Caldwell Partners Lands Chief Marketing Officer for ADP
October 16, 2017 – As business becomes more global and complex, and power shifts from producers of goods and services to consumers, the chief marketing officer’s job of planning and coordinating marketing activities has become more challenging, recruiters say. Yet executive search firms are seeing no shortage of assignments for this important C-level position.
Executive search firm Caldwell Partners International recently recruited Lorraine Barber-Miller as senior vice president and chief marketing officer for ADP in Roseland, NJ. Jim Bethmann, managing partner and co-leader of Caldwell’s TMT & IT services and information security practices, led the search along with partner Avo Oudbachian.
Ms. Barber-Miller is an accomplished global CMO recognized for building businesses and producing financial results in both mature and growth markets, including North America as well as Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East & Africa, said Caldwell Partners. She has advanced through the marketing, sales and communications disciplines both domestically and internationally while having led marketing transformation and entrepreneurial business building in over 100 countries globally.
Proven Experience
Previously, Ms. Barber-Miller served as vice president for IBM’s global business services, C-suite and blockchain marketing across North America. Her work revolved around advancing clients’ transformational agendas centered on artificial intelligence, cognitive and digital reinvention. She also advised select Fortune 500 clients on marketing strategy, digital transformation and client experience design.
While working abroad, she also served as CMO of Central and Eastern Europe for IBM out of Prague.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Barber-Miller served as marketing and communications director based in Dubai, where she developed IBM’s market presence across three continents in more than 100 countries across Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa.
As CMO Post Evolves, Role of Recruiters Seen As Pivotal
As companies become more global and complex, marketing — and the chief marketing officer (CMO) position in particular — has taken on an increasingly crucial and strategic role in moving businesses forward. Clearly, the CMO role is in the midst of change.
The Recruiters
Mr. Bethmann has more than 30 years of leadership experience, including 15 years in executive search, 10 years leading technology company operations on three continents and 12 years as an active duty and reserve surface warfare naval officer. He is an industry specialist in technology, telecoms, IT services/outsourcing and defense. At Caldwell Partners, his focus is recruiting board directors and C-suite executives in software, IT services, cloud/outsourcing, Internet/ media, telecommunications, hardware/systems and defense markets on a global basis.
Mr. Oudabachian focuses on recruiting senior executives (the board, chief executive officer and their direct reports) in both private equity portfolio and high-growth publicly-held companies across North America and Western Europe. He has particular expertise in the pharmaceutical, life sciences and medical devices industries, and also works in other sectors such as retail, industrial manufacturing, transportation, logistics, hospitality, and business services.
Chief Marketing Officers
Current business landscape demands have increased the contribution from chief marketing officers, according to the latest research report from Forrester and Heidrick & Struggles. The survey found that CMOs are building strong relationships with the head of product and research & development to prepare the organization for digital disruption.
“We see CMOs moving beyond functional expertise to assume responsibility for driving overall growth within their organizations,” said Sheryl Pattek, VP, CMO executive partner at Forrester. “They are evolving into key strategic partners on the executive team, and know that collaboration with the rest of the C-suite will be instrumental to their success.”
That said, companies continue to turn to executive search firms to fill this vital C-level position. Here’s a look at a few recent assignments taken from the Hunt Scanlon Media archives:
Executive search firm DHR International just recruited industry veteran Brad Haley as senior vice president and chief marketing officer of IHOP Restaurants. Managing partner Ken Schwenke and partner Christine DeYoung led the assignment. Before joining IHOP, Mr. Haley served as CMO of CKE Restaurants
Executive search firm MarketPro recruited Tim Surowiecki as the CMO of Sono Bello. The company was looking for a strategic marketing leader who could raise its rapid growth to the next level. That included diversifying and modernizing its marketing strategy to better reach its target audience.
Papa John’s Pizza named Brandon Rhoten as global CMO. Assisting in the search was Hudson, MA-based Pollard Search Group. Founder and managing partner Stephen Pollard led the assignment for the Louisville-headquartered pizza delivery company. The firm completed the search in just 67 days.
PFM Executive Search has placed Paul Hawes as chief marketing officer of destination marketing organization Tourism Victoria. Mr. Hawes has more than 22 years of progressive tourism marketing and sales experience. He arrived in Canada after leading Destination New South Wales (Australia) to expand its presence in the European market.
Caldwell Partners recruited Ann Sung Ruckstuhl as chief marketing officer of publicly traded technology company Unisys Corporation. Jim Bethmann, managing partner and co-leader of the firm’s TMT & IT services and information security practices, led the search. Most recently, Ms. Ruckstuhl was CMO at SOASTA.
HVS Executive Search has placed Mark Mears as chief marketing officer of Slim Chickens. The fast-casual restaurant plans to grow to 600 locations in the next 10 years and needed a marketing executive to further fuel this effort. CEO Court Williams led the search along with vice president Bill Conn.
BSG Team Ventures placed Robert Birdsong as chief marketing officer at the Human Capital Institute (HCI). Mr. Birdsong was previously with CEB Global where he led marketing strategy to achieve product positioning, brand awareness and lead generation for CEB’s talent management solutions.
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief; Dale M. Zupsansky, Managing Editor; Stephen Sawicki, Managing Editor; and Will Schatz, Managing Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media