Communicator spotlight: Garrett Marquis, BNY's chief communications officer
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Photo illustration: Axios Visuals. Photo: Courtesy of BNY
Garrett Marquis serves as managing director and chief communications officer at BNY, which was founded by Alexander Hamilton and was the first company to trade on the New York Stock Exchange.
Why it matters: Marquis and his team are tasked with introducing new audiences to the legacy bank through creative communications campaigns.
🗣️What he's saying: "There's a lot of market research that indicated that people know BNY quite well — and so the opportunity was how can we refresh the brand [while] still sticking to its heritage," he said of the bank's recent rebrand.
📍How he got here: Marquis got his start in politics, where he held various communications and operations roles in the U.S. Senate, Bush administration and political campaigns in the U.S. and Europe.
- He later founded public affairs firm Prism Group before serving at the National Security Council from 2018-19 as a senior official and spokesperson. He joined BNY in 2021 and became CCO in 2022.
🏗️ How it's structured: Marquis reports to the chief marketing officer and oversees a team of 45 responsible for external, internal, business and client communications.
💡Every CEO should know that running a business is like running a campaign.
- "Leaders are starting to see various outside issues impact their business priorities, so understanding how to communicate his vision or her vision is critically important," Marquis said. "It's not dissimilar to how any kind of campaign is run today, whether we're talking about employees or external clients, and analysts and so forth."
📈 Trend spot: The evolution of thought leadership.
- "Our executives have an incredible voice on LinkedIn — and that [platform] presents a real opportunity for us to really tell our story to clients as well as potential employees."
🧠 Best advice: Listen first.
- "Unless we're hearing what's being asked or what's needed, it's hard to communicate effectively ... so listen first."
