What you need to know:

• Steph Tully has been named the new CEO of Qantas’ budget airline Jetstar, effective after the departure of current CEO, Gareth Evans, at the end of 2022.
• She has been Chief Customer Officer since 2019 and has been with the airline since 2004.
• Tully revealed some of the airline's Covid survival tactics at the ADMA Global Forum earlier this year including flights to nowhere and selling-out of inflight bar carts and pyjamas to customers to maintain public awareness through Covid.
• Tully now joins a small group of Australian CMOs who have made the leap to chief executive - other notables include Unilever ANZ CEO Nicky Sparshott, Nando’s CEO Amanda Banfield, Super Retail Group CEO Anthony Heraghty, Bank of Queensland Retail Banking boss and ME Bank CEO Martine Jager and Nick Baker, CEO at Reflections Holiday Parks.

Qantas has promoted its former CMO turned Chief Customer Officer, Steph Tully, as the new CEO of Jetstar, effective after the departure of current chief Gareth Evans at the end of the year. Tully, who revealed Qantas’ Covid lessons at the ADMA Global Forum earlier this year, joins a small – but growing – circle of CMOs who have moved into chief executive roles. 

She joined Qantas in 2004 and has worked across operational, commercial, marketing and loyalty functions, progressing through the ranks. Markus Svensson, currently Executive Manager of Network, Revenue Management and Alliances, will become the new Chief Customer Officer, with both Svensson and Tully transitioning into their new roles between now and November.

“Managing this kind of executive renewal internally means we keep our momentum and can leverage a huge amount of corporate knowledge, including through the transition,” Qantas CEO Alan Joyce said in a statement.

“Stephanie has worked across several different parts of the airline, from crewing to marketing, and has a deep understanding of customer experience. She’s an outstanding leader and she’ll be leading a very experienced senior team at Jetstar to keep building on the strengths of that business.”

Despite Qantas facing it's biggest public customer dissatisfaction levels in decades, the Qantas leadership team have clearly signaled they want a marketing and customer-focused CEO at Jetstar. An interesting parallel could be drawn with the career of Dame Carolyn McCall, who became the first female CEO of UK TV network ITV in 2018 after almost eight years at the helm of European budget airline easyJet. She started in marketing and sales decades earlier. 

Although often talked about, few chief marketers make the switch to CEO. Tully joins an Australian line-up that includes:

• Amanda Banfield – former Mondelez marketing and country lead turned Nando’s ANZ CEO 
• Bank of Queensland Retail Banking boss and ME Bank CEO Martine Jager - former Westpac Chief Digital and Marketing Officer  
• Anthony Heraghty – former CUB marketing director and George Patterson Y&R managing director now CEO of Rebel, Super Cheap Auto and BCF parent company Super Retail Group
• Nicky Sparshott, a Unilever marketer turned CEO of Unilever-acquired T2 and now Unilever ANZ
• Nick Baker – former CMO at Tourism Australia now CEO at Reflections Holiday Parks
• Michael Miller – Executive Chairman at News Corp Australia and the media company's former marketing boss