Speakers
Ted Alcarez
Chief People Officer, FIG Agency
Ted loves working with people and helping them manifest their best selves everyday. Prior to joining FIG, Ted headed up HR at LBi and facilitated the evolution of their culture and operations as it merged with Mr. Youth and Syrup to become MRY. In prior roles, he has led HR functions across a wide spectrum of companies during periods of significant business transformation and growth. As Chief People Officer at FIG, Ted has built the agency's people operations from scratch and engineered its unique people-centric culture into an award-winning industry standout. Ted is very passionate about ensuring that each of our employees' experience at FIG is transformative and ultimately viewed as the best position in their career.
Charles Bakaly
Senior Counselor, Edelman
A strategic communications counselor who has served as a former government official and lawyer, Charles applies his experience to help clients navigate enterprise, reputation and legal risks to make good decisions in a complex external environment. At Edelman, he conceives and executes campaign strategies for organizations to promote and protect their reputations. He regularly counsels senior leadership and boards of directors on governance and reputation management issues.
Over the years, work done by Charles and his team has won several prestigious industry awards. A few examples are the communications campaign surrounding GE’s labor contract negotiations won PRWeek’s Internal Communications Campaign of the Year. The campaign to free a young woman imprisoned in Iran was awarded the PRSA Silver Anvil for Public Affairs (Association/Non-Profit Organization Category), PRWeek’s Public Affairs Campaign of the Year Award and PRWeek’s Crisis/Issues Management Campaign of the Year Award.
Charles has been selected to counsel and advise government and business leaders in many high-profile situations. He directed the release of the Iraq Study Group recommendations for the co-chairmen, former Secretary of State James A. Baker III and Congressman Lee Hamilton. Independent Counsel Kenneth W. Starr appointed him counselor and spokesperson for the Office of Independent Counsel. He also served as counsel to Judge William Webster in the investigation of the Los Angeles Police Department’s response to the civil disorder following the verdict in the first Rodney King case.
Charles’ government experience began in 1981 when he was appointed staff assistant to President Reagan and director of press advance. As an authorized spokesperson, Charles developed and implemented strategies to communicate the president’s policies to the American people. During President Reagan’s second term, he served as special assistant to then-Secretary of the Treasury James A. Baker III.
In private law practice, he was a lawyer with the international law firm Morgan, Lewis & Bockius and then, as a federal prosecutor, he investigated and prosecuted public integrity cases.
Charles received his bachelor’s degree from The Colorado College and his Juris Doctor degree from Southwestern Law School. He attended Georgetown Law’s graduate program and is a member of the District of Columbia Bar. Charles has been a featured speaker and panelist on multiple industry programs and events to discuss strategic communications and reputation management challenges.
Bailey Calfee
Premium Reporter, Campaign US
Bailey Calfee is a Premium Reporter at Campaign US covering all things advertising and marketing for the The Knowledge tier. Prior to Campaign US, she worked in lifestyle media as a writer for NYLON and an editor for Shape, covering pop culture, wellness and beauty with a focus on diversity and inclusive representation.
Alex Cuevas
SVP, Director of Talent, BBDO
A people champion, Alex Cuevas is passionate about the entire employee experience and ensuring the road for talent within the advertising industry is equitable and inclusive at all levels. Alex currently serves as Senior Vice President, Director of Talent at BBDO leading the talent experience and recruitment and retention efforts for the world’s most awarded advertising agency. Her focus in partnership with C-Suite stakeholders is continuing to bring the best and brightest creative talent to the network while being responsible for developing and implementing strategies, policies, and programs that align with business objectives. She currently supports performance, employee engagement, leadership development, succession planning, and diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Alex began her career in advertising at DDB Worldwide, where she unlocked her passion for the creative business. While at DDB, she was involved in the creation of global career development programs including The Phyllis Project, a global creative initiative committed to increasing the number of female creative leaders in the network, and a High-Performance Lab for rising mid-level talent. At Omnicom, she is also Co-President of Omniwomen New York, an employee resource group whose mission is to serve as a catalyst for increasing the influence and number of women leaders throughout the Omnicom network.
She has participated as a Young Ones Award Judge for The One Club for Creativity, ADCOLOR Award Judge and a “We Are Next” podcast guest helping students with resume and portfolio building. She is a magna cum laude Fordham University graduate and Westchester County, New York native. Alex is a part of Debra L. Lee’s inaugural Leading Women Defined Rising Leaders cohort and a 2021 Advertising Club of New York i’mPART fellow.
