Karin Timpione, Major League Baseball’s chief marketing officer, will leave her position at the end of this year, she and MLB confirmed to ADWEEK. She has not yet announced her next move.
Timpone made the first announcement on his LinkedIn page.
“THANKS [to] my league and club colleagues for many exciting seasons — 4 World Series! – with marketing breakthroughs along the way,” Timpone wrote on LinkedIn. “Together, we improved brand relevance metrics through creative campaigns, design and experiential marketing and helped drive footfall through performance and AI-driven marketing.
MLB said it would later share more information about his successor and any other changes to the structure of its marketing department.
Timpone joined MLB in 2021when sports marketing and audiences began to rebound from the pandemic. During her tenure, she led the league’s global marketing efforts and oversaw MLB Events and its design services team. She also collaborated with all 30 MLB teams and executives on revenue, product and operations.
Timpone was the league’s first chief marketing officer since the departure of Jacqueline Parkes in 2016. The two hires represented a growing acceptance of women in sports management roles, ADWEEK previously reported, as Parkes was the first woman to be named director marketing of a major sports league.
At MLB, Timpone helped launch storytelling initiatives such as “Enjoy the show” to reach young fans and help them create a feeling of connection with their favorite players. In 2023, she too hired Wieden+Kennedy Portland as the league’s first creative agency of record to help build loyalty and strengthen baseball’s relationship with its fans.
“Not only are they known for partnering with big brands, but they also have great ideas for uncovering the brand truth. » Timpone told ADWEEK at the time.
Timpone was previously CMO at Marriott International, where she led marketing strategy for a portfolio of more than 30 hotel brands. She also led the creation of its Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program, tripling its loyal member base to more than 140 million members.
She also held senior marketing positions at Disney and Yahoo.
