Jess Ling to Lead American Express Marketing from Nov. 30

By Sophie Lindqvist

American Express has named Jess Ling chief marketing officer effective Nov. 30, succeeding Elizabeth Rutledge, who plans to retire in March after more than three decades with the financial institution.

Ling currently serves as American Express’s executive vice president of global brand advertising. Howard Grosfield, the company’s group president of U.S. consumer services, announced the appointment in a letter to employees that the company posted on its website.

The sourced announcement centers on an internal transfer of leadership. It sets out no new marketing strategy, campaign budget, reporting change or target. The succession alone does not establish any such change.

A promotion from within the brand team

Ling joined American Express in 2019 and started in its global advertising and brand management team in 2023. She now leads global brand advertising as executive vice president. That sequence gives the incoming CMO direct operating experience across advertising and brand management at the company.

Before joining American Express, Ling led B2B marketing at Verizon Media. She brings more than 20 years of experience across marketing, advertising and media. Her record combines outside leadership with several years inside AmEx’s global advertising organization.

Ling also helped build OnBrand, American Express’s in-house creative agency. Her work on the agency forms part of the record behind the appointment, alongside her leadership of global brand advertising and her time on the global advertising and brand management team.

What does this change for American Express?

From Nov. 30, American Express will have a new CMO drawn from its own leadership team. The practical change is direct: Ling will move from leading global brand advertising to leading the company’s marketing organization, after serving on the team responsible for global advertising and brand management.

For agencies and internal creative teams, Ling brings direct experience of the function she helped build. The available announcement includes no new brief for OnBrand and no indication that American Express plans to change the model. Partners should treat the leadership transition as the stated decision, not infer a strategic reset from it.

Rutledge plans to retire in March after more than 30 years at the institution. The sourced announcement does not specify whether other senior marketing roles will change, and it names no successor to Ling’s existing position. Those organizational details remain unresolved in the material provided for the transition.

Marketing experience behind the appointment

Ling’s pre-AmEx experience came at Verizon Media, where she led B2B marketing. Her 20-plus-year career spans marketing, advertising and media, according to the company’s account of the appointment.

At American Express, her 2019 start and 2023 move into global advertising and brand management show that she worked inside the organization before reaching the CMO seat. The dates matter because the company selected an executive already familiar with its brand, advertising and creative-agency structures.

For senior marketing leaders, the near-term issue is whether an internal successor preserves the current operating model or changes it. The announcement offers no answer beyond naming Ling, her Nov. 30 start date and Rutledge’s March retirement.

The sourced decision is a leadership handoff: Jess Ling takes the CMO seat on Nov. 30, with no broader strategy change announced.