Adrianne Pasquarelli Senior Reporter Ad Age

 

A reporter with Ad Age since 2015, Adrianne Pasquarelli covers the marketing strategies of retailers and financial institutions. She joined Ad Age after a dozen years of writing for Crain’s New York Business, where she also focused on the retail industry. Over the course of her career, she has won awards from the Society of American Business Editors and Writers, the National Association of Real Estate Editors and the Jesse H. Neal Awards.

Esi Eggleston Bracey  Chief Operating Officer and Executive VP of Beauty and Personal Care  Unilever North America

 

Esi Eggleston Bracey is a transformational business executive with over 28 years of experience in general management, brand building, and marketing leadership. She has a track record of success in creating, accelerating and turning around business results across branded product categories, sectors and geographies through marketing and operational excellence.

Esi currently leads the $5B Beauty & Personal Care portfolio for Unilever North America which includes responsibility for the Hair, Skin Cleansing, Skin Care and Deodorant businesses with iconic brands like Dove, TRESemmé, Suave, Vaseline, Degree, Axe, and Shea Moisture as well as newer brands like Schmidt’s Naturals and Love Beauty and Planet. She has brought fresh thinking to these businesses and championed high impact purpose driven efforts like Dove’s founding of the CROWN (Creating and Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair) Coalition to help foster beauty inclusivity and to eradicate hair discrimination through support of the CROWN Act legislation. She is leading these brands and her team powerfully through the COVID pandemic, unlocking unprecedented growth (record H1 performance) and market place impact including (but not limited to) noteworthy programs Dove Courage is Beautiful, America wil not be Beautiful, Fathers Taken programs.

Prior to joining Unilever, Esi spent more than 15 years as a leader in the dynamic global cosmetics industry. She held the position of President of Coty’s Global Consumer Beauty Division and Senior Vice President of Procter & Gamble’s Global Cosmetics leading a portfolio of flagship international make-up brands including COVERGIRL, Max Factor, Sally Hansen, Rimmel London, Bourjois, and more.

An energetic and dynamic leader known for creativity and out-of-the-box thinking, she is consistently recognized for her ability to guide organizations through brand-building excellence, agility and operational discipline in light of competitive pressure and a rapidly-evolving marketplace. She is well known for her disruptive work on COVERGIRL partnering with unconventional beauty talent (Queen Latifah, Pink, Ellen, Janelle Monae) before their prime, breakthrough new product innovation, and unexpected pop-culture tie-ins partnerships (sports, movies, female empowerment) that fostered record brand love, equity, and sales growth..

She has been recognized with numerous awards including Ad Color Legend Award, BE Powerful Women in Business, Ebony Power 100, BET Butterfly Award, Cosmetics Executive Women Achievers Awards, Advertising Age Women to Watch, Women Wear Daily Marketer of the Year, and many more.

A native of Chicago, Illinois, Esi graduated from Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire with a Bachelor of Arts in Engineering Sciences. Esi is married with two children (14-year-old daughter, Anura, and 10-year-old son Benoit). She currently lives with her family in New York City.

Jeremy Tucker  Chief Marketing Officer  Planet Fitness

 

Jeremy Tucker has served as Chief Marketing Officer at Planet Fitness since November 2019. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing the Company's national and local marketing, branding, creative development and media, digital and social media, brand partnerships and sponsorships, communications, and corporate social responsibility.

Mr. Tucker has nearly 20 years of experience across large-scale, global industries, most recently serving as Vice President, Marketing Communications & Media for Nissan North America where he served as the U.S. head of marketing. Previously, Mr. Tucker served as Vice President, Strategic Marketing for The Walt Disney Company and he has also held a number of marketing leadership roles at PepsiCo.

Mr. Tucker has an MBA in Marketing from Southern Methodist University and holds dual Bachelor’s degrees in Business and Fine Arts from Louisiana State University..

