Emcees
Tomas Gonsorcik
Global Chief Strategy Officer,
DDB Worldwide
Elizabeth Paul
Chief Brand Officer,
The Martin Agency
Speakers
Lateef Mauricio Abro
VP/GD, Connections Strategy, Digitas
Workshop Speaker
Lateef is Vice President/Group Director of Connections Strategy at Digitas. He has extensive client-side and agency experience leading B2B brand and demand programs in the tech, data, and government verticals.
Lateef is a leader of the Digitas B2B Center of Excellence where he partners with clients to advance the adoption of emerging best practices in the areas of go-to-market strategy, brand equity, and growing the business value of the Marketing function.
Lateef's independent research is focused on understanding the relationship people have with commerce. He is the author of the book Context: Reflections on the Essence of Doing Business with Humans.
Avi Baliga
Executive Creative Director, Tombras
Main Stage Speaker
Avi Baliga is the Executive Creative Director at Tombras New York - Ad Age’s Independent Agency of the Year. Previously he’s led creative at some of the best ad agencies in the world including Maximum Effort (Ryan Reynold’s ad agency), Mother, Barton F Graf and Ogilvy.
He has created work that has been honored at all the top International Award shows.
Do ask him about how his work on Sweethearts got 28 Superbowl commercials worth of media on a budget of just $30k.
Don’t ask him what made him move from India to Argentina to work as a copywriter despite speaking zero words of Spanish.
Michael Chamberlin
Principal, Openfield
Workshop Speaker
Michael is a senior executive with an extensive track record of success hiring, inspiring, and leading teams in the design of world-class experiences, and the strategic and creative development of disruptive communication for top global brands. Most recently, Michael has started Openfield, a consultancy helping agencies grow, scale and evolve in this post-covid market. Before Openfield, Michael was the Managing Director of Huge in the San Francisco Bay Area helping grow the Huge brand’s profile on the West Coast. Michael also spent four years as the Managing Director of Razorfish San Francisco, one of the world’s leading digital design agencies. Michael brings a lot of experience in helping grow and scale agency brands while also raising their profile and improving employee experience. Before coming to Razorfish, Michael held many leadership roles in strategy and client services at advertising agencies like TBWA\Chiat\Day and BBDO.
Ed Cotton
President, Inverness Consulting
Workshop Speaker
Ed is an independent strategy consultant. He was previously CSO and partner at BSSP, an Adweek Small Agency of the Decade and an Ad Age Small Agency of the Year. His client experience includes Apple, Atlassian, Chipotle, Unilever, Diageo, Google, BlackRock, US Bank, Nike/Converse, Hershey, Sony, Sun Microsystems, and Levi’s, as well as over a decade working on BMW’s MINI brand. Before BSSP, Ed served as Head of Strategy at McCann Erickson in Seattle. He has been an Effie finals judge and chair of the 4A's Strategy Committee. The 4A’s named Ed “One of the 100 People Who Make U.S. Advertising Great."
Jasmine Dadlani
Chief Strategy Officer, McKinney
Workshop Speaker
Jasmine joined McKinney in early 2018 as Director of Strategy before being promoted to Chief Strategy Officer in late 2020. Her strategic insights have led McKinney to record growth with Little Caesars, Pampers, Blue Diamond, and Popeyes wins. Her inspiration for consumer insights comes from myriad sources — from observations on the subway to the field of behavioral psychology. She loves all things food, and for over a decade she has served as a guest lecturer on food and beverage trends for the Institute of Culinary Education, NYU and Columbia. Jasmine was recently honored to join the Council of 100, representing the most successful Northwestern University alumnae in their fields, and is a member of Chief.
Joseph Delhommer
Executive Creative Director and General Manager of CPG, Amazon Ads Brand Innovation Lab
Main Stage Speaker
Joseph leads a team of strategists, creatives, and technologists responsible for innovative, first-of-their-kind campaigns and experiences across Amazon. From reimagining Cheetos into an unexpected culinary ingredient with the launch of the Cheetos Duster, to using augmented reality and image recognition software so customers could scan an egg and have Amazon Fresh deliver a free Jimmy Dean Sausage roll, his work has been recognized by multiple industry award shows, from Cannes Lion to Effies. Prior to joining Amazon Ads in 2020, Joseph spent 14 years creating award-winning campaigns for Fortune 500 brands at several global ad agencies. He’s a graduate of Miami Ad School and holds a bachelor’s degree in Advertising from Universidad Iberoamericana (UNIBE).
