Hall of Fame Profile: Stephen Chriss, The Campbell's Co.
Stephen Chriss has always believed that good work speaks for itself. It takes effort, a good attitude and a strong work ethic, but that came naturally to him from an early age.
During a career that has now spanned more than 35 years, he has been on both sides of CPG – on the front lines marketing many of the biggest household names, as well as on the agency side supporting countless brands’ endeavors.
As vice president of enterprise omni-commerce at The Campbell’s Co., Chriss leads a team that he says is building the next chapter of growth by meeting the modern shopper wherever they are, with whatever they need.
“The culture, talent and ambition at Campbell's are rare,” he says, “and we’re doing breakthrough work that makes a real impact.”
That’s what it’s all about for him. With an obvious passion for big business and people, Chriss takes pride in the difference he and his team can make in consumers’ lives every day. “Making an impact and continuing to learn is what keeps me in the game,” he says.
Chriss is one of three 2025 inductees into the Path to Purchase Institute Hall of Fame. Each year since 1994, the editors of P2PI have selected three industry leaders for induction.
- Hall of Fame Ceremony
Our 2025 inductees — Stephen Chriss, Ferrero's Sarah Nellson and Dollar Tree's Brian Messerschmitt — will be honored during a special ceremony at P2PI LIVE & Expo, which takes place Nov. 11-13 at the Renaissance Convention Center Hotel in Schaumburg, Illinois. The celebration is at 5 p.m. CST on Tuesday, Nov. 11.
The Early Years
A native of Great Neck, New York, and the youngest of four kids, Chriss started delivering newspapers by bike on the weekends for The Long Island Pennysaver at age 16.
His next jobs were as a skate guard at the local ice rink in the winters and a groundskeeper at a pool and tennis club in the summers, experiences that taught him the value of responsibility, hard work and the interpersonal skills he would need in the working world.
After high school, Chriss enrolled at University at Albany, working to pay his way through school. He studied history and economics, which he says reflected both his curiosity as well as his family's belief in a strong liberal arts education.
Chriss’ first taste of the real world came during an internship at sports/media/marketing agency Athletes & Artists in New York. A cousin got him in the door, but Chriss took the opportunity to learn everything he could about its client list of entertainment, media and sports personalities, as well as the ins and outs of major network deals and brands.
“It was a great introduction to the intersection of sports, media and business,” he says.
Still unsure of his life’s path, Chriss moved to New York after college; his parents and two of his three siblings were living there at the time. His father, a lawyer by trade, had blazed a trail in sports brand and entertainment marketing, and his two brothers were in the marketing and business side of the music industry.
Career Development
Chriss first landed at the New York City Sports Commission, a public-private agency tasked with bringing major sporting events to the city. He did business development at the four-person shop. “I got thrown into a small team that had a big stage,” he recalls.
At 24, he and commission founder Matt Scheckner co-wrote a document on behalf of the city to attract what was then the second-largest sporting event in the world behind the Olympics. The nearly two-year process ended in a successful bid to host the 1998 Goodwill Games, which became front-page news in The New York Times and laid the groundwork for future NYC Olympic bids.
That work led to an opportunity to move to St. Petersburg, Russia, with Turner Sports as manager of operations for the Goodwill Games.
He returned just under a year later and entered the agency world, joining Contemporary Marketing Inc. (CMI) as an account executive working on CBS-TV and reaching college kids with marketing and experiential programming.
He loved the work, and his career path became clear. The agency grew quickly during his tenure, and Chriss ultimately rose to the head of client services, responsible for the agency’s largest client, Coca-Cola, before taking a few months’ hiatus when his father died.
Chriss joined Nabisco in mid-1999, marking the beginning of a nearly 19-year career that would span Nabisco, Kraft Foods and eventually Mondelez International. He held roles in consumer promotions, shopper marketing, brand marketing, media, marketing operations, scale/portfolio marketing, kids marketing and integrated marketing, working on iconic brands such as Oreo, Chips Ahoy, Ritz, Trident and Cadbury.
He is most proud of the portfolio programming and trailblazing work he and his teams did with its brands and occasion-based marketing.
“We were focusing on big events [and seasons], like the Super Bowl, summer and back-to-school, and bringing our brands together to create connection points between shoppers and consumers to drive that conversion,” he says, also noting his teams’ work building on the partnership of sports marketing properties at Mondelez.
In late 2017, Chriss was ready for a move, this time to Pinnacle Foods to build a centralized integrated marketing function. “It was a leap of faith that paid off,” he says. “I learned a ton, reconnected with incredible leaders, and experienced a very entrepreneurial chapter before Pinnacle was sold to Conagra.”
Chriss did not want to move his family, so the sale gave him the opportunity to shift into a completely new space: collectibles and confections. He joined The Topps Co. in 2019 and worked under a former Kraft alum, CEO Mike Brandstaedter, and owner (and former Disney CEO) Michael Eisner.
“Working for a smaller, scrappier company during COVID taught me new dimensions of adaptability and innovation,” he says, while marrying his CPG experience with his passion for sports and entertainment.