Doug Sweeny  Chief Marketing Officer  One Medical

 

As Chief Marketing Officer, Doug Sweeny is responsible for marketing strategy, growth, and the brand story at One Medical. Doug brings deep experience across a variety of business categories and led marketing for iconic brands like Nest, Levi’s and Adidas.

In 2018, he was selected by Forbes as a top 50 CMO. As CMO of Google’s Nest, Doug oversaw every aspect of the brand's consumer experience from an early start-up to becoming a household name. At Levi’s, he was VP of Global Marketing across 110 countries.

Doug is also a senior advisor to Google Ventures and a variety of startups, a frequent guest lecturer at Stanford School of Business, and a Syracuse University iSchool board member. Doug holds a bachelor’s degree in consumer studies from Syracuse University.

Kern Schireson   Chairman and CEO  Known
Sponsor speaker

 

Kern Schireson is the Chairman and CEO of Known, a modern marketing company that delivers world class science, strategy, and creative in a single integrated offering that helps clients achieve their goals. Known was formed after Schireson Associates—founded by Kern—acquired Blackbird Global and Stun Creative in 2019.

From 2015-2019, in addition to his ongoing executive leadership of Schireson Associates, Kern served as Viacom’s Chief Data Officer and Corporate Executive Vice President. As a member of the Executive Leadership Team reporting to the CEO, Kern led the development and global implementation of market-leading data, advertising, and platform capabilities across the company’s television, theatrical, events, consumer products, and digital business units.

During his time at Viacom, Kern also led the transformation of its corporate and brand research function, built an Audience Science and Data Strategy team, developed the Advanced Advertising group, and led the Corporate Business Development function where he was responsible for transforming the business model in traditional partnerships with Comcast, Charter, and Altice, as well as new distribution platforms including Snapchat, Facebook, Roku, and Hulu.

Prior to—and during—his time at Viacom, Kern served as the Chairman of Schireson Associates, a Marketing Strategy and Data Science consultancy. Kern built Schireson from a sole proprietorship in 2003 to a private equity-backed business valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars in 2019 by serving clients including Google, Amazon, Facebook, Microsoft, General Motors, Accenture, and ViacomCBS among others.

Prior to Schireson Associates, Kern held a variety of entrepreneurial leadership roles in venture-backed tech companies. He has been hailed as a Media Maven, Industry Innovator, and was twice named to Adweek’s “50 Most Indispensable Executives in Advertising.” Kern is a GP and member of the investment committee of Lunch Partners, an early stage private investment vehicle for some of the world’s most powerful CMO’s. Kern is on the board of Charity Navigator and Nomadica Wine.

Claire Knebl   VP of Brand   Ritual

 

Claire Knebl is the vice president of brand at Ritual, where she is building a brand that aims to turn healthy habits into a Ritual. She is passionate about the things that inspire a change in our everyday lives. Previously, she applied that focus plus a love of storytelling at Glossier through content, campaigns, and brand development. Her career started in editorial at Teen Vogue and Into The Gloss.

Dara Treseder  Senior VP Head of Global Marketing and Communications   Peloton

 

Dara Treseder is a business leader with expertise in building and leading high performing global marketing, communications, and commercial organizations. Dara was recently appointed SVP, Head of Global Marketing & Communications at Peloton—the world's largest interactive fitness platform. At Peloton, Dara will set the strategy and goals for Peloton's marketing efforts to build the Peloton brand and drive the company's growth and international expansion. She will also oversee brand marketing, consumer insights, communications, and creative. 

A veteran chief marketing officer (CMO), Dara was previously the CMO of Carbon and the CMO of GE Business Innovations & GE Ventures. Earlier in her career, she led marketing and growth efforts at Apple and Goldman Sachs.

Dara has received several awards and industry recognition for her work. She was recognized by Silicon Valley Business Journal as one of Silicon Valley’s top 40 leaders under 40, by AdWeek as one of the Women Trailblazers, by Business Insider as one of the Top 25 Most Innovative CMOs in the World, by Forbes as a “CMO Next”—one of the 50 Marketing Chiefs Redefining the Role and Shaping the Future, by AdAge as one of the “Women to Watch,” and by Inc. Magazine as one of the "30 Inspirational Women to Watch in Tech.”

