AAIML · Association of AI Marketing Leaders
People first.
AI amplified.
The best marketing teams are redefining what modern marketing looks like. They are designing systems and teams that put AI to work with people in the lead. AAIML is where marketing leaders at every level, from coordinators to CMOs, build that future together.
Free for marketers at every level.
Why AAIML is different
Real practitioners, not influencers
Members are working leaders at companies you know, not consultants selling frameworks.
Vendor-independent
No sponsors. No promoted tools. Recommendations come from operators with nothing to sell.
Implementation-grade resources
Every framework and playbook was built from real deployments, not thought-leadership exercises.
Active, not dormant
Regular roundtables, workshops, and async discussions. This is a working community, not a mailing list.
The research
Nearly 90% of CMOs are experimenting with AI. Fewer than 10% have captured value across their workflows.
That gap is McKinsey’s finding, not ours. Their April 2026 research on agentic marketing workflows reaches the same conclusion AAIML was built around: closing it is a workflow and people problem, not a tooling problem.
Free to join
Access to the peer network, resources, and community events. No cost, no credit card.
Implementation playbooks
AI org design templates, ROI frameworks, and tech stack guides built by operators, not consultants.
AAIML credential
A verified member badge for your LinkedIn and resume, recognized by the community as a practitioner signal.
Peers at your level
Marketing leaders at every level solving the same problems. Real answers, not vendor pitches.
The new org model
Your team.
Amplified by AI.
Extraordinary output.
This is about making your team exceptional. AI agents handle the execution volume while your marketers focus on the strategy, creativity, and judgment that only humans can provide.
You
The product marketer
Strategy. Judgment. Creative direction. You set the vision and your agents execute it.
The twelve agents you direct
You
The product marketer
Strategy. Judgment. Creative direction. You set the vision and your agents execute it.
The operating framework
Four dimensions of the people-first AI marketing org.
This is about redesigning four core dimensions of how your marketing function operates, with humans leading every step of the way.
01
Who leads the machine
Humans stay in command. Always.
02
How humans and agents divide the work
Brief once. Execute at scale.
03
Keeping humans in control
Fast and safe are not opposites.
04
Measuring what humans and AI produce together
New outputs demand new metrics.
The mission
AAIML exists so marketing leaders at every level can rebuild their organizations around AI without losing what makes them work: their people.
The leaders who get this right are building something that will be very hard to compete with.
The 2026-27 board
Meet the 2026-27
AAIML board.
The marketing leaders who guide AAIML’s direction. Practitioners who have done the work, and now help shape what the association builds next.
Interested in joining the 2027 board?
Strategy
BlueScope Buildings
Lindsey Salens
Head of Digital & Sales Demand Strategy
Strategy
Lindsey Salens
Head of Digital & Sales Demand Strategy, BlueScope Buildings
Lindsey is the Head of Digital & Sales Demand Strategy at BlueScope Buildings and a founding board member of AAIML. She leads demand generation and sales pipeline strategy inside a global manufacturer, where the math of marketing changes the moment AI orchestration enters the funnel. She brings AAIML a B2B operator's view of what works, what breaks under load, and how to evaluate AI marketing claims against the only test that matters in her world: revenue.
Operations
CeriFi
Sari Hegewald
VP of Marketing Operations
Operations
Sari Hegewald
VP of Marketing Operations, CeriFi
Sari is the VP of Marketing Operations at CeriFi and a founding board member of AAIML. Her career has been built inside the systems behind marketing teams: the automation, data, integrations, and process design that determine whether a strategy actually executes at scale. As marketers increasingly direct AI agents inside those same systems, Sari brings AAIML the perspective of the operator who lives where AI either delivers on its promise or quietly breaks the workflow.
Strategy
Independent Consultant
Kurt Nahikian
Digital Strategist & Advisor
Strategy
Kurt Nahikian
Digital Strategist & Advisor, Independent Consultant
Kurt is an independent digital strategist and venture studio advisor and a founding board member of AAIML. He has spent nearly forty years launching new companies, advising founders, and helping innovation teams move ideas from zero to one across industries. He brings AAIML a strategist's view of where AI changes the math for marketing organizations, paired with a storyteller's instinct for explaining that change in the language practitioners actually use.
Brand
The Center at Val Vista
Kira Hooker
Director of Marketing
Brand
Kira Hooker
Director of Marketing, The Center at Val Vista
Kira is the Director of Marketing for The Center at Val Vista and a founding board member of AAIML. She brings a cross-industry marketing perspective rooted in the cognitive sciences, earning a BA in Biopsychology, Cognition, and Neuroscience from the University of Michigan before moving through clinical and behavioral health roles into marketing leadership in healthcare. Her foundation in how human cognition works gives AAIML's people-first mission an unusually grounded voice, particularly as marketers increasingly direct AI agents designed to mirror, support, and extend human thinking.
Member voices
From the people
who are doing it.
Within three months of joining AAIML I had a clear framework for AI org design, a peer cohort solving the same problems I was, and enough credibility with my board to get budget approved. I haven't found that anywhere else.
The AAIML seal
Not everything
earns this.
The market is flooded with AI tools making impossible promises. AAIML members are the ones who have actually deployed them, and know the difference between a tool that amplifies a team and one that burns it out.
The AAIML Approved seal means a product has been tested, challenged, and validated by experienced marketing practitioners against six non-negotiable standards.
For vendors & platforms
Interested in submitting your product for AAIML review? The process is rigorous. The recognition is worth it.
The six standards
- 01Human leadership required
- 02Transparent by design
- 03Brand-safe at scale
- 04Practitioner-validated ROI
- 05People-first architecture
- 06Proven integration integrity
All six standards must be met. No exceptions.
Practitioner resources
Resources.
Browse all resources →Every resource built by practitioners who have done the work. No consultants. No sideline observers.
- [Article]
The New Org Model: How an AI-Augmented Marketing Team Is Actually Structured
2026 - [Article]
Agentic Marketing's Real Bottleneck Isn't the Technology
2026 - [Playbook]
AI Integration Playbook: Give your team leverage without losing control
2026 - [Toolkit]
The AI marketing stack: What to buy, build, and skip in 2026
2026 - [Report]
Proving AI ROI: The metrics your CFO will actually respect
2026
Sessions & events
Working sessions.
View all sessions →Every session ends with something you can act on. Not a slide deck. A decision.
Get started
Join the community redesigning marketing for the AI era.
Free membership. No credit card. Start there. Decide later what level of engagement is right for you.