Is the CMO Role Disappearing?

While the chief marketing officer (CMO) post isn’t about to disappear tomorrow, it’s unfeasible to ignore the mounting evidence of its steady erosion.

As ADWEEK reported in August, the average CMO tenure slipped from 4.1 years in 2024 to 3.9 years in 2025. Last year, 63% of Fortune 500 companies had CMOs-but in 2025, that figure had dropped by 5%.

It gets worse. A McKinsey paper released in June noted that “CFOs frequently enough view marketing as a cost center rather than an investment.” And 2025 data gathered by marketing firm Boathouse reveals that 14% of CEOs admit to having thought about eliminating the CMO’s position.

Scary? Very much so. But despite the numbers, CMOs themselves are not as fatalistic about their futures.

During a roundtable discussion at ADWEEK House: Advertising HQ on Thursday, ADWEEK chief brand and community officer Jenny Rooney invited three leading CMOs to challenge the notion that marketers are an endangered species in the C-suite-and support that counter-narrative with reasons why CMOs still matter.

Alison Hiatt of Vera Bradley, Uzma Rawn Dowler of Major League Baseball, and