Joe Conrad
Founder and CEO, Cactus
Joe Conrad is the Founder and CEO at Cactus. He founded Cactus in 1990 on the belief that small agency creativity could solve the world’s biggest problems, vowing to work exclusively with purposeful consumer brands and organizations dedicated to helping people thrive. And he’s never looked back. Over 33 years, Joe has worked on just about every client in the agency’s history with a commitment to grow brands that help people thrive.
Michael Clinton
Founder & CEO, ROAR Forward
Michael Clinton, in partnership with Hearst, is the founder of ROAR Forward, a business-to-business intelligence insights and content platform. ROAR Forward’s primary focus is the new demographic segment of individuals aged 50 and over who are redefining the second half of life in their careers, passions and lifestyles. Clinton includes himself amongst a growing cohort of people he has dubbed as “Re-Imagineers.”
As Clinton explains, “Re-Imagineers are driving the ‘New Longevity’ economy. This market controls almost 70% of all of the wealth in the U.S. and accounts for 50% of consumer spending power. They have ambition and new attitudes and behaviors unrivaled by any previous demographic group. Our goal with ROAR Forward is to help businesses and our mem bership community connect in better ways with this new reality by providing business insights and intelligence to brands and companies.”
ROAR Forward offerings include the ROAR Report with proprietary data and research, bulletins, seminars, workshops, orig inal content and events that shed light on the dynamically changing market demographic of individuals aged 50-plus who now comprise 35% of the population. ROAR Forward also hosts a Re-Imagineer consumer community through a member ship platform that provides content, learning modules, events and more.
“I had a very successful job in the publishing business, but I had the revelation that I was the most boring human being on the planet because all I did was work.” It was a revelation that led Clinton to what he calls “life layering” — finding, and then doing, new things in each successive decade of his life. His 40s were his adventure layer and led him to climb Mount Kilimanjaro, enroll in race-car driving school and become a private pilot. In his 50s, he added his creative layer becoming a photographer, visiting 124 countries and publishing a book of his travel photos. Clinton’s best-selling book, ROAR into the second half of your life, now in its third printing, is the springboard for ROAR Forward.
As he approaches 70, Clinton serves on the board of The Stanford Center on Longevity and is a speaker and writer on the subject of the New Longevity for Esquire, Men’s Health and Oprah Daily. He recently completed a trek to Mount Everest base camp and ran a marathon down and also has layered on philanthropy, through his Circle of Generosity foundation and nonprofit classes. “With all the layers working at the same time, I’ve built a very, very, rich life,” he said. “My personal ROAR really started twenty-seven years ago, and it continues to be my North Star.”
Michael Clinton was named senior media advisor to the CEO of Hearst in May 2019 after 21 years at the company. He had been president of marketing and publishing director of Hearst Magazines since June 2010 and was a member of the board of directors of Hearst Corporation. Prior to that, Clinton was executive vice president of Condé Nast Publications, where he oversaw sales and marketing for the company’s 15 national titles, including Vogue, Vanity Fair and Architectural Digest. Before that, he was Condé Nast’s senior vice president of group sales and marketing and spent 10 years at GQ magazine, including six years as publisher. He began his career in media at Fairchild Publications.
A magna cum laude graduate from the University of Pittsburgh with a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science, Clinton also earned a master’s degree from Pace University’s Lubin Graduate School of Business and a master’s degree in nonprofit management from Columbia University. He holds an honorary doctorate from Pace University.
CEO, Catalyte
Matt Derella is the CEO and Board Director of Catalyte. He also serves on the board of MoneyLion. He was Chief Customer Officer for Twitter. After Derella became an executive officer and assumed responsibility for all revenue, Twitter underwent a massive business and cultural transformation resulting in their market cap expanding more than 2x in 3 years – from ~$20B in early 2018 to ~$44B in 2021.
Prior to Twitter he held several leadership roles at Google. Derella is inducted into the Advertising Hall of Achievement and was named one of the World’s Top 100 Digital Marketers by The Drum.
Matt Derella
Peter Duda
President, Global Crisis & Issues, Weber Shandwick
Peter Duda is President of the agency’s global crisis and issues team and is based in New York. He has counseled clients in a wide variety of industries on media and communications strategies relating to such complex and sensitive issues as cyber security incidents, high-profile litigation, government investigations, regulatory enforcement, corporate reorganizations and restructurings, M&A transactions, hostile takeovers, labor relations, trade disputes, product liability, management transitions, corporate positioning and corporate reputation management. In the area of cyber security, Peter has helped clients manage through a wide-range of situations, including ransomware and state-actor attacks.
An expert media trainer, Peter has prepared senior executives in the U.S., Europe and Latin America to effectively communicate with the media.
