Lou AversanoSVP, Global Chief Brand Officer
Cigna

Lou is SVP, Global Chief Brand Officer at Cigna.

Previously Lou was with Ogilvy and the IBM team since 1994. His joining was inspired by a longstanding love for technology coupled with a desire to be a part of a client and agency team that was going to make history by helping to revitalize the IBM brand. During his tenure there, Lou was an active citizen of the IBM and Ogilvy partnership. He’s worked on a broad spectrum of IBM’s business – Brand, PCs, servers, software, services, and OneVoice. Lou has led advertising, direct marketing, and interactive efforts. He’s been a part of the Worldwide, US, Latin American, and the European teams.

Prior to joining Ogilvy, Lou had the opportunity to work for a variety of clients that include AT&T, Procter & Gamble, and DeBeers Diamonds. While working on DeBeers, Lou had the good fortune of meeting his wife, Anne Marie (a smart move while working on a diamond account!). Today, they live in New York with their three children. Lou received his Bachelor of Science degree in finance and marketing from Boston University, where he continues to be actively involved in an advisory role for AdLab – a student-run, nonprofit advertising agency that is part of Boston University’s Communications School.

Sophie Bambuck Chief Marketing Officer
Everlane

Sophie Bambuck is the Chief Marketing Officer at Everlane. She is an energetic, intuitive and delivery-focused global business leader with specific expertise in driving brand growth and organizational performance through the development and delivery of multi-platform marketing strategies and campaigns. Much of her work-to-date has been in support of one the world’s most iconic consumer / lifestyle brands.

A passionate product innovator and storyteller, she's at her best in dynamic global team environments. A former collegiate swimmer, she is deeply committed to teamwork and the spirit of competition, and she works tirelessly to ignite diverse groups around possibility then deliver game-changing results.

Additional strengths include: team and people development, cross-functional leadership, strategic partnership development, P&L management, consumer insights, category management & youth culture. She is also bilingual English / French and conversant in Spanish and a French citizen and a US Permanent Resident.

Charlie BeasleyConsultant
Egon Zehnder

Based in London, Charlie Beasley is active in Egon Zehnder’s Consumer, Legal Regulatory & Compliance Professionals, Professional Services and Communications & Public Affairs Officers practices. A trusted advisor to clients across multiple sectors and markets, Charlie draws on his deep industry experience to provide capable executive search, assessment and development services. Charlie is a founding member of Egon Zehnder’s LGBTQ+ and allies community ez+ and is committed to working with individuals and teams around the world to create more inclusive organizations where potential is uncovered and supported and great talent thrives.

Prior to joining Egon Zehnder, Charlie was the Chief of Staff supporting the Global Firmwide Managing Partner of Linklaters LLP in London. Before that, he worked for several years as an antitrust and regulatory lawyer at that firm and previously at Gilbert + Tobin in Australia where he started his career, advising clients in the mining, media, aviation, construction, and retail sectors. Charlie also served as the Public Policy Manager in the Corporate and Public Affairs Team of the Australian retail conglomerate Woolworths Group Limited, representing that company’s interests to government, industry, and community stakeholders.

Charlie earned a BA and Bachelor of Law (with Honours) from the Australian National University and a Postgraduate Diploma in European competition law from King’s College London. Outside work, Charlie and his husband enjoy travelling, exploring the world and the occasional half-marathon.

Jonathan BottomleyChief Marketing Officer
Boll & Branch

Jonathan Bottomley is a transformational CMO with an exceptional record of driving consumer-led growth and long-term value creation through building powerful brands that define culture and is currently the Global CMO at Boll & Branch.

Previously CMO at Ralph Lauren, he shaped the digital transformation of the brand, acquiring a new generation of consumers and driving the commercial turnaround of the business.

Prior to that, he was Chief Strategy Officer at Virtue/Vice Media and Bartle Bogle Hegarty, leading teams that created some of the most influential and effective marketing ideas in recent years.

