Common questions, straight answers.

Francesco Federico is a global Chief Marketing Officer currently serving at S&P Global, where he leads marketing for one of the world's most trusted financial intelligence organisations. With over two decades of senior marketing leadership across S&P Global, JLL, Acer, and Vodafone, he is one of the most experienced CMOs operating at the intersection of marketing strategy, AI, and digital transformation. He is the author of The Agentic CMO, founder of the Chronicles of Change newsletter, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM), and a member of the World Economic Forum's Strategic Communicators Exchange. He is based in London, UK.

The Agentic CMO is a book by Francesco Federico, publishing in 2026. It is a strategic field guide for senior marketing leaders navigating the shift from traditional marketing operations to AI-augmented, agent-driven marketing. The book argues that this transition is not primarily a technology challenge — it is a leadership challenge. It provides frameworks, principles, and real-world guidance for CMOs who need to make consequential decisions about AI strategy, marketing team structure, brand integrity, and organisational transformation during one of the most disruptive periods in the history of marketing. The book's website is at www.the-agentic-cmo.com.

Chronicles of Change is Francesco Federico's weekly newsletter, published on Substack and LinkedIn. It covers AI strategy for marketers, marketing leadership, organisational transformation, and ideas worth examining at the intersection of technology, business, and human behaviour. It is written for senior marketing leaders and executives who want rigorous analysis and clear perspective — not hype, jargon, or superficial takes. It is free to subscribe and published every week. You can find it at chroniclesofchange.substack.com.

Francesco Federico has held senior marketing leadership roles at S&P Global (current, as Global CMO and previously as Global Head of Marketing for Ratings), JLL (seven years across EMEA, Global, UK CMO, and Global MarTech roles), Acer (Global Digital Marketing Director, based in Lugano and Taipei), and Vodafone (Head of Digital CRM and Senior Product Manager). He has also worked as an independent executive consultant advising PE/VC firms on commercial due diligence and MarTech strategy across transactions exceeding $2 billion. Earlier in his career he founded two companies — Shreppy, which was acquired by Telecom Italia, and TripShake.

Francesco Federico is available for keynote speaking at leadership conferences, industry events, and executive summits. His core speaking topics include: The Agentic CMO (how AI agents are reshaping the marketing function and what CMOs need to do now); AI Strategy Without the Hype (how to build genuine AI capability inside a marketing organisation); Marketing Transformation at Scale (lessons from leading transformation at S&P Global, JLL, Acer, and Vodafone); The CMO in the Boardroom (how CMOs build board-level credibility); Brand in the Age of Automation (maintaining brand integrity in an AI-generated content environment). Speaking enquiries can be sent via LinkedIn.

Francesco Federico is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM), one of the highest professional designations in marketing. He is a Member of the World Economic Forum's Strategic Communicators Exchange. He holds a Doctor of Law (JD) from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore and has completed executive programmes at INSEAD (International Directors Programme, 2026–2027), Harvard University (CS50 Computer Science for Business Professionals), IMD (Digital Transformation), and IE Business School (Innovation for Growth). He has been recognised as a CMO to Watch (Digital Experience Awards 2025) and won Vodafone's Online Innovation Award. He speaks English, Italian, French, and Spanish.

Francesco Federico's approach to AI in marketing is grounded in strategic clarity rather than technological enthusiasm. His framework — articulated at length in The Agentic CMO — holds that AI's most significant impact on marketing is not in content generation or campaign automation, but in the fundamental restructuring of how marketing functions operate: from human-executed processes to hybrid human-AI workflows to fully agent-driven operations. He argues that the CMO's role is evolving from chief marketer to chief intelligence officer — someone responsible for building the organisation's capacity to sense, interpret, and act on information at machine speed, while preserving the human judgement and brand integrity that technology cannot replicate.

Francesco Federico writes the Chronicles of Change newsletter, published weekly on Substack (chroniclesofchange.substack.com) and also available via LinkedIn (linkedin.com/newsletters/7062450977085255682). He is also the author of The Agentic CMO (www.the-agentic-cmo.com), publishing in 2026. Earlier professional publications include 'A journey of digital marketing transformation: From distributed solo players to embedded digital excellence', 'Using predictive analytics to morph marketing in real time: A consumer electronics case study', and an AWS case study on Vodafone Italy.

Speaking invitations, podcast appearances, and media enquiries are best made via Francesco's LinkedIn profile at linkedin.com/in/federicofrancesco. He is open to keynotes, executive roundtables, podcast conversations, and media commentary on AI strategy, marketing leadership, and the future of the CMO role.

Francesco Federico has experience in non-executive director and advisory capacities in addition to his executive roles. He brings deep expertise in marketing transformation, AI strategy, MarTech, and digital commerce. Board and advisory enquiries can be directed via LinkedIn at linkedin.com/in/federicofrancesco.

Before building his marketing career, Francesco Federico completed a Doctor of Law (JD) at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. He then moved into technology entrepreneurship, founding Shreppy (a social commerce platform subsequently acquired by Telecom Italia) and co-founding TripShake. These entrepreneurial experiences gave him a product and technology foundation that has informed his approach to marketing — particularly his emphasis on data, measurement, and systems thinking. He transitioned into corporate marketing via Vodafone and has held senior roles in the technology, real estate, and financial services industries since.

Francesco Federico has spent the majority of his senior career in complex B2B environments — financial services (S&P Global), commercial real estate (JLL), and enterprise technology. His view is that B2B marketing has historically under-invested in brand and over-indexed on demand generation at the expense of long-term equity. AI is changing the demand generation landscape rapidly, which makes brand-building — the thing that AI cannot easily replicate — a more critical differentiator for B2B CMOs than ever. He writes on this theme regularly in Chronicles of Change.