Dino Demopoulos
CSO, Chroma Strategies
Workshop Speaker
Dino is a globally-recognized strategist with a track record of leading strategy departments at several top creative agencies throughout his career, including DDB, BBDO, McLaren McCann and GUT Toronto. He brings a multi-disciplinary creative approach to strategy honed as a professional DJ, music producer, remixer, journalist and street photographer.
Jenn Garbach
Chief Marketing Officer, PNC Bank
Main Stage Speaker
Jenn Garbach is Chief Marketing Officer for PNC Bank where she leads the brand and line of business marketing teams to drive growth and brand awareness for the enterprise. Over the past 20 years, she has worked extensively in the financial and professional services industries spanning marketing, product management, strategy, technology and customer experience.
Jenn is an innovative, results-oriented marketing leader who drives marketing transformations at scale. She previously served as Head of Marketing Transformation & Operations at PayPal and has held a number of marketing leadership positions at Capital One. She holds a Master of Business Administration in finance and strategy from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, a Bachelor of Science in general management from Boston College and is based with her family in Northern Virginia.
Ambika Gautam Pai
Head of Brand, TIAA
Main Stage Speaker
Ambika takes the strategic skillset she spent 15+ years cultivating in advertising, and applies it to evolving challenges in our modern work-life. She applies this kind of thinking on her podcast Corner Office Breakdowns, “breaking down” topics like leadership, parenthood, instinct, activism, mental health, and more.
She is currently the Head of Brand at TIAA, working to help close the retirement gap in her first brand-side role. Prior to TIAA she was the Chief Strategy Officer at Mekanism, a partner at the first female founded and run strategy shop, Wolf & Wilhelmine. She has worked at agencies like BBH, FCB, and Mother alongside other entrepreneurial pursuits.
Aly Gibson
Head of US Agency & Industry Marketing, Google
Main Stage Speaker
Alexandra Gibson is the Head of U.S. Agency & Industry Marketing at Google. She empowers agencies to drive digital transformation for their clients, oversees strategic partnerships with industry organizations, and leads Google's presence at key industry events. Since joining Google in 2011, she has led impactful brand programs for YouTube ads, Google+, and mobile ads. Alexandra graduated from the University of Pennsylvania and resides in New York City with her family.
Tomas Gonsorcik
Global Chief Strategy Officer, DDB Worldwide
Emcee
Tomas Gonsorcik is the Chief Strategy Officer at DDB Worldwide, the 2023 Cannes Network Agency of the Year, 2022 and 2023 US Effie Network of the Year and the #2 WARC Global Creative and Effectiveness Network of the Year. Tomas sets out the global narrative for the agency and coordinates the strategic practice across our global network of creative agencies. Previously, Tomas was the Chief Strategy Officer at VMLY&R. Tomas is the co-chair of the 4A’s Strategy Committee and sits on the WARC Global Effectiveness Council. Tomas believes that creativity is the most powerful force in business.
Danny Gonzalez
Co-Chief Creative Officer & Founder, Bandits & Friends
Main Stage Speaker
Danny Gonzalez and David Suarez have over 20 years experience in the advertising industry working together. They have built a reputation for producing some of the most effective and memorable campaigns in the industry while being recognized by Cannes Lion, One Show, D&AD, Effie, Webby, Clios, Andy, Art Directors Club, AICP, Radio Mercury, and their parents, who think they're just the best.
Last year the duo started their own creative agency named Bandits & Friends, alongside co-founder/President Courtney Berry. And in just over a year, the agency has worked with brands like the NYT-owned The Athletic, Angi, the National Women's Soccer League, The Weather Company, Royal Match and Show-Me Organics, as well as recently being named the lead creative agency for Liberty Mutual insurance.
Jonathan Halvorson
SVP, Consumer Experience & Digital Commerce, Mondelez International
Main Stage Speaker
Jon Halvorson joined Mondelēz International in 2017. In his current capacity, he is responsible for creative agency relationships, A&C optimization, media, consumer digital, generative AI and digital marketing across the company’s amazing portfolio of brands including OREO, Cadbury, Milka and Trident. Significant accomplishments include the acceleration of MDLZ’s media ROI (+80% vs ’20), MDLZ being rated most effective advertiser the last five years (Kantar 2024) and building the company’s agency network strategy. In 2024 WARC report, MDLZ was #9 in creative excellence and #2 in media performance.
Former agency roles include leadership positions on Mondelēz International, P&G, General Electric, Visa, Intel, State Farm and Eli Lilly across Publicis Media and OMD.