He has diverse industry experience across luxury, fashion, retail, technology, media, entertainment, CPG and non-profit brands.

Gregory Carpenter James Farley/Booz Allen Hamilton Professor of Marketing Strategy
Director of the Center for Market Leadership
Faculty Director, Kellogg Markets & Customers Initiative (KMCI)
Kellogg School of Management

Gregory Carpenter focuses on understanding how firms succeed with consumers. Based on award-winning research, his recent book, Resurgence: The Four Stages of Market-Focused Reinvention (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), examines how firms that face serious challenges create a more customer-focused culture and renewed success. He previously co-edited the Handbook of Marketing Strategy (Edward Elgar, 2012), and Readings on Market-Driving Strategies: Toward a New Concept of Competitive Advantage (Addison Wesley, 1997).

Appearing in leading academic journals, such as Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Management Science, Marketing Science, and Psychometrika, his research has been recognized by the The American Marketing Association with the William F. O'Dell Award, the Paul E. Green Award, the Donald R. Lehmann Award, and the Sheth Foundation/Journal of Marketing Award.

Harvard Business Review, Financial Times, Forbes, BusinessWeek, and National Public Radio have featured his research, and it has been cited in arguments before the United States Supreme Court. Recognized by BusinessWeek as one of a small group of outstanding faculty in its Guide to the Best Business School, he was voted Outstanding Professor of the Year Award by the Kellogg Managers' Program, and he received the Sidney J. Levy Teaching Award.

He teaches an elective in the MBA program, Consumers, Culture & Leadership, and he is the academic director of two Kellogg executive program: Kellogg’s Chief Marketing Officer Program, which helps prepare executives for the challenging role of CMO, and The Customer-Focused Organization. He co-chairs the Marketing Leadership Summit, bringing thought leaders together each fall to explore the future of marketing.

He often speaks and advises firms. Past and current clients include Bacardi, Carnival Corporation, Coca-Cola, Cunard Lines, Diageo, Dow Chemical, Federal Reserve Bank, Government of Mexico, General Electric, Harley-Davidson, Health Management Academy, Novartis, PepsiCo, Pfizer, SC Johnson, Target, Unilever, and Visa.

A former Academic Trustee of the Marketing Science Institute, he served as a member of the board of advisors of Hamilton Consultants, and a member of the advisory board of Terlato Wine Group. He was named a Chevalier in the Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne for his contribution to champagne.

Previously on the faculty of the UCLA, Columbia University, and the Yale School of Management, he received his B.A. from Ohio Wesleyan University, and M.B.A., M.Phil. and Ph.D. degrees from Columbia University.

Angus (Rory) FinlayGlobal Consumer Practice Leader, Chicago
Egon Zehnder

Angus (Rory) Finlay, based in Chicago, leads Egon Zehnder's global Consumer Practice. In these times of dynamic industry change and disruption, he draws on his deep industry and consulting experience to advise clients on leadership development and talent strategy. Finlay specializes in CEO assignments that deliver transformation through talent and organizational capability building, and is also active in the firm's Board Consulting, Chief Marketing Officers and Human Resources Practices.

Finlay's global consumer industry experience spans launching new brands like Orbit Chewing Gum at Wrigley, reigniting iconic brands such as Canadian Club and driving category-breaking innovations. Before joining Egon Zehnder, he was Senior Vice President and Global Chief Marketing Officer at Beam Global Spirits & Wine Inc. Earlier, while based in Munich, he led marketing operations across 30+ European countries for Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company before serving as the Vice President and General Manager for Wrigley's confectionery brands. Finlay began his marketing career in the textile industry at Celanese Corporation in New York.

