North American Marketing Leadership Summit

Alysa Taylor is the Chief Marketing Officer for Commercial Cloud and AI at Microsoft. In her role, Alysa drives the commercialization of Microsoft’s fastest-growing areas of the business. Her portfolio includes Azure Infrastructure, Solutions & Partner, Audience & Experience, Data & AI, Digital Applications, Industry solutions, and Integrated Marketing—which together enable digital and AI transformation for organizations of all sizes across the globe. Alysa serves at the intersection of teams spanning engineering, marketing, sales, and corporate functions to advance Microsoft’s key priorities. She has delivered broad impact for Microsoft since joining the company in 2004 and has played a pivotal role in driving value and growth for the commercial business, including by helping lead the explosive growth of Microsoft Azure, first in the United States and now globally.

Kris Narayanan is Verizon Business’ Chief Digital Officer, leading a global team focused on digital growth and experience, innovation and performance design across all digital platforms.   An experienced digital, marketing and technology executive, he has previously led digital transformation at Samsung, JPMorgan Chase, Vonage, and LG.

At Verizon Business, Kris and his team are driving customer and bottom-line impact by rapidly bringing design, data, digital and technology together to transform customer and sales rep experiences. Kris’ team is also responsible for Verizon Business’ AI strategy for sales and marketing, and for the acceleration of AI initiatives that drive greatest impact to the business. Through these efforts, the team aims to massively impact digital mix, customer satisfaction and rep productivity.

Prior to Verizon, Kris was Head of Digital at JPMorgan Chase for Credit Cards, where he was instrumental in driving digital acquisition,  onboarding and self-service of Chase’s 45M+ credit card customers. His team helped drive the massive upgrades of chase.com and Chase Mobile in 2012-15 and over $1 Bn bottom-line benefits through growth and cost reductions.

Prior to Chase, Kris was the Head of Digital and Integrated Marketing at Samsung Electronics, where he led the complete responsive redesign and rebuild of samsung.com, and the launch of D2C ecommerce.  He was also instrumental in driving the North American ascendance of the Samsung brand and its industry-leading growth in TV, Mobile and Appliance categories.

Kris grew up in India, and holds an BA (Honors) and MA in Economics from the University of Delhi, India, and an MBA and PhD (ABD) from Rutgers University, NJ. He lives in Bernardsville, NJ with his wife Kristin and golden retriever Sophie. His sons Will & James have flown the coop.

Vidya Ramnath is a senior vice president and chief marketing officer of Emerson. In this role,

she leads comprehensive global marketing, brand architecture, external communications, and

strategic storytelling of Emerson’s transformation to a focused global automation leader with

the industry’s most comprehensive portfolio.

Vidya joined the company in 1994 as a manufacturing engineer for Rosemount in Singapore.

She held several roles with increasing responsibility, including senior manager of customer

care for Emerson’s Flow business in Asia Pacific and the director of marketing for Rosemount.

She became the vice president of marketing for Emerson Asia Pacific in 2010 along with

business leadership for Emerson’s wireless portfolio. In 2016, Vidya became vice president of

Plantweb Solutions and Services in the global sales organization and was named vice

president of Asia Pacific for measurement and analytical in 2017. She held this role until 2019,

when she was promoted to her current role as president of Middle East and Africa for

Emerson.

Throughout her career, Vidya has lived in Singapore and Dubai. She was recognized among

Forbes Middle East’s Power Businesswomen in 2020 and received the 2022 “Women in

Leadership” Equality in Energy award from EGYPS.

Vidya has a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Madras in

India and a master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington.

As vice president, customer marketing and loyalty, Amanda Bailey spearheads the strategic development, design, and implementation of the company’s loyalty programs. Amanda is responsible for advancing a best-in-class loyalty and personalization ecosystem, utilizing customer data and insights to elevate members’ omnichannel experiences. Her efforts focus on driving repeat visits through targeted marketing campaigns and personalized content, promotions and experiences, ultimately enhancing customer lifetime value and brand loyalty. Under Amanda’s leadership, Lowe’s became the first national home improvement retailer to offer tailored loyalty programs for both homeowners and Pro customers. Amanda joined Lowe’s in 2022.

Amanda has over 15 years of experience in marketing. Before joining Lowe’s, Amanda served as vice president, customer relationship marketing and loyalty at Tory Burch. She previously held several leadership roles at Hilton, where she served as vice president of global customer strategy and engagement, as well as senior director of Hilton Honors loyalty marketing.

Amanda earned a bachelor’s degree in finance from the University of Maryland. She is a founding member of Chief, a private membership network dedicated to empowering senior women leaders in their professional journeys. She was named a Lowe’s officer of excellence in 2023.