Geoff Hoellen
Principal Sales Engineer, Resonate
Workshop Speaker
Geoff Hoellen is the Principal Sales Engineer at Resonate, where he empowers clients to forge deeper connections with their audiences by optimizing data-driven marketing strategies. With over a decade of experience across SaaS, AdTech, and MarTech, Geoff specializes in helping companies leverage advanced technologies to drive customer engagement and maximize campaign performance.
Marla Kaplowitz
CEO, 4A's
Main Stage Speaker
Bringing over 30 years of industry experience in marketing, media and communications, Marla joined the 4A's in May 2017 as the President & CEO to help define and shape the future focus for the association. Under her leadership, the 4A’s works to improve the health of the industry through the power of collective experience, expertise, and impact to help empower success for its members across business transformation and talent needs.
Prior to joining MEC (now Wavemaker, part of WPP) where she was CEO of North America from 2011 - 2017, Marla spent 12 years at MediaVest (now Spark Foundry, part of Publicis). She began her career at DMB&B before moving to Ammirati Puris Lintas.
Marla serves as a director on the Board of Penn Entertainment and is the Committee Chair for the Nominating/Governance Committee and a member of the Compensation Committee. In addition, she is a member of several non-profit Boards including The Ad Council, BBB National Programs (includes Audit & Finance and National Advertising Review Board Committees), Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA). Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG) and MediaVillage.
Diana Kelter
Associate Director, Consumer Trends, Mintel
Workshop Speaker
Diana is an Associate Director of Consumer Trends, focusing on North America. She joined Mintel as a foodservice analyst before moving to the Trends team. Her role on Trends is a combination of analyzing data and pairing it with global brand monitoring to determine where Macro Trends take shape. Prior to Mintel, Diana was part of the agency world serving as a Digital Brand Strategist at Edelman Digital. Diana is constantly observing the world around her to observe the balance of the constants and the emerging signals of disruption.
Ann Marie Kerwin
Americas Editor, WARC
Workshop Speaker
Ann Marie Kerwin is the Americas Editor for WARC, a global marketing firm that provides evidence, expertise and education to ensure marketing strategy drives business success. As a WARC editor, she focuses on how marketing can make the business case for creativity. Previously Kerwin was VP-Content for eMarketer, a research firm focused on digital marketing and an editor for Ad Age.
George Lin
Senior Vice President, Spark Foundry
Workshop Speaker
George is a digital lead at Publicis with over a decade of experience. He partners with C-level clients to drive innovation across digital ad tech, B2B, and marketing strategy.
Pamela Marsh
Managing Director, Primary Research, Omnicom Media Group
Workshop Speaker
As Managing Director of Primary Research at Omnicom Media Group, Pam oversees primary and custom research for clients, new business, and Agency thought leadership. She leads her team’s studies from design through analysis, translating findings into compelling stories with insights from which she derives actionable media and marketing recommendations for clients. With a background in Social Science (and a former career as a college professor), Pam designs consumer and B2B research around generational, gender, and ethnic marketing, focusing on shifts in consumer mindsets and behaviors surrounding issues and trends in the media and marketing landscapes across a variety of ad formats, platforms, devices, categories, and brands. Many of these studies have received notable press coverage, and Pam routinely speaks at industry conferences and events about consumer, societal, and media trends.
Pam has more than 25 years of experience in communication/message strategy and research, consumer and media research (quantitative, qualitative, behavioral, and neuroscience), and communication/media theory. She has been with Omnicom Media Group since 2006, and previously with Initiative Media. Prior to her work in media agencies, Pam was a college professor of Communication, focusing on media theory and research, political communication, and international/cultural communication. Pam earned a Ph.D. in Communication Theory and Research from the University of Buffalo.
David Matathia
Head of Strategy, Fitzco
Main Stage Speaker
A 25+ year marketing mutt with a diverse background including brand planning, account management, PR and media.
Currently, David is the Head of Strategy at Fitzco - an independent communications agency in Atlanta, GA. Previous gigs have included: GSD&M, Hyundai Motor America, TBWA Chiat/Day, Time Warner and Univision.
He has seen the communications world from many angles as a member of agencies, brands and publishers which has given him a unique perspective on how to help build business.
His passion lies in the hunt for what motivates people, how they move through the world and how a brand can best connect along that journey.
Neeti Newaskar
Group Strategy Director, GSD&M
Workshop Speaker
Neeti is a Group Strategy Director at GSD&M. She has made a career of seeing through trends and data to develop meaningful strategies that launch consumer brands into the spotlight. Over her 20 year career, she has led strategy for beloved global and national brands like IKEA, Jameson Irish Whiskey, Orville Redenbacher, Pizza Hut, Universal Parks & Resorts and more. A forever champion of DE&I, Neeti spends her spare time co-leading the women’s group at GSD&M, as well as the Austin chapter of Omniwomen.
