Jess Alpert, CMO of EPM: An Unorthodox Journey from Fashion to Fintech Marketing

In this episode of CMO Journeys, Christian Banach speaks with Jess Alpert, Chief Marketing Officer of EPM, about a career path that spans fashion, entrepreneurship, agency leadership, consumer tech, and fintech. Her perspective stands out because she brings both creative instinct and analytical rigor to the role, with a strong point of view on execution, personalization, and how modern marketing teams should work.What the Conversation Covers • Jess’s nontraditional path to the C-suite, from launching her own fashion accessories brand to running an agency and later moving into corporate marketing leadership • What she learned from shifting out of pure creative roles and into data-driven marketing, with a stronger focus on CRM, KPIs, testing, and conversion • How she is approaching her new role at EPM, including remessaging the brand, sharpening differentiation, and building more personalized lifecycle marketing • Where AI fits into her thinking today, from media and workflow efficiency to the need for human oversight and authentic execution • How she evaluates agency partners, including the importance of preparation, strategic thinking, industry understanding, and a bias toward action over polishGuest BioJess Alpert is Chief Marketing Officer of EPM, a national mortgage lender. She leads the company’s marketing strategy and brand evolution, with a focus on personalization, lifecycle marketing, and sharper market positioning. Earlier in her career, she founded a fashion accessories label, built her own agency, worked in creative leadership at Samsung, and later moved into fintech and financial services marketing.About the PodcastCMO Journeys is a podcast from NextBigWin hosted by Christian Banach. The series features conversations with marketing leaders about the path to the C-suite, the challenges they are tackling inside their organizations, and how they evaluate agencies and strategic partners.