Peter has provided strategic communications advice to domestic and international clients in numerous industries: financial services (TIAA, AXA, Cerberus Capital, Prudential Financial, Mass Mutual, MasterCard, CIT); healthcare (Abbott, Novartis, Pfizer); food/beverage (The Coca-Cola Company, Unilever, AB InBev, Mondelēz, YUM!, Campbell, Nestle, Papa John’s Chobani); energy (ExxonMobil, Shell); infrastructure/manufacturing (GE, Honeywell, Ingersoll-Rand, SPX); technology (Qualcomm, Verizon); and consumer products and services (Shutterfly, Electrolux, Mattel, Kenneth Cole).
Before joining Weber Shandwick, Peter practiced law in Chicago, Illinois. He holds a J.D. from Loyola University Chicago, where he was an editor of the law journal. He also received an M.B.A. with distinction from DePaul University and a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown University.
Nathan Friedman
Co-President and Chief Marketing Officer, Understood.org
Nathan leads the multifaceted brand strategy, product marketing, consumer engagement, communications, creative and production functions at Understood.org. He brings more than 20 years of experience building iconic brands, crafting impactful campaigns, and leading teams through complex operational challenges to his role as Co-President and Chief Marketing Officer.
Nathan began his career at Ogilvy, where he drove strategic marketing and communications efforts, and held numerous roles, including managing director of its Chicago office and global account leader. He eventually led the firm’s four-office West Coast operation where he directed the rollout of the Affordable Care Act in California. Previous roles include General Manager of a mid-sized agency and President of a consultancy focused on branding and marketing strategy for startups in the impact space. He serves on the board of directors of the Point Foundation – the nation’s largest LGBTQ+ scholarship fund.
He graduated from Washington University in St. Louis, and holds a B.A. in Political Science. Nathan and his brother each have learning and thinking differences, which makes Understood’s cause very important to him and his family.
Jeremy Lockhorn
SVP, Creative Technologies & Innovation, 4A's
Jeremy Lockhorn looks after the Creative Technologies & Innovation practice for the 4A's - focused on helping member agencies and the industry at large to navigate the turbulent waters of emerging technologies. While relatively new to the 4A's, he brings more than 25 years of industry experience including a long leadership stint at various shops that ultimately became Razorfish. The vast majority of his career has been focused on helping agencies and brands peer around the bend from a technology perspective, understand what's coming next and then figure out what to do about it.
Josh Loebner
Global Head of Inclusive Design, VML
Josh is a shining example of the power of inclusion creating real change. He works with some of the biggest brands to embed inclusion and create inspiring work.
Most recently, he, alongside colleagues provided world-class brand support for Augmental's MouthPad^, an inclusive design innovation that opens new ways for people with disabilities to interact with the world, which won the Cannes Lions Innovation Grand Prix in 2023.
He was recognized among the Adweek Creative 100 for 2023, as an agency leader paving the way forward.
He has a PhD focused on disability inclusion in marketing. Josh is fully blind in one eye, legally blind in the other, and clearly sees the best in everyone.
Katherine Marchiano
VP, Talent & Development, Americas Media Practice
Katherine Marchiano is a seasoned leader with over a decade of experience in talent and leadership development, DE&I initiatives, and learning systems. As the VP, Talent & Development for the Americas Media Practice at dentsu international, she drives high-performance cultures through innovative communities of practice, strategic partnerships, and creative solutions. Katherine's expertise lies in designing comprehensive learning experiences that accelerate productivity, foster career growth, and align with business objectives.
Prior to her current role, Katherine served as the Global Talent Development Lead at Ingram Micro, where she developed and executed a global talent development strategy, driving high-performing teams through career, leadership, and business knowledge development. Her leadership was instrumental in building a sustainable global Leadership Development Framework and advancing DE&I initiatives.
Throughout her career, Katherine has demonstrated a commitment to fostering learning cultures, empowering employees, and driving organizational success. Her innovative approach and collaborative spirit make her a valued leader in talent development and organizational effectiveness. Katherine holds a Master of Science in Higher Education Administration from SUNY at Buffalo and a Bachelor of Arts in English from SUNY Fredonia.
Janis Middleton
Chief Inclusion Officer, Guided By Good: 22Squared/Trade School
Janis has years of experience in the content and media space and has led various clients, such as The Home Depot, Buffalo Wild Wings, SunTrust (now Truist), Hanes, and many others to success. Her background has made her extremely knowledgeable in developing and implementing people-focused strategies, which ultimately led to her current role.
