Alicia Tillman

Alicia Tillman is a dynamic C-suite leader with over 25 years of experience in global marketing, sales, loyalty, strategy, operations, and transformation in public and private companies. Inspiring, creative and purpose-driven, she engenders exceptional followership and trust with her team and stakeholder partnerships. Tillman has a track record of transforming marketing into a measurable growth engine across some of the world’s most complex organizations. She is expert at assembling high-performing teams and has deep experience building modern go-to-market models, reshaping brands at scale, and driving sustained commercial growth. With a unique mix of C-level Consumer and B2B marketing and operating executive expertise, she is an agile innovator and operator amidst rapidly transforming global marketplaces and customer needs.

Tillman most recently served as the Chief Marketing Officer of Delta Air Lines and was a member of Delta's Leadership Committee, responsible for shaping the airline's vision and strategy, advancing initiatives that strengthen their position as one of the world's most trusted and admired consumer brands. Tillman built marketing into a core commercial growth engine aligned to revenue, yield, loyalty and premium mix, serving as powerful asset in the delivery of $60 billion in annual revenue. During her leadership, revenue experienced year over year growth led by increased loyalty and spend. Tillman rebuilt the team, operating strategy, process, technology stack, brand story, and creative capabilities that have propelled the brand forward. One of her standout leadership moments was the orchestration of the Delta keynote at the Las Vegas Sphere during CES. The first ever corporate keynote to be delivered at the Sphere.

Prior to Delta, Alicia served as Chief Revenue Officer of Capitolis, a high-growth, fintech startup providing banks with unique, technology-driven capital access. She built and led an integrated go-to-market organization spanning sales, marketing, customer adoption, and innovation, accelerating revenue growth and category leadership. She played a key role in driving the company fundraising and positioned the brand to earn the recognition of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies during her tenure. Prior to Capitolis, she served as Executive Vice President and Global Chief Marketing Officer of SAP. A member of the Global Executive Team, she led the worldwide marketing organization of over 2,000 employees across 16 lines of business. She was a key contributor in the acquisition and integration of multiple companies, rebuilt the company’s technology foundation to scale digital and demand generation capabilities, developed the company’s brand story, led several iconic brand campaigns and built an ecosystem of partners and cultural influencers to deepen SAP’s relevance and scale the brand and customer experience to new heights.

She led SAP to become one of the 20 most valuable brands in the world (BrandZ & Interbrand rankings), with its brand value increasing more than $18.5 billion under her leadership.

Before joining SAP, she spent 11 years* at American Express, where she led Marketing, Public Affairs, and Business Services for the travel division. She designed some of American Express’s first digital programs innovating the customer experience and led the formation of the deal services team accountable for new innovation, pipeline and content management in support of revenue targets. She was awarded multiple American Express Chairman Awards for outstanding performance in innovation.

Tillman served as a Board Director for Gates Industrial Corporation (NYSE: GTES), a leader in global manufacturing; and currently serves as Board Director for RainFocus, the leading customer experience events platform.

She has been named one of Forbes’ Most Influential Chief Marketing Officers five times and was inducted into the Forbes CMO Hall of Fame in 2025. She was also named as a Forbes Entrepreneurial CMO, ADWEEK Marketing Vanguard and Brand Genius.

She has a BA in Marketing and Mass Communications from Lycoming College, where she focused on International Marketing, Public Relations, and Advertising, and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate in 2023. She is also a graduate of the prestigious Chief Marketing Officer program at The Kellogg School of Management.