CMO Journeys
CMO Journeys is a podcast from NextBigWin featuring conversations with the marketing leaders behind today’s most recognizable brands, including Princess Cruises, White Castle, and Ruby Tuesday. Hosted by Christian Banach, Founder and Chief Growth Officer of NextBigWin, each episode explores the personal and professional journeys that brought today’s CMOs to the C-suite — from the pivotal career decisions and mentors that shaped them to the lessons learned along the way. The conversation then turns to the realities of leading modern marketing organizations, including the mandates CMOs are driving inside their companies and how they evaluate agencies and strategic partners. Through candid discussions, CMO Journeys gives agency leaders, marketers, and industry professionals a behind-the-scenes look at how modern CMOs build teams, shape brands, drive growth, and partner with the organizations helping bring their strategies to life.
Episodes
Dustin Sitar is Chief Growth Officer at BriteCo, which helps people protect their jewelry, watches, and weddings through an online insurance experience. He spent years as a professional poker player before working at Zappos, and he brings a clear lesson from the table to his marketing: judge the decision, not only the outcome.
What the Conversation Covers
- How poker taught him to separate a bad process from bad luck, and how he ap...
Julien McCluney is the Global Chief Marketing Officer of Jacuzzi Group, a company sitting at the intersection of home, wellness, and premium consumer products. The route to that role started with a plan to become a doctor, ran through a finance career in New York, and changed direction after a single branding class in business school. It's a candid look at how a marketing leader gets built out of detours rather than a straight line...
Steve Daheb leads global marketing at Flexera, a company that helps the world's largest organizations understand and manage what they spend across software, cloud, SaaS, hardware, and AI. The path there ran through comic books, art academy offers, a psychology degree, and law classes taken at night while working full time. It is a useful conversation for anyone trying to understand how a marketing leader's instincts actually get fo...
Neville Billimoria is Chief Marketing Officer of Mission Fed Credit Union, a member-owned, not-for-profit financial cooperative serving San Diego County. He built and sold his own agency before joining Mission Fed, so he sees marketing from both sides of the table. He also holds a firm belief that culture is the one advantage competitors can't copy.
What the Conversation Covers
- How he talked his way into an agency that had turned...
Yama Habibzai is the Chief Marketing Officer of Aptean, a global provider of industry-specific enterprise software for manufacturers and distributors. He joined a company built from more than 70 acquisitions and 135-plus products, and he treats that complexity the way an engineer treats a hard problem: something to be taken apart and solved. His perspective is valuable because he has spent a career turning highly technical products...
Jack Markham is Chief Marketing Officer of Inside Real Estate, the technology company behind the platform that agents, teams, brokerages, and major real estate brands use to manage leads, marketing, transactions, recruiting, and growth. He arrived at the CMO role from sales and general management rather than brand, and it shapes almost everything about how he runs the function. For anyone thinking about what a marketing organizatio...
Ahmed Iqbal leads marketing for the Cadillac Formula 1 Team, General Motors' new entry into the world's fastest-growing sport. He joined after an unusual path through investment banking, automotive, and the social platforms Twitter and TikTok — and he's now building a brand, a fan base, and a commercial business from the ground up. His perspective is a rare look at how a modern marketing leader thinks and operates.
What th...
Jessica Doyle is the Chief Growth Officer at Double Good, a Chicago-based fundraising technology company that helps youth sports teams, schools, and other organizations raise money through app-supported popcorn fundraisers. In this episode, she traces a career that runs from customer strategy consulting through Uber, Twitch, Cameo, and the NBA, and shares how she thinks about growth, leadership, and building teams.
What the Conv...
Thomas Rubino is the Chief Communications and Marketing Officer at Cooper University Health Care, one of the major academic health systems in South Jersey. He came to marketing by an unusual route — law and politics — and that background shapes how he thinks about persuasion, messaging, and building a brand in a fiercely competitive market. His perspective is a useful one for anyone who wants to move people, not just me...
