Jim O’Leary advises CEOs and Fortune 500 executives on how to navigate complex business, geopolitical, and strategic communications challenges.

He has nearly two decades of experience working with organizations to enable enterprise transformation, recover in the wake of a crisis, and drive revenue growth. Jim oversees a global network of corporate reputation, business marketing, and advisory services teams across more than 60 offices.

His recent clients have included Bombardier, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard, Lockheed Martin, Merck, Mitsubishi, PayPal, Tyco, United Technologies, and VMWare, among others. Jim is an expert in corporate reputation management, analytics-driven business to business marketing, and human centric transformation, having helped company leaders across multiple industries integrate mergers, separate conglomerates, and successfully reposition in the market. Recent engagements include:

 - Enabling the integration of two separate publicly traded companies integrate as part of the biggest aerospace deal in history

- Helping a leading university recommit to its values following one of the largest sexual abuse scandals and legal settlements of the #MeToo era

- Advising an industry-leading manufacturer and helping to rebrand and reintroduce a new commercial aircraft to skeptical customers in the wake of repeated manufacturing delays

- Repositioning a Fortune 25 global technology company as part of a multi-year turnaround, restructuring and demerger

In 2018, Jim led the development and launch of Edelman’s Business Transformation line of business. He has also recently launched Edelman’s new Behavioral Science for Business offering in partnership with researchers from Harvard Business School.

Prior to joining Edelman, Jim was a communications leader and spokesman for Honeywell. He was recognized among PR Week’s “40 Under 40” in 2014.

Laura Miller leads the public policy and communications team supporting Uber's rideshare, delivery, and freight platforms, including its social impact work, across Canada.

Prior to joining Uber, Laura directed marketing and communications at Elevate, an organization focused on uniting Canada's innovators to solve society’s greatest challenges, and at a property technology firm based in British Columbia. She started her career in politics and government where she had the honor of supporting two Premiers and a Prime Minister. Laura holds a Bachelor of Arts from Western University.

Molly McKenna leads McDonald's Brand Communications Team, driving dynamic storytelling and holistic communications and public relations strategies for McDonald's global business. This includes brand trust and reputation communications, retail and affinity PR, cultural and community communications, content development to tell McDonald's story across owned channels; and U.S. field public relations, which localizes McDonald's story with strong grassroots programs. McKenna also oversees McDonald’s measurement & insights to measure, monitor, and chart communications impact, which informs how McDonald's positions and prioritizes communications activities. McKenna is often on the front lines, helping to advise and manage critical brand matters and crisis situations.

In prior roles at McDonald’s, McKenna was responsible for developing communications strategies to build and support McDonald’s global system as well as U.S. business and national marketing efforts.  This included driving communications initiatives such as new menu introductions for McDonald’s food and menu news, as well as global brand building campaigns and reputation management.  McKenna also was a founding member of McDonald’s social media team and helped establish McDonald’s influencer engagement practice.

McKenna is the recipient of several prestigious industry and McDonald’s awards including leading the team who brought home the first ever PR-led Cannes Gold and Silver Lion in 2019.

McKenna Jandrain began her career at McDonald’s Corporation 20 years ago in 2001 following a successful internship. She is a graduate of Marquette University where she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Broadcast and Electronic Communication. She resides in the Chicago area with her husband, three children and dog.

A seasoned PR leader who has developed and delivered B2C and B2B campaigns for 95+ mainstream brands throughout a 19+ year marketing and comms career. Working both in-house and agency side in market, regional and global roles, John understands what is needed to deliver results, instigate behaviour change and win awards.

In his role at dentsu, he works with marcomms teams around the world to elevate and showcase some of the best work, partnerships and people within the Media industry. He is also responsible for establishing a hybrid in-house-agency style approach to PR within the business; fostering radical collaboration, dynamic craft adoption and transparent measurement.

An openly gay man from an unusual and uncommon minority ethnic background, John is passionate about DEI and the power of alternative views, fresh perspective and challenging convention when it comes to the creative craft of PR and its output.

For nearly twenty years, Dan Mazei has been driving communications for some of the world’s largest and prestigious brands. Most recently, he served as vice president of communications at Tinder, the biggest dating app on the planet.

Previously, Dan was head of global communications for Activision Blizzard’s esports division – building the narratives and shaping public perception to become the world’s most innovative, scalable, and valuable developer of global competitive entertainment.

Dan also built and led Reebok’s global “newsroom,” where he fused the powers of public relations, digital content, social and paid media to translate business priorities into cultural currency that contemporized the brand – manifesting in everything from hosting a wedding on the floor of the CrossFit Games, to making Shaq and Victoria Beckham a fashion power couple, to directly challenging the President of the United States in social media.

He was previously senior vice president of media at the world’s largest PR agency, Edelman, representing clients including Kellogg, World Surf League, Verizon and Shell. 

He served as storytelling manager at Ford Motor Company, working across business units and geographies to craft stories that positioned Ford as a world-class brand. He helped the Blue Oval march toward its most aggressive product launch calendar in its more than 110 years of business, supporting the global launch of 2015 Mustang and Mustang’s historic 50th anniversary.

He also led media strategy for Nintendo during some of the company’s most fabled years, including the award-winning launches of the record- and paradigm-shattering Wii.

Dan has managed programs with celebrities like Beyoncé, Justin Bieber, Ariana Grande, Victoria Beckham, Gal Gadot, Karl Lagerfeld, Kendrick Lamar, Michael B. Jordan and Mayim Bialik; worked with premiere athletes like J.J. Watt, Jimmy Butler, John Smoltz, Tony Gwynn and Alexander Ovechkin; introduced Nintendo’s brass to Jimmy Fallon; found a way to get Questlove to Tweet a self-portrait made of noodles; and coordinated brand activations at events like the Sundance Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, CES, E3 Expo and North American International Auto Show.

An avid traveler, Nancy Lien is a senior public relations specialist at Expedia Group, where she currently helps drive U.S. PR efforts and impact for one of the company’s major brands in travel: Hotels.com. Nancy’s background includes her time at global communications agency BCW, where she contributed to the PR efforts for U.S. consumer brands and products across multiple sectors including food & beverage, retail and entertainment. Nancy is a dedicated member of Expedia Group’s employee resource group (ERG) for the Asian Community at Expedia Group (ACE) and its allies and the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA). 

Flavia Gomes Guetter is a marketing enthusiast with 10+ years of work experience in creative development, who has driven several iconic brand campaigns around the world. Originally from Brazil, Flavia studied in the U.S. where she earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Miami Business School. After working for Anheuser-Busch InBev Brazil, and Samsung Electronics Latin America, she aimed to snag a job at Burger King Marketing for North America. Three years gone by, she now leads Marketing Branding and Kids Program on the Global side while being an Executive MBA Candidate at Northwestern Kellogg. In 2020 Flavia was awarded Women to Watch by AdAge in United States.

Rory Mackin is a Senior Manager with Deloitte US, where he helps lead the Communications team within Deloitte’s Green Dot Agency. Rory has more than 20 years of experience developing and implementing corporate and financial communications, media relations, thought leadership, executive positioning, and investor relations initiatives.

While the majority of his time prior to Deloitte was spent on the agency side, at Hill+Knowlton and Weber Shandwick, he also served as Director of Global Communications & Marketing at Private Equity firm, Warburg Pincus.

He has experience with industries and sectors that include: Professional Services, Financial Services, Alternative Asset Management, Technology, Energy, and Real Estate.

