Matt Bourn on the Fortune case for a Chief Trust Officer, written by Edelman's U.S. Head of Corporate Reputation. This week on The Responsible Edge, why the diagnosis of trust as unowned across the C-suite is accurate, why a new C-suite role may not fix it, and what the shift from the attention economy to the trust economy actually requires.
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A May 2026 Fortune article by Jonathan Jordan, Edelman's U.S. Head of Corporate Reputation, argues that trust is now business-critical but sits unowned across most organisations. The solution it proposes: a Chief Trust Officer, a dedicated C-suite executive whose sole mandate is earning and protecting stakeholder confidence.
In this episode of The Responsible Edge, host Charlie Martin discusses the article with Matt Bourn, Director of Communications at the Advertising Association and co-author of Trusted Advertising and Sustainable Advertising.
Matt's response is precise. He agrees with the diagnosis, and notes that the article is written by a senior figure at a firm whose commercial model involves selling trust-related services to corporations. On the proposed remedy he is direct: creating a new C-suite role for trust misunderstands the problem. "The leadership team has a collective responsibility to make sure it's the most trusted business in its sector."
The conversation covers the distinction the Fortune article draws between reputation and trust, which Matt endorses as the most valuable part of the piece. It covers the Edelman research cited in the article, including the claim that sixty-one percent of people globally hold a grievance mindset and seven in ten have an insular trust mindset reluctant to extend confidence beyond their immediate circle. And it moves into Matt's own evidence from Trusted Advertising: the Giffgaff case, the Net Promoter Score as the closest proxy for trust, and the broader shift from the attention economy to a trust economy.
His magic wand: not a new C-suite title, but stronger industry self-regulation that embeds responsible practice through structure rather than communications.
"There's a huge difference between being liked and being trusted."
If your work touches brand trust, communications leadership, or the governance of responsible advertising, this episode is worth your time.
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