A driving force in Marketing.
LAURA C. GENTILE
Chief Marketing Officer, Senior Advisor and Entrepreneur
Laura Gentile capped a 20-year career at ESPN as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer. She left ESPN this past year to launch her own company, lauragentile.studio, an independent marketing consultancy.
While CMO of ESPN, Laura was responsible for setting the marketing direction for ESPN, inclusive of all brands, platforms, shows, and events. She oversaw and directed all creative output, plus media strategy, budgeting and fan engagement. Laura was responsible for the health of the ESPN brand, creating award-winning campaigns “There’s No Place Like Sports” and “This is SportsCenter.” Laura helped develop the leadership positioning, advertising and promotions for key business partners including the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL, WNBA and F1, and business priorities such as the ESPN App and Fantasy Football. She was instrumental in fostering a culture that embraced creative excellence and valued new audience growth, engaging youth, women, hispanic and black audiences across the ESPN ecosystem.
Laura was named to the 2023 Forbes "World's Most Influential CMOs" list, as well as to the Forbes
“Most Powerful Women in U.S. Sports” list.
Laura previously served as EVP, Commercial Marketing for The Walt Disney Company networks, overseeing Creative Studios, Distribution Marketing and the brand marketing of Disney networks ABC, FX, Disney Channel and NatGeo. She held a variety of strategic roles at ESPN, giving her a unique scope of influence. She served as SVP, Business Operations and Content Strategy, a role that included strategy and oversight of the business operations of the Content organization. Simultaneously, she led espnW and Women’s Initiatives at ESPN.
espnW is the leading brand of its kind, pioneering a commitment to women in sports and the support of women’s sports across the industry.
Prior to researching and launching espnW, Laura served as Vice President, Chief of Staffat ESPN. In that role, she worked directly with George Bodenheimer, President, ESPN and ABC Sports, on all aspects of the division’s business from priority-setting and long-range planning to employee engagement.
Laura honed her marketing and advertising skills as a Senior Partner, Management Supervisor at Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide. Her team led the development of the IBM campaign that earned the GRAND EFFIE for advertising effectiveness, a first in Ogilvy & Mather’s history.
Laura carries significant agency experience having started her marketing career at Ammirati, Puris, Lintas on the UPS, Goldman Sachs and Bacardi accounts.
Laura has received the Advertising Women of NY Changing the Game Paradigm Award. She has also been awarded The WICT Network’s Signature Accolade for espnW’s Global Sports Mentoring Program and received the organization’s Fearless Leader Award in 2023. Laura was a fellow of the Betsy Magness Leadership Institute Class XVII, and was named to Sports Business Journal’s Forty Under 40 Class and an SBJ Game-Changer. She was appointed to the U.S. Department of State’s Council to Empower Women and Girls Through Sports.
Laura is a graduate of Duke University with a double major in English and Political Science. Laura earned an MBA in Marketing and Organizational Behavior from Boston College’s Carroll Graduate School of Management.
While an undergraduate, Laura garnered All-America and All-ACC honors in field hockey and was a two-time team Captain.
Laura led Duke to their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament, graduated as the school’s all-time leading scorer, and was named to the ACC’s 50th Anniversary field hockey team. She remains active with the Duke Field Hockey program. Laura was also inducted into her high school’s Athletic Hall of Fame and Hall of Achievement, the only Sachem High School graduate to achieve both honors.
Today, Laura is a senior advisor to 17 Sport, a purpose-led marketing agency based in Paris. Laura currently serves as a member of the Global Board of Directors for PeacePlayers International and on the National Advisory Board to Dream Big!, a non-profit organization that seeks to help girls and young women from low-income situations achieve their dreams through sports.
Laura is married with three boys.
