No CMOs on top board of any FTSE 100 company, study finds
There are no marketing-specific roles on UK FTSE 100 boards, however there is “meaningful” marketing expertise on the majority, according to new research.
· Marketing WeekBy Molly Innes 18 Sep 2026 2:51 pm
Across the UK’s top 100 publicly listed companies, there are no marketing directors or CMOs on the main board.
This is a drop from the 14% that had marketing at the top table in 2007, according to new research from agency The Marketing Directors, which analyses the position of marketing in the FTSE 100.
The findings are compared against a 2007 study from Professor Malcom McDonald and Cranfield School of Management, which found 14 board level marketing officers operating.
On the Beach’s CMO on how being on the board has boosted her ‘bigger picture’ thinking
It begs the question – what has happened to marketing’s footing at the UK’s largest businesses?
Despite no traditional CMOs sitting on the boards of the FTSE 100, marketing leadership remains present, just in a different way. The majority (70%) of companies have “meaningful” marketing, customer and brand expertise within their boards, the study find.
Around 10% of FTSE 100 chief executives have a background in marketing or customer leadership, such as Tesco’s CEO Ken Murphy who was previously chief commercial officer at Walgreen Boots Alliance.
Similarly, Reckitt’s CEO Kris Licht was previously its chief customer officer.
Almost half (45%) of main PLC boards have non-executive or executive marketing expertise beyond the CEO. Meanwhile, within senior leadership – below main board level – 30% have a senior marketing or customer leader and 38% have “other substantial” marketing, brand or customer expertise.
Space NK promotes top marketer to CEO
The research suggests that while marketing is not necessarily losing its influence, the shape and understanding of marketing leadership is changing.
Marketing has been subsumed into different job titles in recent years which has seen the rise of roles like chief growth officer and chief customer officer. CMO is no longer the default marketing job title.
As Marketing Week’s 2026 Career & Salary Survey data suggests, new roles have been added to teams following a company restructure (40.7%), change in business strategy (31.6%) or departure of a marketing leader/change in personnel (24.9%).
Does marketing need a seat on the board in 2026?
Unsurprisingly, it’s consumer brands that have the most marketing influence. Of the 16 on the FTSE 100, all have senior management level marketing and customer leaders, while 15 have board level expertise.
Similarly, travel, hospitality, technology, media, information and digital companies show a “similarly high” index of senior management marketing expertise, in contrast to energy and financial services businesses where the experience is lacking.
The role of the board has changed, with the UK corporate governance code now positioning the main board of a business as taking on more of a watchdog role covering governance and long-term oversight, not daily operations.
The majority of businesses (86%) have an executive committee or operating board sitting below the main board, typically composed of the CEO and functional leaders. As the data points out, this is where marketing now holds influence.
“A CMO, chief customer officer or chief growth officer can therefore have significant responsibility for strategy, investment, customer experience, brand and commercial performance without being a statutory director of the PLC,” the research explains.
Noting the changing role of marketing in the last 30 years – from a creative function to growth lever – Guy Tomlinson, chief marketer at The Marketing Directors says: “As markets and products become more commoditised, the ability to understand customer intent, use data and technology intelligently, build distinctive customer experiences and drive growth has made marketing capability increasingly important at executive level.”