Most enterprise CEOs say they would give their CMO's performance a grade of "B," according to recent research from Boathouse.
The report was based on data from a survey conducted in January 2026 among 150 CEOs from US companies with $500 million or more in annual revenue. This was the fifth edition of Boathouse's annual CEO survey.
More than half (53%) of CEOs in the 2026 survey (Study 5) say they would give their CMO's performance a "B" grade. Some 15% of CEOs would give their CMO's performance an "A" grade and 32% would give their CMO's performance a "C" grade or lower.
CEOs are most likely to give their CMO an "A" grade for the relationships they've built with the C-suite.
Only 6% of CEOs would give their CMO an "A" grade for AI saviness.
Some 38% of CEOs believe their CMO is "best-in-class," 54% believe their CMO is "average," and 8% believe their CMO is "underperforming."
About the research: The report was based on data from a survey conducted in January 2026 among 150 CEOs from US companies with $500 million or more in annual revenue.
