Workday has appointed Sarah Kennedy Ellis as its new Chief Marketing Officer, bringing in the Google executive to lead its global marketing and communications organisation as the enterprise software company sharpens its positioning around artificial intelligence.
Kennedy Ellis will take up the role on October 5, 2026, and will report to Workday co-founder, CEO and chair Aneel Bhusri. In her new position, she will oversee the company's global marketing and communications operations, with responsibility for its brand narrative and growth strategy as Workday expands its focus on AI across human resources, finance and IT.
She joins Workday from Google, where she led global marketing for Google Cloud and Google Workspace. Her appointment brings more than two decades of marketing experience across enterprise technology, cloud software and digital platforms.
Before joining Google, Kennedy Ellis served as Chief Marketing Officer of Adobe Experience Cloud. She was also CMO of marketing automation company Marketo and was part of the leadership team during the period leading up to Adobe's acquisition of Marketo in 2018.
Workday said Kennedy Ellis' experience in communicating complex enterprise technology would support the company's next phase of growth. Bhusri pointed to her track record across large technology businesses and her experience working in enterprise AI as factors behind the appointment.
Kennedy Ellis said AI is changing how businesses operate and highlighted Workday's position across workforce and financial management. She added that she plans to work with the company's teams to communicate that proposition and support its global growth strategy.
The leadership appointment comes as Workday increases its focus on enterprise AI and AI agents. The company positions its platform across HR, finance and IT and has been expanding AI capabilities designed to automate tasks and support business processes.
In August, Workday also announced a dedicated AI research team focused on areas including reliable and trustworthy enterprise AI. The company has increasingly been positioning AI as a core layer of its enterprise software strategy rather than as a standalone capability.
Workday currently serves more than 11,500 organisations globally and says its customers include more than 65% of Fortune 500 companies.
Kennedy Ellis' appointment places an executive with experience across Google Cloud, Google Workspace, Adobe Experience Cloud and Marketo at the helm of Workday's marketing organisation as competition among enterprise technology companies increasingly centres on how effectively they can translate AI capabilities into business use cases.
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