E84: Marketing - Life-long Learning and Ever-Changing with Tony Wells

THE POWER OF REINVENTION with Kathi Sharpe-Ross

Tony Wells is the Senior Vice President, Marketing for Verizon. With more than 30 years of experience working with innovative, high-growth brands, he has deep expertise leading marketing, business development and strategic partnerships. Tony joined Verizon from USAA where he served as Chief Brand Officer. His corporate marketing career has been diverse and rich with senior roles at ADT, 24 Hour Fitness, Visa, General Motors and Nissan. Tony is a member of the Board of Directors for Yelp, the Association of National Advertisers (ANA’s) and the New York Ad Club. He proudly served as an infantry officer in the United States Marine Corps.

Tony grew up cherishing the friendships he made, had a drive for success, and loved working in a team environment. He speaks about how the marketing industry can change rapidly and embraces the challenges that come with that. Throughout his career, he felt that if he worked hard, there was no limit to what he could do and applied himself accordingly. He acknowledges that there’s a long way to go with D&I in corporate America and shares that within these companies he worked for he was very aware that people who looked like him were not in C-Suite positions. Tony has leaned into this issue and is impacting change in the industry, but it still has a long way to go. As a mentor, father and grandfather, Tony has much advice to give and, as he says, even he still has a lot to learn in the industry.

Some powerful takeaways from today’s episode:

• The science of it all, and the data are much more important in the marketing world today
• The profession and industry are constantly changing
• Marketing is life-long learning, dynamic and ever-changing
• Some changes are forced, some you make, some take a leap of faith
• It’s ok if your work-life balance is a work in progress
• Going into a new industry could also come with a personal Reinvention
• “Leave it better than when you got there”

Links:

Tony Wells’ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tonywells1/

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