Internationalists of the Year Announced! Today’s Most Inspirational Marketing Leaders Worldwide

These standout professionals span industries, continents, and career paths—but they share one powerful trait: a commitment to pushing boundaries and championing meaningful, results-driven change. Whether revitalizing legacy organizations, launching purpose-led ventures, or elevating marketing to new heights within the C-suite, these leaders are driving impact with insight, creativity, and courage.

Adam Benaroya combines strategic insight, social responsibility, and operational discipline in his role, emphasizing global media excellence through simplification, measurement, governance, and impactful media innovation.

Edward Bell combines emotional storytelling, data-driven precision, creative innovation, and purpose-led strategy. He’s rebuilt brand trust, driven commercial results, and elevated Cathay Pacific into a globally recognized and emotionally compelling airline brand.

Jonathan Bottomley champions a marketing strategy that bridges bold cultural storytelling, integrated digital experiences, and data-led media. His campaigns don’t just follow trends—they shape them, making Calvin Klein feel unexpectedly fresh, emotionally resonant, and commercially powerful under his leadership.

Charlie Chappell merges technical R&D skills with commercial insight, drives data-first media transformation, and leads bold, growth-generating product innovation, while maintaining a future-focused, acceleration-driven mindset. Since becoming VP of Innovation & R&D, Charlie has delivered about a 30–40 % increase in innovation-driven sales and built new technical capabilities, especially through salted snacks and BFY (“Better‑For‑You”) lines.

Kristin D’Arcy is the first-ever Chief Marketing Officer in True Religion’s 23‑year history, marking a strategic shift in how the company approaches growth. Her appointment was central to a direct-to-consumer, digital-first business model, engendering double-digit growth. Her work exemplifies a modern, bold, and metrics-driven marketing playbook that revives heritage brands through cultural resonance and digital-first thinking.

Casey DePalma McCartney stands out as an innovative marketing leader due to her pioneering approach to brand communications– encompassing transparency, tech adoption, influencer marketing, and cross-functional integration. She merges strategic vision, data-driven PR, and digital agility. Additionally, she is an authentic “influencer” herself in shaping how modern brands navigate authenticity, measurement, and meaningful consumer engagement.

Amy Dunham exemplifies what modern marketing leadership looks like—driving awareness and engagement and measurable outcomes across complex, global systems. Her blend of strategic storytelling, data-driven advocacy, and cross-industry experience set a high bar in communications leadership.

Dr. Jan Flemming’s leadership is characterized by data-driven media innovation, setting new benchmarks in digital targeting and media planning, unifying marketing and media functions, and bringing startup-style innovation to a legacy business. He is a leader who transforms challenges into industry-wide solutions and shifts how marketing and media intersect.

Sonsoles González blends top-tier marketing mastery, global brand leadership, strategic entrepreneurship, and personal purpose to lead a brand that speaks with, not just to, women navigating midlife beauty. Sitting in brainstorming sessions focused on 18‑to‑44-year-olds, she asked: “What happens to women after 44? They disappear?” That moment planted the seed for a brand addressing the overlooked hair needs of women over 40.

Melanie Huet stands out for her bold, consumer-centric transformation of Newell Brands’ marketing and innovation engine. Her strategic fusion of AI, consumer insight, and brand discipline is all driven by a clear vision and measurable results. Her efforts exemplify what it means to be a modern, innovative CMO.

Daniel Kleinman blends product innovation, cultural relevance, digital-first marketing, and inclusive positioning into a scalable growth engine– redefining how wine brands resonate with modern consumers, while consistently driving category-leading performance. Under his leadership, Josh Cellars grew from 1.5 million to nearly 6 million cases, driven by broader reach and social media strategies.

Kory Marchisotto has redefined what it means to be a marketing leader in beauty—bold, inclusive, culture-shaping, and business-savvy. Kory is considered innovative and outstanding because she doesn’t just market; she mobilizes. Her formula—listen, dream big, act fast, and measure smartly—has transformed e.l.f. from a value makeup brand into a digital-first, culturally relevant powerhouse beloved by younger generations.

Kenny Mitchell combines cultural fluency, creative excellence, and business impact. By enabling participatory storytelling, capitalizing on live cultural moments, and scaling global initiatives, he revitalizes Levi’s heritage while making it relevant for today’s audience. When Beyonce dropped “Levi’s Jeans” on her 2024 album, Kenny and his team swiftly reshaped Levi’s social handles to match the song’s double‑i spelling, turning it into a broader multi-channel “Reiimagine” campaign worth over $5 M in earned media.

Jennifer Murillo’s innovative edge stems from combining empathy, data-driven insights, cultural relevance, and bold media execution. She humanizes marketing in a digital age while boldly reinventing brand perception. Whether it’s championing people-first service or thoughtfully localized campaigns, Murillo consistently strikes a balance between relevance, purpose, and impact.

Kerry Ok’s marketing innovation lies in how she blends data-driven personalization, secure identity-first UX, and developer/customer engagement, all while leading Okta’s brand in a high-growth, mission-critical domain. Her approach turns technical identity infrastructure into strategic marketing advantage.

Nils Persson is widely considered an innovative marketer due to his bold, boundary-pushing campaigns that reimagine how a nation brand can compete for global attention. He blends strategic creativity with cultural insight to spark global conversation—often using humor, provocation, and storytelling rooted in Swedish values. From AI horror stories to phone-a-Swede stunts, he redefines tourism marketing with originality and true global impact.

Shenan Reed champions the integration of traditional and digital media—insisting “it’s all performance media”—to ensure every channel drives measurable results. She blends creative storytelling, data-driven performance, AI innovation, and genuine human leadership. Shenan is transforming GM’s media model, influencing the broader industry, and leading with curiosity, empathy, and operational precision.

Geoff Seeley is redefining PayPal’s brand with bold, culturally resonant campaigns, such as “PayPal Everywhere,” the company’s largest-ever U.S. marketing push. His innovative blend of creative storytelling and performance-driven strategy is bringing fresh energy and new commercial relevance to the fintech giant. (He has also been generous about nominating many past Internationalists, and now works with Diego Scotti, PayPal’s EVP, another past Internationalist of the Year.)

Bridget Sponsky spearheaded Ally’s groundbreaking commitment to balance its media investments equally between men’s and women’s sports by 2027. Under her leadership, Ally reallocated over 400% more funding into women’s sports, reaching a 45/55 split today. She continues to push marketing boundaries by championing media equity, rewriting sponsorship norms, embracing tech and streaming innovation, and delivering quantifiable brand results. She blends strategic boldness with values-driven storytelling, making the Ally brand stand out in today’s marketing landscape.

Colin Westcott‑Pitt blends bold creativity, data-led insights, and authentic athlete alignment, generating a powerful ripple across global sports nutrition. His leadership not only amplifies brand equity— it creates cultural relevance and business impact in equal measure. He helped build Optimum Nutrition into a billion-dollar global brand by combining bold storytelling with elite sports partnerships.