Leilani M. Brown

Leilani M. Brown
Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer
CQ-Roll Call/The Economist Group, New York, N.Y.

In less than a year with CQ-Roll Call, an Economist Group company specializing in legislative news and political analysis, Leilani M. Brown, with her team, created and implemented a pivotal brand strategy and visual identity for the organization.

Brown is the company’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer, which puts her at the helm of brand management and development, public relations and marketing communications. Her success as a marketer, she says, stems from her consumer-first approach, which enables her to anticipate customer needs and identify potential solutions. The same approach enabled her to establish a track record of effective marketing programs during her tenure at such companies as MetLife and American International Group.

Seizing opportunities to take on stretch assignments that did not interest her colleagues, Brown quickly ascended the ranks of these organizations. “There was an element of risk, a possibility of failure and an unclear path to success,” she says. “Each one allowed me to grow professionally and ultimately move my career at a faster pace than it might have moved otherwise.”

Brown holds a bachelor’s degree in international studies from Middlebury College and a master’s in public administration from New York University. She chairs the board of directors of the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning in Queens, N.Y., and is a board trustee for the Buckley Country Day School in Roslyn, N.Y., and a member of the Executive Leadership Council, whose annual Black Women’s Leadership Summit and Women Managers Symposium she has co-chaired for three years.

Brown has mastered the art of delegation to manage work, family and it all. “My motto is ‘It has to get done, but I don’t have to do it,’” she says. “If there is something that can be delegated, shared or outsourced, I will look to ease the burden.”