American B2B Content Marketing Influencer Index

Over the past decade or so, B2B marketing has emerged as a discipline in its own right. Catering to the unique needs of businesses, B2B marketers are always looking for innovative ways to foster relationships with their clients. They frequently need to go above and beyond classic marketing tactics to make an impact.

Because of the niche fields in which they work, it’s not unusual for B2B marketers to have to work twice as hard as B2C marketers to generate the same amount of attention.

We asked you, and you told us about the American B2B marketers who are generating significant results in their fields, and influencing real business change through their work.

Here they are: B2B News Network’s index of nine of the most interesting, innovative and influential B2B marketers in the U.S. today.

Who he is: Dustin Luther, Director of Engagement with Dun & Bradstreet

Follow him on Twitter: @DnBB2B

As the Director of Engagement at Malibu, California-based Dun & Bradstreet, Dustin Luther manages a team of B2B marketing experts in areas spanning content, social media, videos, webinars, podcasts, live events and a popular B2B podcast.

“I try my best to stay competitive in B2B marketing by finding ways to be more collaborative than competitive and experimenting with new strategies,” Luther told B2B News Network. “Whether it’s at events or networking online, I do my best to stay in the conversation by listening to the incredible set of friends and experts I’ve been fortunate to assemble.

“There are so many great people out there doing so many exciting, innovative things that I make an effort to follow along and absorb where they see the future of marketing tools, technologies and strategies. In addition, I think my team learns a lot through experimentation. I like to think we have a culture where everyone on the team feels comfortable being on the lookout for new and interesting ideas, and thinking about how we could incorporate the best of those into our existing B2B campaigns.”

Luther said we’ve obviously already seen a massive increase in the consumption of marketing data within the B2B space, and that we will see this trend continue.

“Specifically, B2B marketing leaders will continue to leverage big data to help strengthen key business relationships,” he said. “As this trend continues, the separation between marketing and sales teams will continue to blur and the successful companies will be the ones who navigate these changes well.”

Who he is: Giles House, Chief Marketing Officer of CallidusCloud

Follow him on Twitter: @Housegiles

Find him on LinkedIn: Giles House

An experienced marketing executive with a track record of successfully marketing and selling business software and technology for more than a decade, Giles House has been Chief Marketing Officer at CallidusCloud since May 2013. He is responsible for the company’s global marketing activities, communications, brand sales enablement programs and alliances and strengthening the reputation as a global leader in Lead to Money cloud software.

Under his direction, the marketing team has consistently grown the sales pipeline in excess of 60 percent year over year and was recently awarded Marketing Team of the Year at the 2014 International Business Awards.

A recognized thought-leader, House specializes in marketing, branding, go-to-market strategy, lead generation, communications, product marketing, building relationships, business development, complex sales engagements and channel setup and management. He regularly speaks on sales and marketing automation and alignment, and has been interviewed by leading publications including B2BNN.

Who he is: Jeremy Cooper, Vice President, LTS Global Marketing at LinkedIn

Find him on LinkedIn: Jeremy Cooper

Jeremy Cooper has only held the role of vice-president of LTS Global Marketing at LinkedIn since August, but before that, was at Google for six years, where he blazed a trail in a number of marketing roles, most recently as the head of the global marketing team for Google Cloud Platform, the fastest growing enterprise product in Google’s history.

“My team was responsible for every facet of global marketing strategy, including brand/awareness, digital/online, field and partner programs, product marketing, global campaigns and content, ops and analytics,” he stated on LinkedIn.

A graduate of Bond University, Cooper has also held marketing roles at Salesforce, Oracle and Siebel Systems.

Who he is: Brian Kardon, Chief Marketing Officer at Fuze

Follow him on Twitter: @bkardon

Find him on LinkedIn: Brian Kardon

A results-oriented marketing executive with more than 20 years of experience creating and implementing successful growth strategies, Brian Kardon’s marketing experience ranges from startups to global, billion-dollar organizations.

A graduate of The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania where he holds an MBA in marketing and management, Kardon is currently the Chief Marketing Officer at Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Fuze, a global leader in mobile-enabled, analytics-driven business communications which unifies voice, text, video and collaboration services on a single, intelligent cloud platform. There, Kardon is responsible for the company’s market positioning, demand generation, thought leadership and integrated marketing worldwide.

With specialties in strategic market planning, demand creation and customer acquisition, business analytics, advertising, content development, marketing operations and analyst and media relations, Kardon is also a respected mentor and coach skilled in driving performance-based cultures and developing talent.

If his name sounds familiar, it might be because he was named a Top 10 Global Chief Marketing Officer for companies with less than $250 million revenue by The CMO Institute and Top 15 CMO on Twitter by Social Media Marketing Magazine (He was also named by the Sales Lead Management Association as one of the Top 50 Most Influential People in Sales Lead Management). If you frequent industry conferences, you might have heard Kardon as a keynote speaker at The Conference Board, Dreamforce, DemandCon, Harvard Business School’s “Burning Questions” Conference, Eloqua Experience, Sirius Decisions Summit, REVTalks or Content Marketing World, to name a few. Forbes also named him one of the 100 Most Influential B2B Tech Marketers in North America of 2016.

