Forbes has published its 2024 Entrepreneurial CMO list featuring fifty top marketing leaders across financial services, transport, entertainment, beauty, and food and drink.
The list showcases a group of top-level marketers who have been nominated by their peers, colleagues, and agency leaders.
Of those recognised, 62% of leaders are women – an increase of 8% from 54% just last year – and 32% of marketers featured are people of colour.
Despite more than two thirds of marketers being women, according to data by Statista, female marketers are often restricted from accessing C-suite positions.
Occupying only 20% of board seats globally, according to Deloitte, women continue to be excluded from the highest levels of corporate leadership.
The increase of diverse faces in Forbes’ list may indicate a drive towards DEI across all sectors.
Amongst the financial marketers recognised is Fiona Carter, chief marketing officer at Goldman Sachs. In an interview with Forbes, Carter said a successful entrepreneurial marketer requires the skills to “build bridges with the firm’s current operating systems and an understanding and tolerance for change from an often-(marketing) skeptical audience.”
As a result, business partners will “begin to acknowledge marketing can be a revenue-generator, scaling their business models, and helping find new audiences and sources of business,” she said.