Heart Foundation CMO Chris Taylor Departs

Chris Taylor will be leaving the Heart Foundation after almost three years as chief marketing officer.

As the organisation’s first CMO, Talor had a mandate to establish a first-class marketing team to drive the Brand, Marketing and Digital strategies and support the organisation’s move into a new era as it transitioned from nine separate entities into a single national body

Taylor was responsible for leading the central high-performance team across marketing, direct revenue-raising, corporate partnerships, digital, data insights, media and corporate communications.

Heart Foundation Group CEO, Adjunct Professor John Kelly, said: “We were incredibly fortunate to have Chris join us and play such an important transitional role at the Heart Foundation during an extensive period of organisational change. Chris’ enthusiasm, professionalism and strategic thinking helped us to focus and develop impactful outcomes that helped move us closer to achieving our vision of an Australia free of heart disease.”

Of his achievements, none are more powerful than his spearheading the multi-award winning ‘Serial Killer’ campaign, which achieved outstanding results, arguably the most successful in the organisation’s 60-year history.

In addition, Taylor led the Heart Foundation to become globally recognised as one of the World’s Most Effective Brands in the 2020 Global Effie Index, built a contemporary marketing team including in-house creative, digital and social teams, developed strong commercial and media partnerships with Channel 7 and News Corp and launched the Health Hub in partnership with Coles.

This focus on effective and commercial outcomes helped the Heart Foundation improve its trust and reputation ratings in the annual Australian Charity Reputation Index. Personally, Taylor was recognised as one of Australia’s 50 most innovative and effective CMOs in both 2019 and 2020.

Professor Kelly added: “Chris was a critical hire as our first CMO. He leaves a true legacy behind at the organisation with our activities much more effective as a result of his tenure. We are very sorry to see Chris go but understand that, for him, the time was right.”

Taylor said: “I am sorry to leave behind one of the best marketing teams in the country whose passion, dedication and experience have led us to achieve some amazing results. Not only did we support each other as a team, but we were able to have fun along the way.

“I leave behind some lifelong professional and personal relationships and couldn’t be more proud of each and every one of them. But for me, like for most of us, 2020 has been a time of true reflection, and I am ready for the next challenge in life and my career.”

Taylor is leaving to drive several opportunities in the financial services, payments and fintech industries. An announcement on his next moves will be made in coming weeks.

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