Fergus O'Carroll
Founder & Host, On Strategy Showcase
Main Stage Speaker
Founder & Host of On Strategy Showcase, the podcast where strategists and clients tell the strategy stories behind the thinking that led to amazing work.
Elizabeth Paul
Chief Brand Officer, The Martin Agency
Emcee
Elizabeth Paul is the chair of the 4A’s Strategy Committee and Chief Strategy Officer of The Martin Agency – Ad Age’s 2023 Agency of the Year. She loves the way strategy can lay the groundwork for counter-intuitive moves, breakthrough campaigns and ambitious business results.
In her role at Martin - best known for representing brands like GEICO, Old Navy, DoorDash, OREO and UPS - she helps shape strategy and guide business development. Paul also authored the Visibility Brief, an open-source tool to check bias, blind spots and illuminate insights in a way that broadens perspectives as marketers. This has helped lead Martin to AOY for three consecutive years and to be named to Fast Company’s 2023 list of Most Innovative Companies.
Previously Paul enjoyed a four-year stint with MullenLowe U.S. where she became one the of the youngest CSOs in the industry. While there she was recognized by Creativity as “Strategist of the Year,” Ad Age’s “40 Under 40” and Women of the A-List.” A three-time winner of the Jay Chiat Award, Elizabeth is also proud to serve as chair of the 4A’s Strategy Committee.
Elizabeth resides in Richmond with her husband, three amazing kids and a 180-pound Great Dane, Oliver.
Jonathan Ricard
Chief Strategy Officer, Resonate
Workshop Speaker
Jonathan Ricard, SVP Agency Sales, brings 20 years of expertise on the intersection of data and marketing in the digital media industry. He has been an executive at high growth startups, SaaS platforms and data companies including Signal, IXI Digital, Revolution Health and AOL.
Bre Rossetti
Chief Strategy Officer, Arnold + Havas Media
Main Stage Speaker
Bre Rossetti is Chief Strategy Officer at Arnold, leading the integrated strategy offering at the agency. She’s built a team of strategists driving major campaigns like Progressive’s Dr. Rick and PNC’s Brilliantly Boring. Bre’s expertise in brand strategy and comms planning has been key to Arnold's growth over the past 5 years. With experience across media and creative in both the U.S. and U.K., Bre offers a unique perspective on the consumer journey. She’s led brands like Puma, Fidelity, and Domino’s, and now oversees clients including PNC Bank, Progressive Insurance, ADP, and Sam’s Club.
Juie Shah
Group Strategy Director, DDB Chicago
Main Stage Speaker
Juie Shah is a Group Strategy Director at DDB Chicago. In a career of 15+ years in India and US, she’s worked across industries spanning Insurance, Telecom and QSR and helped build foundational brand strategy for clients like State Farm, AT&T and Miller Lite. Juie currently leads strategy efforts for one of Omnicom’s largest accounts, the U.S. Army, and most recently spearheaded an extraordinary assignment to reintroduce the oldest brand in America to the youngest generation of Americans. Passionate about design, equity and the intersection of the two disciplines, Juie makes it a point to mentor women and immigrants trying to break into advertising.
Kate Rush Sheehy
SVP, Strategy & Insights, GSD&M
Workshop Speaker
Kate leads the strategy department at GSD&M and spends most of her time with the Stanley, Southwest Airlines, and Crocs teams building First & Only brands. She joined GSD&M from Expedia Group where she led global brand strategy and advertising for Vrbo and launched the brand in 17 markets. Prior to that, she helped open R/GA Austin, where she led strategy, helped make Crocs cool again and launched Fossil into the wearables space. After college, Kate also spent time in Austin’s start-up world before getting back to using the Advertising degree she earned from the University of Texas at Austin.
Jim Stengel
President/CEO, The Jim Stengel Company
Main Stage Speaker
Jim Stengel is President/CEO of The Jim Stengel Company. He is widely known for his leadership in the brand-purpose movement, and for his commitment to building leading-edge marketing capabilities. A prolific writer, speaker and advisor, Jim is the author of Grow and Unleashing the Innovators. He is also host of The CMO Podcast, a Senior Fellow at Northwestern|Kellogg, a speaker with the Washington Speakers Bureau, advisor to several companies, and the former Global Marketing Officer of Procter & Gamble. He currently serves on the Board of Advisors for MPearlRock, and is a former member of the Board of Directors for AOL and Motorola.