Finlay earned a bachelor’s degree (with honors) in textile management from the University of Leeds and an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management. When not on the road, he enjoys outdoor activities such as hiking, fly fishing and skiing near his home in Montana. He is married with three children and a baby granddaughter. He is a native Scot and naturalized U.S. citizen

Joanna GeraghtyPresident and Chief Operating Officer
JetBlue

Joanna Geraghty is president and chief operating officer of JetBlue, responsible for the airline’s safety, operations and commercial performance including network, brand and marketing and revenue management.

Joanna’s focus is on delivering a leading and safe customer service experience, and enhancing operational and commercial performance while nurturing JetBlue’s unique culture and standing as one of the best places to work.

Prior to being named president & COO, she served as JetBlue’s executive vice president, customer experience, responsible for airports, customer support, and inflight service. She served as executive vice president, chief people officer from 2010-2014, after serving as vice president, associate general counsel and director, litigation and regulatory affairs. Joanna has been with JetBlue airline since 2005.

Joanna is board director of the JetBlue Foundation and chairperson of the board of Concern Worldwide, an international not-for-profit. Before joining JetBlue, she was a partner at the law firm Holland & Knight.

She received her bachelor’s degree from the College of the Holy Cross, her master’s in international relations from Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, and her J.D. from Syracuse University College of Law.

Julie HaddonOwner
Chicago Red Stars

Whether igniting a large enterprise organization towards change and innovation, starting her own entrepreneurial venture, or rapidly scaling a startup to achieve meteoric growth, Julie Haddon has been a successful change agent, pioneering marketing strategy for some of the world’s best-known Sports, Digital Media, eCommerce and Entertainment brands.

Haddon is the Senior Vice President, Global Brand and Consumer Marketing at the NFL, where she steered high-impact strategic marketing across the organization. Haddon was the Executive Sponsor of NFL Pride, the organization’s first-ever LGBT employee resource group and was Executive Producer of the documentary, A Lifetime of Sundays, featuring four iconic women owners of the NFL. Prior to joining the NFL, Haddon held leadership roles at DreamWorks Animation, eBay and Zygna. As an entrepreneur, she founded the Marketing Farm, where she advised Apple, HBO and Disney. When they were start-ups, she scaled Twitter and the financial services phenomenon, SoFi, helping to build both to multi -billion-dollar valued brands.

A consummate sports fan, Julie began her career at the Los Angeles Dodgers and later worked in consumer packaged goods at Major League Marketing, a professional sports licensee. A native of Chicago, she loves spending time cheering her beloved Cubs and now, the Chicago Red Stars.

Jason HeckerNorth America Chief Marketing Officer Practice Group Leader
Egon Zehnder

JASON HECKER North America Chief Marketing Officer Practice Group Leader Egon ZehnderJason Hecker leads the firm’s Chief Marketing Officers Practice in North America and is a leader in the Consumer Practice.Based in Chicago, he advises global companies on leadership and talent strategies to drive new growth in times of company and industry transition. Hecker works across both consumer and industrial sectors, with particular focus in the area of growth and innovation. He conducts executive searches across a range of top leadership positions and consults on client solutions from management appraisals to leadership integration. Prior to joining Egon Zehnder, Hecker worked for more than 20 years as a global business executive at early-stage ventures and Fortune 500 companies. Most recently, he was the Chief Commercial Officer of PureCircle Limited, the world’s leading innovator and producer of Stevia sweeteners and flavors. Before that, he managed a wide range of major brand portfolios and drove the development of new products at Kraft Foods Group Inc. Earlier in his career, Hecker served as the Head of Strategic Consulting Services for the digital agency Organic Inc. in Chicago.Hecker earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan. In his private life, his main passion is his family. Hecker and his wife frequently watch their sons play ice hockey and their daughter figure skate. He also enjoys playing golf and traveling to distant parts of the globe.

Betsy D. HoldenSenior Advisor
McKinsey & Company

Betsy D. Holden is a Senior Advisor to McKinsey & Company leading strategy, marketing, and board effectiveness initiatives for consumer, healthcare, financial services and B2B companies. Betsy was formerly Co-CEO of Kraft Foods and CEO of Kraft Foods North America. At the time, Kraft Foods was the largest food company in North America and the second largest in the world.

