A conversation with Marissa Jarratt and Laura Heisman
At first glance, it would seem that Marissa Jarratt and Laura Heisman are executives for companies that couldn’t be more different. One oversees marketing for a nearly 100-year-old convenience retailer with 85,000 locations worldwide. The other heads up marketing for a cutting-edge AI observability platform serving enterprise software customers. Yet when these two CMOs sat down with Kathy Hollenhorst, Marketers That Matter® Advisor & Chief Community Officer, the conversation revealed striking parallels in how they approach customer-centricity, strategic brand collaborations, developing future leaders, and building brands that matter.
Jarratt serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing & Sustainability Officer at 7-Eleven, where she oversees marketing, corporate communications, and sustainability for a brand approaching its centennial. Her remit includes managing a 100-million-member loyalty program, CRM and personalization initiatives, and a growing retail media network. After building her career in CPG with companies like PepsiCo and Dean Foods, she made a strategic pivot to retail six years ago.
Heisman leads marketing for Dynatrace, the AI-powered observability platform that helps global enterprise customers understand and automate their complex data systems. With more than three decades of experience shaping global marketing and communications, Heisman has scaled category-defining brands at VMware, GitHub, and Citrix. She now brings that track record to Dynatrace positioning it as the trusted AI-powered observability platform enterprises rely on analyze, automate and innovate faster.
Together, Jarratt and Heisman offer insights into how modern marketing principles transcend industry boundaries — and how leaders can thrive by embracing growth mindsets and taking calculated risks.
Customer-Centricity at Scale: From B2C to B2B and Back
The conversation heavily focused on the critical importance of treating customers as true partners whose success directly drives business outcomes, rather than simply end users to be served. For Heisman, this means putting customers “front and center of everything that we do” and positioning them as advocates within their own businesses. “We want to make them heroes within their business, because our platform is helping them be successful every single day,” she explained. This extends to Dynatrace’s global partner ecosystem, where together, they are also making their joint customers heroes.
Jarratt’s approach to customer-centricity is complex, operating in what she describes as a multi-dimensional customer environment. Beyond the obvious B2C relationship with store customers, 7-Eleven must also serve franchisees, operations teams, and vendor partners through their retail media network. “We think as much about how we market to our customers, the end user, as we do to our franchisees and operators and frontline, because we know we need to do both for it to work,” she said.
This multi-layered approach extends to 7-Eleven’s global strategy, where the company must balance brand consistency with local market flexibility across various operating models, including franchise and corporate stores in the U.S. to licensees internationally.
The similarities of how two CMOs, working across consumers, enterprises, franchisees and a worldwide tech partner ecosystem, is a strong example of how their industries may differ but the focus on customers is very aligned.
AI as the Great Accelerator
Both leaders view AI not as a replacement for human creativity and insight, but as a powerful accelerator that allows marketing teams to focus on what they do best. For Dynatrace, AI is fundamental to their platform’s DNA. “AI isn’t just built into Dynatrace, it’s foundational,” Heisman said. “We are an AI-powered observability platform, so our platform truly is about being able to analyze and automate faster, and it has been built on that.”
At 7-Eleven, Jarratt and her team use AI to synthesize internal and external data more effectively, while also streamlining creative production, media planning, and research processes. “It’s helping us move faster and more efficiently.”
The leaders shared practical AI adoption strategies for marketers just getting started. Heisman recommended not shying away from AI and beginning with personal use cases — like vacation planning — if you’re unfamiliar with professional use cases because “AI in not optional in marketing.” Jarratt suggested finding colleagues to compare notes with and leveraging industry association resources for education and best practices.
Strategic Brand Collaborations Rooted in Customer Insight
Both leaders commented on how effective brand collaborations stem from a deep understanding of customer behaviors and needs rather than surface-level brand alignment. Their approach to collaborations starts with authentic customer insights, whether that’s tapping into existing community behaviors or finding natural connections between their value proposition and partner activities. The key insight: successful collaborations aren’t just about finding brands that feel right together, but about identifying genuine intersections between customer passions and business objectives.