As an Atlanta native and a graduate of Clark Atlanta University, Janis has always had a passion for building and cultivating environments that provide equal opportunities for all people to thrive. She understood marginalized audiences were consistently underrepresented with less access to tools for success. It was with this experience that she built the portfolio’s Inclusion practice.
Olivia Morley
Senior Reporter, Adweek
Olivia Morley is a senior agencies reporter at Adweek. Previously, she worked on Forrester’s media agency research and was an editorial strategist for Samsung’s Business Insights publication. Olivia holds a B.A. in English from Boston College and attended the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY as a visiting student. She is based in Salt Lake City, UT.
James Nicholls
Head of Industry, Agencies at Worksome
James Nicholls is the Global Head of Industry, Agencies at Worksome, driving the company's efforts in serving advertising agency clients worldwide. With extensive experience in client management and business development, James plays a pivotal role in expanding Worksome's presence in the advertising industry.
Tasked with overseeing all advertising agency clients, from major holding groups to independents, James leverages his deep understanding of the advertising landscape to customize Worksome's solutions for each client's unique needs. A strategic thinker adept at fostering strong client relationships, James focuses on maximizing clients' utilization of Worksome across international locations to drive efficiency and productivity.
Sara Porritt
Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer, Omnicom Media Group
Sara Baiyu Porritt is the Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Officer at Omnicom Media Group responsible for putting rigor behind the shared Omnicom mission of attaining equal representation, development, support, and retention of all underrepresented groups. She is responsible for ensuring that DE&I is a lens through which OMG evaluates every aspect of its organization. Expanding her advocacy beyond the walls of OMG, Sara is on the board of the 4A’s Foundation and serves as its Deputy Chair focused on supporting diversity, equity and inclusion in the industry. In her spare time, this mother of 2 and former R&B singer is dedicated to capturing and sharing stories of those who have also traversed the road not taken as the host and creator of Hear Us Roar—a podcast featuring inspired conversations with fearless Asian women about how ideas and passions can ignite transformative journeys.
Darla Price
President, Ogilvy New York
Darla is President of Ogilvy NY, bringing rich global experience that delivers business and culture-driving ideas for clients. Her two decades of experience span diverse capabilities, categories, and clients including Microsoft, Kroger, Olay, Johnson & Johnson, HomeGoods, Lockheed Martin and General Mills.
She made history in 2021 as the first Black female President of DDB New York, helping deliver growth through a more inclusive and representative culture while producing award-winning creative work for clients. Darla also served in executive roles at McCann, and prior to McCann, and led key accounts for Saatchi & Saatchi in Singapore and Mumbai.
In 2022, Darla was named to Ad Age’s list of Leading Woman and a Pocstock Top 50 Black Leader. Additionally, she was named an ADCOLOR Change Agent nominee in 2020. Darla is an Executive Coach, avid mentor, and future of work and DE&I advocate who has a passion for helping young people of color be successful in the advertising industry.
Dana Randall
Head of Accessible Design, Level Access
Dana Randall is an award-winning creative director and former Global Head of Gigital Innovation at Tapestry, the parent company of Coach, Kate Spade and Stuart Weitzman. Randall has more than 20 years of experience as an interface designer with a focus on emerging technology. Sharing from her experience with her own disability, Randall often speaks on disability inclusion, invisible disabilities, and inclusive design.
Jennifer Risi
Founder and President, The Sway Effect
Jennifer Risi is the President and Founder of The Sway Effect, an integrated marketing and communications network.
Jennifer is a seasoned communications executive with 20 years of experience. Her clients are CEOs and Heads of State the world over. She specializes in international reputation, strategic global media relations, CEO positioning, and crisis communications. She is also an expert in nation branding – having led award-winning global campaigns for Mexico, Colombia, USA, and Indonesia.
Jennifer was named to Observer’s Power 50. She was also inducted into the 2019 PRWeek Hall of Femme and has been named a PR News Top Women in PR multiple times, including 2022 in the Entrepreneur category. She has also won multiple awards for her corporate reputation and nation branding campaigns from PRovoke, PRWeek, PRNews and Cannes Lions. Most recently, she won PRovoke Media 2023 Executive Communications Campaign of the Year for Appian’s CEO Matt Calkins.
Jennifer also led a cross-agency team and was awarded the UN Foundation’s Global Leadership Award for Common Ground’s LXL campaign. Notably, The Sway Effect was named 2021 PRovoke Media’s New Agency of the Year.
She is a champion for diversity – often writing and speaking on key issues as well as mentoring and sponsoring next-generation talent
She is also a member of the 4A’s Foundation Board and Unsilenced Board of Director. She serves as an ongoing advisor to UN Women and is an alumna of Barnard College, Columbia University.
