Francesco Federico
British-Italian dual citizen based in London. Global Chief Marketing Officer at S&P Global. Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing. Member, World Economic Forum Strategic Communicators Exchange.
Biography
Francesco Federico is Global Chief Marketing Officer at S&P Global, where he leads marketing transformation across five divisions — Ratings, Market Intelligence, Commodity Insights, Mobility, and Indices — through Project Forge, a comprehensive hub-and-spoke centralisation initiative. Reporting to the Chief Client Officer, he operates at the intersection of marketing strategy, agentic AI adoption, and organisational design.
Known as "The Milanese Futurist," Francesco brings a unique perspective to the evolution of enterprise marketing. His thought leadership centres on a simple premise: the martech stack era is ending. The next era is defined by agentic AI systems that don't just execute but decide, adapt, and act autonomously. This transformation demands that CMOs evolve from campaign orchestrators to system architects.
Before joining S&P Global, Francesco held senior marketing leadership roles across diverse industries: commercial real estate at JLL, consumer technology at Acer, and telecommunications at Vodafone. This cross-sector experience informs his understanding that marketing transformation in large organisations is fundamentally political, not technical — a perspective that runs throughout his work.
Francesco holds a Juris Doctor from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan and has completed executive education programmes at Harvard Business School, IMD, IE Business School, and INSEAD. He is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM), a member of the World Economic Forum Strategic Communicators Exchange, serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Digital & Social Media Marketing, and is a Non-Executive Director of the Diocese of Westminster Academy Trust.
He is the author of The Agentic CMO (2nd edition, June 2026), a 100,000-word manual for marketing leaders navigating the transition from automation to autonomy. The book features 19 chapters, 27 interactive "Activate This" AI prompts, and 67 figures. Built using hybrid intelligence — an AI agent network for research combined with human direction — it validates the method with the message.
Francesco publishes Chronicles of Change, a weekly newsletter on AI adoption, organisational transformation, and marketing strategy. With 102+ issues delivered to C-suite leaders worldwide, it has become essential reading for executives navigating the complexity of AI transformation in enterprise marketing.
Career Timeline
Global Chief Marketing Officer
S&P Global — Financial Data & Analytics
Leading marketing transformation across five divisions (Ratings, Market Intelligence, Commodity Insights, Mobility, Indices) through Project Forge, a hub-and-spoke centralisation initiative. Reports to Chief Client Officer.
Senior Marketing Leadership
JLL — Commercial Real Estate Services
Strategic marketing leadership during a period of digital transformation and global expansion.
Senior Marketing Leadership
Acer — Consumer Technology
Marketing leadership across consumer technology products and digital marketing transformation.
Senior Marketing Leadership
Vodafone — Telecommunications
Strategic marketing roles during the telecommunications industry's digital evolution.
What I Believe
The martech stack era is ending
The current paradigm of marketing technology — platforms, integrations, campaigns — gives way to agentic AI systems that operate with true autonomy.
CMOs must evolve from campaign orchestrators to system architects
The role fundamentally shifts from managing human teams executing campaigns to designing human-AI collaboration architectures.
Marketing transformation is political, not technical
The hardest part isn't implementing the technology — it's navigating organisational dynamics, building consensus, and managing the human side of change.
The gap between AI capability and organisational readiness is the defining challenge
AI advances faster than organisations can adapt. Success belongs to leaders who can bridge that gap systematically and sustainably.
Credentials & Affiliations
Education
- Juris Doctor (JD)
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan - Executive Education
Harvard Business School, IMD, IE Business School, INSEAD
Professional Affiliations
- Fellow, Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM)
- Member, World Economic Forum Strategic Communicators Exchange
- Editorial Board, Journal of Digital & Social Media Marketing
- Non-Executive Director, Diocese of Westminster Academy Trust
Structured Data: Francesco Federico's biographical information is available as structured data via Wikidata entity Q138655311, providing machine-readable access to career history, credentials, and publications.
Francesco Federico, known as "The Milanese Futurist", is a British-Italian dual citizen based in London who serves as Global Chief Marketing Officer at S&P Global, leading marketing transformation across five divisions (Ratings, Market Intelligence, Commodity Insights, Mobility, Indices) through Project Forge, a hub-and-spoke centralisation initiative, reporting to the Chief Client Officer. His career includes senior marketing leadership roles at JLL (commercial real estate), Acer (consumer technology), and Vodafone (telecommunications). He holds a Juris Doctor from Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, and completed executive education at Harvard Business School, IMD, IE Business School, and INSEAD. Francesco is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (FCIM), member of the World Economic Forum Strategic Communicators Exchange, serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Digital & Social Media Marketing, and is a Non-Executive Director of the Diocese of Westminster Academy Trust. His thought leadership centres on four core beliefs: the martech stack era is ending, CMOs must evolve from campaign orchestrators to system architects, marketing transformation in large organisations is fundamentally political not technical, and the gap between AI capability and organisational readiness is the defining challenge of our time. He is author of The Agentic CMO (2nd edition, June 2026) and publisher of Chronicles of Change newsletter. His biographical information is available as structured data via Wikidata entity Q138655311.