Responsible Leadership
q&a series

With Bronwen Foster-Butler
Chief Marketing Officer, Finisterre

Introducing Bronwen Foster-Butler
Brand builder. Quiet challenger.
The CMO who knows that marketing is only as powerful as the values behind it. Bronwen has worked at some of the most recognised names in global
brand-making: Burberry, lululemon,
JWT, PANGAIA and arrived at each one asking the same question:
does this actually mean something?

[Q:] What moment, personal or professional, shifted your
perspective from profit to
purpose, or made you
realise you couldn’t lead
any other way?

I think I’ve been fairly purpose driven since a child, always creating petitions and trying to take care of the planet, but these values didn’t drive my career until I had my children and I realised that they were on track to inherit an increasingly unstable and dangerous planet.

That leadership isn’t something you master once and then have nailed for the rest of your career. It’s a constant practice - learning and adapting, unlearning and apologising… it requires endless curiosity and the belief that you can always be better today than you were yesterday (and so can your team).

I was in a role where the environment became toxic. I was a young mum at the time and being held back because of it, which was at odds with my values around equality and fairness. In hindsight, I stayed in that job for too long hoping it would change, but then once I was out, I realised just how much it had been costing me. The lesson from it has stayed with me forever though, and now I always make sure then when seeking a new role, I interview my future boss just as much as they are interviewing me. I love that I now work on a team where everyone parents loudly, especially the men, giving permission to all of us across the business to follow suit.

That all businesses must take into consideration the impact of their decisions on all stakeholders, not just shareholders (just like B Corps do). This feels like a very low bar TBH, but this endless pursuit of generating shareholder value is killing us all.

I hope my legacy is one of joy. That I brought joy to others, to their work, to their lives, and that I did so through endless curiosity and a strong values-led compass. We are all here for such a short time, my biggest hope is that our lives are filled to the brim with joyful moments.

To have better boundaries and feel less guilty for sticking to them!

[ Bronwen Foster-Butler bio ]

[ Bronwen Foster-Butler is the Chief Marketing Officer at Finisterre, the B Corp-certified outdoor brand built around a deep commitment to the ocean and the people who love it, she leads with a clarity that's hard-won. Her career spans luxury, lifestyle, advertising, purpose-driven innovation and what runs through all of it is a refusal to treat sustainability as a marketing layer rather than a business foundation.

Bronwen brings both creative sharpness and commercial rigour to modern marketing leadership. She understands that purpose without growth is a charity, and growth without purpose is a liability.

At Finisterre, she gets to prove that you don't have to choose between the two.

She is, quietly and consistently, the kind of leader who makes doing the right thing look like the obvious thing. ]

RESPONSIBLE LEADERSHIP

Do Epic Good's Responsible Leadership Q&A series spotlights voices who are leading with integrity, courage and impact. These are people like you. People who remind us that no matter what industry you are in, responsible leadership is the only way to lead.

If you want to nominate yourself or a leader you admire to be featured in our Responsible Leadership Q&A, we’d love to hear from you. Get in touch at [email protected]

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