Emma Chalwin

Meet the Rock Star of B2B Marketing (But Don’t Call Her That)

Workday is shaking up the once-staid world of B2B marketing with a little rock ‘n’ roll. The financial and HR software company’s award-winning ads feature music legends like Gwen Stefani and Billy Idol crashing the corporate world to hilarious effect. It’s just one more way Emma Chalwin is making her mark at the fast-growing financial and HR software company, which made the Fortune 500 list for the first time this year, raking in $8.4 billion in revenue in 2024. The Salesforce veteran was named CMO at Workday in 2023 and has helped the company expand to serve more than 60% of the Fortune 500 by maintaining a laser focus on marketing ROI and fostering a fun work environment that’s produced “zero attrition” on her 900-plus global marketing team. Not only has Chalwin rolled out a CMO dashboard that shows how every dollar spent contributes to pipeline and revenue, she’s also shifted toward a skills-based hiring approach and introduced CMO School, a program emphasizing mentorship, rotations, and open dialogue on issues like imposter syndrome. We’d call her a rock star, but Paul Stanley wouldn’t like it.

By Audrey Goodson Kingo