Rory holds a Master's Degree in Public Relations, Communications, and Advertising from the University of Ulster, Northern Ireland, and a BA Honors degree in Spanish and English from Queen's University Belfast.

Managing Director of the London office, Daisy joined Hunter PR in September 2021, bringing to the team over 20 years of consumer lifestyle and thought leadership experience across the food & drink, hospitality, travel, leisure, retail, home, health & beauty and technology sectors – for a combination of mainstream, premium and luxury brands.  

A specialist in insight-driven, multi-platform campaigns and content strategies that earn media attention, excite influencers, and engage consumers, Daisy has delivered award winning work for some of the world’s most famous names as well as challenger brands and start-ups. She has led UK and global communications across oral-care, haircare and professional cleaning brands for Procter & Gamble; has transformed perceptions for food and drinks within the PepsiCo, Nestle Waters, Mars and Premier Foods stables; has shown why shoppers should vote with their trollies at Waitrose and has driven relevance for heritage brands The Macallan, Drambuie, Le Creuset and Clarence Court with new audiences. 

Within the hospitality space, Daisy has accelerated growth for Gourmet Burger Kitchen, delivered welfare messaging for KFC and is connected to influential industry voices like Kate Nicholls, CEO of UKHospitality and Peter Ducker, Fellow of the Institute of Hospitality. 

Daisy’s keen understanding of tourism and country-marketing saw her rebuild Morocco’s reputation as a diverse, appealing destination post the Arab Spring, shine a light on Finland as the blueprint for a smart and sustainable future, and attract ‘tech-sperts’ to pursue a career in Helsinki. 

An acute grasp of shopper behaviour has seen Daisy lead campaigns across the retail and DIY sectors for Boots, John Lewis, Waitrose, BAA Retail, World Duty Free, Kingdom of Leather and Bosch. Driving positive transformation through a combination of empathy and commercial intelligence, Daisy’s long tenure heading up UK communications for Oral-B and global strategy for head&shoulders and Pantente has been peppered with projects for health and beauty brands including Aussie, Crabtree & Evelyn, MaxFactor, Allergan, Merck and Dentyl pH. 

Ahead of her time at the turn of the century Daisy launched JohnLewis.com and Dolmio Dinnertimes, a digital content series offering busy parents mealtime inspiration. Since then Daisy has inserted S.Pellegrino as an enabler of ‘tasteful moments’ into the sophisticated worlds of global fashion influencers and more recently helped Electrolux brands AEG and Zanussi pivot to digital-first marketing during the pandemic. 

Adept at building values-based strategies for brands that give back, Daisy’s recent campaign for Zanussi: A Helping of Food Education, made a difference to thousands of children’s lives and was awarded the 2020 PR Moment Corporate Purpose award. Likewise, positioning Procter & Gamble Professional as a force for good during the pandemic earned Daisy 2021 Sabre, PRCA and Drum award nominations for her campaign, A Clean Start for Fish & Chip Shops. 

An expert in global communications, as well as local execution, Daisy’s world-wide content campaign for The Macallan earned her four 2020 award nominations; she has delivered multi-market editorial films for Pantene and has led global PR as part of Head&Shoulders’ integrated marketing strategy. 

Some of Daisy’s career highlights include persuading the nation to #SuperStart their mornings, fronted by Darcey Bussell (adding £3.4m onto Quaker’s brand value), grow their own with the Seeds of Change ‘Dig Your Dinner’ campaign (recognised by HRH Prince of Wales) as well as working with some of the most recognised names in food and hospitality from Marco Pierre White, The Roca Brothers, Fred Sirieix, Mark Hix, Ollie Dabbous and Raymond Blanc to influencers like Madeleine Shaw and Alpha Foodie.

When not at work, Daisy loves family walks in the countryside (dragging along her two reluctant sons), indulging her sweet tooth, running off the calories, reading and drinking wine with her book group.  

• More than two decades’ PR agency experience 

• Specialist in food and drink, with broad expertise spanning FMCG, hospitality, travel, health & beauty, retail and tech for some of the world’s most famous brands

• End to end global strategy and local execution that transforms brand perceptions 

• Consumer lifestyle and social movement expert proven to build brand love by tapping into current cultural conversations

• Equally adept at B2B and ‘corp-sumer’ communications

• Managing Director of Hunter PR’s growing UK team

Bettina Garibaldi is the Managing Director of Ketchum Travel, Hospitality & Leisure, part of the global Ketchum marketing communications consultancy. She brings 2 decades of experience leading integrated marketing communications campaigns and is an expert at building and elevating travel, hospitality and leisure brands through corporate communications, media relations, consumer engagement, and strategic partnerships and events. She has a Masters from NYU in corporate communications and has received numerous best-in-class awards for campaigns she’s spearheaded — including Ketchum’s most awarded PR-led campaign for one of her destination clients. She’s originally from Argentina and fluent in Spanish. Bettina is a PRWeek 40 Under 40 2020 recipient and a 2021 HSMAI Top 25 most extraordinary marketing leader recipient. Her motto is: Collect special moments, not things. ​

Lynne’s vast experience in global digital and public relations roles helps APO Group in its continuing mission to build strong connections between multinational companies and African media.

Lynne Krawchuk is a talented and professional PR and digital marketer with 20 years of experience.

Passionate about developing women leaders in Africa and integrated communication, she believes that brands prosper when they engage with people in a relevant and meaningful way.

Lynne has worked across the African continent, and in Europe with most of her early career spent in the UK, in which time she developed strategic brand, media, PR and digital marketing solutions for several award- winning traditional communications agencies. Her portfolio of recent clients include Canon, Liquid Intelligent Technologies, NBA, BMW, Emirates, Rugby Africa, La Liga, Standard Bank, E! Entertainment and Oracle, among others. Her focus alongside her team is on retention, relationships and growth within the territories and market of the African continent.

Lynne has received numerous awards for her work, including the D&AD Wooden Pencil Direct Response Award in 2015 for the Doctors without Borders Tough Decisions Campaign. In 2021 she was recognized at the New Generation Awards for Most Innovative Use of Social Media for Netflix’s Blood and Water, and in the same year, she secured the Assegai Award for the Acer Instapitch and Instaquest.

When not imparting her knowledge and expertise to promote APO Group’s ongoing mission to change the narrative about Africa, she enjoys horse-riding, chess, snooker and reading. She also enjoys volunteering at animal shelters.

As Vice President of PR, Communications & CSR for Getty Images Anne Flanagan is responsible for leading a global communications team, heading up a cohesive and encompassing communications (internal & external) and brand strategy for the international media company.

Anne joined Getty Images in 2014 and prior to being appointed Head of PR in 2017, Anne headed up PR for the company in APAC and LATAM.

Prior to joining Getty Images, Anne held key leadership roles in agencies in Sydney, London and Dubai working exclusively with technology and media clients including Microsoft, Samsung, and HP. In these roles she was accountable for developing and implementing regional communications strategies and tactics in support of business and image goals.

A veteran of the industry, Anne is a communications professional who has championed Getty Images’ reinvention of stock content to better reflect society today. Her work supports the company in providing alternative visuals for media and business, enabling authentic visual representation, and breaking down stereotypes that have persisted for decades.

Her work includes increasing the diversity behind and in front of the lens, specifically for communities who have been historically marginalised. She was part of the team that pioneered a global partnership with Dove to launch Project #ShowUs – the world’s largest photo library created by women and non-binary individuals to shatter beauty stereotypes.