Who she is: Karen Walker, Chief Marketing Officer at Cisco

Follow her on Twitter: @KarMWalker

Find her on LinkedIn: Karen M. Walker

She’s led B2B and B2C marketing teams all over Europe, North America and Asia and imparted her knowledge of business and brand strategy, corporate marketing, product management, portfolio, segment, industry, partner and field marketing.

Karen Walker has held various executive roles at Cisco since 2009, but today leads the company’s Global Marketing, Corporate Communications, and Government and Community Relations groups as the Senior Vice-President and Chief Marketing Officer at Cisco. Her group is responsible for positioning Cisco’s growth strategy and cultivating opportunities in new and existing customer markets, as well as promoting the Cisco brand with with customers and partners.

Prior to her time at Cisco, she also held several executive positions at Hewlett-Packard. Walker is also a renowned keynote speaker, having presented at events and technology summits all over the world.

Who she is: Caroline Donahue, Chief Marketing & Sales Officer at Intuit

Follow her on Twitter: @Intuit @cfdonahue

Find her on LinkedIn: Caroline Donahue

A self-described “passionate” senior executive focused on sales, marketing and running global organizations, Caroline Donahue is Executive Vice-President and Chief Marketing and Sales Officer at Intuit, a leading provider of business and financial management solutions for small and mid-sized businesses, consumers and accounting professionals. The company was named one of the world’s most admired software companies by Fortune Magazine in 2015.

Donahue is responsible for bringing the company’s financial management solutions for small businesses and consumers to market across a variety of channels, ranging from telesales, retail stores, resellers and alliances to mobile communication companies. She also leads Intuit’s marketing efforts in social media, mobile and the web, as well as overseeing the company’s corporate communications organization.

Prior to joining Intuit in May 1995 as director of sales, Donahue was director of sales at Knowledge Adventure, an educational software maker.

Who he is: Chris Capossela, Chief Marketing Officer at Microsoft

Follow him on Twitter: @chriscapossela

Find him on LinkedIn: Chris Capossela

Chris Capossela’s passion for technology and computing began as a child, when he wrote a reservation system for his family’s small Italian restaurant in Boston using dBASE for DOS on an early IBM PC.

Decades later, Capossela’s passion hasn’t waned. He now has more than 25 years of leadership experience at Microsoft under his belt as he heads the company’s global product marketing, advertising, brand, research and communications functions.

As chief marketing officer, Capossela runs marketing for Microsoft’s consumer and commercial businesses.

“I lead our worldwide marketing and consumer business team, which includes product marketing for all our services and products, advertising, brand strategy, communications and research,” Capossela stated on his LinkedIn page.

He said it’s a thrill to work with “such a talented group of people” and that he is “passionate about our mission to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more.”

Who she is: Lynn Vojvodich, Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice-President, Salesforce

Follow her on Twitter: @lvojvodich

Find her on Linkedin: Lynn Vojvodich

A self-described accomplished marketing executive with an engineer’s passion for technology, Lynn Vojvodich, a Harvard MBA, “began my career in a hard hat, working on the design and construction of Gulfstream Jets and offshore oil structures.” With more than 20 years of enterprise experience, primarily in the software industry. Vojvodich is Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President of San Francisco-based Salesforce, the world’s fifth largest software company and #1 CRM provider.

As CMO, Vojvodich leads the global organization responsible for branding and positioning, public relations, digital marketing, content marketing, campaigns, strategic events, and marketing operations. Vojvodich’s team is also responsible for the world’s largest software conference, Dreamforce.

Prior to Salesforce, where she puts to use her experience in marketing technology and innovation, market analysis, go-to-marketing strategy, customer experience, team building and leadership, marketing and sales alignment, she held leadership roles at Andreessen Horowitz, Microsoft, and BEA.

She is also a member of The Priceline Group’s board of directors.

Who she is: Maggie Chan Jones, Chief Marketing Officer at SAP

Follow her on Twitter: @maggiecj

Find her on Linkedin: Maggie Chan-Jones

As the Chief Marketing Officer of SAP, Maggie Chan Jones oversees the development of marketing strategy across the globe, including global advertising, branding, sponsorships, digital, audience, operations, partner and field marketing, and events.

“I champion SAP’s journey to help our customers, partners, and employees Run Simple and support our customers’ journey to digital enterprises,” Chan Jones stated.

Prior to joining SAP, Chan Jones was the inaugural Regional CMO of North America at Level 3 Communications, where she led the transformation of the marketing function by sharpening the focus on more profitable customer segments, creating customer-focused marketing programs, and instilling a culture to measure returns on marketing investments; and was the marketing director of U.S. Cloud Services and Office 365 at Microsoft Corporation.

Brand Innovators named her one of the Top 50 Women in Brand Marketing in 2015.