A champion of public health, women's issues, and diversity initiatives, Dara is the Vice Chair of the board of the Public Health Institute (PHI). Dara also serves on the board of PG&E. Dara graduated cum laude from Harvard University with highest honors in field and holds an MBA from Stanford University.

Nikki Neuburger   Chief Brand Officer  Lululemon

 

Nikki Neuburger is the Chief Brand Officer at lululemon athletica inc., an athletic apparel company. Ms. Neuburger joined lululemon in 2020 to drive the company’s global brand and storytelling initiatives and lead its marketing, creative, communications, sustainability, and store design functions.

Prior to lululemon, Ms. Neuburger served as Global Head of Marketing for Uber Eats, where she led the introduction and expansion of the brand across five regions in 36 countries. Previously, she built her career over a 14–year period at Nike, where she ultimately served as Global Vice President of Nike Running.

Ms. Neuburger holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Oregon State University. A lifelong athlete, Ms. Neuburger served as team captain of her college NCAA Division I volleyball team and has completed nine marathons. She enjoys running trails with friends and spending time with family and her two dogs.

Josh Golden  President and Publisher  Ad Age

 

Josh Golden was named Publisher of Ad Age in June 2016. His appointment marks the first time in the 91-year old publication’s history that the leader’s role was selected from outside the industry to drive the brand’s vision and growth.

Golden is responsible for the evolution of Ad Age, the most iconic media brand in the marketing landscape. Widely heralded as the best in the field, Ad Age drives the trends, insights and perspectives that fuel the success of the world’s top marketers. He oversees the entire portfolio of Ad Age’s signature offerings, including Creativity, Data Center and Ad Age Events.

Prior to joining Ad Age, Golden served as VP-Global Digital Marketing at Xerox where he led a global team with responsibilities including the website, social platforms, eCommerce, content publishing and film production. Before Xerox, his 15-year agency-side career highlights include serving in key leadership positions in large agencies such as Chief Digital Officer at Grey NY, Managing Director-Digital at Euro RSCG and Interactive Strategist at Y&R NY. In these roles, Golden was responsible for being the key digital evangelist to inspire critical formative change that enabled each agency to capitalize on crucial growth opportunities and ever-changing best practices. He also served as the Group Director-Digital Marketing at NBC Universal where he led the marketing transition of the entire NBCU network and cable digital experiences from being promotionally focused to substantial revenue generating properties.

Golden’s early history is in the film and television space where he worked for the prosecution on the largest trials of the last century including both O.J. Simpson and Menendez brothers. There, he was solely responsible for concept development and production of hundreds of video and photo assets that were used in the courtroom.

He now lives in Westchester with his wife and two children.

Mansi Patel  Head of Product  Capsule

 

Mansi is the Head of Product at Capsule. Mansi has been with Capsule since 2016 and has been instrumental in building a brand and experience that is beloved by so many. Prior to Capsule, Mansi spent her career in a range of industries including financial services, insurance, industrials, and food tech.

Sam Rogoway  Chief Product and Content Officer  Headspace

 

Sam Rogoway has spent the past 15 years at the intersection of content and technology. He is currently the Chief Product and Content Officer at Headspace, a global leader in mindful living, where he is responsible for Headspace products and content on all platforms and devices. This includes leading the overarching product and content strategy, scaling Headspace’s direct-to-consumer and enterprise offerings, as well as overseeing Headspace Studios, a multi-platform, original content studio.

Prior to joining Headspace, Sam founded and served as the CEO of multiple technology companies, including TripUp, the first travel social network (acquired by SideStep/KAYAK) and Victorious, a fan-engagement platform acquired by Headspace in 2019. At Victorious, Sam oversaw a platform that published over 100 chart-topping apps to millions of fans on behalf of the world’s top creators.

Sam is an accomplished producer, having executive-produced shows for Bravo, Net ix, and the BBC, as well as podcasts and digital content, including Emmy- nominated Braindex. Prior to his entrepreneurial endeavors, Sam was an entertainment lawyer at Hansen Jacobson, representing award-winning creators. He received his JD at Berkeley Law.

Sam currently serves on the board of directors of Young Storytellers, a nonprofit organization that sparks creative self-discovery through storytelling.

Joe Root Co-Founder and CEO  Permutive
Sponsor speaker

 

Joe is co-founder and CEO of Permutive, which is powering the future of targeted advertising on the Open Web. Y Combinator and EQT backed, Permutive gives advertisers access to all addressable consumers from premium publishers in a privacy-safe way. Following a BEng Computing at Imperial College and MSc Computer Sciences at Oxford, Joe chose to drop out of a PhD in Mathematical Genomics at Cambridge to start Permutive.

Chris Paquette  Founder and CEO  DeepIntent

 

Chris Paquette serves as the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of DeepIntent. Paquette draws upon his multifaceted technical, scientific, and entrepreneurial expertise to provide healthcare marketers with cutting-edge marketing technology solutions.

After graduating from Binghamton University with a degree in Bioengineering, Paquette launched a career that has placed him at the confluence of advertising, healthcare, and technology. Prior to DeepIntent, Paquette was a Data Scientist at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, where he developed systems that leveraged machine learning and artificial intelligence to improve patient experiences and outcomes. Over the past 3 years, he has led DeepIntent to achieve 3x annual revenue growth and quadruple in size across its New York, California, and India offices.

Paquette is also a part of the Forbes Technology Council, an invitation-only community for world-class CEOs, CIOs, CTOs, and technology executives.

Andrea Palmer  President  Publicis Health Media

 

Andrea has been a media industry trailblazer for nearly 20 years, pioneering innovative strategies that have since become standard practice in healthcare marketing. She manages cross-functional agency strategy and activation teams, and significant holding company level integrations–delivering best-in-class integrated media and content solutions for some of the largest healthcare brands.

Her expertise spans pharma, OTC, medical device and technology healthcare service brands, as well as enterprise-level businesses. In 2019, she conceived and launched HealthFront, which brings together industry leaders in technology, media and content in a unique showcase of new opportunities across the health and wellness space.

Patricia Corsi   Global Chief Marketing and Digital Officer   Bayer Consumer Health

 

Patricia Corsi is a Marketing, Brand and consumer aficionado, she is since January 2019 the Global Chief Marketing and Digital officer at Bayer Consumer Health. After spending over two decades working and transforming brands and ways of working in blue chips FMCG for multimillion-dollar brands she decoded what truly drives consumer attention and love, recruitment and sustainable growth—and it’s not the new shinny object but being genuine, mastering solid fundamentals and focusing on consumers and customers.

It matters how deeply you connect with the heart-beating people you’re trying to help and communicate your message, and how authentic your message and your purpose come through every touch points. Ultimately her goal is to deliver shareholder value and have a positive impact in the world—not one or the other.

Patricia has built her career in different geographies and categories, having lived in the Brazil, UK, Holland, Mexico and now Switzerland.

Her personal values—Curiosity, Courage, Fairness & Openness and serving others—are embedded in her working and personal life choices.

In these over 20 years of experience working in companies like Sony, Kraft/Mondelez, Unilever and Heineken, Patricia has experienced working in different categories, geographies, industries, facing challenges from turn around to building new business. She has also seen the good and the dark side of being a Latin woman in business, and uses these experiences to guide the way she leads and guide her teams.

She has received many accolades during her careers, to mention a few: Women to watch, Effie Advertiser of the year (twice), Cannes awards, multiple Effie awards (both in Latin America as well as in Europe). She is a passionate supporter of women, be it as a jury of the “Future is Female” awards, sponsoring financially entrepreneur women in areas of risk, through micro-finance or supporting child and women empowerment on her role as NED of Womerang. In December 2020, Patricia was awarded the EMEA WeQual Award.

