CMO Moves March 2026
CMOs are very much in demand. After a record-breaking 2025, hiring hasn’t taken its foot off the pedal. January and February brought 45 and 44 appointments respectively, and March nudged things higher with 49 global hires: 27 women and 22 men.
The usual hiring habits persist. Most companies are still looking externally, with 39 outside hires compared to 10 internal promotions. That said, there’s a steady stream offirst-timers stepping into the top job: 26 this month alone. True industry travelers, however, remain a rarity, with only 2 taking that leap. So hiring choices are for proven category experts. No one is paying for you to‘learn’, which is honestly a missed opportunity.
In the U.S., 34 CMOs were appointed across 14 states. California led the pack with 10, followed by New York (5), Texas (4), and Georgia (3).
Elsewhere, Asia continues to tick along nicely. Australia saw 5 hires, India added 2, and Singapore, New Zealand, and China each recorded one. A handful of appointments were spread across Sweden, England, South Africa, France, and Canada.
By sector, Tech is still out front with 17 hires. Financial Services and Restaurants followed with 6 apiece, while Professional Services brought in 4. In short, the market for senior marketing talent remains buoyant - with just a few industries hoarding the lion’s share of hires.
- Tech: 17
- Financial Services: 6
- Restaurants: 6
- Professional Services: 4
- Hotel and Travel: 3
- Retail: 3
- Manufacturing: 3
- CPG: 2
- BioTech, Pharma, Healthcare & Wellness: 2
- Media, Sports & Entertainment: 2
- Government: 1
While the front door is busy, the exit isn’t exactly gathering dust.
In the same breath, a flurry of departures suggests the role is becoming less of a corner office and more of a revolving one: Vanessa Wallace is already onto her next act, swapping Savage X Fenty for GLD after just 18 months. Mike Quigley has clocked out of PrizePicks after a year, while DoorDash’s Kofi Amoo-Gottfried is preparing to bow out after seven. Elsewhere, Anne Martino is stepping away from Endeavor Health following a hefty rebrand, and across the pond, Suntory’s François Bazini is exiting after an 11-year tour of duty. Perhaps most notably, TomTom co-founder Corinne Vigreux is closing a three-decade chapter: proof, if anywere needed, that even the most enduring tenures eventually give way.
Spotlight on Recent Appointments:
- Delta elevates 22-year insider Ranjan Goswami into an expanded Chief Marketing and Product Officer role, merging brand, product, and loyalty into a single growth engine. His mandate is to architect a “premium travel platform” where the customer experience itself becomes marketing, sustaining Delta’s revenue premium through tightly integrated CX, fintech, and loyalty ecosystems. This signals a broader shift: marketing as yield management and experience design, not just demand generation.
- Williams-Sonoma promotes longtime insider Abby Teisch to CMO, doubling down on institutional knowledge in a margin-sensitive retail environment. As the architect behind a digital engine driving ~70% of revenue, she now oversees a multi-brand portfolio, focusing on owned demand, loyalty, and pricing power rather than discounting. Her role is less about storytelling and more about portfolio orchestration and profit protection.
- beehiiv appoints founder-operator Darren Chait as its first CMO, signaling a shift from tool to full-stack platform for the creator economy. With a background in PLG growth and startup scaling, he is tasked with turning rapid product expansion into a cohesive “content operating system.” The core bet: that product-led momentum, not traditional marketing, will drive platform dominance.
- Capri brings in Corey Moran to stabilize and reposition Michael Kors after failed merger plans and declining brand relevance. A hybrid operator with experience across Coty and Google, Moran is tasked with aligning brand, data, and product to fix a “visible but not desirable” positioning problem. His challenge is to inject cultural urgency and faster GTM cycles while deciding whether to chase “cool” or sustainable relevance.
- 6sense hires Kelly Hopping to transition from a category-defining “insight” platform to a revenue-driving execution engine. Coming from Demandbase, she brings a sales-aligned, pipeline-first mindset aimed at closing the gap between intent data and actual deal conversion. Her mandate is to reposition marketing as a direct growth driver while aligning tightly with product to compete in an AI-native, automation-driven market.
- After nearly a decade without a CMO, Lands’ End appoints Sarah Sylvester to lead a long-overdue brand and growth reset. With experience in revitalizing legacy brands, she is tasked with modernizing the company’s identity and reconnecting with younger audiences while leveraging a newly strengthened balance sheet. The focus is on evolving from “practical value” to culturally relevant storytelling without losing core brand authenticity.
Read more about each CMO and the scope of their new mandates via the links below:
