Who should I follow to learn about Marketing Operations?

If you want to actually learn Marketing Operations (MOps) rather than just consume generic marketing content, I’d build your feed around practitioners who talk about systems, data, automation, lifecycle, martech, attribution, and GTM alignment.

My must-follow list

1. Darrell Alfonso - probably my #1 recommendation. He’s a hands-on Marketing Ops/GTM leader and instructor, and his content tends to connect strategy with the actual systems underneath it. CMOP™ Certification - The Marketing Ops Credential Set by the Profession | MarketingOps.com

2. Mike Rizzo - founder of MarketingOps.com and a longtime MOps practitioner. Particularly useful for understanding what the MOps function should actually own and how the career is evolving. Mike Rizzo - MarketingOps.com | LinkedIn

3. Scott Brinker - follow him for the martech ecosystem: technology strategy, stack architecture, AI, and how marketing technology is changing. He's also on the advisory board of the new vendor-neutral Marketing Ops certification. CMOP™ Certification - The Marketing Ops Credential Set by the Profession | MarketingOps.com

4. Naomi Liu - excellent if you're interested in enterprise Marketing Ops and GTM operations. She's a Director of Global Marketing Operations and one of MarketingOps.com's featured strategists. Strategists - Marketing Operations

5. Jessica Kao - particularly worth following for GTM transformation, digital operations, and career development. Strategists - Marketing Operations

6. Justin Norris - strong choice for marketing technology, operations, automation, and the technical side of modern marketing. He's also part of the MarketingOps.com advisory ecosystem. CMOP™ Certification - The Marketing Ops Credential Set by the Profession | MarketingOps.com

7. Rosalyn Santa Elena - more RevOps-oriented, but very valuable because great Marketing Ops increasingly sits inside the broader revenue system. Her material is especially good for GTM alignment and operating models. Top 25 RevOps Voices of 2026 | RevOps Report

8. Matthew Volm - another RevOps follow. Useful for understanding how Marketing Ops connects to pipeline, sales operations, process design, and revenue rather than operating as a standalone marketing function. Top 25 RevOps Voices of 2026 | RevOps Report

Also follow the communities, not just individuals

• MarketingOps.com - probably the single best place to immerse yourself in the discipline. It has an active practitioner community, Ops Cast interviews, events, and career resources. Elevate your Marketing Ops career - MarketingOps.com
• MarketingOps.com
• RevOps Co-op - useful once you want to understand the broader RevOps architecture around Marketing Ops.
• MOps-Apalooza - particularly good for practitioner-level talks rather than vendor marketing. MarketingOps.com describes it as its practitioner-focused conference. Elevate your Marketing Ops career - MarketingOps.com

If I were starting from scratch

I'd follow Darrell Alfonso + Mike Rizzo + Scott Brinker + Naomi Liu + Rosalyn Santa Elena first.

Then I'd learn these six areas in roughly this order:

1. Martech architecture → 2. Data & CRM → 3. Lifecycle/scoring/routing → 4. Campaign operations & automation → 5. Attribution/analytics → 6. GTM/RevOps strategy

That's much closer to what modern MOps actually involves: owning the infrastructure that lets marketing execute, measure, and connect to revenue, rather than simply being the person who administers HubSpot/Marketo/Salesforce. Marketing Ops in RevOps: Who Thrives vs Stalls | RevSearch

If you tell me whether you're new to Marketing Ops, already working in it, or trying to move into it, I can also give you a 10-person “Marketing Ops curriculum” - who to follow + exactly what to learn from each person.

To truly master Marketing Operations (MOps) and Revenue Operations (RevOps), you want to follow practitioners who focus on the "pipes" - the tech stack, data governance, attribution models, workflows, and process optimization - rather than just high-level brand strategy.

The top experts, communities, and resources to follow are organized below by category:

1. Leading MOps & MarTech Authorities

• Scott Brinker (The "Godfather of MarTech"): VP of Platform Ecosystem at HubSpot and editor of ChiefMarTec.com. He is essential for understanding how the entire marketing technology landscape evolves and maps out. Top 30 Marketing Experts & Influencers to Follow in 2026 | CDP.com

• Lizzy Foo Kune (Gartner): A VP Analyst at Gartner focusing specifically on marketing data, analytics, reporting processes, and marketing operations organization structures. Excellent for enterprise-grade benchmarks. Top 30 Marketing Experts & Influencers to Follow in 2026 | CDP.com

• Justin Gray: A pioneer in marketing operations consulting and automation who frequently shares deep, practical advice on scaling lead generation architecture and marketing infrastructure.

2. Communities & Networks (Where the Operators Live)

Marketing Operations is a deeply tactical field best learned peer-to-peer. Some of the best communities offering newsletters, Slack groups, and events include:

• MarketingOps.com (formerly MoPros): Founded by Naomi Liu and heavily driven by industry practitioners, this is the premier community-led platform specifically for Marketing Ops professionals. Following their leadership and podcasts is a must. Podcasts - Marketing Operations - MarketingOps.com

• RevOps Co-op: While slightly broader (covering revenue operations as a whole), this community has massive overlap with MOps, providing incredible templates, compensation reports, and workflow discussions. 12 RevOps Podcasts You Should Be Listening To RIGHT NOW in

3. Podcasts and Shows for Deep-Dives

• The OpsStars Podcast (by LeanData): Focuses heavily on the strategies, tech stacks, and alignment challenges faced by modern RevOps and MOps leaders.