She has 38 years of experience in consumer goods and consulting with expertise in general management, marketing, cost management, acquisitions, and global expansion. In addition to her CEO role at Kraft, Betsy also held the positions of President, Global Marketing and Category Development; Executive Vice President with responsibility for Operations, IT, Procurement, R&D, and Consumer Insights and Communications; President of the Kraft Cheese Division; President of the Pizza Division; plus multiple line brand management assignments. Betsy introduced new products that have generated over $2 billion in revenue.

Ms. Holden graduated Summa Cum Laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a B.A. from Duke University. Holden received a Masters of Management in Marketing and Finance from Northwestern’s J. L. Kellogg School of Management. She has been named one of FORTUNE’s Most Powerful Women multiple times and was inducted into the Chicago Business Hall of Fame in 2016.

Ms. Holden has served on 9 corporate boards over the last 20 years including Kraft Foods, Diageo, PLC, CatamaranRX, and Time Inc. She currently serves on the boards of Western Union, Dentsply Sirona, and National Retail Properties. She was named a 2015 NACD Directorship 100 honoree. Betsy serves on the Executive Committee of Duke University’s Board of Trustees and the Kellogg School of Management Global Advisory Board. Betsy is President of the Board of the Off the Street Club, and serves on the boards of Ravinia Music Festival and Chicago High School for the Arts Foundation.

Jeff JacobsPartner
McKinsey & Company

A leader of McKinsey's marketing performance and growth strategy practices, Jeff Jacobs brings over 25 years of experience in global line marketing and sales, brand strategy, marketing ROI, end-to-end transformations, and innovation. He also has deep expertise in helping companies rethink their global agency and partner ecosystems to drive more growth. He has helped several Fortune 100 companies reimagine how and where they can drive growth, increase consumer engagement and spend their marketing dollars more effectively and efficiently. Additionally, he spends a lot of his time helping organizations evolve their marketing capabilities to take advantage of the data, analytics and proliferating digital channels available. He primarily focuses on Consumer, Retail, Technology and Telecom, and Financial Services. Before McKinsey, Jacobs was a global brand director at Gatorade, helping introduce the brand and drive 10+% growth around the world. Additionally, he served as CMO at Aon Corporation. When not thinking about Marketing and Growth, Jacobs spends his time traveling the world with his wife and two teenage daughters. They also sponsor a refugee family from Syria, which they have done the last two years. Jacobs is a double Northwestern graduate—College of Arts and Science and Kellogg School of Management—and a proud Evanston resident.

Caroline LombardiEgon Zehnder

Caroline Lombardi, based in Miami, is active in Egon Zehnder’s Services and Consumer Practices. She applies her extensive hands-on industry leadership across customer experience, operations, marketing and innovation to counsel clients looking to drive growth, grow customer satisfaction and increase brand loyalty. Caroline has a particular specialization in Chief Customer Officer roles as well as CEO, COO and CMO roles.

Before joining Egon Zehnder, Caroline was with Carnival Cruise Line, where she developed and led all youth, family and sports experiences and operations. Previously, she managed global brand strategy and product development for private label brands at Toys “R” Us. That was preceded by the role of Vice President at big BOING, a brand strategy and innovation consultancy. Earlier, Caroline managed movie marketing campaigns for MGM Studios. She began her career as a real estate analyst at Arthur Andersen.

Caroline earned a BBA in marketing and finance from the University of Miami and an MBA from Harvard Business School. She loves spending time with her husband and two children, who are all teaching her to speak Italian. She is an avid equestrian and enjoys tennis, skiing and traveling.

