Summary
Overview
Work History
Education
Skills
Websites
Training
Activities
Timeline
Generic

Kara Reiff

Hinsdale

Summary

Multifaceted Marketing Executive with an inspirational background leading cross-functional teams, agencies, and business stakeholders through building a world-class marketing organization, globalizing brands, and enabling agile product commercialization. Strong track record of success in developing critical capabilities to drive growth, collaboratively designing, and deploying enduring marketing programs to optimize performance, maximizing value in both developed and emerging markets. Deep skills in vision and mission setting, organizational design, change management, functional development, cost management, agency management, content models, marketing technology stacks, M&A support, and brand identity and design.

Overview

26
26
years of professional experience

Work History

HEAD OF MARKETING

Centene Corporation
Chicago
10.2022 - Current
  • Strategic marketing leader driving transformation within a Fortune 25 healthcare organization. Built and scaled a high-performing marketing function from the ground up, overseeing brand, performance, and B2B marketing for Medicaid, Marketplace, and Medicare. Partner with business leadership to deliver measurable in-market results.
  • Established a 65-person marketing team and onboarded seven agency partners within six months, ensuring Q4 selling season readiness.
  • Successfully led marketing efforts for the 2023 and 2024 selling seasons, meeting or exceeding CPA, CPL, and CPS targets.
  • Developed and enhanced media, digital, content, design, and multicultural marketing capabilities to drive engagement and acquisition.
  • Led brand architecture strategy and economic modeling to shape the long-term brand direction.
  • Strengthened compliance initiatives, including responsible marketing practices, standardized approval processes, data consent, and 508 accessibility.
  • Conducted key research initiatives to humanize member experiences, informing creative and media strategies.
  • Spearheaded thought leadership in health outcomes (e.g., maternal health, vaccinations) to position marketing as a strategic growth driver.
  • Partnered with corporate teams to develop compelling category-building narratives, demonstrating the value of managed care and Centene’s impact.

VICE PRESIDENT - MARS, INC. MARKETING TRANSFORMATION

Mars, Inc.
Chicago
10.2020 - 10.2022
  • Appointed by Mars Growth Officer Community to lead the modernization of marketing for a $30 billion corporation.
  • Led the development, roll out and embedding of the Mars, Inc. Marketing vision and associated capability agenda on behalf of the CGO community. This included the reimagination of Mars U curriculum & delivery to upskill the Demand organization and broader business in Technology Quotent, Digital Acumen, Data & Analytics, New Business Models at pace.
  • Co-led the implementation of Content & Media 2025, moving the organization from a traditional mass reach model to data-driven performance marketing capability.
  • Directly responsible for restructuring 80-year-old Creative Agency relationships and scope, building the agile creative-to-media supply chain, implementing the necessary technology roadmap to enable the capability, while partnering closely with the newly formed Data & Analytics team to establish critical analytic and insights capabilities.
  • Led end to end transformation initiatives in Design to Print and Display including development of global service center for Graphic Commercialization and intimately partnering with Regulatory to automate legal text to deliver to content for packaging & web at speed and scale.
  • Directed regional workstreams to reimagine Mars Display Commercialzation to improve margin, reduce time to market and elevate the impact in context of the Perfect Store.

SENIOR DIRECTOR - GLOBAL MARKETING OPERATIONS

Mars, Inc.
Chicago
01.2016 - 12.2020
  • Appointed to lead the integration and transformation of newly integrated multibillion-dollar business.
  • Led the Integration Office for the Marketing function for 15 months, delivering full-scale infrastructure, including agency rosters, creative approval processes, toolkit deployment models, brand board operations, and marketing technology within the first year, while saving 33% in production spend.
  • Skillfully oversaw professionals and $7M budget in all marketing operations, organizational development and value creation for this $15B business unit.
  • Spearheaded complex change initiative to rewire internal Marketing and Agency capability across content, data, technology, media shopper marketing and media. The program delivered $500 million in savings across Mars, Inc., while implementing data-driven marketing capability over a three-year horizon.
  • Sponsored rollout of enterprise MarTech suite (DAM, PIM, Campaign Management and Workflows), oversaw remediation for GDPR, CCPA and ADA (350 sites+ and fine avoidance) and initiated strategy for redesign of web and social properties to cultivate digital ecosystem and advance digital commerce goals.

SENIOR DIRECTOR - GLOBAL INTEGRATED MARKETING

Wm. Wrigley Jr Co.
Chicago
01.2014 - 12.2016
  • Company Overview: subsidiary of Mars, Inc.
  • Tasked by new CMO to smoothly align business growth strategies and institute new best practices.
  • Managed eight staff and $3M budget in building a global marketing infrastructure.
  • Focused on optimizing functional capability and evolving agency models to reflect business direction.
  • Formed and directed cross-agency team to design and deploy global communications planning process that put media at the center to become an innovation lever for Marketing, increasing content effectiveness by 20%, or $200M, in incremental paid media impact.
  • Restructured BBDO and DDB contracts to reflect new media planning approach and extracted efficiencies valued at $14M.
  • Served on a task force to reframe the role of Consumer and Customer Marketing, elevating the strategic contribution that Customer Marketing plays in demand side of the business.
  • Introduced transformational Career Philosophy and Mapping Tool that was exported as 'best-in-class' across other business segments.
  • Subsidiary of Mars, Inc.