Jennifer lives in New York City with her dog Sam.
Albert Thompson
Managing Director, Digital Innovation, Walton Isaacson
While carrying the “ethos” of a Marketing Technologist, Albert always possessed a firm understanding of how technology has continued to transform the discipline of Marketing. as the speed of the consumer continues to accelerate, Albert has emerged as that unapologetic voice on how these new “moments of truth” in consumer consumption require new approaches in engagement models for going to market.
Albert’s ultimate purpose when he hits the stage is to continuously add value by “elevating the space” and those connected to him. Intellectual curiosity has been the key driver for his pursuit of what’s next in the space. This is accompanied by his passion to distribute it.
After years of guest speaking in the classrooms of NYU, Baruch, Georgetown, and University of Maryland, Albert started to impart his knowledge through series of trades: MediaPost, 4A’s, AdAge, The ANA’s, Meltwater Social, Digiday, ThinkLA, PUBMATIC, CYNOPSIS, Adweek, The VAB, Advertising Week NY, TVOT, PROG IO, and Admonsters. From hosting roundtables to panel participation to keynotes, Albert has participated in more than 60 speaking engagements in person or virtually in the past 4 years. But his passion doesn’t stop there, as he frequently speaks to the youth within communities of color through notable Black fraternity and sororities.
Albert has participated in a series of podcasts from The Marketing Stir, Lets Talk Brand, Illuminaries, Digital & Dirt, Bluhorn, VAB, and Talk Back TV. Related to Web3/Metaverse, he’s participate in Ad Age webinars, AIMM-ANA webinar, interviewed by Digiday editors, and recently launched the Rapture podcast. Albert also launched The Transient Identiti podcast back in 2020 with a singular aim of documenting the movements in the discipline of Marketing.
The culmination of this industry visibility didn’t go unnoticed, so in 2022 I was honored by being named one of ADWEEK’s 2022 Media Allstars. Albert also served as the Director, Interactive Services for UniWorld Group and the Director of New Media and Technology at Prime Access, where he launched their respective Digital practices. He’s currently the Managing Director, Digital Innovation at Walton Isaacson.
Timanni Walker
Founder & CEO, Always in Pursuit Inc.
Timanni Walker, a seasoned advertising strategist, has spearheaded highly successful campaigns for renowned brands including Google Shopping, the WNBA, Royal Caribbean, Samsung, Knorr, CVS, BCBS, and more. Her exceptional work has garnered acclaim from prestigious award shows such as Cannes Lions, The One Show, D&AD, Clio Awards, The International Andy Awards, and The Webbys.
With nearly a decade of experience in advertising, Timanni has transitioned her expertise into founding her own venture, Always In Pursuit. As the CEO and visionary behind this innovative women's suiting brand, she is disrupting the industry by infusing color and comfort into traditional designs. Committed to revolutionizing the suiting experience for women worldwide, Timanni is dedicated to providing unparalleled quality and style through Always In Pursuit.
Tarik West
SVP, People, North America, WONGDOODY
Tarik West has well over 20 years of experience managing the strategic human resources needs of some of the world’s most high-functioning organizations. At WongDoody, Tarik is responsible for scaling our new people strategies and structures at our North American studios and provides leadership and support across all strategic human resources. Tarik has worked with such organizations and brands as Swatch Group, Cartier, Variety and Rolling Stone Magazine just to name a few. Tarik has demonstrated a unique ability to create a real-world human resources function that is approachable and transparent.
Kobi Wu
CEO, Cache AI
Kobi Wu is a highly successful serial entrepreneur, having successfully founded and led several companies. Presently, she serves as the CEO and founder of Cache AI, an intelligence platform that specializes in quantifying human potential and valuations in sports.
Prior to this, Wu was the CEO and founder of VisuWall Technologies, a venture backed computer vision company that was focused on outdoor advertising and measuring the human connections to digital out of home.
Wu has been recognized by Goldman Sachs and Black Women Talk Tech for her achievements in tech and entrepreneurship.
Before becoming tech entrepreneur, Wu held positions as a marketing leader for diverse brands across various verticals. She has worked with prestigious brands such as Google, Yahoo!, Converse, Pepsi, JetBlue Airways, Target, Spotify, Adult Swim/The Cartoon Network, Levi's, Smirnoff, and the Combs Enterprise's portfolio of brands, which includes Ciroc, DeLeon Tequila, Sean John, and RevoltTV.
Wu holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley, a Master of Science degree in Construction Management from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and a Master of Business Administration degree from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University.