LinkedIn has made a strategic move by appointing Heather Hopkins Freeland as its first Chief Brand Officer, tasked with leading Brand and Consumer Marketing efforts globally – an indicator of the platform’s growing emphasis on brand differentiation and consumer connection. Freeland joins LinkedIn from Adobe, where she served as Chief Brand Officer from 2022 to 2025, helping sharpen the company’s global positioning and drive consumer engagement.
Hopkins Freeland embarked on a seven year tenure at Meta, where she served as Head of Global Marketing Communications. During her time there, she launched and led “The Guild,” Meta’s in-house global creative and digital agency, specifically designed to elevate the company’s B2B brand across all channels – spanning advertising, integrated campaigns, events, digital, and out-of-home placements.
In 2019, Heather Freeland accepted the role of Vice President of Marketing at Lyft – an opportunity she discovered via a LinkedIn job posting. During her three years at Lyft, she led a cross-functional marketing team of approximately 150 professionals, overseeing brand marketing, product marketing, partner marketing, creative strategy, and marketing operations across Lyft’s full portfolio – including rideshare, bikes, and scooters
Announcing her new role in a LinkedIn post, Freeland described herself as both a longtime admirer of the brand and a strong advocate for marketing’s ability to shape “powerful stories”.“I couldn’t be more excited to elevate LinkedIn’s bold vision to create economic opportunity for every member of the global workforce,” she adds.
LinkedIn has continued to post strong growth, with revenue rising 9% year-on-year in the quarter ending 30 June. The platform now counts 1.2 billion members worldwide, marking four consecutive years of double-digit expansion. Engagement is also on the rise: parent company Microsoft reported that user comments have grown more than 30% since the start of the year, while video uploads have climbed by over 20%.
Earlier this year, LinkedIn disclosed that subscriptions to its Premium service jumped 75% quarter-on-quarter in the first three months to 31 March. On the product front, the company is doubling down on artificial intelligence and video. Recent launches include an AI Hiring Assistant designed to support recruiters, as well as an expanded BrandLink initiative – its fastest-growing content format. The latter has already drawn partnerships with AT&T Business, IBM, SAP and ServiceNow, who collaborated with LinkedIn on the debut season of four creator-driven shows aimed at small business leaders, founders and CEOs.
