Digital baby registration platform Babylist has named Jill Cress as chief marketing officer, effective May 2026.
Cress will lead the company’s marketing department which encompasses, brand, performance, content and experiential.
“Babylist is already a brand that millions of families trust,” said Cress. “But there’s still a gap between how well it’s known within that moment and how broadly it’s understood. If you’re in it, you know and love Babylist. If you’re not, you may not realize how much it actually does. That’s the opportunity.”
Cress has spent more than two decades transforming iconic brands including: H&R Block, PayPal, National Geographic and Mastercard. Cress joins Babylist at a moment of significant momentum. In 2025, Babylist grew revenue 45% year-over-year to more than $750 million and marked its eighth consecutive year of profitability. The appointment comes as Babylist expands beyond its universal registry into a broader digital destination, a growth opportunity for the company.
“I’ve spent my career helping trusted brands expand into what’s next – and Babylist is at that exact inflection point. What drew me here was not a need to reinvent the brand. It was the opposite,” explained Cress. “Natalie Gordon, the founder and CEO, was a big draw. The team has built something remarkable – 45% growth and eight years of profitability is not an accident. Babylist has what most brands spend decades trying to build: relevance, trust, and real love from its audience.”
Cress said that the opportunity is “to take something people already love and make it impossible to miss. The work now is to make that more visible and more consistent, so that Babylist becomes not just something people use, but something they recognize and trust at a much broader level.”
Looking ahead, Babylist is expanding its offerings including new initiatives in financial services and education from “the first scan to the college savings account.”
“What changes now is ambition. Babylist isn’t just scaling a registry business – it’s building a platform that does more jobs for families across their entire parenting journey,” Cress said. “That requires brand and marketing to work as one integrated force across health, finance, content, and experiential. I’ve done exactly this – I built NatGeo’s digital subscription business from the ground up and repositioned PayPal for a new generation of consumers. This specific combination of brand love and business expansion is where I’ve spent my career.”