David Suarez
Co-Founder/CCO, Bandits & Friends
Main Stage Speaker
Danny Gonzalez and David Suarez have over 20 years experience in the advertising industry working together. They have built a reputation for producing some of the most effective and memorable campaigns in the industry while being recognized by Cannes Lion, One Show, D&AD, Effie, Webby, Clios, Andy, Art Directors Club, AICP, Radio Mercury, and their parents, who think they're just the best.
Last year the duo started their own creative agency named Bandits & Friends, alongside co-founder/President Courtney Berry. And in just over a year, the agency has worked with brands like the NYT-owned The Athletic, Angi, the National Women's Soccer League, The Weather Company, Royal Match and Show-Me Organics, as well as recently being named the lead creative agency for Liberty Mutual insurance.
Cassie Taylor
Global Head of Creative Solutions, TikTok
Workshop Speaker
Cassie Taylor is the Global Head of Creative Solutions at TikTok with over a decade of experience in advertising and marketing, working with some of the world's top brands and agencies. She wields a careful combination of left brain and right brain, being adept at both design thinking and integrated strategy.
After graduating from Parsons, her professional experience includes Faith Popcorn's BrainReserve, Havas Life, McgarryBowen, Havas Worldwide, Huge, and BuzzFeed.
Currently at TikTok, her focus is growing the global creative solutions discipline. She spearheads building the creative brand, trend forecasting, thought leadership and product marketing. Her team’s efforts help marketers create advertising with impact on TikTok.
Anita Schillhorn van Veen
Executive Director, Strategy, McKinney
Workshop Speaker
Anita is Executive Director of Strategy at McKinney in Los Angeles, with nearly two decades of experience creating award-winning work for brands like Pantene, QuickBooks, IMAX, Blue Diamond, Samsung, and Uniqlo. She leads the AI Task Force at McKinney, driving the agency's AI adoption She was recognized by ADCOLOR in their 2022 Leadership program and recently achieved an Executive MBA from UCLA Anderson. She has taught at General Assembly, mentored at UCLA's Venture Accelerator, and advised Ladies Who Strategize. She also writes on marketing and culture at Frame Strategy.
Lindsey Wehking
Chief Strategy Officer, Nonfiction Research
Main Stage Speaker
Lindsey Wehking is the Chief Investigative Strategy Officer at Nonfiction Research. Nonfiction explores the hidden parts of American life through immersive research. Their researchers have sat beside patients in hospitals, inmates in prison, and have interviewed Atlanta rappers while rollerblading. Nonfiction’s findings have been featured by ABC News, Axios, MSNBC, Fox News, and FastCompany. Their work has inspired a new division at Disney, new flavors of Doritos, and a Megan Thee Stallion song.
Lindsey is the author of The Invisible Weight, a report/podcast on the hidden emotional experiences of pregnancy. She has also authored America’s Secret Playlists and Saving America from the News.
Orlando Wood
Chief Innovation Officer, System1 Group
Workshop Speaker
Orlando Wood is Chief Innovation Officer of the System1 Group, Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising, author of Lemon (IPA, 2019) and Look out (IPA, 2021), podcaster (Never Mind the Adverts with Jon Evans) and creator of a.p.e. (advertising principles explained) – a creative effectiveness course for advertisers and practitioners, in association with System1 and the IPA.
Orlando is an advertising thought-leader and his work on creative style influences both thinking and practice. Through a unique combination of neuroscience, cultural history and advertising research, he describes a shift in advertising style that has occurred in today’s technologically disrupted world and explains how this has undermined advertising’s effectiveness. Importantly, Orlando’s work also provides evidence and guidance to show how we might reverse it.
Orlando led the IPA’s Creativity and Effectiveness research for several years, looking at the greater effectiveness associated with fluent devices (a term he coined) and the features of advertising that sustain attention, elicit emotion and achieve lasting business effects.
Orlando regularly collaborates with others in the industry to understand how advertising works. In 2022, he collaborated with Peter Field and Karen Nelson-Field to present ‘Triple Jeopardy’ at The Cannes Lions Festival, describing the three threats to advertising effectiveness. In 2023, he returned to Cannes with Karen-Nelson Field, Rob Brittain and Peter Field to present ‘Triple Opportunity’, a study that confirmed the benefits of positive ESOV invested in emotive creative on high attention media. For his latest project, Orlando has partnered with Sir John Hegarty to produce and art-direct a.p.e. (advertising principles explained).
Orlando frequently runs creative effectiveness masterclasses for advertisers, including sessions for marketers at The Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity and The Marketing Academy. His work has won recognition from the ARF, the AMA, Jay Chiat, ISBA, the MRS, ESOMAR and the IPA.