Description:

Neil Golden, Medill lecturer and Immersion Quarter Leadership Team member, will facilitate a discussion focused on experiences and milestones which led the guests to become successful chief marketing officers.

Panelists:

Zena Arnold -- Chief Marketing Officer, Kimberly Clark Corporation

Zena is an accomplished executive across CPG and Technology marketing and general management.  She recently joined Kimberly Clark as their Chief Digital & Marketing Officer, leading Kimberly-Clark's global marketing teams and driving initiatives to accelerate the digital transformation of the company's brands and businesses.  She was previously at Google, where she was most recently in Business and Operations leadership roles running the US Chromebooks organization and subsequently starting a Global Growth team.  Prior to that she led Global Marketing for Chromebooks, managing product marketing, brand marketing, partnerships, go-to-market and international expansion, resulting in double digit share growth.  Zena joined Google to run Go To Market for Google Play in the Americas, accelerating sales via brand building initiatives, growth marketing, performance media and partnerships. The formative years of her career were at Procter and Gamble and Kellogg's, where she held a series of brand and portfolio management roles on their biggest brands like Olay, Folgers, Pop-Tarts and more, overseeing current business/P&L, upstream innovation and shopper marketing.  She holds a degree in computer science from The Ohio State University. 

Melissa Brotz – Chief Marketing Officer, Abbott Labs

Melissa is Abbott’s Chief Marketing, Communications and Sustainability Officer. Her responsibilities include global corporate marketing, communications, and citizenship and sustainability.  Melissa also serves as President of the Abbott Fund, Abbott’s philanthropic foundation.

Melissa was appointed to her current role in September 2018.  She joined Abbott in 1996 after several years with leading public relations agencies, and rose through a series of positions in its pharmaceuticals business and corporate office, most recently heading the company’s global communications group.

Having been with the company through more than two decades of continual strategic transformation, she’s gained deep understanding of the importance of corporate identity.“Identity and reputation are a company’s most important assets,” she says.  “They’re our bond with the people we serve. We want the world to know the role we play in it, the contributions we make, and the values we stand for.”  

Melissa is a member of the Arthur W. Page Society; the Public Relations Society of America; the MMA North America Board; the CMO Growth Council; and the Medill Board of Advisers, and the Advisory Committee on Investment Responsibility at Northwestern University, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Journalism.

Fernando Machado – Global Chief Marketing Officer, Restaurant Brands Int’l

Fernando is a global marketer with a passion for growing brands and businesses. He is best known for pushing the creative boundaries to drive business growth. 

Currently as Global CMO at Restaurant Brands International, Fernando’s focus is infusing Burger King, Popeyes and Tim Hortons with purpose (including sustainability), improving product quality, modernizing design, and inspiring the organization around tech, digital and brand development. 

Prior to joining BK, Fernando worked for 18 years at Unilever. Starting as an intern, he moved up the ranks working different product categories and brands, including Dove where he led the groundbreaking "Beauty Sketches".