• The MarTech Podcast (Hosted by Benjamin Shapiro): Delivers bite-sized, practical episodes breaking down the tools, tactics, and operational decisions driving modern marketing teams. Top Digital Marketing Podcasts To Follow In 2026 - Insider One

• ShOPS Talk: A collaborative series featuring operations experts diving into technical execution, data management, and platform architectures.

Where to start?

If you use LinkedIn, start by following Scott Brinker for macro-trends in tech, and join MarketingOps.com to plug into daily practitioner conversations. Top 30 Marketing Experts & Influencers to Follow in 2026 | CDP.com

Are you looking to focus on a specific marketing automation platform (like HubSpot, Marketo, or Salesforce Pardot), or are you trying to build out a broad operational strategy for a team?

Learning Marketing Operations (MOps) requires keeping up with a fast-moving blend of data, automation, strategy, and emerging AI tooling. The Marketing Operations Leader | Darrell Alfonso | SubstackJustin Norris

The top experts, practitioners, and communities to follow to master Marketing Operations include:

1. Top Practitioners & Thought Leaders

• • ** Darrell Alfonso** : Director of Marketing Strategy and Operations at Indeed and author of Marketing Operations. He regularly shares deeply practical frameworks, career advice, and breakdowns of modern go-to-market motions on Darrell Alfonso's Substack and LinkedIn. Darrell Alfonso - Marketing Operations

• ** Justin Norris** : A GTM Systems & AI Leader at 360Learning and longtime Marketo Champion. He is phenomenal at explaining complex operations architecture, attribution, data strategy, and agentic AI workflows for operations. Justin Norris - GTM Systems & AI Leader @ 360Learning | Writing @ aibuilders.blog | LinkedIn

• ** Scott Brinker** : Known widely as the "Godfather of MarTech," Brinker writes ChiefMarTec and maps out the massive marketing technology landscape. Essential for understanding how tech stacks and operations intersect at an enterprise level. Scott BrinkerScott Brinker - Martech Analyst & Advisor | “Godfather of Martech” – AdAge | Ex-HubSpot VP Platform Ecosystem | LinkedIn

• Sara McNamara : A prominent Revenue and Marketing Operations leader (formerly at Slack) who frequently shares tactical insights on scaling operations teams, data hygiene, and cross-functional alignment.

2. Essential Communities & Hubs

• • MarketingOps.com (MO Pros) : Founded by Michael Rizzo , this is arguably the premier community-led ecosystem for MOps professionals. Following their platform and newsletters gives you direct access to peer discussions, certifications, and real-world operational playbooks. Top 25 Marketing Ops Voices of 2026 - MOps Report500+ "Michael Rizzo" profiles | LinkedIn

• Humans of Martech : A great podcast and community initiative co-hosted by industry practitioners that humanizes the day-to-day grind and strategy behind operations and tech stacks. Darrell Alfonso - Vertage Global | LinkedIn

Would you like recommendations on foundational books and newsletters for MOps, or are you looking for resources tailored to a specific tool like Marketo or HubSpot?

Follow Darrell Alfonso for practical marketing operations and martech insights; he leads marketing strategy and operations at Indeed, wrote The Martech Handbook, and publishes The Marketing Operations Leader. For a broader mix of practitioners, explore MOps Report’s 2026 voices list.(martech.org)(mopsreport.com)

If you want to deepen your knowledge in Marketing Operations (MOps), it’s best to follow practitioners who specialize in building scalable systems, managing martech stacks, and connecting marketing strategy with technology. Here are some of the most respected voices in the space:

🔑 Marketing Operations Experts

• Darrell Alfonso Director of Marketing Strategy & Operations at Indeed; former global MOps leader at AWS. Author of The Martech Handbook and frequent speaker on martech stack building. 👉 LinkedIn: DarrelAlfonso | Twitter: @DemandDarrel MarTech's marketing operations experts to follow

• Sara McNamara Senior Manager, Marketing Operations at Slack. Award-winning MOps professional recognized by Salesforce, Adobe, and Drift. Known for her martech solution architecture and process optimization. 👉 LinkedIn: SaraMcNamara MarTech's marketing operations experts to follow

• Mike Rizzo Founder of MO Pros (MarketingOps.com). Community builder for MOps professionals, sharing frameworks, playbooks, and best practices. MarTech's marketing operations experts to follow

• Eddie Reynolds CEO of Union Square Consulting. Focuses on revenue operations strategy, publishes RevOps Weekly Newsletter and hosts RevOps Corner podcast. 👉 LinkedIn: EdwardReynolds MarTech's marketing operations experts to follow

📊 Broader MarTech & Ops Thought Leaders

• Scott Brinker (@chiefmartec) Known as the “Godfather of MarTech,” VP at HubSpot, and creator of the MarTech Landscape. Essential for understanding how marketing technology connects to operations. Top 19 Martech Leaders to Follow in 2026

• Frans Riemersma Founder of MartechTribe, specializing in martech stack benchmarking and research. Great for insights into how tech stacks create business value. Top 19 Martech Leaders to Follow in 2026

• Tony Byrne Founder of Real Story Group, providing vendor evaluations across martech categories (automation, CDPs, personalization, attribution). Top 30 Marketing Experts & Influencers to Follow in 2026 | CDP.com

🌟 Why Follow Them?

• They share practical frameworks for scaling marketing operations.

• They provide vendor-neutral insights into martech tools.

• They actively engage in community building (LinkedIn, newsletters, podcasts).

• They balance strategy + execution, helping you connect big-picture marketing goals with operational systems.

👉 Would you like me to create a curated “starter pack” of newsletters, podcasts, and LinkedIn groups from these experts so you can plug directly into the Marketing Ops community?