Marathons 50 - An exclusive celebration of the world’s strongest marathon brands

Alfred is a brand specialist with over 20 years of experience leading client engagements across research (qualitative and quantitative), analytics, insights, strategy, brand architecture, valuation, modeling, and return on investment. His work spans a wide variety of sectors, markets, and geographies.

As Managing Director for North America, Alfred leads new business development, manages key client and senior leadership relationships, leads project teams, and helps extend Brand Finance’s analytical capabilities into deeper strategic insight. He is known for developing innovative techniques to address complex brand challenges and has led cross-functional teams of researchers, strategists, designers, architects, and naming specialists.

Throughout his career, Alfred has worked with clients in financial services, telecoms, industrials, manufacturing, logistics, automotive, retail, hospitality, higher education, and the not-for-profit sector. One of his earliest and most memorable projects involved pioneering a new segmentation approach to support John Deere's brand strategy and identity refresh, one of his favorite boyhood brands.

Alfred has provided expert commentary on brand valuation and the role of brand as a business asset on various media channels and news programs.

Scott specialises in sports sponsorship consultancy for corporate brands and rightsholders; encompassing brand valuation, business impact modelling, sponsorship strategy and sponsorship return on investment.

Scott is part of Brand Finance's Sports Services team, supporting on sports-specific projects and the Football 50 league tables. The team actively engage project teams to provide and execute bespoke bolt-on and/or independent sports services for existing clients who have a sports sponsorship portfolio.

Previous experience across sports and entertainment sponsorship has involved notable clients including PepsiCo (UEFA), British Gas (BOA/BPA, SRU), Vodafone (Wimbledon), Compare the Market (ECB), Activision Blizzard and BAFTA.

Scott holds a BSc in Management from the London School of Economics and a MSc in Sport Policy, Management & International Development from the University of Edinburgh.

Carrie Tollefson is an elite middle distance runner from St. Paul, Minnesota.

Carrie was born and raised in Dawson, Minnesota where she was a 13-time State Champion: eight in track and five in cross country. Her five cross country titles established a national record for most consecutive titles, which still stands to this day. Carrie attended Villanova University, where she was a 5-time NCAA Champion and the 1998 NCAA Indoor Track Athlete of the year. She was also the first person in NCAA history to win both the 3K and 5K titles.

In her post collegiate career, she was a three time national champion and after winning the 1500m trials in 2004, she represented the US in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

Carrie was voted the Fourth Most Beautiful Athlete in the World by Sports Illustrated in 2006 and has graced the cover of numerous magazines, including Track & Field News, Running Times, and, most notably, five covers of Runner’s World.

Carrie has transformed her passion for sports into a powerful platform for inspiration and education. With a wealth of experience in competitive athletics, Carrie is not only a celebrated athlete but also works as a broadcaster, podcast host, emcee, dynamic speaker, coach, and advocate for healthy living. With her work on ESPN, NBC, and USATF.TV, she provides regular media coverage for New York Road Runners including the NYC Marathon and the NYC Half Marathon, and is also the main analyst on the Boston Marathon, Chicago Marathon, Berlin Marathon, and has covered the Tokyo Marathon. Along with that, she works the NCAA Cross Country, Foot Locker Cross Country Nationals and was a member of the broadcast team for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.

Carrie is also the spokesperson and on-camera talent for Minnesota Grown, Blaze Credit Union, Wellbeats and is the National Fitness Director for Moms on the Run and host to the Carrie Tollefson Training Camp and other health related retreats.

Currently, Carrie lives and trains in her home state of Minnesota with her husband Charlie and their three children: Ruby, Everett and Greer. She inspires and motivates people to GET AFTER IT in life through her public speaking and training camps.

Carrie’s fastest marathon was a 2:51 at the 2019 Twin Cities Marathon, and her most recent race was in 2021, where she finished as the first master and 8th overall at TCM. Now, she needs to find time to stop running her mouth so much and start running her legs more, so she can update this stat and keep doing what she tells everyone else to do… Get After It!

Mr. Abhinav Kumar serves as the Global Chief Marketing Officer for Tata Consultancy Services, leading a global, diverse and gender balanced team of 700 professionals in 55 countries, who drive the brand, reputation, relationships, and growth for the company.

As part of the company’s senior leadership team, he serves on the Executive Committee and reports directly to the CEO of TCS, while splitting his time between the company’s Headquaters in Mumbai and his office in Belgium.

Under his leadership, this team has been recognized with over 150 awards for excellence in Communications & Marketing, establishing the company as the #1 fastest growing brand in the IT Services Industry over the past 15 years. The brand value of the company has risen exponentially from US$ 2.3 billion in 2010 to US$ 21.3 billion in 2025. Its brand awareness among executives went up by 2X to 84% in the same period, it has consistently held a Top 3 industry position in terms of media share and been rated as #1 in customer satisfaction for 10 years in a row. All these efforts led the company to be recognized as a “Superbrand” in its top two markets - the US & the UK, and at its APAC headquarters - Singapore.

During this tenure, Abhinav has overseen a massive expansion in the brand sponsorship strategy to create a US$350 million portfolio which has included tie-ups with some of the world’s premier firms including the Ferrari, Ducati and Jaguar teams in motorsports, the Dutch Open golf tournament, the Garmin-Cervelo cycling team and over 15 major running events including the TCS NewYork City Marathon, TCS Amsterdam Marathon and TCS London Marathon. He holds executive responsibility for the company’s relationships with several multilateral bodies, including the European Union, and with the World Economic Forum.

Over the past four years from 2021-2024, Abhinav was regularly featured in the Influence 100 list, being rated among the world’s most high-impact global CMOs and CCOs. In 2020, he was recognized by Reputation Today magazine as one of the Top 20 global communications leaders. In 2019, Abhinav was accorded the SABRE award in London, for outstanding lifetime career achievement as a CMO.

