Lisa Joy Rosner

Chief marketing officer, Neustar
Hired: May 2014

Résumé recap
Ms. Rosner was the CMO of NetBase Solutions, a social-media-analytics firm. She began her marketing career with Oracle.

Biggest challenge
For nearly two decades, Neustar has flown under the radar as a back-end IT provider, primarily managing massive telecom data. Its main business is divided into three departments (marketing services, IT and network operations) and is slightly opaque. Ms. Rosner is tasked with creating a unified and renewed brand to rival Oracle and Adobe, in addition to reinvigorating a large public company.

Headwinds
Marketing analytics is a lucrative but crowded field. In addition to established data providers, huge technology platforms like Google and Facebook are offering similarly customized data packages to advertisers. And the telecom operators are moving in as well, potentially robbing Neustar of the central selling point of its products.

Tailwinds
Neustar has the cash to revamp its brand: In the first quarter, it posted revenue of $229.9 million, with 14% derived from marketing services. In her role with NetBase, Ms. Rosner sold its social-media product to five of the largest consumer packaged-goods brands, and she has worked with similar marketing big-data tools before. "I love to sink my teeth into anything data," she said.

Perspective
"Over the past 14 years as a venture capitalist, I have seen CMOs come and go, and Lisa Joy is one of a kind," said Amanda Reed, general partner at Palomar Ventures. "She creatively put companies like MyBuys and NetBase on the map in a short span of time."

Fun fact
In the span of four years, Ms. Rosner started two companies, while she and her husband, a stay-at-home dad, had four children.