As you might expect of a marketing executive with a distinguished reputation, Jonathan Mildenhall landed his new gig as CMO of Rocket Companies because the CEO called him up.
Varun Krishna, who took the helm at Rocket last summer, knew Mildenhall well. When Krishna held the corner office at TurboTax, he’d been a client of TwentyFirstCenturyBrand, the shop Mildenhall started after establishing his marketing bona fides at Coca-Cola (where he launched the “Open Happiness” campaign) and Airbnb, whose $1 billion valuation jumped to $31 billion during his tenure.
But Mildenhall didn’t take the Rocket job because a former client had phoned him.