Lisa Caputo

Lisa Caputo is a proven business leader and an expert in marketing, strategic communications and public affairs.  Her portfolio in both the public and private sectors has included responsibility for marketing, digital, advertising, branding, research, media planning and buying, sponsorships, external, internal and executive communications, crisis management, issues management, government relations, public policy, community relations, and line of business leadership.

Lisa joined The Travelers Companies, Inc. in 2011 as Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing and Communications Officer. She is a senior member of the company’s executive management team, serving on its Management and Operating Committees.  Lisa oversees the company’s marketing, research, branding, corporate communications and creative services strategies and operations and is a member of the Travelers Foundation Board.  She also works closely with investor relations and government relations.

At Travelers, Lisa has helped to move the company more into the digital domain, launching a proactive social media presence and forging digital partnerships and campaigns.  Lisa is the architect of the Travelers Risk Index and has worked to position the company as a thought leader on the U.S. fiscal crisis, education and risk management.

Prior to Travelers, Lisa held executive leadership positions at Citigroup for over 11 years.  At Citi, she served as a senior advisor to three chief executive officers, with a focus on corporate strategy, reputation management, positioning and branding as well as women’s financial issues.  Lisa was Citigroup’s global corporate Chief Marketing Officer for five years, and directed the company’s global marketing, corporate communications/public affairs and community relations strategies and functions as Executive Vice President, Global Marketing and Corporate Affairs for three years.  She founded Citi’s leading women’s financial services business, Women & Co., and served as its Chairman and CEO for 10 years.  Lisa served on Citigroup’s Senior Leadership and Management Committees and was the Co-Head of Women4Citi, Citi’s women’s initiative program.

Lisa started Women & Co. when she first joined Citi.  Women & Co. was a membership business that helped women build their financial knowledge and create financial strategies through access to financial advisors, financial education, resources and tools, and a community of financially-minded women.  Under Lisa’s leadership, she grew Women & Co. from a start-up to volume business, which accounted for $37 billion in assets, deposits and loans, and generated over $320 million in revenues. 

As Citi’s Chief Marketing Officer, Lisa had management responsibility for all marketing efforts across the corporation, including the day-to-day management of marketing activities for the company’s global consumer businesses.  She led the rebranding effort to migrate the company from Citigroup to Citi, managed the sale of the corporate logo and launched the first integrated global corporate advertising campaign and branding program for the new Citi.  The effort is the subject of a Harvard Business School case study.  She also negotiated Citi’s naming rights and business partnership with the New York Mets and directed the branding of the CitiField stadium.  Citi’s advertising campaigns under Lisa’s leadership received several prestigious awards.

In addition to global marketing, Lisa oversaw Citi’s global corporate communications during the financial crisis.  In this role, she developed and managed a “war room,”  issued a quarterly TARP report, crafted a reputational risk radar system, initiated and grew the company’s social media presence, and led the repositioning of the company as it emerged from the financial crisis.  She is the architect of the “responsible finance” integrated marketing and communications program, which was recognized for excellence in crisis communications.  She also oversaw Citi’s global community relations operations for five years and led the development of Citi’s community programs focused on affordable housing, sustainable economic development and financial education.

Before joining Citi, Lisa held senior executive marketing and communications positions in the media and entertainment industry.  She was Vice President of Global Communications and Synergy for Disney Publishing Worldwide, The Walt Disney Company’s publishing subsidiary.  As part of the senior management team, Lisa led the communications and cross-marketing  efforts for Disney’s publishing businesses across the world, which included overseeing all strategic promotional initiatives between each publishing business line and other Disney divisions, chief among them the movie studio.  She also served as Vice President of Corporate Communications for the CBS Corporation.  At CBS, Lisa built a communications operation for the CBS Television Station Group in 14 markets and oversaw the CBS/TIME magazine millennium symposia project, which resulted in the production of nationally broadcast television shows 

Prior to her career in business, Lisa spent over a decade in the public sector.  She is best known for serving as Deputy Assistant to the President and Press Secretary to First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton at the White House for President Bill Clinton’s entire first term, where she oversaw the communications operations, was chief spokesperson for the First Lady and First Family, and served as a counselor to the President and First Lady.  Lisa worked at the highest levels of government as a senior member of the White House staff,  helped guide Hillary Clinton through her tenure as First Lady, and continued to serve as an advisor to Hillary Clinton during her candidacies for U.S. Senate and for President as well as during her tenure as U.S. Senator and Secretary of State. Previously, Lisa ran Al Gore’s media operations at the 1992 Democratic National Convention.  She was Press Secretary to U.S. Senator Tim Wirth and was Press Secretary and Federal Grants Coordinator to U.S. Representative Bob Traxler.  She also served as National Issues Press Secretary for the 1988 Dukakis-Bentsen presidential campaign.

Lisa serves on the boards of Best Buy Co., Inc. (Nominating and Governance Committee and Compensation Committee), the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, WNET Channel 13, New Visions for Public Schools and the Creative Coalition.  She is a member of the Reuters Editorial Advisory Board, the Advisory Council on Media Relations for Brown University, the Board of Advisors of Northwestern University’s Medill School, the New York Restoration Project Chairman’s Council, the New York Presbyterian Sloane Hospital Advisory Committee, Brookings Institution’s Public Sector Leadership Initiative Advisory Board, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Economic Club of New York and the Financial Women’s Association.

Lisa graduated magna cum laude from Brown University (A.B. political science and French) and received a Master’s degree in Journalism with highest distinction from Northwestern University.  She is a television commentator and public speaker on politics, women and leadership, women’s financial issues and corporate reputation management,  and has been recognized for excellence in business leadership, marketing and corporate affairs.