Anne is a graduate of the University of Newcastle and lives in Washington D.C. with her wife.

Laila Mignoni is a brand builder and digital native expert who has delivered award-winning campaigns for some of the most iconic global brands across Retail, Automotive and Luxury. A true internationalist, originally from Morocco, Africa, Laila has lived and worked in Bermuda, Spain, Germany, the U.K, France, and the U.S. She is now based in New York and Bermuda, serving as the Global Head of Brand Communications for BACARDI.

Making her mark in a traditionally male-dominated industry, Laila led the team that catapulted BACARDI to the most creatively awarded brand in the spirits industry, receiving over 200 awards including seven Cannes Lions over the past five years. She spearheaded the creative development and launch of the BACARDI brand platform ‘Do What Moves You,’ including some of the strongest performing campaigns in BACARDI’s modern history.

Laila also leads the digital transformation of BACARDI by putting technology and data at the forefront of the brand connections planning through innovative, industry-leading initiatives.

Fearless and unabashedly herself, Laila is charting a new path for BACARDI through ground-breaking, provocative campaigns that place an emphasis on consumer and first-of-their-kind digital activations.

Sarah Jackson is the Global Head of PR for Acast, based out of their London office. She heads up comms for the world’s largest independent podcasting company in 15 markets, alongside the local market leads. With nearly two decades of experience in consumer and corporate PR — working with some of the world's biggest brands, including McDonalds, Nestle, Disney, Universal Pictures, Samsung, Huawei, IKEA and Heinz — Sarah’s career has taken her from London to Dubai, across the Middle East and back to Europe, leading both multi-market and multi-channel teams at agencies including Cohn & Wolfe, Burson-Marsteller (Now combined as BCW) and Impact Porter Novelli. A passionate publicist who’s been both agency and client side, Sarah’s experience encompasses traditional PR, through to social media, paid media, video production and even the occasional OOH advertising campaign.

Matt Kovacs is one of California's most respected consumer PR strategists, putting his 20+ years of experience in strategic thinking and unique approaches to work for recognized brands and start-ups. BLAZE represents leading brands in food/beverage, hospitality, consumer and lifestyle. In recent years Kovacs and his team at BLAZE have been recognized for their leadership in consumer PR, taking home Hermes Awards, Communicator Award, PRSA PRism and Silver Quill Awards. Kovacs understands the opportunities and challenges each client faces, he leads his team to develop innovative, influential programs to overcome these obstacles and successfully achieve clients' business objectives. He holds a Bachelors of Arts degree in Communications and History from the University of Southern California.

Amy Grimshaw is Director of Communications in EMEA for Bird, a leader in Micromobility and eco-friendly travel. Listed on the NYSE, Bird operates its shared escooter programmes in over 400 cities around the world whilst also designing its own consumer products including the new Bird Bike. 

Prior to joining Bird, Amy was Head of Communications at Founders Factory, Europe’s biggest startup accelerator and venture studio where she supported a vast portfolio of early-stage businesses how to develop their messaging, brand and tell their story in the media. She was also responsible for Founders Factory’s corporate communications and investor relations. 

Before Founders Factory Amy led European PR for MADE.COM the original retail industry disruptor that cut the middle man from the designer furniture buying process. Whilst there, Amy helped to take the brand from small startup, to household name. 

A keen music and Nottingham Forest fan, Amy is a keen runner, cyclist and kickboxer who lives in London with her partner and cat, Stevie Mitts. 

Arsenia joined SumUp in October 2018 to lead the global fintech’s PR and communication operations. Since joining, she has focused on driving brand awareness and recognition at-scale through PR and social media, whilst laying foundations for influencer marketing and event strategy development at the company. Diversity and inclusion is another focus, and Arsenia actively promotes avenues that could increase diversity and inclusivity within the industry and even more so, in her extended teams.

Arsenia has spent the last decade building creative strategies for internal and external communication practice in various fields including adtech, fintech and gaming with companies such as Fyber and Nintendo.

Her work focuses on crafting engaging narratives for emerging technologies that have a positive impact on people’s lives. Arsenia is a passionate leader who empowers teams to grow through agile approaches to creative communications and is a strong advocate for female leadership and diversity in tech.

Arsenia studied across Europe and holds a master’s degree in International Relations and Political Science with a focus on European Migration Policy and a BA in European Studies from Trinity College Dublin, Ireland

Camilla has worked in PR for over 12 years, holding a number of senior global and executional PR roles within the beauty industry, both in house and within an agency.  Over her career, she has executed campaigns for over 40 brands across 20 countries, and has managed over 25 different PR agencies. She is currently Global Brand & Marketing Director at beauty disruptor FaceGym, and active within the industry as a speaker, judge and mentor.

Prior to FaceGym, Camilla has had PR roles including Global Comms Director at Vashi, Global Director of PR & Advocacy at Charlotte Tilbury, Head of PR & Events at Benefit Cosmetics (LVMH) and Associate Director at Halpern PR (part of The&Partnership, part of WPP). 

Haley Hammerling is the PR Director at AKQA, a leading design and innovation company that employs over 6,500 professionals across 20 countries. She is responsible for AKQA's external communications globally and helps lead the company’s strategic approach across external, employee, executive, and reputation communications.

An Account Manager at Jelly Digital Marketing + PR, Danielle possesses a decade of experience in digital marketing and communications for a diverse range of organizations in Canada and the UK. She is passionate about connecting with people, using storytelling to engage audiences and keeping the ‘big picture’ in mind while ensuring all the details come together. Outside of work, you’ll often find Danielle reading amidst a stack of books, watching football and spending time with her husband and family.

Krissy is the European Communications Director for Strava, the leading social platform for athletes and the largest sports community in the world, with over 100 million athletes in 195 countries.

Prior to Strava, Krissy was the General Manager of London-based campaigns and communications agency, Seven Hills. She led the Purpose & Impact Practice specialising in purpose-driven campaign strategy for brands realising the positive potential of business in society.

Dima has almost a decade experience in the PR industry. He has worked with a number of tech giants such as Google, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Microsoft, as well as fast-scaling startups. Besides technology and finance PR experience, Dima has also worked as a campaign strategist across a number of public affairs campaigns for clients including the United Nations and the US Department of State. In 2020 Dima founded Good Advice, a PR agency based in London and New York. In 2021 he was included in the PRWeek magazine's 30 Under 30 list, and was named a "Comms prodigy" by PRWeek in 2022. In addition in 2022 Good Advice was included in PRWeek's "12 new PR agencies to watch". Dima graduated from LCC in 2015 with a BA in Public Relations.

Olivia is a director of communications for Meta’s Reality Labs. In her role she leads a team that looks after proactive, crisis and internal comms for Meta’s work products; Workplace, Portal and Workrooms. Prior to Facebook, Olivia worked at Weber Shandwick and Edelman; at both agencies she lead campaign planning and strategic counsel for large B2B, technology and corporate brands including Microsoft, Hitachi and Capgemini.

Olivia is a highly motivated PR professional with a track record of planning, managing and delivering strategic influencer campaigns, thought-leadership programs, global events and media partnerships. Focused and results-driven, Olivia enjoys media relations, is a specialist in crisis comms and aims to approach each comms challenge differently. Over the past few years, her campaigns have won a European Excellence Award, a US PR Week Award and have been shortlisted a UK PRCA award, a SABRE award and two PRMoment awards.