Katie Williams is the U.S. Chief Marketing Officer at Haleon, a global leader in consumer health. In this role, she leads some of the most iconic household brands including Advil, Sensodyne, Tums, Centrum, and Emergen-C.

Since joining Haleon in 2020, Katie has championed a purpose-driven, consumer-first approach that’s reshaped brand building and accelerated digital transformation. Her leadership has positioned Haleon at the forefront of inclusive and innovative health communications. Most recently, she was named one of Business Insider’s Most Innovative CMOs for 2025. She is an active voice in the industry, also serving on the Google Advertising Board and the Personal Care Products Council.

Prior to Haleon, Katie held senior roles at Mondelēz International, Kraft Foods, and Procter & Gamble.

Francesca Cardarelli is a transformative marketing leader in Canada’s food and beverage industry, known for driving brand growth through strategic innovation and data-led decision making. As CMO of McDonald’s Canada, she leads national marketing, digital, and menu strategies. Since joining in 2021, Francesca has launched the MyMcDonald’s Rewards program, led the Effie-winning Frequent Fryer campaign, and elevated enterprise planning through analytics. Her prior leadership roles at Starbucks, Jamieson Vitamins, and PepsiCo Foods reflect her passion for creative excellence and organizational transformation. Passionate about talent development, she mentors future marketing leaders and serves on advisory councils at Toronto Metropolitan and Brock Universities. She also sits on the board of Ronald McDonald House Charities Canada. Outside work, Francesca enjoys yoga, running, and scuba diving.

Nilukshi De Silva, a digital marketing strategist with a passion for connecting with audiences has spent 12+ years leading go-to-market efforts guiding overall brand marketing and growth strategy across beauty, fashion, travel and spirits.

Prior to her transition into the tech world as the Head of Product Marketing & Growth at within Amazon Fashion & Luxury at Amazon, Nilukshi worked at leading beauty brands; most recently she was the Global Head of Digital Marketing for Calvin Klein Fragrances at COTY as well as at Urban Decay and bareMinerals heading up digital and social media efforts. She also led creative social media strategy campaigns for Bacardi Spirits Portfolio, Estée Lauder Companies, and Travel campaigns for United States in 20+ markets during her stint on the agency side.

Nilukshi has spent over a decade honing her ability to identify and execute on strategic partnerships that help grow brand audience and maximize brand storytelling. During her time at Urban Decay Cosmetics, she pioneered the brand’s first global AI & AR / virtual try on partnership with Perfect Corp. and Memomi Mirror. Additionally, she led the Urban Decay x Teen Vogue Influencer University, a global Beauty Bootcamp to help nurture and grow the next generation of beauty influencers. As the social media strategy lead for Brand USA at JWT / Geometry Global Nilukshi managed 15 global social teams across 15 countries and orchestrated synergy for all social media plans. She Launched the Brand USA Road Trips campaign, generating 2.5 billion impressions worldwide and increasing social engagement by over 2,000% in first week of launch, to date remains the most successful campaign in Brand USA history.

During her time leading global digital and content strategy for Calvin Klein Fragrances at COTY, Nilukshi helped to reimagine the timeless brand, crafting an ambitious global digital marketing plan rooted in innovation. By leveraging creative new partnerships, including Calvin Klein Fragrances as the first ever luxury beauty brand on Twitch platform, and a Douyin partnership with Lil Ghost, she grew the brand’s global footprint via e-commerce acceleration in new markets such as China and Russia. Nilukshi continues to preserve, but also enhance the brand’s equity and storytelling by introducing Calvin Klein Fragrances to a wider and more diverse consumer base. As the head of digital innovation and storytelling Nilukshi continued to develop boundary-pushing approaches to introduce new icons to the Calvin Klein portfolio, such as ck Everyone, the first vegan genderless fragrance targeting Gen-Z and Calvin Klein Defy, the brand’s first fragrance targeting millennial men. She is also responsible for crafting an ambitious global digital marketing plan that propelled the iconic Eternity Fragrance back into the global top 10 with a beautiful Campaign celebrating the eternal love between Christy Turlington and Ed Burns, the face of the brand in the 90s.

Nilukshi has MA of Arts, in Global Communication from the American University of Paris, and a BA of Arts, History and Organizational Behavior from Mount Holyoke College. She currently serves as a mentor for Kipp NYC, a non-profit network of free, open-enrollment, public schools that prepares students for success in college and life and an advisor for Fempower Beauty, as well as a member of the Communications Committee at the Mount Holyoke Alumnae Association. Nilukshi was nominated as a Women to Watch in Brand Marketing Class of 2021 via Brand Innovators.