Fernando MachadoCMO
Activision Blizzard

Fernando Machado is a global marketer with a passion for growing brands and businesses. He is known in the industry for pushing the creative boundaries to drive business growth. He is currently the CMO at Activision Blizzard, the company behind popular game titles such as “Call of Duty” and “World of Warcraft.” 

Formerly as Global CMO at Burger King, Fernando's focus was infusing the brand with purpose, modernizing the design, and inspiring the organization around brand development. Under his leadership, BK became Client of the Year at the D&AD in 2016 and Creative Marketer of the Year in Cannes 2017. Fernando led campaigns such as "Proud Whopper", "McWhopper", "Google Home of the Whopper", "Burning Stores", "Bullying Jr" and "Whopper Neutrality".

Prior to BK, Fernando worked for 18 years at Unilever. Starting as an intern, he moved up the ranks working different brands, including Dove where he led the groundbreaking "Beauty Sketches" (Titanium GP in 2013). Fernando was recognized by Adweek as Grand Brand Genius (2013), by the AD Club of NY as Marketer of the Year (2017), by Business Insider as top 5 most innovative CMOs (2017) and by AdAge as top 50 most creative people in the business (2017).

Mallika MonteiroEVP, Chief Growth, Strategy & Digital Officer
Constellation Brands

Mallika is Constellation’s executive vice president, chief growth, strategy & digital officer, reporting to Bill Newlands, president and chief executive officer. In this role, Mallika is responsible for consumer and category insights, innovation and new product development across beer, wine and spirits, as well as the company’s strategy development and business transformation functions. Mallika is a member of the executive management committee.

Mallika joined Constellation in 2016 as vice president, beer innovation. Leveraging consumer insights, Mallika spearheaded the acceleration of the beer innovation portfolio – most notably, with the development and launch of Corona Premier. Mallika was promoted to senior vice president and chief growth officer in 2018, where she led the development and launch of a number of new product introductions across beer, wine and spirits, including Corona Refresca, Robert Mondavi Private Selection bourbon barrel aged wines, and SVEDKA Rosé. She also served as chief of staff to the company’s executive management committee and was a driving force behind the company’s Focus on Female Founders program, designed to invest $100 million in female-founded or female-owned start-ups in the beverage alcohol space over the next 10 years.

She has over a decade of experience in the beverage alcohol industry in strategy, brand marketing and innovation. Prior to joining Constellation, Mallika was a senior marketing director leading brand and innovation strategy at Anheuser Busch Inbev, and a senior brand manager at Beam Suntory.

Julio OttinoDean, Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science
Northwestern University

Julio M. Ottino is the dean of the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Northwestern University where he holds the titles of Distinguished Robert R. McCormick Institute Professor and Walter P. Murphy Professor of Chemical and Biological Engineering.

Born in Argentina, he had a career as an artist before he moved to the United States for his PhD in chemical engineering at the University of Minnesota. He then held a faculty position at UMass/Amherst and held chaired and senior appointments at Caltech, Stanford, and the University of Minnesota.

He joined Northwestern in 1991 and was chairman of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering from 1992 to 2000. He was the founder and co-director of the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems. As dean he led to a 22 percent renewal of the faculty in three years, launched the Segal Design Institute in 2007, the Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation in 2008, and was instrumental in the creation of the Initiative in Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern, launched also in 2008.

Ottino’s experimental and theoretical work unveiled the connection between chaos and mixing of fluids and opened multiple connections. His research has been featured in articles and on the covers of Nature, Science, Scientific American, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, and other publications, and has impacted fields as diverse as complex systems, fluid dynamics, granular dynamics, microfluidics, geophysical sciences. One of his books, The Kinematics of Mixing: Stretching, Transport and Chaos, Cambridge University Press (published in 1989, and reprinted in 1997), has become a classic in the field. His most recent book, with R. Sturman and S. Wiggins, is the Mathematical Foundations of Mixing: The Linked Twist Map as a Paradigm in Applications — Micro to Macro, Fluids to Solids, and was published by Cambridge University Press in 2006.

