Poonam Patodia serves as chief marketing officer of United Methodist Communications. In this capacity, she manages the marketing and advertising, public relations, creative and branding, customer experience and social media areas of this global marketing/communications agency of The United Methodist Church.

Poonam brings with herself 18 years of marketing and communications experience. In her current role, she is responsible for promoting The United Methodist Church and all the programs and services of United Methodist Communications to various constituents. She has been with United Methodist Communications for 10 years and has been instrumental in moving the agency from a traditional print-based agency to the multi-channel, digital-savvy organization it is today. She has demonstrated thought leadership and strategic thinking time and again, be it in launching the “MyCom” content marketing program during her early days at UMCom that continues to provides approximately 35,000 church leaders with marketing and communications knowledge, pushing the agency to be an early adopter of social media, redefining the purpose and strategy for key denominational websites, adding experiential elements to the seeker advertising campaign or partnering with Global Ministries to promote its “Giving Tuesday” and “Abundant Health” campaigns. In all she does, her goal is to align marketing strategies to accomplish organizational goals using state of art digital technologies, reducing cost and increasing impact.

She earned a master’s of business administration, with specialization in marketing and finance. She has worked for technology and finance industries in the past. Her desire to do something more brought her to The United Methodist Church. Working for the church has allowed her to use her skills in creating life-altering impact.

Poonam’s favorite way to spend time is with her husband and 12-year old daughter exploring different parts of God’s beautiful world. She also likes to read historical fiction and play on canvas with oil colors during her spare time.