By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
October 9, 2024 – Carlos Cata and Anna Power of Caldwell has assisted in the recruitment of Arielle Gross Samuel as chief marketing and communications officer of General Catalyst. She succeeds Jennifer Zimmerman, who will remain as a consultant with the company. “Arielle’s rich experience across both technology and finance brings to the forefront the impact these sectors have on our world, and we’re looking forward to her leading this story as General Catalyst evolves and expands,” said Hemant Taneja, CEO of General Catalyst.
Ms. Samuels comes to General Catalyst from Blackstone, where she was global head of marketing. In this role, she led the alternative asset manager’s marketing efforts, including the company’s first major advertising campaign and the creation of its brand platform, “Build with Blackstone.” Prior to Blackstone, Ms. Samuels spent nine years at Meta Platforms, where she held numerous positions in marketing and product operations and departed as the company’s global head of environmental, social and corporate-governance business.
General Catalyst is a venture capital firm that makes early-stage and transformational investments. The firm aims to back entrepreneurs who are building innovative technology companies and market leading businesses, including Stripe, Airbnb, HubSpot, Loom, BigCommerce, ClassPass, Datalogix, Datto, Demandware, Gusto, The Honest Company, KAYAK, Oscar, Snap, and Warby Parker. The General Catalyst team leverages its broad experience to help founders build extraordinary companies. The firm has offices in San Francisco, Palo Alto, New York City, London, Berlin, Bangalore, and Cambridge.
Ms. Samuels will lead all marketing and communications at General Catalyst, including advertising, press, thought leadership, and events.
Mr. Cata is managing partner of Caldwell’s Chicago office and the modern marketing and growth officers practice, as well as a leader in DEI efforts both at the firm and client level. He is often asked to advise on strategies to unlock growth in the areas of marketing modernization, ESG/DEI and digital transformation. Mr. Cata excels at advising clients at the intersection of talent, growth and innovation where companies and brands seek to play a more relevant role in enhancing customer experiences. His search practice spans across the spectrum of commercial leadership functions for financial services, consumer, fintech and PE-backed companies. He also brings a special focus on coaching and developing Latino leaders as they embark on C-suite and board roles.
Ms. Power is a consultant in Caldwell’s Charleston office, where she supports executive search execution across several industries. She focuses on the recruitment senior-level professionals through search strategy development, and client outreach and engagement. Additionally, Ms. Power is a team lead for Predictive Index training and implementation across the firm as well as supporting Caldwell’s clients in PI analysis and reporting.
Related: Caldwell Recruits Chief Marketing Officer for LendingPoint
Chief Marketing and Communications Officers (CMCOs) play a crucial role in shaping a company’s brand identity and ensuring consistent messaging across all channels. They drive strategic marketing initiatives that enhance customer engagement and build brand loyalty, ultimately contributing to revenue growth. Additionally, CMCOs oversee internal and external communications, fostering transparency and trust within the organization and with its stakeholders. Here’s a sampling of recent related searches taken from the Hunt Scanlon Media archives:
Here’s a sampling of recent chief marketing officer searches taken from the Hunt Scanlon Media archives:
The Millard Group, which focuses on building executive teams for venture capital and private equity backed growth stage technology companies, has assisted in the placement of Sheridan Orr as the new chief marketing officer of Language I/O in Cheyenne, WY. “2023 marked a pivotal moment of expansion and visibility for Language I/O,” said Heather Shoemaker, founder and CEO of Language I/O. “With an amplified global marketing presence under Sheridan’s leadership, we are thrilled about the transformative potential of our 2024 roadmap to reshape how organizations connect across languages and geographies.” Ms. Orr is an experienced marketing executive specializing in International go-to-market strategy, performance marketing, crafting powerful product and brand stories, and leading high performing teams for B2B SaaS companies. She previously served as a managing partner at The GTM Collective and was the chief marketing officer of Built In for over three years.
Mercedes Chatfield-Taylor and Sarah Scheer of Artico Search have assisted in the recruitment of Dee Anna McPherson as the new chief marketing officer of Flock Safety. “Over the past year, Flock Safety has attracted an executive team with proven experience building the top-tier technology companies in their respective markets, and our current position as a multi-product, multi-market company reflects this breadth of expertise,” said Garrett Langley, Flock Safety’s founder and CEO. “As our new marketing leader, Dee Anna’s leadership positions us to make even greater significant strides toward leading the way into a safer future.” Ms. McPherson brings strong marketing expertise to the Flock Safety team. She most recently served as CMO at Invoca for the past three years, where she played a pivotal role in positioning the company as a leader in AI-powered conversation intelligence.
TurnkeyZRG has been retained by the Chicago Fire Football Club to lead in its search for a chief marketing officer. Allie Crone led the assignment. Coming off a record-breaking 2023 Season, Chicago Fire is seeking a data-driven and agile leader to join the executive team. Acting as brand steward, this role is responsible for developing and implementing branding, advertising, media, and promotion activities to generate ticket sales, leverage corporate partner collaboration and garner increased awareness and interest for the Club locally and globally. Additionally, the role will oversee marketing/brand strategies related to the Chicago Fire Foundation, Fire Pitch (recreational soccer facility), youth and recreational soccer and other Club endeavors, and will serve as the club’s primary liaison to the Major League Soccer marketing department and Soccer United Marketing ensuring the Chicago Fire remains connected with important initiatives and partnerships at the league level.
Related: Caldwell Recruits Chief Marketing Officer for Armis
Contributed by Scott A. Scanlon, Editor-in-Chief and Dale M. Zupsansky, Executive Editor – Hunt Scanlon Media