Top 20 Greater Boston “Growth CMOs” — here are the nominees

Today we’re announcing the nominations for the top 20 CMOs in New England.

In all, 37 people made it on the list. Many of them are known marketing stars, from both massive brands and fast-growing startups. Included, for example, are Anne Finucane of Bank of America, and John Frascotti of Hasbro — representatives of the region’s multibillion-dollar brands. There’s Mike Volpe of the fast-growing newly public company Hubspot. And also making the list are the lead marketers of startups Actifio, Qvidian and Applause.

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We’re hoping this list will spur more insights from you about these candidates, and which among them should make the final 20. Go here by Friday to express your support of up to three candidates on the list.

Next, we’ll select the top 20 from this list, and recognize the winners at next week’s GrowthBeat Summit in Boston on June 1-2, where we’re also inviting the best CMOs around the country to speak and network. We invite you to apply to join us to celebrate

See bottom for more details.

Tom Wentworth	CMO	Acquia
Mike Troiano	CMO	Actifio
Barbara Goose	CMO	Altisource
Matt Johnston	CMO and Chief Strategy Officer	Applause
Rob Cosinuke	SVP & Chief Marketing Officer	Athena Health
Maria Feicht	Chief Brand Officer	Au Bon Pain Franchising Corporation
Anne Finucane	Global Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer	Bank of America
Bari Harlam	EVP, Marketing and Membership	BJ’s Wholesale Club
Lauren Flaherty	CMO	CA Technologies
Geoff Cottrill	CMO	Converse Inc.
John Costello	President, Global Marketing & Innovation	Dunkin’brands, Inc.
Kyle York	CMO	Dyn
Vala Afshar	CMO	Extreme Networks
John Frascotti	President, Hasbro Brands	Hasbro, Inc.
Mike Volpe	CMO	Hubspot
Ed Gaudet	Former CMO	Imprivata
Julie Ginches	CMO	Kahuna
Steve Fuller	CMO	L. L. Bean
Josh Todd	CMO	Localytics
Heather Smiley	CMO	Mass Mutual
Kirby Wadsworth	CMO	Mendix
Liz Vanzura	CMO	MMB
Jennifer Halloran	VP, Head of Corporate Marketing	Mobiquity
Michael R. Hall	VP Digital	NESN
Jim McNiel	VP, WW Marketing	NetScout
Paul Conforti	CMO	Ocean State Job Lot
Robert Tas	SVP and CMO	Pegasystems
Christopher Faust	CMO	Qvidian
Inga Stenta	Global Marketing & Experiential Director	Reebok International Ltd.
Marianne Budnik	CMO	Simplivity
Renato Valentim	Co-founder	Tavern in the Square
Barbara Messing	CMO	TripAdvisor
Shawn LaVana	Head of Marketing	Virgin Pulse
Peter Vescuso	CMO	VoltDB
Brian Harrington	CMO	Zipcar
Hila Nir	CMO/VP of Marketing	ZoomInfo
Gary Lombardo	VP of Marketing	CashStar

 

Details

We’re looking specifically for those who have done the best job growing their company over the past year. VentureBeat launched the competition to recognize the best CMOs in New England.

Many of the finalists will carry the CMO title, but we recognize that not every leading marketer carries that title. Other titles will be considered — VPs of Marketing, Chief Digital Officers, and so on. The candidate should carry the growth mandate for their companies and also rank as their companies’ top marketer.

Marketers from all industries were considered. And in our selection of the final 20, we’ll take vertical differences into account. For example, a marketer of an apparel company may not have grown as fast as a mobile ad network. But that’s okay, because we’ll also consider how the company is doing versus its industry peers.

Here are the main criteria we want to consider, which align with the focus of next week’s GrowthBeat Summit. Which marketers have achieved impressive growth by:

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1. Articulating a well-honed and creative “story” for their company’s product
2. Leveraging technology to have the right conversations with the right customers in the right channels

It’s our belief that these two elements, creativity and technology, need to be fused together properly to create significant growth.

Please make your votes by Friday, May 29.

Our panel of experts — made up of myself, our VP of Research John Koetsier, among others — will choose the winners based on careful consideration of the votes and accompanying supporting evidence.

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VB is doing this for two reasons. First, we think it will provide much-needed recognition for New England marketers who are doing a kick-ass job.

The second reason is selfish: VB is building what is quickly becoming the largest repository of data from marketers about the technology and the strategies they’re using to get ahead. Events like GrowthBeat Summit allow us to get more intimate with the community. The good side to this is that we’re an independent news company, and objectivity drives us. We’re truly looking for the best and the brightest marketers in Boston.

Thank you for participating, and hope to see you at the event next week.