Ottino served on committees of the National Research Council and the National Academy of Engineering and was a member of the International Review of Engineering in the United Kingdom. He was a senior advisor to Unilever, a member of the Technical Advisory Board of Dow Chemical, and served on advisory and visiting boards for startups, non-profit organizations and educational institutions in the United States.

Ottino received many national awards including the Alpha Chi Sigma Award and the William H. Walker from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE), and the Fluid Dynamics Prize from the American Physical Society. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow and a Sigma Xi Lecturer. In 2008 he was selected by the AIChE as one of the “One Hundred Engineers of the Modern Era.” He has lectured to a range of diverse audiences in topics ranging from the purely technical to creativity and art. Ottino has given numerous named lectureships, including the Lacey Lectures at Caltech, the Corrsin Lecture in Johns Hopkins, the Centennial Lecture in Maryland, the Pirkey Lecture at Texas/Austin, and the Danckwerts Lecture in England.

He is a fellow of the American Physical Society and the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is a member of both the National Academy of Engineering and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Dean Ottino's interests are at the intersection of art, science and technology. He is currently working on a book about the creative processes connecting these domains.

Dick PattonHead of Global CEO Practice
Egon Zehnder

Dick Patton leads Egon Zehnder’s global CEO Practice. He partners with clients on CEO succession, advisory, and search, in addition to providing board consulting and search, talent assessment, and recruitment of senior-level executives. Dick previously led the firm’s global Consumer Practice and cofounded Egon Zehnder’s Chief Marketing Officers Practice.

Prior to joining Egon Zehnder, Dick held management, marketing, and business development roles at Coca-Cola and Frito-Lay. He has also worked in startups and an advertising agency, and published two speeches in the Congressional Record while working for the U.S. Senate.

Dick earned a BA from Brown University and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a frequent speaker, and his insights on talent development, functional evolution, and recruitment have appeared in Bloomberg Businessweek, Harvard Business Review, Forbes, and other publications. Dick serves as a trustee of Groton School in Massachusetts, and he cochairs Egon Zehnder’s annual Marketing Leadership Summit at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. He is married with three children and loves spending time outdoors.

Thomas RaneseVice President, Global Marketing
Uber

Thomas joined Uber in 2019, where he leads Global Marketing and Social Impact. Since joining, Thomas led an organizational turnaround for Marketing, expanded the company’s investment in brand marketing with campaigns like “Tonight I’ll Be Eating” and oversaw the company’s first-ever global Social Impact initiative “Move What Matters” which supported communities around the globe during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior to joining Uber, Ranese spent a decade at Google where he held three "start up" marketing leadership roles building the marketing organization and shaping the Google brand - as the first head of Global Marketing Strategy & Operations for the CMO, then as founder of the Brand Studio where he led the naming of Alphabet and launched the Google Store, and most recently, as VP of Hardware Marketing responsible for the launch and merchandising of Google-branded products including Pixel, Home, Nest, Chromecast and Stadia.

Prior to Google, Thomas was the first CMO for the State of New York where he was responsible for direction and oversight of the I LOVE NY tourism program, the Governor's Office of Film & TV, and business marketing for the New York State economic development agency. Previously, he led the brand strategy and valuation practice at Interbrand and before that, he was a management consultant at McKinsey and Company.

Thomas earned a master's degree in public policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and a bachelor of arts in political science with honors at Stanford University. He grew up in Brooklyn NY and now calls California his home where he lives with his partner Brian and their lab Bruno.

Pree RaoConsultant and Head of North America Chief Marketing Officers Practice
Egon Zehnder

Preetam (Pree) Rao leads Egon Zehnder’s North America Chief Marketing Officers practice and is a core member of the Consumer Practice. His focus areas include executive search, leadership assessment and development. Prior to joining the firm, Pree led businesses ranging from pre-revenue to $600MM+ across North America, Europe, and Africa with Unilever, Danone, and Novantas.