A keen writer, Olivia has a dual Bachelor degrees in Journalism and Public Relations from the University of Texas – Austin. In 2016, Olivia was chosen by PRWeek UK as one of its 30 Under 30 PR professionals. On a personal level, Olivia enjoys traveling to new countries, attending spin classes and listening to live music. She lives in West London with her husband and cat, Moose.

Megha Bhatia is a communications professional & marketing enthusiast with 11+ years of experience in conceptualizing earned-centric integrated campaigns. Based out of Gurgaon, India, she is currently a part of KFC’s Marketing team, for Public Relations, Crisis & Social Purpose, where she oversees the different layers of the annual brand calendar, including Brand & Retail.

Prior to her current role, she was associated with global communications firm, Edelman, for 8 years. As the youngest AVP in India, she lead teams across consumer brands such as Taco Bell, KFC, Airbnb, Carlsberg, Reebok and The Taj Group of Hotels. As a young achiever, Megha has a track record of delivering high impact award-winning campaigns across Food & Beverage and Travel & Hospitality brands.

When not thinking about brands, PR strategies or tackling crisis, you will find her with a mug of coffee and a book, day dreaming about her next vacation, or binge-watching Netflix.

Ashok Sinha is the Senior Vice President, Head of Corporate Communications & PR at Audacy. Audacy is a scaled, multi-platform audio content and entertainment company with a leadership position in virtually every segment of the dynamic and growing audio business—including broadcasting, podcasting, digital, network, live events, music, sports and news. Audacy is also the #1 creator of original, premium audio content, engaging 200 million consumers each month.

Sinha leads the communications strategy and execution across the company’s entire portfolio of assets. He oversees internal and external communications, including business and industry media relations; public relations for the company’s local radio stations and podcast networks; national event publicity; financial communications; crisis communications and corporate reputation management; and executive visibility.

Prior to joining Audacy, Sinha served as Vice President, Communications Lead, Technology at WarnerMedia. In this role, he headed internal and external communications strategy for WarnerMedia’s technology organization, as well as employee communications across the company’s direct-to-consumer, sales and distribution divisions. Prior to this role, Sinha was part of WarnerMedia’s corporate communications team, where he led executive communications, media relations and events, and supported various partnerships and sponsorships for brands and businesses within WarnerMedia’s portfolio including technology and innovation, diversity and inclusion, corporate social responsibility and corporate marketing. He has held leadership positions in corporate communications at media, marketing and entertainment companies including Publicis Media, NBCUniversal, Viacom, Product(RED) and others.

Sinha is a board member of the 4As Foundation, which endeavors to increase diversity within the advertising, media and marketing industries, and a co-chair of Audacy’s diversity, equity and inclusion council.

Sinha earned a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Maryland, College Park and a Master of Fine Arts degree in Theater from the California Institute of the Arts.

Emily leads Trade and International Communications at Reddit where she is responsible for driving the perception and reputation of Reddit’s rapidly-growing business in the US and abroad. A passionate brand communications specialist with more than 12 years’ experience leading agency and global in-house teams in the U.S., UK and Australia, Emily is experienced in developing and executing sharp PR and communications strategies for global and boutique brands in the tech, luxury, entertainment, food and drink, and health and wellness industries. When she’s not at work, you’ll find Emily enjoying time with her new baby, deep in her favorite Reddit community (r/bravorealhousewives) or FaceTiming her family and friends in Australia.  

David Richard is the CEO and founder of BIGfish PR (http://www.BIGfishPR.com) a public relations agency headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts that represents publicly traded companies, sovereign nations, professional athletes, social impact brands, and white-hot start-ups. In addition to running BIGfish, he is a partner at GreatPoint Ventures, a professor of public relations and digital media at Emerson College, a lecturer at Harvard University, and a social impact investor. He holds a master's degree from Emerson College and a bachelor's degree from Boston University.  David is a marketing leader with deep expertise in corporate storytelling and the introduction of new companies, ideas, and products across a spectrum of sectors including technology, energy, sustainability, consumer products, healthcare, finance, professional sports, agriculture, travel, and tourism.

Sarah joined Six Nations Rugby in 2020 as a key hire to strengthen the executive team and support the implementation of the organisations strategic vision. A fundamental area of the strategy Sarah is responsible for delivering, is the creation of the most unmissable and engaging sporting experiences for fans through the organisations year-round offering of international rugby Championships and Series’. 

Sarah has forged over 15 years’ experience in marketing and communications, within the sports and technology industries, prior to joining Six Nations Rugby. Sarah was VP of Marketing, Expansion at DAZN after her role as Global Director of Communications and PR within the business. Prior to this, Sarah held senior roles within brands such as telecoms business, Three, as Head of PR and Social, and Head of Employer Brand.

Leigh Holmwood is Head of PR for Merlin Entertainments’ Midway UK division, which includes attractions such as SEA LIFE, Madame Tussauds, The lastminute.com London Eye, The Dungeons, LEGOLAND® Discovery Centres, Blackpool Tower and Shrek’s Adventure! London. Prior to joining Merlin, Leigh worked in TV, heading up publicity for shows including The X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent and The Voice UK. Leigh started his career as a journalist, working at titles including The Guardian and The Sun.

Prior to joining FleishmanHillard, Melinda spent several years leading the communications and public affairs office at USA Football where she was successful in executing nationwide marketing campaigns, launching new programs and initiatives for the sport, positioning the organization and the football positively in the media.

Prior to USA Football Melinda spent several years on capitol hill serving as the director of communications in the United States Senate where she led press office operations and state relations.

At FleishmanHillard, Melinda is focused on corporate crisis and reputation management work with business leaders, C-level executives and nonprofit leaders. Melinda’s work in thought leadership and issues management has assisted executives and some of the world's most recognizable brands navigate challenging issues unfolding in the public eye. Melinda advises her clients on how best to communicate and manage relationships with key shareholders and audiences at all levels.

Melinda prepared for her work with a master’s degree in public administration, with an emphasis in international public management, from DePaul University in Chicago. She earned a bachelor’s degree in political science and international studies from the University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point. While reporting into the St. Louis office, Melinda is based in Indianapolis with her husband, three bonus-kids and two dogs. 

A strategic communications specialist, operating at board level, with almost 20 years’ experience, delivering highly-effective public affairs, public relations, internal communications, sustainability / corporate social responsibility, consumer communications and crisis communications programmes both in-house and in-agency.

As Director of Communications for Aer Lingus, the flag carrier airline of Ireland and a subsidiary of International Airlines Group, employing almost 5,000 in Dublin, New York, Cork, Shannon and Belfast, Ruth was responsible for managing all aspects of internal and external communications during the greatest crisis to impact the aviation industry.

Prior to joining the airline Ruth was a member of the senior management team in Ireland’s leading PR / PA agency, leading several teams concurrently and responsible for devising and executing public affairs and communications campaigns for clients in the FMCG, healthcare, pharmaceutical, property, financial services and legal services sectors. 

Having recently tendered her resignation, she is spending time with her young family who had seen little of her since the outset of Covid, 2 1/2 years ago and is working to find equilibrium in the work / life balancing act

Rachel Dickens leads with the belief that no organization can thrive unless its communications team is equal parts inventive, savvy and collaborative. For 10+ years, Rachel has driven the PR strategies behind some of the world’s most iconic beer brands, and before that, some of America’s most prestigious restaurants and bars.

