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Dory Ellis Garfinkle
Full-Stack CMO · Siegel+Gale

The right mix of tools,
people, and ideas,
at the right moment.

Unstoppable full-stack CMO
at Siegel+Gale
Creative, strategic, global
leadership at F500 companies
Empathetic human and marketer
in that order
▶ CAREER ◆
S+G ◆ Siegel+Gale
LYFT ◆ Lyft
IDEO ◆ IDEO
GIG ◆ GIG Car Share
ZIPCAR ◆ Zipcar
McCANN ◆ McCann Worldgroup
MSFT ◆ Microsoft
PG&E ◆ PG&E
GM ◆ General Motors
AAA ◆ AAA
CITIBIKE ◆ CitiBike
DIVVY ◆ Divvy
AVIS ◆ Avis
ENT ◆ Enterprise
S+G ◆ Siegel+Gale
LYFT ◆ Lyft
IDEO ◆ IDEO
GIG ◆ GIG Car Share
ZIPCAR ◆ Zipcar
McCANN ◆ McCann Worldgroup
MSFT ◆ Microsoft
PG&E ◆ PG&E
GM ◆ General Motors
AAA ◆ AAA
CITIBIKE ◆ CitiBike
DIVVY ◆ Divvy
AVIS ◆ Avis
ENT ◆ Enterprise
01
Integrated Strategy
Start with the business goal, build backwards. Dogged when it comes to clarifying a goal and sharpening a brief.
02
Growth & Demand Gen
Full-funnel: acquisition, retention, ABM, lifecycle, performance, martech. Built these functions from scratch at multiple organizations.
03
Brand Development
Positioning, campaigns, sub-brand systems, repositioning. Managed nine brands simultaneously into an architecture that drives conversion.

I grew up in the Detroit “Motor City” orbit, where the car in the driveway told a story of status, livelihood, and identity. After college in Boston and a start at McCann, I spent over a decade in San Francisco building growth and brand organizations at innovative companies.

I finally made it to New York City after leading IDEO’s global brand and running growth, product, and brand marketing at Lyft, including some roles that involved persuading people to leave their cars behind, a bit of a career plot twist for someone from the Motor City.

Now, as CMO at Siegel+Gale, I create and convey value by embracing creativity and constant change. My latest passion is using AI to vibe code and discover efficient marketing systems that truly augment human judgment, creative craft and ROI.

Philosophy

Marketing is most powerful when brand clarity, the demand engine, creative, and data are all pulling in the same direction. I use AI to build the systems that make that alignment scalable, without compromising the judgment that makes it meaningful.

On brand

Brand is the constraint that makes AI useful. Without clarity on what you stand for, AI amplifies noise. With it, AI amplifies signal, and the leaders who treat brand as a growth decision tend to be the ones winning. In B2B, the old playbook is done: brand now earns the trust, consideration, and benefit of the doubt that close deals.

+
On teams

The most important hires I’ve made were people better than me in specific areas. The best teams right now are fluent in both human craft and AI leverage, I build for that intersection, protecting creativity while building systems that scale.

NYC + LAFAST COMPANY × S+G
Fast Company × Siegel+Gale · Hosted Dinners
The Simplicity Advantage for B2B Brands

Hosted marketing leaders in New York and Los Angeles to turn the World’s Simplest Brands findings into action, industry by industry, with brand leaders from HPE and Wells Fargo.

THINK FACTORY
The Think Factory · Episode 250
From Motor City to Marketing the Future of Mobility

Career arc, behavior change in mobility marketing, and what happens when brand strategy and growth stop working against each other.

Chief NYC · Speaking Event
Why Branding Matters Now More Than Ever

Panel on brand strategy as a business decision. Why companies that stand for something clear win on revenue, not just reputation.

MASSET
Masset · Content Amplified
Getting More Out of Your Marketing Content

On content strategy and amplification frameworks that make marketing work harder across the funnel without simply doing more of it.

AXIOSNY TECH WEEK
Axios · NY Tech Week Roundtable
AI Has a Branding Problem

At Axios’ AI Workforce Training roundtable. AI still runs on its 1955 name and means everything and nothing at once. People trust what they can define, so adoption starts with listening.

REALITY CHECKSIEGEL+GALE
Siegel+Gale · Web Event
Reality Check: AI in Branding

Hosted a candid executive conversation on where AI is genuinely useful in brand and marketing, and where human judgment, creativity, and craft remain irreplaceable.

Advertising Week NY
AW360 · Podcast
On Brand Clarity and Simplicity

Recorded live at AWNY. On building brands that are simple and unforgettable, and why putting people first remains the one investment that always pays off.

MARKETINGBREW
Marketing Brew · Press mention
The State of the CMO

On future-proofing the role. A golden moment to add value in new ways, powered by experience, relationships, and empathy.

