Avid appoints new chief marketing officer

Avid has announced that marketing executive Jennifer Smith has been named senior vice president and chief marketing officer (CMO), based in the company’s Burlington, MA headquarters. A key member of Avid’s Executive Leadership Team, Smith’s appointment is said to underline Avid’s commitment to furthering its industry innovation and close collaboration with customers.

Reporting directly to Avid president and CEO Louis Hernandez, Jr., Smith will be responsible for driving all aspects of Avid’s worldwide market presence and growth, including its strategic positioning, go-to-market strategies, and all marketing disciplines within the organisation. Her role will be vital in fulfilling the Avid Everywhere vision to help media organisations and content creators connect with their audiences more powerfully and efficiently than ever before through innovative technologies such as the Avid MediaCentral Platform. Smith will also oversee Avid’s strategic collaboration with customers via the Avid Customer Association.

“Jennifer has a reputation for inspiring creativity, deepening customer relationships, and driving value in global technology organizations,” said Hernandez. “We welcome her fresh ideas, strategic thinking, customer focus, and results-oriented approach as Avid continues its journey to help shape the future of the media industry and redefine what our customers can achieve in media creation, distribution, and monetization around the world.”

Smith brings 15 years of senior management experience in technology marketing at major software companies both in the US and internationally. She joins Avid from Progress Software, where she held increasingly senior leadership roles on the marketing team before becoming the company’s chief marketing officer and senior vice president, and where she led a very successful re-branding initiative. Before her seven years at Progress, Smith held marketing leadership positions in several different companies in Europe, including Peoplesoft and Microsoft.

“My driving philosophy is to create close alignment among marketing, product and sales teams to bring demonstrated value to our customers and partners,” Smith noted. “I am pleased to be joining a team that is so committed to innovation and customer success; and I look forward to being part of delivering on the promise of the Avid Everywhere vision and recapturing the imagination of the industry.”