Rachel joined Molson Coors in early 2019, first overseeing brand communications for Coors Light amid the launch of its ‘Made to Chill’ campaign, which catalyzed a business turnaround for the beer giant. Now, as director of PR, Rachel leads Molson Coors’ North American marketing communications team, crafting strategies for brands as storied as Miller High Life and Coors Banquet and as nascent as Topo Chico Hard Seltzer and Simply Spiked Lemonade.

Before Molson Coors, Rachel led PR and marketing for James Beard-awarded One Off Hospitality Group and its star chef, Paul Kahan. Rachel has been recognized as one of Adweek’s rising brand stars (2017) and received the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Ralph O. Nafziger Award for distinguished alumni achievement within 10 years of graduation (2021). Rachel lives in Chicago with her partner, Charlie, and their dog, Abe. 

Judy is the co-founder of Strategic Objectives, Canada’s most award-winning PR Agency. Judy provides senior counsel to many of the world's leading consumer brands and is an industry leader in advancing the conversation about diversity, equity and inclusion in communications and marketing. Within her firm and role in advancing agency culture, she has led the creation of an internal committee called SOAR: Strategic Objectives Alliance for Representation, which is committed to the advancement of DE&I both within the agency and within its client programs.

Judy and Strategic Objectives are internationally renowned for its innovative and creative campaigns that achieve remarkable results and that make a difference. Strategic Objectives is the only Canadian agency to ever receive the United Nations Grand Award for Outstanding Achievement in Public Relations.

Judy is the Chair of the Canadian Council of Public Relations Firms which is an association of Canada’s top public relations and communications agencies which champions the ethics, transparency and vital role public relations play in marketing and communications.

Judy is the recipient of both the Queen’s Diamond and Golden Jubilee Medals for Outstanding Contributions to Canada and the Communications Industry. She has been recognized with CPRS PR Professional of the Year, Lifetime Membership and its Entrepreneurial Leadership Award.

An eternal optimist and community builder, Judy is the volunteer communications strategist for the Professional Women Hockey Players Association (PWHPA) and serves on Centennial College’s Communications Program Advisory Committee, and on several non-profit boards.

Strategic Objectives is a Certified Women-owned Business by WBE Canada (Women-owned Business Enterprise).

Hugo is a Communications Manager at Twitter, based out of their London office. With experience working across the EMEA and APAC regions, his role covers all aspects of the press office with an emphasis on B2B campaigns alongside promoting product developments and safety initiatives in the United Kingdom.

Before joining Twitter in 2022, Hugo was a Senior Press Officer at CNN where he led on editorial communications for the EMEA region as well as priority programming such as the Emmy Award winning series Stanley Tucci: Searching For Italy. During a five-year spell at CNN, Hugo also operated as a publicist for several anchors and correspondents as well as working out of the network’s Asia-Pacific headquarters in Hong Kong.

In 2021, he was named by PRWeek UK as one of its 30 Under 30 PR professionals and, prior to starting at CNN as an Intern in 2016, graduated from King’s College London with an MA in World History and Cultures.

Demar Anderson provides counsel to global marketing and communications agencies on how to break through in a crowded niche market. She specializes in creative and strategic planning, brand storytelling, marketing, and driving business growth. As the senior vice president of marketing and business development at Allison+Partners, Demar is responsible for showcasing the agency's culture, thought leadership, solutions-oriented service offerings and award-winning work. Most importantly, she conveys the value agencies bring to help clients solve their most pressing communications challenges.

As a skilled researcher and strategic planner with nearly two decades of experience, Demar applies her knowledge of consumer/market trends, industry/competitive data and the motivating behaviors of audiences to differentiate in storytelling, earn engagement and drive business results.

Prior to her role at Allison+Partners, she worked at global agencies Ketchum and Edelman, supporting the agencies’ marketing and business development efforts.

Demar is a humanitarian at heart, providing pro-bono and volunteer work for organizations that support human rights issues. Her work with Ketchum, BBDO and Street Grace for ‘Suburban Horror Story’ earned a 2018 Clio Award in the Public Relations: Public Affairs and Public Service category.

She is a current board member for CRAFT IN AMERICA, a Los Angeles based non-profit that produces the Peabody award-winning series on PBS that explores America's creative spirit through the language and traditions of the handmade. Previously, Demar served as a board member for the Public Relations Society of America (Chicago chapter) as the Skyline Awards and Diversity & Inclusion co-chair.

Demar earned a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism with a minor in Public Relations from Georgia State University – a leading urban research university in the heart of downtown Atlanta.

Sandra Azedo is Global PR Director at DAVID, WPP 's agency network, where she oversees all PR activities for its 6 offices: Miami, New York, Madrid, São Paulo, Buenos Aires, and Bogota.

One of the most awarded agencies in the world, DAVID has amassed over 150 Lions, many of which in recognition for its achievements in PR. Sandra has taken an active role in the agency's history, having been with DAVID since its inception 10 years ago. DAVID Madrid has just been named "International Agency of the Year" at the most prestigious ranking of the international market, Adage's A List. Much of this result is tied to the PR work the agency develops for its clients and for its own brand.

In January 2022, alongside a talented team, Sandra Azedo led the PR for the launch of Corona Sunbrew (world's first non-alcoholic beer with vitamin D), which had 4,801,795,660 media impressions.

Based in the United States, Sandra previously worked for a brief period at AlmapBBDO, where she had the opportunity to handle all the PR activities for Cannes Lions' Global Agency of the Decade award. The event made headline news on international websites around the world, making the achievement even more relevant. She also headed up the PR for Doritos Global Rainbow, a campaign which surpassed 28 million Brazilian reais in earned media during one of the most challenging moments of the pandemic. The campaign aired on several pay and free-to-air TV programs in Brazil. Five international media outlets covered the event (June 2020).

Sandra started off as PR at Ogilvy back in 2008, after 10 years as a journalist. In the period between her two terms at Ogilvy Group, she was Communications Director at Omnicom's Africa DDB, then under Nizan Guanaes. She has worked on such international projects as the Clinton Global Initiative 2010.

She returned to Ogilvy Group, now as Director overseeing the PR activities of all agencies within the network, such as DAVID and 9ine. At the latter, she worked as PR for Ronaldo Fenômeno and Anderson 'the Spider' Silva.

During her time at Ogilvy Brasil, she developed a PR work radically different from that of the rest of the market, and still notably innovative today. Under Sandra's leadership, PR professionals work intensely alongside the team of creatives, getting involved in the creation of a new campaign from its inception, instead of taking over only at the end of the process. This early engagement gave Sandra's team the chance to potentially adjust the course of the campaign toward the best earned media results.

This work helped Ogilvy win some of the 130-plus Lions during Sandra's tenure at the agency (2011 to 2020). In a truly distinctive PR effort, she managed to get several Ogilvy campaigns on mainstream free-to-air TV, which is utterly uncommon in Brazil.

With a degree in Journalism from Cásper Líbero, specializing in Economics/Finance (FAAP) and Marketing (ESPM), she began her career as a reporter for the magazines ELLE and NOVA, which earned her the Abril Journalism Award. She held positions with newspapers Folha de S. Paulo and Gazeta Mercantil. From reporter she was promoted to automotive editor and then to communications editor, a position she held for six years.

Hannah leads the marketing and communications department at Jungle Creations, delivering strategic B2B and B2C campaigns for the business, its consumer facing media brands and Jungle’s social first creative agency, The Wild. Working to build the profile of Jungle and its associated businesses Hannah has been instrumental in growing awareness of the company, its people and campaigns via a mix of events, content, brand licensing, awards, press and social. Before joining Jungle Creations to establish the company’s communications department, Hannah worked agency-side in the travel industry representing clients including the likes of Dubai Tourism, The Holkham Estate and Gleneagles.