WORLD’S SIMPLESTB2B’26SIEGEL+GALE
Siegel+Gale · Research launch
World’s Simplest Brands 2026: The B2B Report

New proprietary research on 80 of the world’s top B2B brands across financial services, industrials, health, and tech. No rankings, just insights you can use. Simpler B2B brands earn a 36-point NPS advantage.

FASTCOMPANY
Fast Company · Press mention
Airlines Have a Naming Problem

On the cognitive load of travel, and why clearer class names are low-hanging fruit for purchase and loyalty.

MARKETINGBREW
Marketing Brew · Press mention
Stronger, Not Smaller

On Ladder’s campaign for women, and why a bet on optimism over restriction builds loyalty in a crowded category.

VOGUE BRANDING
Vogue · Press mention
Does America have a branding problem?

Weighing in on America’s brand identity, what the country stands for, and why national branding has never been harder or higher-stakes.

Campaign US · Press mention
A New Urgency for Simplicity

On simplicity as strategy when the pace of change makes every brand decision count.

AI &MarketingSIEGEL+GALE
Siegel+Gale · Writing
Reality Check: AI in Branding

How vibe coding and AI-powered systems are reshaping marketing infrastructure, without sacrificing the creative judgment and human skills that make brands matter.

Siegel+Gale · Writing
My First Year as CMO: Advice for New Leadership

On collaboration, clarity, and what stepping into a C-suite role teaches you about the difference between managing and leading.

Siegel+Gale · Writing
Five Business Benefits of Brand Simplicity

Five concrete arguments for the boardroom on why simplicity is a growth strategy, not just a design preference.

Digiday · Press mention
Will a ‘Rebrand’ of the CMO Balance Brand and Performance?

Quoted on the evolution of the CMO role and why brand leaders who treat creativity as a growth driver will define the next era.

Siegel+Gale · Dare to Simplify
Transforming for Wall Street and Beyond

A global campaign positioning Siegel+Gale as the authority on simplification for CMOs navigating complexity, disruption, and the AI transition.

Yes, You Are a Bike Person
Lyft · National Campaign
Yes, You Are a Bike Person

The nation’s first national omnichannel bikeshare campaign. Drove millions of incremental rides and broke Lyft’s all-time bikeshare record.

Discomfort Zone, IDEO
IDEO · Campaign
The Discomfort Zone

A global brand campaign repositioning IDEO around the productive discomfort at the heart of real innovation. Embracing the uncomfortable as the starting point for designing a better future.

Siegel+Gale (Omnicom)
Chief Marketing Officer
2024 , Present · New York, NY
Current

Omnicom’s global brand strategy and design consultancy. Full ownership across demand gen, brand, martech, content, events, and team.

  • Growing topline revenue and Omnicom pipeline through demand gen, ABM, and integrated campaign work
  • Generating meaningful inter-agency business through cross-network partnerships
  • Launched World’s Simplest Brands 2026: The B2B Report, proprietary research across 80 brands and 2,000+ B2B decision-makers
  • Leading brand repositioning across website, sales journey, and client experience
  • Deploying AI-powered tools that accelerate campaign velocity
  • Building the marketing team from scratch: hiring, structure, and culture
Lyft
Director, Head of Marketing, Lines of Business
2021 , 2024 · New York, NY

Integrated growth marketing across rideshare, bikeshare, e-bikes, and scooters. Team of 15, nine local sub-brands.

  • “Yes, You Are a Bike Person”-Lyft’s first national bikeshare campaign. Drove millions of incremental rides in weeks. Earned media and industry awards.
  • Broke Lyft’s all-time bikeshare rides record through coordinated national activations
  • Secured multimillion-dollar national brand investment through original research and executive business case
  • Built brand architecture across nine sub-brands: CitiBike, Divvy, Bay Wheels, Capital Bikeshare, and others
IDEO
Senior Lead, Global Brand & Marketing
2018 , 2021 · San Francisco, CA

The preeminent human-centered design firm. Converting ideas into pipeline across three continents.

  • Global multi-channel campaigns across North America, Asia, and Europe
  • “The Discomfort Zone” campaign generated substantial direct business leads and earned placements in FastCompany and Forbes
GIG Car Share, AAA Ventures, Zipcar, et al.
Product Marketing & Regional Marketing Leadership
2011 , 2018 · Oakland & SF, CA

Led SF expansion at GIG; grew to leading eight Western Region markets at Zipcar.

  • Promoted to oversee eight Western Region markets; hired and developed 40+ regional team members
  • “Design Your Ride” significantly lifted vehicle utilization and scaled nationally
  • Authored Zipcar’s first strategic sponsorships and partnerships playbook

Rock 'n Roll

An all killer, no filler soundtrack to strategy decks, late edits, commutes and everything in between. Hit play, no account needed.

▶ To be played at maximum volume.

On Apple Music

Dory Ellis Garfinkle
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