Maggie Connors is the Chief Marketing Officer of Havas Creative Network, one of the major global creative networks inside Havas. In this episode, she shares the journey that took her from art student to global marketing leader, and why she believes craft and creativity are still what win clients in an industry racing toward automation and AI.
What the Conversation Covers
- Maggie's career journey, from a hands-on studio interns...
Sari Winick, Chief Marketing Officer of Learning Resources and hand2mind, joins CMO Journeys to discuss how classic CPG training can translate into education, toys, retail, ecommerce, and family decision-making. Her perspective is valuable because she brings deep experience across consumer goods, healthcare, nutrition, sales, analytics, and brand leadership.
What the Conversation Covers
• Sari’s path from medical sales ...
Hilary Sauls, Chief Marketing Officer for The Armstrong Company, joins CMO Journeys to discuss her nearly 14-year path from marketing coordinator to CMO. Her perspective is valuable because she has helped shape the marketing function from inside a family-built relocation and logistics business as it expanded into a broader, multi-market services platform.
What the Conversation Covers
• Hilary’s early path from Louisiana...
Susanna Song, CMO of Aeris, joins CMO Journeys to discuss how her background in journalism, communications, podcasting, and executive storytelling shaped her path into marketing leadership. Her perspective is especially valuable for marketers and agency leaders working in complex categories where education, trust, and clear messaging are essential.
What the Conversation Covers
• Susanna’s early leadership experiences an...
Sivan Koenig Galinsky, Chief Marketing Officer at Barack Ferrazzano, joins CMO Journeys to discuss how legal marketing works inside a relationship-driven professional services firm. Her perspective is valuable because her career moved through legal recruitment, client relations, operations, business development, and marketing before she became the firm’s first CMO.
What the Conversation Covers
• Sivan’s early inte...
Sandy Kaup, Chief Marketing Officer at Southern Technical College, joins CMO Journeys to discuss how marketing, admissions, and revenue alignment work together in career-focused education. His perspective is valuable because he built his career from admissions into marketing leadership, giving him a practical view of the full student journey from lead generation to enrollment outcomes.
What the Conversation Covers
• Sandy&rsq...
Andrea Schwenk, Chief Marketing Officer at Egglife Foods, joins CMO Journeys to discuss how she helped shape the brand from an early-stage challenger into a growing CPG platform. Her perspective is valuable for marketers and agency leaders because she brings experience across agencies, restaurants, spirits, retail, hospitality, and better-for-you food innovation.
What the Conversation Covers
• Andrea’s early interest in...
Dan Eisenberg, CMO and Partner at Blue Chip, joins CMO Journeys to discuss agency growth, client relationships, and the connection between brand building and business development. His perspective is especially valuable for agency leaders because he has spent his career helping agencies grow through trust, thought leadership, and stronger client partnerships.
What the Conversation Covers
• Dan’s early path from Los Angel...
Karen Craven, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer for the Office of the Illinois State Treasurer, joins CMO Journeys to discuss how public-sector marketing can build awareness, credibility, and trust. Her perspective is shaped by a career spanning journalism, government, public affairs, associations, education, and consumer-facing financial programs.
What the Conversation Covers
• Karen’s early career in journali...
In this episode of CMO Journeys, Christian Banach speaks with Michael Klozotsky, Chief Marketing Officer of IMO Health, about how unconventional career paths can create stronger marketing leaders and better teams. Michael shares how his background across academia, bartending, and enterprise healthcare marketing shaped a leadership style grounded in curiosity, simplification, and a deep belief that different ways of thinking lead to...
Dil Fernando, CMO of Freeosk, joins CMO Journeys to discuss how in-store product discovery is evolving into a more measurable retail media experience. Her perspective is valuable because she brings together experience in radio, music, entrepreneurship, CPG innovation, brand strategy, shopper engagement, and experiential retail media.
What the Conversation Covers
• Dil’s early career in radio and music, and how being on ...
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