• Kaitlin Ellis is a passionate, creative and strategic PR, Brand and Content specialist with over 10+ years’ experience working both agency side and in-house with iconic brands, delivering high impact campaigns in the UK and US.

Currently overseeing PR for Pret A Manger in the UK, she leads on all brand storytelling communication touchpoints including: creating creative campaign launches like bringing the iconic Pret Christmas Sandwich to customers in July, launching the brands foray into consumer packaged goods, leading financial results and transformational growth national and international stories, creating the Meatless Meatball Hot Wrap Rap helping to deliver strong commercial results, managing crisis and brand comms all whilst overseeing influencer strategies and content creation helping to expand and grow the brands share of voice. While no two days are the same, she’s been able to successfully drive the communications strategy for the UK’s favourite freshly made food and organic coffee chain whilst working closely with key stakeholders in every market ensuring the brands identity is at the heart of everything it does.

Prior to joining Pret, Kaitlin took on a big challenge for a consumer marketeer – making energy interesting. She took the leap from agency life at McCann, where she oversaw the launch of the Aston Martin x Red Arrows limited edition launch and new business pitches, to an in house role at E.ON to oversee integrated PR and brand experiential campaigns including the award-winning ‘Clean Air’ Lungs campaign and leading on ‘Recharge Retreat’ focusing on solar energy as a sustainable solution.

Across the pond, Kaitlin worked on a variety of different consumer clients across food & drink, technology, travel/ tourism, sports, motoring and beauty at Weber Shandwick, the #1 international PR agency, both at their headquarter office in New York and in Chicago. Key achievements included working on the Pepsi Superbowl ‘Hyped for Halftime’ campaign, leading IHG Holiday Inn Express’ ‘Pancake Selfie Express’ tour two summers in a row with a feature on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, getting client Mexico City named as New York Times #1 Travel Destination and shaping many more brand stories for a variety of different media verticals and consumer interests including driving forward the female focus for Harley Davidson. Before this, she enjoyed working at Premier Comms in London where she worked on movie and entertainment PR for clients like HBO, Universal Pictures and eOne.

Outside of work Kaitlin can be found enjoying red wine (or even a cheeky G&T if it’s sunny) with her husband James, playing with their very active border collie Gunner, attempting to set new PR’s on Peloton, traveling with or visiting friends and family across the world and dreaming of reuniting with her beloved In-N-Out burger (IYKYK)

As Group Manager of Global PR at PitchBook, Abby Rankin manages PitchBook’s global PR efforts which includes facilitating all external communications surrounding PitchBook’s institutional research, product and employer brand. PitchBook is a global research firm which provides data, analysis and insights on the entire venture capital, private equity, M&A and emerging technology landscape. 

Ellie started her career as a Merchandiser at Tesco, before moving to the Tesco Own Brand team where her achievements included; seasonal development for Tesco Finest, delivering a major tactical comms campaign supporting toys at Tesco, and launching Tesco Junior Nappies which received the Marketing Society Brave Award for Most Inspirational Story.

Fueled by her personal passion for health & wellbeing and sustainability, at the end of 2018 Ellie joined healthier chocolate pioneers, Ombar. At Ombar Ellie headed up their marketing function – over a period of 3 years delivering a full redesign of their existing range, bringing to market Ombar Oat M’lk (the first chocolate in the world to climate label) and overhauling the brand’s digital identity including the launch of their Drum Roses Award nominated website.

In May 2022 Ellie joined Beyond Meat as Senior Brand Manager where she is the company’s dedicated UK brand marketing resource. 

Kayla is an Account Director at BECK Media and Marketing, where she joined the entertainment team in 2017 after working with a diverse roster of entertainment and hospitality clients. Her current role includes developing and implementing creative campaigns and curated press strategies that obtain the tailored narrative and goals of her clients. Kayla’s past and current work includes original film and series campaigns for Meta, Amazon Prime Video, Crypt TV, the Oscar Nominated Shorts as well as for unscripted production companies A. Smith and Co. and Magical Elves; executive visibility for Nickelodeon, ShortsTV and Starz; and concert PR for legendary acts and events including Elton John, Taylor Swift, Willie Nelson, Formula 1, SXSW, Texas Medal of Arts Awards, X Games and many more. Kayla, currently based in Austin, earned her Bachelor of Science in Public Relations at the University of Texas at Austin. When not working, Kayla is likely headed to a music festival or planning her next scuba diving adventure.

A seasoned communications industry leader, Belle Lenz has nearly 20 years’ experience leading strategic communications, PR, and culture initiatives for companies in the media, advertising, and technology industries. She is currently VP, Communications for Mediahub Worldwide, a global creative media agency network part of Interpublic Group. Previously, she was US CMO for Dentsu performance marketing agency iProspect, where she was responsible for building the agency’s reputation and fueling growth through strategic communications, partnerships, and marketing activations. She has also held senior communications and marketing roles with Dentsu International, IPG’s Mediabrands, and Havas Media. Having started her career with boutique PR agencies in New York, Belle now calls Los Angeles home.

Brandon Dixon is director, communications at Stagwell, the challenger network built to transform marketing. A journalist-turned-adland-cheerleader, he’s passionate about truth, storytelling, purpose, and the imperative for community engagement in content creation. He has worked on internal and external communications for global marketing services organizations, driving brand development, PR strategy, investor communications, executive thought leadership, and more. Most recently, he was part of the team that launched Stagwell Inc. (NASDAQ: STGW), following the successful combination of MDC Partners and The Stagwell Group. He previously served on Scholastic’s National Advisory Council, offering insights on how to improve representation in children’s literature. Dixon is a graduate of Harvard University, where he studied History & Literature with a focus on Afrofuturism. 

Throughout her 20-year career, Julie Safer has created dynamic and memorable experiences that have impacted some of the biggest moments in pop culture on behalf of film, TV, podcasts, production companies, and video streaming services. As the Head of Communications for Civic Entertainment, a Seacrest Global Company, she has developed publicity campaigns and experiential events that resulted in cover stories and front-page features in the most significant business and lifestyle publications. Safer’s clients at Civic have included the NBCUniversal brand portfolio (Bravo, E!, USA Network, SYFY, UCP and Peacock), Audible, MTVEntertainment Networks, Paramount, MTV Social Impact, Fathom Events, and a wide range of consumer products and services such as Jägermeister, John Legend’s wine brand LVE, Canopy Growth, Revlon, L’Oreal, Kindra, and the New York Road Runners.

Prior to Civic, Safer was a founding member at the boutique agency Cultureshop, led entertainment brands at PMK, and developed consumer entertainment campaigns at global PR firm Edelman. In addition to her 10-year executive board role with CASA-NYC, Safer is also on the executive board of the Village Temple in Greenwich Village. She lives in New York City and spends her spare time in Margate City, NJ with her husband and sons Harrison and Charlie.

As CMO of Bazaarvoice, Zarina Lam Stanford leads with a customer-centric, insights-driven, and outcome-based approach to all aspects she touches - from research, brand, communications, product marketing, to sales, demand generation, partner/alliance and field marketing. A recognized growth catalyst, Zarina is passionate about design thinking, the art and science of being relevant, agile leadership, inclusion, and being purpose driven.  