Making His Mark at Campbell's
Since his move to Campbell’s in late 2020, Chriss has helped transform the traditional shopper marketing function into a more modern omni-commerce practice.
When the opportunity came to help transform shopper marketing into a future-forward omni-commerce and e-commerce function, he knew it was the right move. He now leads the company’s enterprise efforts in both – a journey, he says, of reinvention, innovation and growth.
Working for and with Mike Pierson, Campbell’s chief customer officer, has been a career-defining experience, Chriss says. “He’s a wise, generous leader who’s taught me not only about business but also about life. He rounds out a remarkable list of mentors who’ve championed me and shaped every phase of my journey.”
Chriss says he is excited about the next chapter at Campbell’s, where the focus will be primarily in the e-commerce space. “We call it omni-commerce because we can’t have omni-comm in a silo.” It’s about democratizing that space in the company’s reorganization.
“Campbell’s is 150 years old,” he says. “It is a classically trained CPG company that has been winning in-store. We’re all learning and teaching a new manual to our organization.”
The original two-person shopper team under Chriss has grown to more than 15 people five years later, with an agency team of more than 30 dedicated to Campbell’s efforts. He has helped guide the transformation of shopper marketing into omni-commerce while moving from physical to digital without losing the physical.
“Our retail presence is still incredibly important, bringing promotions and programs to life in the store, but almost 20% of our sales now come through digital,” he says.
His team has redefined how Campbell’s shows up in-store and online, especially through powerful programs for Goldfish, the company's biggest growth engine. The results have been significant, he notes, contributing to double-digit brand growth.
Chriss is also proud of his work building and developing a high-performing team that inspires him daily. “They are smarter than me, and that’s a leadership win in itself,” he says.
Over the past three years, his team has delivered consistent double-digit e-commerce growth across sales, penetration and share.
But, if you ask him, he'll say the best part of his job is the people. “Working with a talented, driven team and a supportive leader pushes me to be at my best every day,” he says. And he loves the brands, from Goldfish and Cape Cod to Kettle, Rao’s and, of course, Campbell’s. “These are powerful brands with strong equity and untapped potential in digital and retail.”
Looking Ahead
Chriss and his team have built what he calls a connected ecosystem, where strategy, execution, learning and measurement are integrated across functions and channels.
This structure allows his team to show up with clarity and cohesion for both consumers and its retail partners who, he stresses, now expect this level of coordination. “It’s not just the future of marketing, it’s the present,” he says.
He admits it has taken a long time to let go of the silo thought process, even while being fully aware that success comes from teams working together and leveraging the strengths and skillsets from those around the table.
“When you do that, that’s when you unlock growth,” he says.
The growth of retail media has been unprecedented, as he sees it, but with growth comes complexity.
“We must be selective and strategic about where we place our bets,” he says. “The tools in our toolbox have evolved, but the foundations of shopper marketing remain – we’re just writing in a new language every day.”
Along with working to build a world-class omni-commerce and e-commerce enterprise function, Chriss is dedicated to elevating and nurturing a high-performing team. Together he hopes to create a strategic roadmap with clear capability development, drive sustainable growth across all channels, and democratize omni-commerce thinking across the broader Campbell’s organization.
He says he will continue striving to learn, have fun and make a lasting impact. “I’ve been fortunate to work across categories, companies and industries, but what ties it all together is the human side of leadership and marketing. That’s what has made the journey so meaningful.”
STEPHEN CHRISS
TITLE: Vice President, Enterprise Omni-Commerce
COMPANY: The Campbell’s Co.
TEAM MEMBERS: Angie Smith, customer vice president, Walmart/Sam’s Club omni-commerce; Mandy Rinderle, customer vice president, grocery omni-commerce; Wendy King, customer vice president, enterprise, Amazon and pure play; Rachel Botia, senior director, enterprise omni-commerce.
CAREER PATH ...
- The Campbell’s Co., Vice President, Enterprise Omni-Commerce (2025-present); Vice President, Digital Commerce & Omni Shopper Marketing (2021-2025); Customer Vice President, Shopper & Omni Channel Marketing (2020-2021)
- The Topps Co., Vice President, Global Head of Integrated Marketing & Partnerships (2019-2020)
- Conagra Brands, Vice President, Marketing Activation (2017-2019)
- Mondelez International, Head of North America Marketing Services, Activation & Strategic Partnerships (2015-2017); Senior Director, NA Consumer Engagement, Scale & Marketing Partnerships - Snacks/Confections (2010-2015)
- Kraft Foods, Director, Consumer & Customer Engagement Marketing (2006-2010); Senior Category Promotion Manager - U.S. Cookies (2003-2006); Manager, Kids Alliances/Marketing (2001-2003); Senior Category Promotion Manager - Confections Division (2000-2001); Senior Promotion Manager - Condiments Division (1999-2000)
- Contemporary Marketing Inc., Director, Client Services (1995-1999)
- Turner Broadcasting, Manager of Operations (1994-1995)
INDUSTRY ACTIVITIES: Advisory Board of Profitero; Advisory Board of Instacart; Guest Lecturer at Fordham University, St. Joseph’s University and Rutgers University.
EDUCATION: University at Albany, Bachelor’s, History and Economics.
