Workday Names Sarah Kennedy Ellis Chief Marketing Officer
Workday appoints veteran tech marketer Sarah Kennedy Ellis as CMO to steer its global brand and growth strategy for the AI era.
Rhea-AI Summary
Workday (WDAY) has appointed Sarah Kennedy Ellis as chief marketing officer, effective October 5, 2026, reporting to co-founder, CEO, and chair Aneel Bhusri.
She will lead Workday’s global marketing and communications organization and be responsible for advancing the company’s brand narrative and growth strategy in what the company describes as the AI era. Kennedy Ellis brings more than 20 years of marketing experience, including leadership roles at Google, Adobe Experience Cloud, and Marketo, where she played a key role in Marketo’s acquisition by Adobe in 2018.
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Key Figures
- Effective date
- October 5, 2026
- Chief marketing officer appointment
- Marketing experience
- More than 20 years
- Incoming chief marketing officer
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Kennedy Ellis brings more than 20 years of marketing expertise to the role. She joins Workday from Google, where she led global marketing for Google Cloud and Google Workspace and helped build the engine behind one of the fastest growing businesses in enterprise technology. Prior to joining Google, she was chief marketing officer of Adobe Experience Cloud, and chief marketing officer of Marketo, playing a critical role in Marketo's successful acquisition by Adobe in 2018.
"I couldn't be more excited to welcome Sarah to the Workday leadership team," said Aneel Bhusri, co-founder, CEO, and chair, Workday. "She's driven growth at scale for some of the biggest technology companies in the world, and has spent the last decade at the center of enterprise AI. As every organization actively navigates the future of AI to better manage their people and their money, Sarah's unique ability to translate complex technological shifts into compelling, customer-centric stories is exactly what we need."
"I am incredibly honored to join Workday at such a pivotal moment for enterprises and the humans that power them," added Kennedy Ellis. "We have entered an era where AI is fundamentally redefining how businesses operate and Workday sits at the center of that transformation, uniquely positioned to help organizations harness the power of their most vital assets—their people and their money. I look forward to working with the team to tell that story and fuel our next phase of global growth."
About Workday
Workday operates at the heart of the enterprise, HR, finance, and IT, where the margin for error is effectively zero. By tightly coupling AI with the context, guardrails, and trusted processes that run the business, Workday goes beyond AI that assists with work to agents that are capable of driving measurable outcomes. More than 11,500 organizations worldwide, including more than
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Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements including, among other things, statements regarding Workday's plans, beliefs, and expectations. These forward-looking statements are based only on currently available information and our current beliefs, expectations, and assumptions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside of our control. If the risks materialize, assumptions prove incorrect, or we experience unexpected changes in circumstances, actual results could differ materially from the results implied by these forward-looking statements, and therefore you should not rely on any forward-looking statements. Risks include, but are not limited to, risks described in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including our most recent report on Form 10-Q or Form 10-K and other reports that we have filed and will file with the SEC from time to time, which could cause actual results to vary from expectations. Workday assumes no obligation to, and does not currently intend to, update any such forward-looking statements after the date of this release, except as required by law.
Any unreleased services, features, or functions referenced in this document, our website, or other press releases or public statements that are not currently available are subject to change at Workday's discretion and may not be delivered as planned or at all. Customers who purchase Workday services should make their purchase decisions based upon services, features, and functions that are currently available.
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SOURCE Workday Inc.
FAQ
What will Sarah Kennedy Ellis oversee in her new role at Workday?
As chief marketing officer, Sarah Kennedy Ellis will lead Workday’s global marketing and communications organization and will be responsible for championing the company’s brand narrative and growth strategy for the AI era.
What is Sarah Kennedy Ellis’s prior experience before joining Workday?
Sarah Kennedy Ellis joins from Google, where she led global marketing for Google Cloud and Google Workspace. Before that, she was chief marketing officer of Adobe Experience Cloud and previously CMO of Marketo, where she played a critical role in Marketo’s acquisition by Adobe in 2018.
When does Sarah Kennedy Ellis start as Workday’s chief marketing officer and to whom will she report?
Her appointment is effective October 5, 2026, and she will report to Aneel Bhusri, Workday’s co-founder, CEO, and chair.