Before joining Bazaarvoice, Zarina was CMO at tech giants including IBM, SAP, and Rackspace Technology as well as private equity portfolio firm Syniti.  A champion for diversity and inclusion and a global citizen, Zarina has in-depth hands-on experience in Global, North America, Latin America, Europe, Asia Pacific & Japan, and emerging markets. Zarina also serves on the Board of Fortytwo.vc, a global, cross-border fund focused VC firm, and BeyonDiversity Foundation, a non-profit on women empowerment.

Zarina was recently named among the 2021 Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business by the Asian American Business Development Center (AABDC). She was also named Women of the Decade in Technology & Innovation at the Women Economic Forum in 2018, Women Worth Watching by Diversity Journal in 2016, and received the Corporate Achiever Award by the Organization of Chinese Americans (OCA) in 2009.

Zarina is a Marketing Academy CMO Fellow, a Southern Methodist University MBA, and a graduate of the Asian Advanced Leadership Program at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. She also holds a BA in Journalism from the University of North Texas. She is currently authoring a self-leadership book, #DareToGrow.

Born and raised in Hong Kong, the Austin-based Zarina is a nature lover, an ikebana apprentice, a published writer, an aspiring sailor, and a Mini and a Tesla fan. She describes herself as a proud daughter, sister and mother and frequents New York where her two sons now live. 

Gadeer ‘Gigi’ Ghannam is Director of Communications at ColorComm Corporation. ColorComm Corporation is a privately held holding company, which serves the needs of multicultural talent working in communications, marketing, advertising, digital and public relations industries. Gigi consults clients including Accenture, The Estee Lauder Companies, Visa, The Walt Disney Company, LinkedIn, Google, and more on executive visibility, employee recruitment and retention, DEI strategies, and more to help organizations overcome disruption and build an inclusive culture in the ever-evolving, agile workforce and a better world for all.

Under Gigi’s leadership, she has led and oversaw several high-impact campaigns and marquee events for ColorComm where community is at the core of its culture. She spearheaded the inaugural Politics & Inclusion dinner co-hosted by CNN’s Personality Abby Phillip and ColorComm’s Founder & CEO Lauren Wesley Wilson during White House Correspondents’ Weekend. The first of its kind event brought together bi-partisan diverse voices in politics and media across all major news networks and traditional print.

She designed and executed the annual ColorComm Conference, a three-day business retreat in Miami, FL with 500+ women of color in attendance; supported the efforts of The ColorComm28, honoring 28 executive Black women in communications making history now at their companies- many whom are the first to hold their position; and most recently launched an American-Muslim initiative dedicated to supporting and promoting Muslim employees in Communications. Gigi moderated a conversation with American-Muslim peers in the industry on how allies can support their Muslim colleagues in the workplace, and to improve cultural competence.

A storyteller at heart, Gigi continues to find new avenues to highlight authentic stories of multicultural leaders who are driving change, and to inspire others to embark on their own trailblazer journeys.

Gigi holds a Master’s degree in Communication from Trinity Washington University.

Hank Kim is not your typical PR guy. He is the sum total of experiences in journalism, public relations, ad agency account management as well as branded entertainment. As a savvy interlocutor between press and industry, having sat on both sides of the transaction as a journalist at Adweek and Advertising Age and as an agency guy, Hank is skilled at synthesizing technology and creativity with digital ad tech/martech and ad agency client bases.

Prior to launching Middle 8 Media in 2008, Kim was the co-founder and director of MPG Entertainment at MPG USA, a media services unit of Paris-based Havas. Before joining Havas, Hank was the launch editor of Madison + Vine, Ad Age's successful ground-breaking, multiplatform editorial approach covering branded entertainment. He launched the M+V newsletter alongside a successful conference franchise in Los Angeles. His journalism career also includes contributions to such editorial brands as Variety, New York Times, NPR, and CNN.

James exudes a passion and energy for connecting corporate and consumer ‘personas’ through written or spoken words and imagery for brands old and new. Experience has shown time and time again that relationships cultivated ‘one by one’ breed public acceptance and purchase interest, and the best brand advocates guide all conversations towards that subtle but powerful goal. Mark of success? A clear realignment of public/consumer perception within guidelines of internal corporate view and strategy. James is strategic corporate communications and media/consumer relations professional with more than 20 years of extensive experience working with some of the world's most exciting automotive brands as well as editorial work on behalf of Toyota, Ford, Honda, BMW, Hyundai, and others. He stays very current with consumer trends and use of media to satisfy insatiable appetite for content to cultivate opportunities for biggest impact.

Past President of the MPG (Motor Press Guild) and current Board Member. Past International Car of the Year Juror.

Ana-Maria Diceanu is the CEO and founder of Brain 4 Strategy PR Agency. She is a corporate communication specialist and a leading expert in crisis communication with over 20 years’ experience, working closely with business leaders and C-level executives. In her management activity in the past years Ana-Maria contributed to the growth of social media competences of the teams she worked with, especially in the context of social media crisis. Currently she is working with corporate clients to develop holistic PR strategies, especially in critical areas and situations.

Her agency, Brain 4 Strategy, offers tailored PR solutions in areas such as: reputation management, crisis communication, ESG, PR measurement and evaluation.

Ana-Maria is member of CIPR and Founder and President of Global Women in PR Romania. She holds an International Certificate in Measurement and Evaluation from AMEC and a CIPR Diploma.

In 2021 Ana-Maria started a podcast (Brain it forward) with the purpose of sharing with leaders’ inspirational ideas in a time when hopefulness was hard to find. 

Ana Maria is dedicated to the education of youth, sustains media literacy trainings, and works with other media organizations in addressing educational issues in schools and she is also teaching at the Faculty of Journalism and Communication (Bucharest University).

Sherry Hamilton serves as Vice President of Public Relations and Communications for Acxiom, Kinesso, and Matterkind, three IPG companies that serve as the data and technology spine for the holding company. In her role, she manages the three brands’ public image, cultivates relationships between the companies and key audiences, and oversees internal communications to employees. Before moving into this role, Sherry held a variety of marketing roles at Acxiom, including corporate communications, integrated marketing program management, and HR marketing. She also created and directed Acxiom’s industry analyst relations program.

Sherry’s career has also included roles as Marketing Director at American Taekwondo Association and Cranford Johnson Robinson Woods, a regional PR, advertising, and communications firm.

Sherry holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism from the University of Arkansas. She lives in Little Rock, Arkansas, with her husband and is the proud mom and stepmom to three boys.

Based out of London, Dot is Vevo's Head of Communications, responsible for the company's global PR efforts, media relations and messaging, including internal and executive communications. She joined Vevo in 2015 as Communications Manager out of the London office, serving as the international PR lead for a series of key initiatives around Vevo’s original programming and events, raising Vevo's brand awareness throughout the UK and Europe. In 2017, Dot moved to Vevo's San Francisco office to lead communications for the product, sales and research departments, before taking on her current role. Prior to Vevo, Dot was Head of Campaigns and Communications for the industry body, UK Music, representing the collective interests of the UK music industry, such as copyright issues and policy. Notably, she was one of the creators of the Music Week Women in Music Awards, the first awards program to recognize the top women artists and leaders within the UK music industry. Dot has also held PR roles at the London Councils and the Kensingston and Chelsea Councils.

