LONDON — The Influence 100, PRovoke Media’s annual report on the world’s leading chief marketing and communications officers, has revealed the in-house communicators nominated as CCOs and CMOs of the future.

This year’s 20 Rising Stars have been identified by the 2021 Influence 100 cohort as well-positioned to be among tomorrow’s most influential global chief communications officers and chief marketing officers. A number of previous Rising Stars of recent years have made it onto the global Influence 100 list, including last year’s nominee Dara Treseder, head of global marketing and communications at Peleton.

The 2021 Rising Stars include 10 nominees from the US, two from Asia-Pacific, and eight from EMEA, including two from the UK. The list features 11 women and nine men. Many are already in regional or specific discipline leadership roles within their function, such as corporate and brand communications.

The Rising Stars for 2021 are:

  • Alberto Canal, VP, external communications, Verisk
  • Alex Malouf, corporate communications director, MEA, Schneider Electric
  • Amanda Glasgow, head of print communications, HP
  • CJ Stanley, global head of consumer PR, Spotify
  • Claudio Monteverde, director of corporate communications, Gucci
  • Fatema Al Khateeb, head of strategic communications planning, UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs & International Cooperation
  • Gaurav Bhaskar, director of corporate communications & public affairs, Google India
  • James Lusher, director of external communications, Virgin Media
  • Jessica Appelgren, VP, communications, Impossible Foods
  • Julie Lawless, SVP corporate affairs & administration, Elanco Animal Health
  • Katharina Latif, head of reputation strategy & analytics, Allianz Germany
  • Lily Lin, VP global communications & public affairs, Google
  • Marisa Bradley, director of internal communications, Ford
  • Matt Kallman, VP, Communications, Uber
  • Mattias af Geijerstam, director of communications, Europe, TCS
  • Menreet Kaur, head of PR & integrated campaigns, eBay UK
  • Nkiru Olumide-Ojo, Africa Regions executive head, marketing & corporate communications, Standard Bank
  • Sukhi Sahni, SVP, head of brand communications, Wells Fargo
  • Victor Terry, VP public affairs & chief diversity officer, State Farm
  • Vijayaratnam Tharumartnam, director of group corporate communications, Proton Holdings.

Also included in the Influence 100 are the Crossover Stars: PRovoke Media’s annual ‘Hall of Fame’ for those communicators whose career trajectory has extended beyond communications, marketing and sales into a broader core business function within their organisations.

The 11 leaders named as this year’s Crossover Stars are:

  • Ann Mukherjee, chairman and CEO, North America, Pernod Ricard
  • Eugenio Simioni, CEO, Nestlé Suisse
  • Isabel de Paoli, partner, EQT
  • Jackson Jeyanayagam, VP and general manager, The Clorox Company
  • Juan Manuel Cendoya, vice chairman of the board of directors, Banco Santander
  • Kristin Lemkau, CEO, US Wealth Management, JPMorgan Chase
  • Matthew Gain, SVP and head of APAC, Japan & India, Audible
  • Pete Marino, president of emerging growth, MillerCoors
  • Simon Pearce, special advisor to the chairman, Executive Affairs Authority Of Abu Dhabi
  • Steve Forshaw, MD Australia & New Zealand and head of public affairs, Temasek
  • Wrenelle Stander, CEO, Airlines Association of Southern Africa.

The full Influence 100 report, with profiles of all 100 influencers, demographics, and insights including their budgets and main areas of spend, how they work with agencies, diversity and the challenges and future of the CCO and CMO role can be found here.

The report also includes the Influence 100’s views on the PR agencies they most admire and future challenges for the PR agency world; the brands that have managed their reputations best and worst over the past year; and the political leaders who have communicated best, and worst, this year.