The Philadelphia Ad Club’s Inside the C-Suite series usually puts CMOs in the spotlight. This time, it was an excellent mix of CEO, EMP, and CMO vantage points.
Kicking off the 2026 series, the program featured Michael Marquis, CEO of Raw Sugar and Executive Managing Partner at WM Partners, an operationally driven private equity firm focused on consumer brands. With more than 25 years of experience spanning global powerhouses like Listerine, Band-Aid, and Aveeno, as well as founder-led challengers like OGX and Raw Sugar, Marquis offered a rare view into how modern CEOs balance brand, people, data, and growth in an increasingly complex world.
What followed was less a traditional “webinar” and more a masterclass in leadership for brands that want to scale without losing their soul.
“I Don’t Do Anything, But I’m Responsible for Everything”
One line neatly captured Marquis’ philosophy as CEO.
The role, he explained, is a constant tension between being deeply involved and knowing when to let go. Great CEOs don’t micromanage by default, but they do dive in when the business needs decisive action, fast pivots, or hard calls.
That balance becomes even more critical at Raw Sugar, a 10-year-old clean personal care brand with a team of just 40 people and an actively involved founder who still stewards the brand’s original vision. In an environment like that, leadership is less about command-and-control and more about trust, clarity, and accountability.
Talent Isn’t Born. It’s Built.
One of the strongest throughlines of the conversation was Marquis’ belief in talent development.
People, he said, aren’t born great leaders. They become great leaders because someone invested in them, coached them, and created the conditions for growth. A CEO’s job is to nurture that environment so people want to learn, stretch, and build something meaningful.
That mindset becomes even more important in a private equity-backed organization, where boards, investors, operators, and brand teams all need alignment. An effective CEO manages these groups. A great CEO communicates with them.
Communication, Marquis stressed, is the number one tool of leadership. That means telling both the good and the bad, knowing when to ask for help, and tailoring the message without losing authenticity.
Deep Thinking vs. Fast Fixing
Marquis offered practical advice that felt especially relevant in today’s always-on business climate: leaders must build habits for both deep thinking and rapid execution.
Some problems require space, reflection, and thoughtful alignment across the organization. Others demand speed, iteration, and a willingness to fix things in real time. The challenge isn’t choosing one approach. It’s knowing which mode the moment calls for and being disciplined enough to switch.
At Raw Sugar, that often means spending disproportionate time on problem areas, coaching product line leaders, and digging into numbers together to unlock smarter decisions.
Brand Value Beats Short-Term Profits
A recurring theme was the long game.
While private equity often gets stereotyped as profit-first, Marquis pushed back on that idea. Sophisticated buyers, he noted, can see right through short-term margin grabs that erode brand equity. Sustainable value comes from building brands consumers trust and love over time.
This perspective also shapes how Raw Sugar thinks about scale. The brand positions itself as “sophisticated products at affordable pricing,” and that promise must hold across packaging, pricing, retail partnerships, and marketing channels.
Big Brands Teach Structure. Small Brands Teach Speed.
Marquis has lived in both worlds, and he sees clear advantages to each.
Large organizations teach you how to navigate complexity, align across divisions, and work through bureaucracy with significant resources. Smaller companies force agility. You fail faster, learn quicker, punch above your weight, and build strong external networks because you have to.
Smaller teams also benefit from tighter brand continuity. Messaging, pricing, and positioning are easier to keep aligned when teams aren’t siloed. At Raw Sugar, this shows up in a hybrid model: a growing in-house team handling social and design, paired with specialized agencies for media buying, PR, and project-based needs.
Stop Watching the Scoreboard
One of the most pointed insights came when Marquis addressed challenger brands trying to mimic big-brand playbooks.
That instinct, he said, often becomes an excuse not to innovate.
Instead of copying what market leaders are doing, brands should break down why something works and whether it’s actually meaningful to their consumer. Don’t watch the scoreboard. Play your game.
When brands drift off-strategy, it’s often because teams don’t fully understand the mission. That’s why great leaders repeat the brand story relentlessly. Clarity isn’t a one-time announcement. It’s a constant drumbeat.
Innovation Starts With Listening
Raw Sugar’s expansion into dog products is a perfect example of consumer-led innovation.
The brand’s kids line performed exceptionally well, earning top rankings for products without artificial colors or fragrances. But consumers kept joking that their “kids” were four-legged. Rather than dismiss the insight, the team listened.
The result? A test launch of dog products on Amazon and Petco, fully aligned with the brand’s clean ethos, but requiring real product reengineering. It wasn’t a gimmick. It was a thoughtful extension grounded in consumer behavior.
Data, AI, and the Calm After the Hype
Marquis uses data and AI daily, from analyzing marketing performance to managing supply chain complexity. But he’s cautious.
Raw Sugar operates under strict AI guidelines, avoids sharing confidential information, and primarily uses protected models. The rules evolve constantly, and leaders need to evolve with them.
What excites him most isn’t flashy tools, but what’s coming next: agentic search and more seamless paths from discovery to purchase. Traditional search still requires too much friction. Anything that reduces that friction is a win for consumers and brands alike.
His advice? Beware of shiny object syndrome. You don’t need to be first. There’s a sweet spot just behind the tip of the spear. Watch, learn, then move decisively.
Fire Fast. Care Deeply.
When asked what keeps him up at night, Marquis didn’t mention margins or media costs. He mentioned people.
Are the right people in the right roles? Are they struggling with personal challenges? Health issues. Family crises. Divorce. Leadership means caring about all of it.
That care, however, doesn’t eliminate hard decisions. Asked whether he would have fired the Eagles’ offensive coordinator, Kevin Patullo, his answer was immediate: “Yes, in week three.” Fire fast. That lesson, he said, applies to business as much as football.
What’s Next for Raw Sugar
Looking ahead to 2026, Raw Sugar is rolling out a massive packaging redesign, hitting shelves in the coming weeks. It’s a significant investment, touching every SKU and requiring close collaboration with retail partners.
Even with strong brand health, freshness matters. Brands must evolve visually without abandoning what made them trusted in the first place. For Marquis, that balance of continuity and reinvention defines modern brand leadership.
Final Takeaway
We’re living in a moment of extraordinary technological promise and very real uncertainty.
Marquis offered a grounding metaphor: AI is a calculator. It eliminates the long division so humans can focus on higher-order thinking. The opportunity isn’t replacement. It’s elevation.
For leaders, marketers, and brand builders, the message was clear: stay curious, stay human, invest in people, and never lose sight of the customer.
It’s an exciting time to build. Just don’t forget why you’re building in the first place.
My Conclusion
This is a reminder that great products aren’t good enough alone. It’s the leadership of the business entity that guides that success, the critical role of people from top to bottom, and of course, listening to the customer. Marketing supports the business and cannot operate in a vacuum.