Most recently, Pree was Senior Director of Oikos and Performance Nutrition for Danone North America. Before that, he spent four years with Danone Africa, where he led the turnaround of the company’s premium infant nutrition business, and two years with Danone Waters France. Pree originally joined Danone in the US to rebuild the Evian brand, having previously worked for Unilever in the U.S. and with the boutique management consultancy Novantas across the Americas and Europe.

Pree holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a B.S. from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He lives in New York City with his wife and 2 young children.

Stephen SelwoodConsultant
Egon Zehnder

Stephen Selwood, based in New York, is a core member of Egon Zehnder’s Consumer and Financial Services Practices. He is a trusted advisor to large organizations, drawing on his deep professional experience as a senior leader in digital marketing, product innovation and brand management functions to help them maintain relevance across rapidly evolving marketplaces.

Prior to joining Egon Zehnder, Steve served as the COO of Kovert Creative, a branded content and communications agency start-up with offices in New York City and Los Angeles. Before that, he served as SVP for Brand Marketing and Consumer Revenue at Time Inc. in New York. Previously Steve was with American Express in both New York and London, serving as a GM in several global loyalty and card product portfolio businesses.

Steve earned a BA in international relations from Trinity College and an MBA from New York University. Having worked and lived abroad, he is passionate about experiencing other cultures first-hand and often travels to new countries with his wife and two children. Steve is also an aficionado of the live music scene in New York City and can often be found at various venues across town.

Brian SolisGlobal Innovation Evangelist
Salesforce

Brian Solis is Salesforce's Global Innovation Evangelist. He's also an 8x best-selling author, keynote speaker, digital anthropologist.

Brian studies enterprise and consumer technologies to understand its impact on businesses, markets and society.

In his thought leadership work, he humanizes technologies and trends to help executives, brands and vendors gain new perspectives and insights about competing for the future. Brian’s research explores digital transformation, CX, experience design, innovation and disruption, the cognitive enterprise, and "the future of" industries, trends and behavior.

Jim StengelSenior Fellow and Adjunct Professor of Marketing
Kellogg School of Management

In October 2008, Jim Stengel shocked the marketing world by leaving his prestigious role as Global Marketing Officer at Procter & Gamble, one of the most admired brand building companies in the world. This bold move was Jim’s first step on a new mission to share his passion for growing business through a focus on higher ideals. To continue on his mission, Jim has embraced a variety of exciting roles: President/CEO of The Jim Stengel Company, LLC, host of The CMO Podcast, author of Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World’s Greatest Companies and Unleashing the Innovators: How Mature Companies Find New Life with Startups, Adjunct Professor at Kellogg | Northwestern, speaker with the Washington Speakers Bureau®, and advisor to several companies.

The Visionary Leader
Jim’s company is both a think tank and consultancy – conducting proprietary research, generating thought leadership and applying a purpose-driven framework to drive business growth in today's global economy. The company’s purpose, or ideal, is to help companies and brands discover, activate, and measure their purpose. Jim and his team have worked with clients in tech, fashion, retail, financial services, food service, automotive, healthcare, and wine/spirits.

The Author
Jim’s book Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World’s Greatest Companies, published by Crown Business, has been called a “must read” by best selling author and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg. Based on a unique ten-year growth study involving 50,000 brands, Jim shows how the world’s fifty best businesses have a cause and effect relationship between financial performance and their ability to connect with fundamental human emotions, hopes, values, and greater purposes. Jim’s second book Unleashing the Innovators: How Mature Companies Find New Life with Startups shows how established companies partner with young, energetic startups to invigorate their culture and thrive. The book draws on an original research study of more than 200 iconic companies and startups that are currently engaged in partnerships.

The Educator
Jim is the host of the highly acclaimed “The CMO Podcast,” a weekly intimate and instructive discussion with leading CMOs and CEOs.

