CMO Spotlight | Katie Williams - The J.M. Smucker Company
The CMO Spotlight offers an inside look into the minds and journeys of high-performing marketing leaders.
Setup CEO + Founder, Joe Koufman, sat down with Katie Williams, the CMO of The J.M. Smucker Company, to talk about the balance between humility and confidence, curiosity in leadership, empathy, taking chances, and more.
“You’re not better than anyone, and no one’s better than you.”
Watch + Read the Recap Below
Q1 | What is your superpower?
For Williams, curiosity is crucial. “I am a tremendously curious person. It makes me very comfortable in uncomfortable environments. I think that my ability to enjoy discomfort in a way that unlocks growth is definitely a superpower.”
She continued, “I try to create environments and support my teams — even if that's not their superpower — so they can feel comfortable leaning into new spaces or places where they're not comfortable because they recognize that they're going to have the support of a leader that really values learning and the growth that can come from that type of mindset.”
As a leader, she prioritizes creating a culture where people feel safe enough to stretch, learn, and grow.
Q2 | What advice would you share with marketers?
Williams learned early not to be afraid to take a path that is less obvious.
She shared, “I would say the piece of advice that I got early in my career was about my willingness to chart a different path. I remember my boss said, ‘You're lucky enough to work on some of these brands that have been here for almost a hundred years. What won't always be there are these unique opportunities that build a set of skills and experiences that you can carry with you for the rest of your career.’”
She advises people to go on a different path and explore something that hasn't yet been explored because it was career-changing for her.
Say yes to the roles, projects, and challenges that are not always the most predictable.
Q3 | What values are important to you?
Empathy sits at the center of effective leadership for Williams. She shared, “I talk a lot about empathy and the importance of empathy. Empathy, though, is the combination of curiosity and humility. Humility is recognizing that maybe you don't have all the answers, but then being curious enough to go find the answers makes us as effective as possible. For me, that empathy — which requires humility and curiosity — is the most important thing.”
That framing makes empathy feel especially practical. It is about being open enough to admit what you do not know and engaged enough to go learn it. In that way, empathy becomes a real business advantage — one that can lead to better questions, better decisions, and better leadership.
Q4 | Tell us about an impactful campaign.
Williams pointed to her time leading Sour Patch Kids, when the brand was coming off nearly a decade of double-digit growth and the team needed to understand how to keep that momentum going. As she put it, “One interesting fact was that there was a certain group of consumers — in this case, Hispanic households — that were driving the majority of the growth of that brand. I asked the question, ‘Why? Do we know why?’” That answer came from within the team. A colleague from Mexico shared a hypothesis that the brand’s texture, flavor intensity, and format felt familiar to the types of candies and sweet treats many Hispanic consumers had grown up with. For Williams, that insight changed everything. It “unlocked, again, that culture of empathy — being humble enough to ask the question, ‘Why? I don't know why this is happening,’ but curious enough to go find the answer.” She also said the experience reinforced how powerful diverse teams can be, because people with different backgrounds were able to bring perspectives that directly shaped the business.
Q5 | What brand do you admire?
Williams admires Invisalign because it changed and disrupted how people viewed the category. “Invisalign is so interesting to me because it normalized that piece of self-care, and then built the partnerships and expertise needed to engage the gatekeepers — the dental offices — to build out that brand.”
The influence the brand had to change people’s behavior and habits fascinates her.
For more marketing leadership advice and insights into the mindset of marketing executives in various industries, be sure to watch the full interview with Katie Williams, and keep an eye out for more thought leadership from our CMO Spotlights.
If you know an impactful marketing leader who would be a good candidate for the #CMOSpotlight series, nominate them here.
Watch the Full Interview to the right.
Setup CEO + Founder, Joe Koufman, sat down with Katie Williams, the CMO of The J.M. Smucker Company, to talk about the balance between humility and confidence, curiosity in leadership, empathy, taking chances, and more.