Elizabeth Luke is a seasoned communications professional with a passion for telling stories about the influence that tech and advertising have on culture. She currently leads brand communications at Pinterest, where she manages public relations and communications efforts demonstrating Pinterest’s influence and impact as a platform for advertisers. She also manages Pinterest’s social media presence on Twitter and LinkedIn. With over a decade of experience, she previously worked on the communications teams at Twitter, High10 Media and Nielsen.

Elizabeth was named one of PR Week’s “40 Under 40” in 2018 for her work on diversity and inclusion, and she has been named a top public relations professional in tech by Business Insider. She has spoken at venues like the Apollo Theater in Harlem and at industry events including Advertising Week. She also has interviewed notable figures including Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, actress Gabrielle Union, actress Tessa Thompson, TV host and lawyer Sunny Hostin and others.

She earned a communications degree from the University of Southern California, where she is currently an adjunct professor. She is also on the boards for USC Center for Public Relations and Comfort Cases, a nonprofit dedicated to bringing dignity and hope to foster care youth. She is @ElizLuke on Pinterest and Twitter.

Zarina is Head of PR and Communications at Tide, a global role, which encompasses Tide’s existing markets in the UK and India, with the imminent rollout of other strategic countries. Zarina works across the company, primarily with the C-Suite, Marketing and customer support, Product, Finance and the People & Legal departments, to grow Tide’s visibility and build its reputation.

Zarina was previously at eToro and also at Curve, where she led communications for a record-breaking crowdfunding PR campaign, which attracted £10 million of equity investment. She also led the communications for Curve’s Series C $95 million investment announcement.  

Culturally agile, Zarina has lived and worked in five countries. In a past life, Zarina was a broadcast journalist, with six years at Al Jazeera TV and eight years at the Associated Press TV.

Kelly started out in comedy & theatre production, talent management and TV before trading that all in to join the advertising world where she now focuses on PR, Marketing and New Business. A member of the BD100, her experience has included leading the PR launch of a global National Geographic series, launching a disruptor brand, and producing the award-winning Loved Lived Here campaign for Pride at Proximity London. Nowadays, she’s responsible for ensuring that Creature roars louder than ever before.

Kimberly Bernhardt is the Executive Vice President, Head of Communications at BDG, formally known as Bustle Digital Group. Each month, BDG’s brands, including Bustle, NYLON, The Zoe Report and Gawker, reach over 110 million readers. Bernhardt is responsible for all external corporate and brand communications, as well as steering the internal communications strategy.

Prior to joining BDG, Bernhardt served as executive director of communications and strategic partnerships for Glamour where she oversaw PR, special projects, events and CSR. Under her leadership, Glamour saw record media and social coverage for the brand’s marquee initiatives, such as Women of the Year.    

Bernhardt joined Condé Nast from Edelman, where she served as Unilever’s global lead, overseeing Unilever’s iconic personal care brands including Dove, Dove Men and Vaseline. During her tenure, Unilever's Dove campaign Real Beauty Sketches won the prestigious Cannes PR Lions. Previously, Bernhardt held senior positions at leading PR agencies, including Golin, BNC, and Rubenstein. Bernhardt is a member of Women’s Media Group and is active in their mentorship program.

A graduate of the University of the West of England in the U.K, Bernhardt began her PR career at an entertainment agency in London. She now lives in New York with her husband and their three children.

You can find her on Instagram @kimberlybernhardtnyc 

As senior director of corporate communications, Joshua Dysart leads public relations for Epsilon, a global advertising and marketing technology company positioned at the center of Publicis Groupe. Together, Josh and his team are responsible for elevating the profile of Epsilon’s offerings, including Epsilon PeopleCloud, and Epsilon’s industry-leading identity graph, CORE ID. He has spent his entire 15+ year career working as part of in-house corporate communications teams at agencies, strategically shaping reputation through internal and external messaging and programs.

Outside of work, Josh enjoys spending time with his family, and is an avid runner and traveler. He sits on the board for Camp Quality USA, a not-for-profit network of camps providing year-round support programs for children with cancer and their families at no cost, and holds degrees from DePaul University and the University of Kansas.

As Executive Director, Global Corporate Communications at GroupM, Sam Weston helps to manage the global marketing and communications team at the world’s leading media investment company, representing $60 billion in annual advertising investment and more than 40,000 employees in 80 countries around the world. 

Weston brings a unique combination of experience to his work, spanning B2B and consumer marketing, technology, data science, experience design, market research, and political consulting. Over two decades he has helped companies and leaders fuse effective communication with bold action to achieve strategic advantages and do things that matter. Between 2010 and 2020, he led marketing and communications for the data science and experience design agencies Essence and Huge, establishing each company as a leading brand in its respective vertical and helping to generate over $3 billion in collective revenue. He has also served as Director of Marketing and Special Projects at Rubenstein Communications, where he helped to modernize the services of one of the most renowned reputation management agencies in the public relations industry.

Sam began his career in political consulting and market research, working on communications strategy and campaigns across the U.S., U.K., Australia, and New Zealand for Greenberg Quinlan Rosner and UMR Research. 

A proud New Zealander who is passionate about the intersection of artificial intelligence, policy, and information science, in 2017 he co-founded AI Policy Labs to advance the understanding of public policy implications of emerging technologies. He is a graduate of Victoria University of Wellington and currently lives in the suburbs of Minneapolis. 

Joshua Grandy is Director of Global Communications for Adjust, a leading marketing analytics platform, where he oversees the creation, alignment, localization and implementation of PR and comms strategies across the world. Prior to Adjust, Joshua was an external communications manager at PwC, supporting firmwide diversity and responsible business leadership initiatives, including CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™, the largest CEO-driven business commitment to advance diversity and inclusion within the workplace. Before that, he was director of public relations for a market research, user experience research and consulting firm in New York City focusing on the financial services industry. He built a successful in-house PR department, served as the company's spokesperson, and developed and executed PR and social media strategies for all of the firm’s integrated communications campaigns. He began, and spent the bulk of his PR career at Vanguard, where his proudest achievement was helping craft a business case and serving as PR and branding lead for the launch of the company's first LGBTQ employee resource group, OPEN.

As the Asia Pacific Head of Digital Communications and Social Media, Harikumar (Hari) Rajasekharan leads the content and channel strategy for Deutsche Bank's digital channels in the region. He is a seasoned communications professional with diverse experience in communications and marketing across the financial services & information technology services sectors.

His earlier leadership roles in the bank include leading Internal Communications and Newsroom for Asia Pacific, and prior to that, the communications function for Deutsche Bank’s near and offshore centres in India. Prior to Deutsche Bank, Hari worked with various technology companies, including start-ups building and managing the communications and marketing functions.

Hari has also been actively involved in industry forums working on programmes that aim to develop future communications professionals in Singapore, while supporting start-ups in the sustainability space and social enterprises. 

Colin Brown is an accomplished earned media strategist and client lead, currently serving as a VP, Account Director in MullenLowe PR’s New York office. During his eight years with MLPR, Brown has produced award-winning creative and traditional earned media and influencer work with many beloved brands in the CPG, travel, and financial services spaces, including Tropicana, Naked Juice, Capital One, Monster.com, and JetBlue. With his team at MullenLowe, he leverages his passion for the news cycle and cultural zeitgeist to identify unique, ownable consumer insights and create culturally relevant PR programming that drives each of his clients’ business results. Outside of his day-to-day role, Brown has volunteered with Do The Werq, which aims to increase LGBTQIA+ representation in advertising, as well as enjoys cooking for his friends and family (with an accompanying glass of wine).