying supporting evidence.
VB is doing this for two reasons. First, we think it will provide much-needed recognition for New England marketers who are doing a kick-ass job.
The second reason is selfish: VB is building what is quickly becoming the largest repository of data from marketers about the technology and the strategies they’re using to get ahead. Events like GrowthBeat Summit allow us to get more intimate with the community. The good side to this is that we’re an independent news company, and objectivity drives us. We’re truly looking for the best and the brightest marketers in Boston.
Thank you for participating, and hope to see you at the event next week.