For example, 7-Eleven’s collaborations often emerge from observing organic customer behaviors, like car enthusiasts naturally gathering in their parking lots, which informed strategic collaborations around automotive culture. Dynatrace builds partnerships that demonstrate their core value proposition of precision and performance. Heisman emphasized that partnerships with ecosystem leaders like AWS and Microsoft go beyond co-marketing, they’re about delivering end to end value serving mutual customer needs. Each strategy prioritizes authentic customer value over superficial brand alignment.
Building Up Tomorrow’s Marketing Leaders
When it comes to developing the next generation of marketing talent, the executives prioritize growth mindsets, intellectual curiosity, and the courage to take calculated risks. Jarratt looks for marketers who demonstrate “intellectual curiosity about how the world works, how people work, how things work together” along with “a bias for action, coupled with an owner mindset.”
Heisman, who is a passionate advocate for women in tech, emphasized the importance of being accessible to emerging talent. “When someone pings me and asks for advice and guidance, the answer is yes,” she said, describing her approach to mentoring the next generation of the workforce, from interns to more senior leaders.
The pair stressed that growth comes from pushing boundaries and embracing discomfort. “If you’re not growing, you’re dying,” Jarratt noted, encouraging marketers to find ways to continuously experiment with new approaches, learn from failures, and step outside their comfort zones.
The Power of Strategic Risk-Taking
Perhaps the most inspiring aspect of both leaders’ career journeys has been their willingness to make bold pivots that have paid significant dividends.
Heisman’s decision to join Dynatrace after senior roles at VMware and GitHub was an intentional move to help shape the next era of enterprise technology and be a strategic part of transforming Dynatrace into an iconic brand at the intersection of AI and observability.
Jarratt’s move from CPG manufacturing to retail represented a deliberate effort to get closer to customer data and experiences — a risk that has enabled her to build one of the largest loyalty programs in the industry and develop new business lines like retail media.
“Don’t be scared to take a risk,” Jarratt said. “Because you’re probably smarter than you think you are, better than you think you are, and you’ll be fine. So, get out there, learn something new, try something new, and it will not only help you grow and develop, it’ll also help your team, your company, and the industry.”
About the Visionaries
Marissa Jarratt, EVP and Chief Marketing & Sustainability Officer, 7-Eleven, Inc.
Marissa Jarratt leads 7-Eleven’s marketing, media and creative strategy, loyalty programs and data monetization, and corporate communications. Additionally, she is responsible for the company’s Sustainability agenda to accelerate 7-Eleven’s leadership in responsible and sustainable convenience.
Jarratt joined the company as Senior Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer in 2019. Prior to joining 7-Eleven, she held multiple senior leadership positions at PepsiCo and Dean Foods Company.
Jarratt serves as an Independent Director for HUGE, on the Dean’s Advisory Council for the University of Texas at Austin McCombs School of Business and on the Board of Directors for the Association of National Advertisers.
She holds a Master of Business Administration, Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance and a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish from The University of Texas at Austin.
Laura Heisman, EVP and Chief Marketing Officer, Dynatrace
Laura Heisman leads Dynatrace’s global marketing organization. With more than three decades of marketing and communications expertise across enterprise, consumer, and developer industries, she plays a pivotal role in creating, optimizing, and personalizing the end-to-end customer experience.
Before joining Dynatrace, Heisman led marketing and communications for iconic technology brands, including VMware, GitHub and Citrix. Heisman holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communications from San Diego State University. As an advocate for women in technology, she has served as a mentor as well as an executive sponsor for women’s employee resource groups.
Visionaries airs live on Zoom every month and is brought to you in partnership with The Wall Street Journal. In each episode, two new Visionaries share their game plan and how that impacts today’s teams, talent, and you.
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