BlackRock Vet Alex Craddock Appointed as Citigroup's First Chief Marketing and Content Officer

Banking giant Citigroup has appointed veteran financial services executive Alex Craddock as chief marketing and content officer in a newly created title, the company said.

Craddock was most recently the CMO of BlackRock which, with some $10 trillion under management, is the largest global investment manager in the world. Craddock has also served as global CMO for HP’s Personal Systems Group and has held down several marketing posts over a 12-year tenure at Visa, most recently senior vice president, head of global brand and product marketing.

Craddock’s appointment comes at a knotty time for Citigroup. In September 2023, CEO Jane Fraser commenced an extensive reorganization that included stripping out a layer of senior management, closing down some operations and eliminating 5,000 jobs, all with the goal of “putting us on the front foot and improving our competitiveness,” Fraser said in a memo reported by Reuters. In January, Citigroup reported a $1.8 billion loss for Q4.

The top marketer’s chair at Citi has been empty since October 2021, when CMO Carla Zakhem-Hassan left for JPMorgan Chase, where she remains as CMO.

The job Craddock is assuming will be larger than the one Zakhem-Hassan left. According to an internal memo from chief client officer David Livingstone, “we created the Chief Marketing and Content Officer role to oversee Citi’s enterprise and business marketing and set the strategy for producing original content and thought leadership.”

Craddock’s résumé includes more than 25 years of experience in business development and international marketing. He holds a B.A. in European Business and French from Nottingham Trent University. He will report directly to Livingstone, a Credit Suisse veteran who joined Citigroup in 2016. Livingstone’s complete memo appears below.

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All,

I am pleased to announce that Citi’s new Chief Marketing and Content Officer will be Alex Craddock, a proven industry leader who most recently served as the Global Chief Marketing Officer of BlackRock. 

As part of the firm’s enhanced focus on clients, we created the Chief Marketing and Content Officer role to oversee Citi’s enterprise and business marketing and set the strategy for producing original content and thought leadership. These activities are central to how clients experience Citi. Bringing them together in the Client organisation improves their co-ordination and ensures our clients are at the heart of our marketing and content delivery strategies. 

Alex knows firsthand what our clients expect from Citi, given his strong record of leading marketing for one of our biggest clients, BlackRock. During a 30-year career, Alex also led global marketing for Hewlett Packard’s PC and mobile device business. Additionally, he spent 12 years at Visa Inc. where he held various executive marketing leadership roles, his last position being Global Head of Brand and Product Marketing.

Alex’s decision to join Citi is another example of our ability to attract the industry’s best talent to our firm. At BlackRock, he was responsible for developing and executing a global marketing strategy that accelerated the commercial growth of the company, enhancing BlackRock’s corporate brand and driving growth for its core products. I expect him quickly to put that experience to good use as we integrate our enterprise and business marketing, establish leadership with our high quality insights and content, and accelerate revenue growth through greater impact with clients.

Alex will join Citi next month and report to me. He will lead an integrated marketing and content organisation that includes our enterprise marketing and brand engagement team, the marketing teams for our Services, Commercial Banking, Wealth and U.S. Personal Banking businesses, the Client Access and Strategic Engagement team, as well as the Global Insights and Content team. 

Please join me in congratulating Alex and welcoming him to the firm.

David Livingstone