Despite more women becoming chief marketing officers in 2020, the profession saw a drop in overall racial and ethnic diversity, according to a recent report from executive search firm Spencer Stuart.
For its 17th annual CMO Tenure Study, Spencer Stuart analyzed the tenures of CMOs from 100 of the most advertised brands in the U.S. as of Dec. 31, 2020.
Four study insights:
1. Nearly half (47 percent) of all CMOs in 2020 were women, up from 43 percent in 2019 and 36 percent in 2018.
2. For 2020's incoming class of CMOs, women represented more than half (52 percent). This surpassed 2019, when women made up 48 percent of the incoming CMO class.
3. Racial and ethnic diversity among all CMOs dropped from 14 percent in 2019 to 13 percent in 2020.
4. Of the incoming CMOs in 2020, only 12 percent were racially or ethnically diverse, down from 19 percent in 2019.
Click here to view the full report.