Twitter's restructuring of its top management is no secret, and now the grapevine is abuzz with rumors that leading the race for the company's new Chief Marketing Officer is Leslie Berland.
For the uninitiated, Berland is an EVP at American Express since June 2015 and handles its global marketing, advertising and digital partnership efforts. Now, per reliable sources of Re/code, she is poised to take over as the new CMO of Twitter in the coming week.
The site's sources also let on that Berland may take over as CMO on Jan. 25 itself and the marketing maven will allegedly report to Jack Dorsey, Twitter's CEO, directly.
"After Sherlocking all day, sources tell me that the most likely exec to be named to that high-profile (and thankless) job as early as tomorrow could be Leslie Berland. While it might not turn out to be Berland, since it is not clear if the job has been locked down or not, she has been at the top of Twitter's list of candidates," reports the site.
What makes the assertions of the publication hold some truth is a series of moves Berland made on social media. She recently started following several executives from Twitter, which included the company's general counsel Vijaya Gadde. Berland has also started following Dorsey's mother recently on the microblogging site. Coincidence?
Adding fuel to the fire is revelations from several of Re/code's sources who have let on that Berland is the frontrunner for the CMO's job and the one they see as being selected, provided she is keen on taking it up.
Berland has been with American Express for nearly a decade and since her hire in 2005, she has dabbled in several roles which include corporate communication and social media strategy. A well-known face in Silicon Valley, the likeable Berland was also instrumental in propelling the deals between ride-hailing service Uber and American Express.
Other people who have been rumored to have been considered for the role of CMO include Todd Pendleton, the former Samsung mobile marketing executive, as well as Nickelodeon CMO, Pam Kaufman.
In the event Berland is hired as Twitter's CEO, the major concern on experts' mind would be that even though she comes from marketing background – it is a traditional one. Twitter, on the other hand, pundits believe needs an out-of-the-box thinker who would help Twitter push the envelope and bring a fresh lease of life.