Heidi Arthur  Chief Campaign Development Officer  The Ad Council

 

Heidi Arthur is Chief Campaign Development Officer of the Ad Council, the national nonprofit that mobilizes the energy and talents of the communications industry to make a measurable impact on the most critical social issues of today.

In her role, Heidi brings together leading creative agencies, corporate partners, media and technology platforms and nonprofit and government clients to drive public education, awareness and action. She has over 25 years’ experience in enacting change around pressing social issues including diversity and inclusion (with Love Has No Labels), hunger prevention, breast cancer awareness and bullying prevention. Most recently, Heidi is leading campaign development and industry partnerships for the Ad Council’s unprecedented efforts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, convening creative agencies, marketers and media partners behind critical messaging focused on social distancing, face coverings, mental health, bias and discrimination and vaccine education.

Heidi joined the Ad Council in 2000 after spending 10 years in the ad industry at Grey and Wells, Rich, Greene. She is a graduate of Union College and has a Certificate in Corporate Social Responsibility from Harvard Business School. Heidi is a member of the Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing (AIMM) and she is on the steering committee for The National Action Alliance for Suicide Prevention (Action Alliance).

Gareth Nettleton   VP of Marketing  Strava

 

Gareth Nettleton is the Vice President of Marketing at Strava, the leading social platform for athletes and the largest sports community in the world, with over 74 million athletes in 195 countries. At Strava, Nettleton is responsible for all brand, communications and local marketing initiatives across worldwide. Nettleton is also a member of the management team at Strava steering future direction, focus and product evolution.

Nettleton studied Journalism at Cardiff University then served as Account Lead at AKQA for Nike Western Europe, Nike Women Global and Nike Sportswear Global accounts where he was specifically responsible for thought leadership, brand planning and digital strategy across Nike's business working closely with the brand team at Nike and also Nike's advertising and media agencies. He joined Strava in 2013 as Director of International Marketing and began his current role in 2015.

Lella Rafferty VP of Brand  Noom

 

Lella’s passion for deeply understanding consumer behavior led her to pivot from working as a chemical engineer in the oil industry to a career in marketing. After getting her MBA at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, Lella joined the Gatorade brand at PepsiCo where she developed her portfolio in marketing, communications, and long-term innovation for seven years. Rafferty went on to a brand creative role at Samsung, followed by two years at live-sports streaming start up service, DAZN, where she helped accelerate awareness and subscription growth within a highly competitive sports media landscape.

As VP of Brand at Noom, Lella leads the development of content, creative and brand strategies aimed at helping Noom usher in the next chapter of brand building and growth.

Ann-Christine Diaz  Creativity Editor  Ad Age

 

Ann-Christine Diaz is the Creativity Editor at Ad Age and oversees sibling site Creativity. She has been covering the creative world of advertising and marketing for more than a decade. Outside of the job, she can be found getting in touch with her own creativity.

Jessica Wohl  Reporter   Ad Age

 

Jessica is Ad Age's food reporter, working out of the publication's Chicago bureau. She focuses on the packaged food and restaurant industries. Jessica joined Ad Age after writing about food for the Chicago Tribune's business section. She began her journalism career at Reuters, where she covered the world's largest retail chains and consumer products companies.

Kevin Brown  Director of Data Management  Ad Age

 

Kevin Brown is Ad Age's director of data management and runs Ad Age's Datacenter with colleague Brad Johnson. Datacenter products include Leading National Advertisers, World's Largest Advertisers, Agency Report and the Ad Age Fact Packs.

Jack Neff  Editor at Large  Ad Age

 

Jack Neff, editor at large, covers household and personal-care marketers, Walmart and market research. He's based near Cincinnati and has previously written for the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Bloomberg, and trade publications covering the food, woodworking and graphic design industries and worked in corporate communications for the E.W. Scripps Co.

