Biography

Marc de Swaan Arons is a global marketing leadership thought leader, teacher, consultant, entrepreneur, author, and public speaker. With over 30 years of global marketing and business experience, Marc has a deep background in starting new initiatives, companies, organizations and inspiring change. He is the founder and leader of the Institute for Real Growth (IRG) – a prestigious Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) leadership capability platform focused on driving more humanized business growth by connecting CMOs to peers, experts and thought leadership.

Marc is both Dutch and American by birth and speaks four languages. He has traveled extensively and lived in Berkeley, Amsterdam, London, Rotterdam, New York, and Woodstock and is a proud husband and father of four beautiful children. He sits on the boards of two not-for-profit organizations that support young leaders in need.

Publications

  • Fast Company – The Da Vinci Growth CMO 1
  • Da Vinci Growth CMO in collaboration with Spencer Stuart 1
  • The Global Brand CEO 2
  • Harvard Business Review - The Ultimate Marketing Machine 3
  • The Atlantic - How Brands Were Born: A Brief History of Modern Marketing 4
  • Forbes - Building Marketing Capabilities to Fuel Growth 5
  • Forbes - Organizing for growth in a digital age 6
  • Forbes - Five Key Drivers of Global Marketing Effectiveness 7
  • AdAge - Why global marketing structure must follow strategy 8
  • Kantar - Building an insights engine 9

Conference presentations

  • 1. LinkedIn, Big Minds Collective, 2021
  • 2. BrandZ, South Africa 2020
  • 3. CMO Clinic, Argentina 2020
  • 4. Facebook Global Consumer Marketing Summit 2020
  • 5. BrandZ, Turkey 2019
  • 6.Google Think Brand 2014 10
  • 7. Campina Annual Conference 11
  • 8. Financial Times CMO Event 12
  • 9. Hershey winning in global marketing 13
  • 10. Cannes Lions 2015 14

See Marc in action