DIRECTOR - GLOBAL DESIGN

Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co
Chicago
01.2008 - 12.2014
  • Mission of the role was to move from an in-house model to an outsourced global design management model.
  • Led eight direct reports, extended agency team of 50, $4M budget and $20M in yearly spend in multiyear transformation and modernization effort, including 4,000 annual artwork changes and reduction of annual spend by 10% during tenure.
  • Spearheaded restructuring from internal, centralized team to regional design management model, while establishing global ecosystem of suppliers, technology, tools and processes; results included $10M in first wave savings and faster speed-to-market, from 8 - 12 to 6.5 weeks.
  • Harmonized brand value of leading lines - 'Orbit/Extra' ($2B), 'Doublemint' ($1B), 'Skittles' ($700M) and '5 Gum' ($300M), delivering 10% in annual savings and new levels of legal brand protection.
  • Transitioned organization from Product- to Brand-focused marketing with new tools, processes and cultural working dynamic.
  • Built strong co-pilot relationships with Chief Trademark Officer, global brand leaders and R&D Regulatory function to elevate Design group's contribution to overall business growth with impact end to end across the Design to Print supply chain.
  • Subsidiary of Mars, Inc.

MARKETING RESEARCH ASSISTANT - MARKETING DIRECTOR

Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company
Chicago
06.1999 - 12.2008
  • Completed decade of traditional brand management roles with increasing impact and influence.
  • Promoted to valued leader of newly created US marketing team to manage and grow iconic brands.
  • Key team member in transforming low-performing chewing gum business into global market leader.
  • Gained hands-on expertise in strategic planning, budgeting, new product commercialization, campaign execution and talent development.
  • Completely restaged 100-year-old 'Doublemint' chewing gum line, reversing -7% in annual declines to +5% post-launch.
  • Headed commercialization of enduring blockbuster flavor, 'Extra Polar Ice,' contributing $42M in first year retail sales to Extra franchise and adding 10% in brand growth between 2000 and 2001.
  • Led smooth integration of Amurol Confections, representing $66M in US sales, into Wrigley; incrementally grew portfolio by up to 10% in two years and profitability for 'Hubba Bubba Max' by 5% one year postlaunch.
  • Authored the Kids Portfolio strategy, framing it for the category point of entry necessary for generational growth and drove a disparate, novelty focused product portfolio Hubba Bubba umbrella branding strategy.

Education

MBA - Marketing

DePaul University, Kellstadt Graduate School of Business
Chicago, IL
05-2003

Bachelor of Science - Marketing & Entrepreneurship

University of Illinois, Gies School of Business
Champaign-Urbana, IL
05-1999

Skills

  • Strategic Thinking
  • Financial Acumen & Strategic Planning
  • Marketing and Digital Transformation
  • Portfolio Management
  • Mergers, Integrations, Restructuring
  • Global Marketing & Brand Management
  • Brand Design & Corporate Identity
  • Creative & Media Management
  • Performance Marketing
  • New Product Introduction
  • Strong Interpersonal Relationships
  • Persuasion and Negotiation
  • Strong Communicator
  • Agency Management
  • Internal Sales Expertise
  • Bridge Builder
  • Change Management

Training

  • Leadership at the Peak, Centers for Creative Leadership
  • Leading in Unprecedented Times, Harvard University

Activities

  • Board Member, Wellness House
  • Fundraising Chair, Madison Elementary
  • Parent Board Member, Hinsdale Community Preschool

Timeline

HEAD OF MARKETING

Centene Corporation
10.2022 - Current

VICE PRESIDENT - MARS, INC. MARKETING TRANSFORMATION

Mars, Inc.
10.2020 - 10.2022

SENIOR DIRECTOR - GLOBAL MARKETING OPERATIONS

Mars, Inc.
01.2016 - 12.2020

SENIOR DIRECTOR - GLOBAL INTEGRATED MARKETING

Wm. Wrigley Jr Co.
01.2014 - 12.2016

DIRECTOR - GLOBAL DESIGN

Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co
01.2008 - 12.2014

MARKETING RESEARCH ASSISTANT - MARKETING DIRECTOR

Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company
06.1999 - 12.2008

MBA - Marketing

DePaul University, Kellstadt Graduate School of Business

Bachelor of Science - Marketing & Entrepreneurship

University of Illinois, Gies School of Business

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Kara Reiff