Facebook CMO Antonio Lucio steps down

Facebook's chief marketing officer Antonio Lucio is stepping down after two years in the role, he announced over the weekend.  A strong diversity advocate, Lucio cited a "challenging year for all" and stated his desire "to dedicate 100% of my time to diversity, inclusion and equity," noting the world is in a "historical inflection point regarding racial justice." 

While Lucio says he is grateful to Facebook as believes in its mission to connect people as the platform demonstrated during Covid, he suggested Facebook and its leadership still had work to do.

"Striking the right balance between preserving freedom of speech and eliminating hateful speech on the platforms is a generation-defining question that must continue to be addressed. I know the company and its leadership agree on the centrality of this important task," Lucio wrote in a LinkedIn post (below). 

While not revealing his next professional role, Lucio says he will devote it to helping marketing and advertising industries accelerate transformation and drive diversity-related change. 

Lucio joined Facebook as CMO in August 2018, succeeding Gary Briggs who retired had retired in January.  Prior to that, he had served as CMO at HP for three years where he led the global marketing organization, including branding, demand generation, strategic events and global communications.

In 2016, Lucio started a diversity push at HP, setting targets for agency partners around the number of women and people of color working on the business. The marketer’s top five roster agencies - BBDO Worldwide, Fred & Farid, Giant Spoon, PHD and Edelman - saw a 20-point increase in women in creative and account leadership roles.

(This article first appeared on CampaignAsia.com)