Stirista

In this episode, Vincent and Ajay talk to Jacqui Greeff, Head of Marketing SA at Beam Suntory. She lays out what she describes as her weird career map, and she and Vincent discuss how outside endeavours enrich career goals. Ajay is in a great mood and Vincent has questions about Texas geography. Give it a listen.

Specialties: marketing and business strategy, insight management, strategic business development, digital research, communications research, reputation management, customer behaviour, data analysis, Certified Scrum Master/CSM

Jacqui Greef

Head of Marketing SA at Beam Suntory

Get it Beautifully Right

Vijay Ramachandran, Vice President of Marketing Strategy and Planning at Pitney Bowes, discusses the challenges of developing marketing strategies for a company that’s been around for a century. He offers insight into an industry that operates in both the physical and digital worlds, as well as how to prospect without coming off like a carnival barker. Ajay raises funds for a good cause, and Vincent is excited about Vegas.

Vijay is Senior Director of Product Marketing for E-Commerce at Pitney Bowes, a global e-commerce firm executing billions of transactions for the worlds largest retailers. He is an expert in evaluating user experience and the strategic development of product marketing strategies through digital conduits.

Vijay Ramachandran

Vice President, Marketing Strategy + Planning for Pitney Bowes Global Ecommerce

Vijay Ramachandran, Vice President of Marketing Strategy and Planning at Pitney Bowes, discusses the challenges of developing marketing strategies for a company that’s been around for a century. He offers insight into an industry that operates in both the physical and digital worlds, as well as how to prospect without coming off like a carnival barker. Ajay raises funds for a good cause, and Vincent is excited about Vegas.


Vijay Ramachandran (Pitney Bowes) - Hockey Stick Growth Curve

Kelley Michalik, Chief Marketing Officer at Alight Solutions, details her journey with the company and how her role enables a mindset for reinvention. She also shares her surprising response to when someone gets her name wrong in an email. Ajay has a customer service nightmare, and Vincent lends an ear.

Hands-on Marketing leader and alliance developer with a proven track record of building bridges between Sales, Product and Marketing to accelerate growth.
Experienced in leading and restructuring all areas of Marketing with a focus on data-driven “big picture” evaluation and analysis to develop growth strategies for organizations of all sizes and budgets.
Decisive leader igniting high-performance teams and rapidly transforming organizations.

Kelley Michalik

Chief Marketing Officer at Alight Solutions

Kelley Michalik, Chief Marketing Officer at Alight Solutions, details her journey with the company and how her role enables a mindset for reinvention. She also shares her surprising response to when someone gets her name wrong in an email. Ajay has a customer service nightmare, and Vincent lends an ear.


Kelley Michalik (Alight) - Soup to Nuts

Allyson Witherspoon, Chief Marketing Officer at Nissan, details her globe-hopping career arc that took her everywhere from Amsterdam to Japan. She also discusses the transition from “kicking the tires” to researching cars in the digital space, as well as how shopping for a new car doesn’t need to be an either/or experience. Ajay gets a new laptop and Vincent remembers with fondness his Nissan Altima.

Allyson is a transformative CMO who thrives at the intersection of data + creativity. She has global experience with assignments in US, Europe, and Asia. Allyson has a proven track record of leading teams to drive culture while delivering breakthrough performance marketing, creative excellence, and driving growth for Fortune 100 brands.

Allyson Witherspoon

Chief Marketing Officer at Nissan

Allyson Witherspoon (Nissan) - Lots of Automotive Puns

Yogesh Deep, Senior Vice President of Growth and Strategic Pricing at Advance Auto Parts, shares his journey of how he started out as a chemical engineer to his current role with the company. Along with Advance’s B2B operations, he also discusses the success of giving frontline team members authority to override their pricing system in-store. Ajay is glad to not be on a billboard, and Vincent wishes he owned a car.

An activator at the core, I thrive at driving meaningful business actions by bringing data and insights together. I successfully build capabilities and teams of Problem solvers, Analysts, Scientists, Technologists and Creative experts that excel in business decision making across Merchandising/Pricing, Sales/Growth, Marketing, Finance and Operations.

Yogesh Deep

Senior Vice President - Growth and Strategic Pricing at Advance Auto Parts

Yogesh Deep, Senior Vice President of Growth and Strategic Pricing at Advance Auto Parts, shares his journey of how he started out as a chemical engineer to his current role with the company. Along with Advance’s B2B operations, he also discusses the success of giving frontline team members authority to override their pricing system in-store. Ajay is glad to not be on a billboard, and Vincent wishes he owned a car.


