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While CEOs brace for economic whiplash and supply chains play limbo, marketing chiefs are still getting crowned at a record pace. Uncertainty is the word of the year, but don’t tell that to the 210 new CMOs we’ve counted in 2025 alone (including those announced in May). This hiring wave has no interest in slowing down.
After a modest dip in April, May clocked in another 43 new CMO appointments globally. That’s 21 women, 22 men, nudging the gender balance ever so slightly back toward the gents.
Of these 43 new marketing bosses, 8 were promoted from within, while 35 were poached from outside the company. 17 are first-timers in the big seat, but only 3 switched sectors entirely, proving that while companies are happy to gamble on fresh leadership, they still prefer someone who speaks the local lingo.
The U.S., as ever, dominated the field with 36 new CMOs across 16 states. California led the pack with 8, followed by Massachusetts (5), New York (4), and a neat three-way tie between Colorado, Pennsylvania, and Texas (3 each).
Internationally, India stood out with 2 new hires, while Australia, England, New Zealand, Pakistan, and Italy each welcomed one CMO apiece.
As for industry spread? Tech continues its hiring at pace with 16 new CMOs, trailed by Professional Services (11), Media/Sports/Entertainment (5), Retail (4), and Manufacturing (3).
Let’s zoom in on the month’s most headline-grabbing hires, because every new CMO brings with them a juicy subplot. Pour yourself a nice cup of tea, and let us walk you through some of the twists!
VICTORIA’S SECRET & CO
Victoria’s Secret has named Elizabeth Preis as Chief Marketing Officer, restoring a leadership role that has been vacant since early 2023. Preis previously served as global CMO at Anthropologie and has held senior marketing roles at Estée Lauder, J.Crew, and Saks.
She rejoins CEO Hillary Super, her former boss at Anthropologie, as the brand begins the long process of regaining customer relevance and stability.
Her appointment lands at a fragile moment. A recent security incident forced the company to shut down its website and suspend some in-store services. Preis’s first task isn’t messaging or brand campaigns: it’s helping restore the customer experience and trust. Still, the timing could work in her favour. Recent earnings beat expectations on both sales and profit, suggesting the business is beginning to steady. There’s no turnaround yet, but there is a floor.
I noticed Preis also brings something rare to the role: a clean, deliberate handoff. Her departure from Anthropologie included a public endorsement of her successor, Barbra Sainsurin, who was promoted from within. That still remains unusual. In May alone, only 8 CMOs were promoted internally, compared to 35 plucked from the outside. Still, the winds may be shifting: of the 210 CMO appointments this year so far, 20% were internal - a decent bump from 16.1% in 2024 and a limp 12.7% in 2023.
Preis is a standout in that she left a leadership bench in place. That says something about her management style. It also hints that VS is hiring a pragmatist who leaves things better than she found them.
Preis enters a business that has tried rebrands, restructures, and resets. It now seems to want structure.
ANTHROPOLOGIE
Barbra Sainsurin has been promoted to Global Chief Marketing Officer of Anthropologie Group, stepping into the role vacated by Elizabeth Preis after a five-year run. Sainsurin previously served as Executive Director of Digital and Brand Marketing, where she led digital strategy, performance marketing, and brand partnerships across all customer touchpoints.
The move is rare in today’s marketing landscape. Planned successions are especially scarce in retail. Anthropologie’s internal handoff signals stability and signals that the company sees marketing not as a patch, but as a long-game function.
Sainsurin takes over at a strong moment. Urban Outfitters Inc., Anthropologie’s parent company, just posted record Q1 earnings, with the brand delivering the highest same-store sales growth across the portfolio at 6.9%. That puts Sainsurin in the rare position of inheriting a business in motion, not in crisis.
She’s no stranger to high expectations. Before Anthropologie, Sainsurin led personalisation and performance marketing at Under Armour and held roles at American Express, Ogilvy, and Marriott. Now she’s got the top job. And this time, she already knows the customer.
SABRE
Sabre has named Jennifer Catto its new Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President. She joins the travel technology company at a time of renewed focus, with a clear mandate: define Sabre’s value to a market that’s shifting fast.
Sabre is the engine room that lets airlines, travel sites, and hotels talk to each other. If booking a flight were a videogame, Sabre’s platform would be the game server keeping all the players in sync. The Covid Pandemic unplugged that server; traffic is back, but Sabre is still fixing the lag.
Catto brings more than 25 years of experience leading marketing through change. Her past roles span well-known names like Travelport, Travelocity, Condé Nast, and Telaria. She’s helped companies evolve, reintroduce themselves, and build marketing teams at scale.
At Sabre, the task is pretty clear. The company recently divested its AirCentre business and is modernising its core platform. The goal: to become faster, simpler, and more customer-focused. Catto’s hire lines up with this direction. In her own words,
A brand is a promise you make to the market that the business has to keep.”
Sabre’s timing also matters. The company beat expectations in Q1, but the broader travel industry remains unpredictable. Global air travel is picking up again, but pressure on cost and clarity is growing. For B2B players like Sabre, that means being able to show value - quickly and clearly.
I think Catto’s hire says less about branding polish and more about buyer confidence. I can see why it makes sense. Sabre is restructuring and trying to win on simplicity. That only works if customers can actually see it. Catto’s job is to make Sabre legible and to bring the transformation to market in a way that cuts through noise. And based on Q1 results and the CEO’s focus on clarity, the clock is already ticking.
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