Heidi Waldusky  Associate Publisher and General Manager of Marketing and Brand  Ad Age

 

Heidi Waldusky is the associate publisher and general manager of marketing and brand at Ad Age. She led the Ad Age rebrand team in 2017, relaunching the storied publication as a modern-day media brand with a vibrant new look and even bolder vision.

A former executive creative director, Heidi contributed to award-winning work on Hewlett-Packard, Claritin, VESIcare and The Atlantic Monthly—a Cannes Titanium Award Finalist. Her last agency-side tenures include Story Worldwide and Havas Worldwide, where she helped spearhead the addition of clients such as Beefeater, Hershey’s, Keurig Green Mountain and Liberty Mutual Insurance.

A 2005 transplant from Texas, Heidi studied Sociology in college, which may explain her love for deciphering consumer motivations and their decision-making journey. She spends her free time organizing her apps and is on a never-ending quest for good Tex-Mex.

Erin Petersen  Editor-in-Chief  Healthline.com
Sponsor speaker

 

Erin Petersen is editor-in-chief of Healthline.com, America's #1 health information site and the flagship brand of Healthline Media, the world’s largest online health property. She's based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

After completing her journalism degree at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, she cut her teeth in local print and digital publications covering art, culture, and politics in the Greater Milwaukee Area before making the leap to digital health media. She’s spent the last decade working in consumer health.

Erin is a passionate advocate for women’s issues, working as a volunteer for various organizations that aim to develop and advance women and girls, and serving as the former chair of the Women of Healthline Committee.

Laurie Dewan  VP of Consumer Insights  Healthline Media
Sponsor speaker

 

Laurie Dewan joined Healthline Media in 2019 to lead a new Customer Insights function at the company. She has built a team that leads research and data initiatives that empower Healthline Media to create insight-driven content and tools to help people live stronger, healthier lives.

She has a successful track record leading data-driven content and insights strategies across major media companies including 20th Century Fox, BabyCenter, Netflix and Warner Bros. Most recently, she led consumer insights at Electronic Arts (EA), where she oversaw research initiatives across all titles in EA’s portfolio and worked cross-functionally to drive new concept generation.

She is a four-time juror on the I-COM Data Creativity Awards and holds a Master of Business Administration degree from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from Amherst College.

Sam McFadden  Head of U.S. Enterprise Marketing  Talkwalker
Sponsor speaker

 

Sam McFadden heads up US Enterprise Marketing at Talkwalker, the leading social listening and analytics company. She is responsible for marketing strategy, brand positioning, and community engagement across the American market with a focus on driving major account client acquisition.

Sam is a seasoned digital strategist with a passion for storytelling. She received her degree from Clark University in Communications & Culture and began her career in publishing, preaching the gospel of "digital first" among traditional print marketers to drive website development and ad sales. Sam's pivot to tech began at WW (formerly Weight Watchers) where she led visitor site development and member app adoption strategy, and managed partnerships with the likes of Oprah, Planet Fitness, and Apple to boost WW's community engagement and brand visibility. 

Prior to joining Talkwalker, Sam managed enterprise content & digital strategy at Contently for industry leaders including CVS Health, AmerisourceBergen, and Cardinal Health, as well as consumer brands like Avocados from Mexico, Nordstrom, and American Kennel Club. She brings lessons from those campaigns to her current role, using content and community building to develop relationships and prove value for Talkwalker's best-in-class social listening & monitoring capabilities with key stakeholders at enterprise organizations nationwide.

Natalia Oberti Noguera  Founder and CEO Pipeline Angels

 

Dubbed “The Coach” by Marie Claire, Natalia (aka Ms. Oberti Noguera) is Founder and CEO of Pipeline Angels, a network of women investors that’s changing the face of angel investing and creating capital for women and non-binary femme social entrepreneurs. Natalia is also Creator & Host of Pitch Makeover, a podcast on startups, pitching, investing, and #morevoices (women, non-binary people, and men of color). She holds a BA in Comparative Literature & Economics from Yale, as well as an MA in Organizational Psychology from Teachers College, Columbia University.

