Former Helloworld CMO, Kim Portrate, has re-emerged as the inaugural CEO of a new Australian TV research and marketing firm.

Carnival Australia is increasingly looking to digital channels and data as ways of improving customer engagement, says its CEO, Ann Sherry. She chats with CMO about how the cruise company is meeting modern consumer demands.

Revlon has appointed its marketing director as the new general manager of Australasia following the retirement of long-serving leader, Rob Garratt.

CMOs may be gaining influence across executive teams today, but trying to find marketers who’ve risen up to CEO still isn’t easy in Australia. For the few who have reached this corporate milestone, like Virgin Mobile’s David Scribner, that lack of fellow peer progression is a little sad.

The latest Spencer Stuart CMO tenure study has found marketing chiefs in the US are now staying in their jobs for 48 months on average.

Tourism Australia’s former CMO, Nick Baker, has become the new CEO for Australian online gifting site, RedBalloon.

Every listed company should have a marketer on their board supporting the CEO, according to Tony Stuart, CEO of the National Roads and Motorists' Association (NRMA).

Former ninemsn digital content director and startup investor, Todd Forest, has been appointed CEO of new Australian mobile payments app, Clipp.

The Australian Museum’s new director is on a mission: To transform the way the scientific and cultural institution positions its product offering, and communicates with local and global customers to drive better visitor experiences. So it’s rather fitting she describes her leadership approach with a quote from one of the best-known natural historians of them all.

Chief executive of Australia’s Taronga Zoo Cameron Kerr is a great believer in the power of people to transform brands as well as leadership. He discusses his rise from marketer to business leader

While we’ve only seen a handful of chief marketing officers become CEOs to date, digital disruption and the rise of customer centricity as a core pillar of competitive advantage are paving the way for more to rise to the top job.

There aren’t that many marketers who boast both solid branding roots and broader business leadership and development experience. But head of territory Australia and New Zealand for music streaming company Rdio, Colin Blake, not only possesses these skills, he’s also coached the Canadian Olympics snowboarding team.

In the past two decades, marketing has established itself as one of the lynchpins of modern business, essential to the support of sales and business strategy. But with the role of the CMO rising accordingly, an obvious question emerges as to why more CMOs have not stepped up into the top job, or beyond.

Gillian Franklin has built the Heat Group into one of Australia’s most successful cosmetics companies off the back of a career in marketing. But it was never her original intention to forge such a path.

If you want to make your way to the top in business, it pays to play to your strengths. That has certainly been the plan for Intel’s MD and former marketer, Kate Burleigh, although the starting point for her journey up the executive ladder was an unusual one.

An early focus on customer experience with the help of his grandfather has helped Matt Ball immensely as he transitioned through a series of marketing roles to MD of BlackBerry A/NZ.

Erin Mulligan Nelson surprised many peers in 2010 when she quit her post as CMO of Dell to join a start-up focused on social data. But after 11 years with the enterprise giant, preceded by a stint in consumer packaged goods at Proctor and Gamble, she was looking for a different challenge.

The average tenure of a CMO has risen dramatically in recent years, and is seen by many to signify a CMO’s legitimacy to ultimately taking the top job: CEO.