Over a 23-year career, Abhinav has been part of a leadership team that has scaled the company 41X times, from a US$ 700 million to a US$29 billion business, and from a workforce of 18,000 to 615,000. He has served in several key leadership positions in this journey, including as the CMO for International Markets
(2017-2023), CMO for Europe (2011-2017), CCO for Europe (2008-2011) and CMO for Latin America (2004-08). He was also part of the corporate team that worked on the company’s US$ 1.2 billion IPO in 2004.

Abhinav holds a Masters in Business Administration (MBA) from the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta and a honours degree in Economics from Delhi University.

He is a member of the World Economic Forum CMO Council, the Wall Street Journal CMO Network and the UN Global Compact CMO Think Lab. Abhinav serves as a board member at EIBC (Europe India Business Council), Global Advisory Board member of the IT Services Marketing Association (ITSMA), Member of IMD Business School’s CMO Roundtable, Member of Ipsos Mori’s Reputation council, Advisory board Member of the Think Tank Free Trade Europa, Advisory Board Member of ThinkYoung, Customer Advisory Board Member of Relayto, and a Member of the Global Communications Director Network (GCDN) in Switzerland.

Based out of the firm’s Brussels office, Abhinav has lived and worked in six countries (Belgium, Chile, France, India, Switzerland and Uruguay) and speaks two European languages - Spanish and French. He is a regular speaker at various universities, parliaments, and industry events worldwide on communications, branding, trade and economic issues. He has two sons, with whom he shares a passion for discovering the world and for the sport of cricket, and a wife who is a Career Strategist and Executive Coach.

Jeff found his way to Marathon Tours & Travel the same way many do—through a love of running and adventure. What started as a personal quest to explore the world through marathons turned into something much bigger, blending his passion for travel, endurance sports, and connecting with people. Before joining the team, he spent years in client-focused leadership roles at Morgan Stanley, always driven by a desire to grow, push boundaries, and help others do the same—whether by achieving their goals, creating lasting impact, or building a meaningful legacy.

A self-proclaimed middle-of-the-pack runner, he’s tackled 58 marathons scattered over all seven continents, earned three Abbott World Marathon Majors Six Star Medals, and is a proud Seven Continents Club® Finisher. He doesn’t just talk the talk for MTT—he runs it.

Always up for a challenge, he finds just as much joy in climbing, skiing, and paddling as he does in running. No matter how many times he visits a destination, he believes each trip is a chance to see it with fresh eyes, meet new people, and learn something new. He’s deeply involved in the running and adventure community, serving on the board for Oceanites, leading T.O.U.R.S. (Tour Operators United for Runners), and supporting causes close to his heart like Make-A-Wish and Back on My Feet. For him, it’s never just about the finish line—it’s about the journey and the people who make it unforgettable.

Dawna is the CEO of Abbott World Marathon Majors. She is best known in the running industry for launching the award-winning magazine, Women’s Running, and America’s largest women’s half marathon series. Dawna sold both companies in 2012. Prior to working with the Majors, Dawna was CEO of Running USA, a non-profit organization devoted to improving the status and experience of distance running and racing in the United States. Before entering the running industry, Dawna was a financial analyst for Wall Street investment bank Morgan Stanley, a consultant for Deloitte Consulting, and held senior-level roles at several large companies. Dawna is a mom of two kids, the author of ten books, a motivational speaker and an avid runner and Hawaii Ironman finisher.

As part of TCS’ global executive leadership, Amit Bajaj is responsible for market’s function reporting to TCS’ global CEO. In this role, Amit is responsible for leading TCS’ largest market, North America, with over $13bn in revenues and 50,000+ in-market employees. Under his leadership, TCS transformed its markets function through a unique agile operating model and digital go-to-market. TCS was also recognized amongst 35 Superbrands alongside Amazon and Google in the technology sector, underlying its commitment to local talent, innovation ecosystem, industry-best customer experience and being a force for good in the society. Prior to his appointment in the current role, Amit was Chief Executive of TCS’ European business, a unit spanning over 15 countries, generating $ 3 bn in revenues and supported by over 50,000 employees.

Under his leadership, TCS emerged as the industry leader in Europe with top ranking growth, highest customer satisfaction and a Top European employer. Passionate about contributing to society, Amit started TCS' GoIT program in Europe which helped over 2500 teenagers across 10 countries develop STEM skills. Committed to the cause of health & wellness, he drove TCS’ deep engagement with various running platforms such as the Amsterdam marathon and Sweden’s Lidingoloppet. He also participated in supporting EU’s effort towards data privacy (GDPR).

Earlier in his career, Amit managed TCS’ Consumer & Retail industry vertical for Europe based in the Netherlands and spearheaded the founding of European outsourcing practice at TCS. Before moving to Europe in 2005, Amit spent over 5 years in the US in various industry and service line roles where he drove TCS’ positioning into an integrated service provider, winning TCS’ first integrated IT - Business Process outsourcing engagement. An engineer & MBA by qualification, Amit is a dean’s scholar from the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, India. His professional interests are in the areas of agile management, organization behavior & operating model design.

Amit represents TCS at WEF, Davos and BusinessEurope, a leading advocate for growth & competitiveness. Beyond work, Amit is passionate about nature, long-distance running and behavioral economics.

Rob Simmelkjaer is an American television executive, journalist, entrepreneur, and is the CEO of New York Road Runners. He served as a senior executive and on-air journalist at ESPN, ABC News and NBC Sports. In 2020 he founded a digital video interview platform called Persona. He also has served as Chairman of the Board of the Connecticut Lottery corporation since 2020 (nominated by Gov. Ned Lamont).