Natalia serves on the boards of Walker’s Legacy, Women 2.0, and iRelaunch. Inc. Magazine selected Natalia as one of “The Most Impressive Women Entrepreneurs of 2016,” Latina.com included her in their list of “25 Latinas Who Shine in Tech,” and Women’s eNews recognized her as one of 21 Leaders for the 21st Century for 2012. StartOut, a network of LGBTQ entrepreneurs, honored Natalia with the 2017 Nixon Peabody Trailblazer Award, “recognizing an entrepreneur whose pioneering approach or vision has set a trend for an entire industry.”

Meiling Tan Head of Marketing  Waymo

 

Meiling Tan is Head of Marketing at Waymo, the Alphabet-backed company formerly known as the Google self-driving car project. Having spent half a decade bringing the technology to market, Meiling has seen Waymo through numerous milestones: from the debut of Google's first fully self-driving vehicle, to the establishment of Waymo as a standalone company and brand, and now the work to bring the company’s self-driving cars to the public.

In her role, Meiling crafts the language, visuals and experiences that guide public understanding and adoption of fully self-driving technology. Meiling’s prior experience spans a range of technological products and services across X (the moonshot factory formerly known as Google[X]), Liftware (now a part of Verily), YouTube and Google. Her greatest expertise lies in bringing marketing strategy and creativity to emerging new technologies that often defy categorical definition.

Alexis Ohanian  Co-Founder  Reddit and Initialized Capital

 

Alexis was born in Brooklyn and grew up in the suburbs of Baltimore. He's written a national bestselling book, “Without Their Permission,” has long advocated for the open internet and STEM education, and alongside Garry Tan co-founded Initialized Capital—a seed stage venture fund with over $230 million under management and a portfolio with $20 billion in market value so far). Alexis also co-founded Reddit.

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Gary Vaynerchuk  Chairman  VaynerX

 

Gary Vaynerchuk is the chairman of VaynerX, a modern-day media and communications holding company, and the active CEO of VaynerMedia, a full-service advertising agency servicing Fortune 100 clients across the company’s 4 locations.

In the late 90s, after identifying “the internet” as a land-grab opportunity, Gary transitioned his father’s local liquor store into one of the first wine e-commerce platforms resulting in growing the family business from $3-60MM in sales during a 5-year period.

During his time in the family business, Vaynerchuk also started one of the first long-form episodic video shows on YouTube in 2006 called WineLibraryTV, filming 1,000 episodes over a 5-year window. Gary’s wine knowledge, charisma, and uncanny ability to engage with his community landed him appearances on national television with Ellen Degeneres and Conan O’Brien, as well as establishing him as one of the most followed people on social media during its nascent years.

Not only did Gary leverage content creation and the rise of social media for his personal brand, but it was the seed which would become the pillar to his now 9-year old advertising agency VaynerMedia, servicing brands with an ever-expanding variety of offerings.

Outside of being the Chairman and CEO of his own companies, Gary is a highly sought after public speaker, a 5-time New York Times bestselling author, as well as a prolific angel investor with early investments in companies such as Facebook,Twitter, Tumblr, Venmo, and Uber.

Gary is currently the subject of DailyVee, an online documentary series highlighting what it’s like to be a CEO and public figure in today’s digital world, as well the host of The GaryVee Audio Experience, a top 50 global podcast, and host of #AskGaryVee, a business and advice Q&A show which can be found on both YouTube and Facebook.

Gary also appeared as judge in Apple’s first original series “Planet of the Apps” alongside Gwyneth Paltrow, Jessica Alba and Will.i.am on Apple Music.

In addition to VaynerMedia, VaynerX also houses The Gallery, a new publishing company started after acquiring leading women’s lifestyle property PureWow in January 2017. In addition to running VaynerMedia, Gary also serves as a partner in the athlete representation agency VaynerSports and restaurant reservations app Resy.

Gary is a board/advisory member of Ad Council and Pencils of Promise, and is a longtime Well Member of Charity:Water.