CMO Moves February 2025

February ended with 42 fresh CMO appointments, a clean split between 26 women and 16 men. External hires ruled the roost (33 out of 42), but 9 lucky insiders snagged a promotion. Notably, 19 are first-time C-suite execs.

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California led the CMO hiring charge with 8 new appointments, followed by Texas (7), New York (5), and Georgia (3). Internationally, Canada, India, Denmark, Austria, and Australia also saw movement.

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Tech still leads CMO hiring with 9 new appointments, but the real shake-up is in financial services, where 8 CMOs just landed top roles across banking, insurance, and fintech. It’s not just the volume—it’s the momentum. This hiring spree has been accelerating since Q4 2024, and with political and economic forces shifting, is there more at play than corporate strategy?

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Consider this: Trump, once a Bitcoin critic, launched TrumpCoin and MelaniaCoin in January 2025. Meanwhile, his economic advisor is pushing deregulation, and a new executive order aims to boost U.S. dominance in digital finance. Could financial firms be scrambling to get ahead, fueling the CMO hiring frenzy?

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And then there’s Texas. Traditionally trailing California and New York in CMO hires, the state surged to #2 this month. Blue States have long dominated executive hiring, but with Texas closing the gap, could the tide be turning?

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Spotlight on Recent Appointments:

• Merrell: Richard McLeod, a seasoned brand builder from Champion and Canada Goose, steps in as Merrell’s new CMO, bringing his expertise in footwear and transformation-driven marketing to the outdoor giant.
• Moderna: Amy Mahery, formerly Chief Commercial Officer at Roivant Sciences and a 20-year pharma veteran, takes the helm as Moderna’s new CMO, tasked with reviving sales, streamlining strategy, and steering the company’s post-pandemic commercial evolution.
• PrizePicks: Gaming and digital marketing veteran Mike Quigley, with career highlights at Niantic, YouTube, and EA, joins PrizePicks as CMO, ready to supercharge engagement and outmaneuver fierce competition in the daily fantasy sports space.
• Nationwide: Ann Bair, a 20-year Nationwide veteran with deep digital expertise, steps up as CMO to modernize the brand, drive customer engagement, and navigate the evolving financial services landscape amid major C-suite shifts.
• Ulta Beauty: Kelly Mahoney, the architect of Ulta’s 44-million-strong loyalty program, is promoted to CMO, tasked with strengthening customer engagement, driving brand innovation, and keeping Ulta ahead in an increasingly competitive beauty market.
• Cohesity: Carol Carpenter, a seasoned marketing leader from Unity, VMware, and Google Cloud, takes over as CMO to sharpen Cohesity’s go-to-market strategy and cement its position as a cybersecurity powerhouse following its Veritas acquisition.

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Click on the links below to find out more about these CMOs and their new mandates:

CMO Moves Mid February Edition

CMO Moves End February Summary

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