Yogesh Deep (Advance Auto Parts) - A Great Potion

Michael Bouteneff, Global Marketing Director, Strategic Growth at MasterCard, shares, as he calls it, his "meandering" career journey that touches on molecular biology and music publishing, among other things. He also discusses in depth the current state of the marketing event space. Ajay has some thoughts on public transportation, and Vincent claims he knows how to drive.

A performance marketing leader with extensive experience driving digital innovation within marketing organizations. I have a broad history in growth marketing and brand-building spanning both B2C and B2B industries, at both startups and Fortune 500 companies.

I truly enjoy leveraging data insights to inform brand strategy and build best-in-class digital experiences that drive growth.

My industry experience includes time spent in banking, digital payments, financial services, insurance, information technology, telecommunications, media & entertainment, global trade, travel, public sector and government.

Specialties: performance marketing, product marketing, event marketing, team building, social media marketing, programmatic advertising, search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimization (SEO), experience design, email marketing, analytics, lead generation and affiliate marketing.

A corporate, performance marketer by day; an aspiring alternative rock producer by night.

Michael Bouteneff

Global Marketing Director, Strategic Growth

Michael Bouteneff, Global Marketing Director, Strategic Growth at MasterCard, shares, as he calls it, his "meandering" career journey that touches on molecular biology and music publishing, among other things.


Michael Bouteneff (Mastercard) - Creating DNA

This week we are joined by Amin Makhani (SVP, Growth Strategy, Bento Box); Nick Panayi (CMO, Amelia); and Karolina Kocalevski (VP, Global Head of Marketing &amp; Communications, Orion Innovation) to discuss innovations on the lead generation front, the biggest changes each organization has undertaken in the last year, as well as how each guest’s role within their own company has shifted. Ajay buys a new laptop, and Vincent is feeling very special.

Data-driven marketing leader. First marketing hire for Yext (NYSE:YEXT); company grew revenues from $5MM to $120MM. Led acquisition strategy and execution for SMB to Enterprise. Full-funnel marketer: Awareness -> Click -> Lead -> Opportunity -> Transaction -> Renewal -> Referral.

Amin Makhani

SVP, Growth Strategy

Deeply experienced executive with over 20 years of cross-functional marketing experience in small and large high tech companies. 
Key strengths include:
Leadership: Led multiple teams across most marketing disciplines. Strong reputation as a motivator and developer of future talentDigital Marketing: Led the development of award-winning digital marketing ecosystems and associated business processes.Strategic Marketing & Planning: Guided development and execution of marketing plans for multi-billion dollar global companies.

Nick Panayi

Award-Winning B2B Marketing Leader building Fortune Brands to Start-ups
Track record for capturing significant market share, building brand equity for known & unknown brands, & building strong global marketing teams & operations, with an MBA from Cornell. “Big brand” experience from Thomson Reuters, PwC, McGraw-Hill, Deloitte, recently brought to newer brands/technology start-ups – Bureau van Dijk, Exiger, Averon.

Karolina Kocalevski

VP, Global Head of Marketing & Communications

This week we are joined by Amin Makhani; Nick Panayi; and Karolina Kocalevski to discuss innovations on the lead generation front, and the biggest changes each organization has undertaken in the last year.


Multi-guest - Meat and Potatoes (Special Multi-Guest Episode)

The Marketing Stir Podcast by Stirista

Connect with Us

The Marketing Stir Podcast by Stirista hosted by Stirista’s VP of B2B Products Vincent Pietrafesa along with Founder / CEO Ajay Gupta, The Marketing Stir brings on industry leaders to get their take on the current challenges of the market, whatever that may be. 

Both captivating personalities, Gupta and Pietrafesa (who moonlights as a standup comic) along with producer Jared Walls (Stirista’s content strategist, also a standup comic), promise an engaging conversation with leaders of a variety of industries and brands. 

 If you’re interested in being a guest on the podcast, email us at info@themarketingstir.com

The Marketing Stir

Get it Beautifully Right

Get it Beautifully Right

Jacqui Greef

More Episodes

Vijay Ramachandran (Pitney Bowes) - Hockey Stick Growth Curve

Kelley Michalik (Alight) - Soup to Nuts

Allyson Witherspoon (Nissan) - Lots of Automotive Puns

Yogesh Deep (Advance Auto Parts) - A Great Potion

Michael Bouteneff (Mastercard) - Creating DNA

Multi-guest - Meat and Potatoes (Special Multi-Guest Episode)