One of Jim’s focus areas is to “give back” by inspiring younger people who will be the next generation of leaders in business. In 2009, he was appointed Adjunct Professor of Marketing at the UCLA Anderson School of Management, and taught for four years. In 2017, Jim was appointed Senior Fellow and Adjunct Professor within the Northwestern Kellogg Markets & Customers Initiative. Since 2011, Jim has served as Dean of the Young Marketers Academy at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. In 2013, he pioneered the CMO Accelerator program at the Cannes Lions Festival and continues to serve as Dean.

In October 2008, Jim Stengel shocked the marketing world by leaving his prestigious role as Global Marketing Officer at Procter & Gamble, one of the most admired brand building companies in the world. This bold move was Jim’s first step on a new mission to share his passion for growing business through a focus on higher ideals.  To continue on his mission, Jim has embraced a variety of exciting roles: President/CEO of The Jim Stengel Company, LLC, host of The CMO Podcast, author of Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World’s Greatest Companies and Unleashing the Innovators: How Mature Companies Find New Life with Startups, Adjunct Professor at Kellogg | Northwestern, speaker with the Washington Speakers Bureau®, and advisor to several companies.  
 
The Advisor
Jim is a former member of the Board of Directors for AOL and Motorola, where he chaired the Compensation & Leadership Committee.  He was also an advisory board member of MarketShare, until its sale to Neustar.  Jim is currently a partner in H Venture Partners, a fund that invests in emerging consumer brands.  He also serves on the Board of Advisors of BERA, the largest brand-equity assessment platform in the world, and N!ck’s, a new healthy food brand.  In the past, he served on the Board of The Advertising Council, and also served as Chairman of the Association of National Advertisers, and Chairman of the American Advertising Federation Hall of Fame. 
 
The Global Marketing Officer
Jim is the former Global Marketing Officer of $67B Procter & Gamble, where he oversaw an $8B advertising budget and had organizational responsibility for nearly 7,000 people. Highly regarded, his leadership was recognized in 2008 when P&G was honored as the 2008 Cannes International Advertising Festival Advertiser of the Year for the first time in company history. 
 
Jim is best known for reinvigorating P&G’s marketing culture. In his seven years as Global Marketing Officer, he personally led the transformation that firmly established P&G as one of the most admired brand-building companies in the world.  P&G sales doubled during Jim’s tenure. 
 
Prior to his promotion to P&G’s top advertising and marketing position in 2001, Jim had P&L responsibility for the company’s European baby care business. Previously, Jim held positions of increasing responsibility in P&G’s developing markets, Cosmetic, and Food businesses. 
 
Jim is widely known for leading innovation and for his commitment to building purpose-inspired leadership capabilities. As a result, he was recognized in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007 by Advertising Age as the number one “Power Player” in marketing. In 2005, he was recognized as Grand Marketer of the Year by Brandweek magazine, the same year P&G was named Marketer of the Year by Advertising Age magazine.  Jim was named to the first-ever Fortune Executive Dream Team in 2011, and is a 2017 American Marketing Association Hall of Fame inductee. 
 
The Person
Jim grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in a family of six children. He holds a BA from Franklin & Marshall College, and an MBA from The Pennsylvania State University, Smeal School of Business. Jim and his wife Kathleen have two children, and split their time between Cincinnati, Ohio and Coronado, California. Jim is a former member of the Board of Directors for AOL and Motorola, where he chaired the Compensation & Leadership Committee. He was also an advisory board member of MarketShare, until its sale to Neustar. Jim is currently a partner in H Venture Partners, a fund that invests in emerging consumer brands. He also serves on the Board of Advisors of BERA, the largest brand-equity assessment platform in the world, and N!ck’s, a new healthy food brand. In the past, he served on the Board of The Advertising Council, and also served as Chairman of the Association of National Advertisers, and Chairman of the American Advertising Federation Hall of Fame.