Speakers
John Hayes
Chief Marketing Officer, American Express
As Chief Marketing Officer of American Express Company, John D. Hayes is responsible for the company's customer focus and global marketing efforts.
Mr. Hayes joined American Express in May 1995 where he has been responsible for brand marketing for American Express worldwide. In this role, he contributed to the launch of over 200 new products in 8 years and was a true thought leader in the success of OPEN, American Express Small Business Network, and Blue from American Express. He led his organization in the utilization of new media and distribution channels, which offered the consumer the first ever “tri-mal cast” and “webisode”. He is the “Customer Champion” for the company and continues to oversee all market research functions. Mr. Hayes also oversees our American Express Publishing Group and the recruitment of Influencers for the company that are both part of the company’s marketing plans and the development of marketing strategies. In addition, Mr. Hayes inspires and educates employees worldwide about the importance of the American Express brand and promise.
Prior to joining American Express, Mr. Hayes spent over 20 years in the brand and advertising industry. He was President of Lowe & Partners and led the company to unprecedented growth through his work with clients, such as Coca Cola. His focus for Coca Cola Company, on the Diet Coke brand resulted to the reversal of its market share decline, and the achievement of double-digit growth for the 35 year-old Sprite brand. He also has held senior positions at Ammirati & Puris and Saatchi & Saatchi Compton. In addition, he has led the development of product position and global campaigns for Citibank, Aetna, Proctor and Gamble, Prudential Insurance, RJR Nabisco, Mercedes-Benz and Reebok.
Lew Frankfort
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Coach, Inc
Lew Frankfort, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Coach, Inc., has successfully built Coach into the premier American accessories brand with annual sales of about $1.7 billion. It was because of Mr. Frankfort's vision and leadership that Coach emerged from being a cottage-industry manufacturer of leather goods, into a leading designer and marketer of fine accessories and gifts worldwide.
Mr. Frankfort began his career with Coach in 1979 as Vice President of New Business Development, and was instrumental in developing Coach's multi-channel distribution model, including starting its first US retail stores, international distribution, and, more recently, its internet activities. In 1985, when Coach was acquired by Sara Lee Corporation, he was appointed President of Coach and, in 1995, Mr. Frankfort was named Chairman and CEO.
Prior to his corporate career, Mr. Frankfort held various positions in the public sector, spending ten years in New York City government. For three of those years, he served as Commissioner of the Agency for Child Development and helped restore New York 's Head Start and day care programs during the fiscal crisis of the mid-1970s.
Mr. Frankfort holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hunter College and an MBA from Columbia University . Mr. Frankfort also serves on the Board of Directors of Teach for America , a public-private partnership aimed at eliminating educational inequity in America , and is a member of the Board of Overseers at Columbia Business School .
Jim Figura
Vice President, Consumer Research and Insights, North American Division; Colgate-Palmolive
Jim joined Colgate in 1984 as Director of Corporate Market Research. He was promoted to Vice President in 1989.
Jim's early responsibilities were to develop a global insight capability for Colgate, set up global category insight leaders, and develop a set of leading edge practices for research methods.
In 1991, Jim joined Colgate US to reestablish its insight program and make it a respected leader in the function both within and outside Colgate. Consumer Insight and Research today encompass brand research, new product development, category innovation, trends and futures, shopper insights, trade research, on-line applications and information management.
Prior to Colgate, Jim held positions in market research at Richardson Vicks and General Foods. Jim holds a BS degree in Business Administration and a master's degree in Industrial Management from The Graduate School of Industrial Administration at Carnegie Mellon University .
John Forsyth
Partner, Director of Worldwide Consumer Insights Practice; McKinsey and Company
John Forsyth is a Partner of
McKinsey & Company, a
leader of the North American
Marketing & Sales Practice,
and director of the worldwide
Customer Insights Practice,
which last year provided
marketing support in over
400 client engagements in North America,
Europe, Latin America and Asia. Based in
McKinsey’s Stamford office, John advises
clients in the pharmaceutical, retail, and
consumer products industries on such
areas as strategy and marketing spending
effectiveness.
John has been quoted in a wide range
of marketing-related publications, including
Business 2.0, Internet Retailer, Strategies,
Research World, and Australian Financial
Review. He has addressed many
marketing-related conferences,
including most recently, the
American Marketing Association
conference and the three
ESOMAR ELEAS conferences
held to date.
Prior to joining McKinsey,
John was Director of Consumer Research
at Carnation Company. He was also an
Account Supervisor at Management
Decision Systems (now part of Information
Resources, Inc.), a marketing information
company.
John is a member of the MSI Board of
Trustees. He holds an A.B. in mathematical
economics from Brown University and
an M.S. from the Sloan School of
Management at M.I.T.
Carl Fremont
Executive Vice President, Global Director, Digital Marketing and Media Services; Digitas
Carl Fremont has over 24 years experience in advertising and marketing. During his career, Carl has worked on a myriad of consumer and business-to-business brands. As a media specialist, Carl has played a leading role in the industry. A frequent guest speaker, Carl is often quoted in the trade press on his views on the future of digital marketing and media.
At Digitas, Carl leads the Global Media and Digital Marketing practices. The Digitas media capability develops channel and media strategies that reach and generate high value customers for their clients including American Express, Cingular, FedEx, General Motors, InterContinental Hotels, Pfizer and the New York Times. Digitas is one of the leaders in digital media encompassing the full spectrum of online media including SEM, online advertising, email and emerging media. As the leader of the Digital Marketing practice, Carl is responsible for developing the corporate strategy for the growth and integration of digital marketing at Digitas.
Prior to joining Digitas in May 2000, Carl was a Senior Vice President, Director of Media Services at Wunderman. During his 16 year tenure at Wunderman, Carl managed all direct response media activities for the company including Ford, Citibank, Xerox, American Express and AT&T.
Carl was an Instructor at New York University’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies: Marketing and Management Institute, Center for Direct Marketing. He has also guest lectured on direct and interactive marketing at Columbia University, Boston College, and international and domestic trade conferences.
Philippe Harousseau
Marketing Director, Dove Skin & Masterbrand US; Unilever
Philippe Harousseau is the Marketing Director, Dove Skin & Masterbrand US, of Unilever. Philippe has led the launch of Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty in the United States , raising awarenes of Dove's mission to make women feel more beautiful every day by challenging today's stereotypical view of beauty and inspiring women to take great care of themselves.
Philippe started his career working for over ten years in Europe for Unilever HPC Europe. Throughout these years Philippe held numerous positions in both Marketing and Brand Development in Haircare, Deodorant and Personal Wash. As Marketing Manager (aka Category Director) he led the French Business teams driving the Hair, Skin and Personal Wash business in France . In this position he had his first involvement with the Dove brand as he successfully organized the transition of Dove from “Lever Brothers” to “Elida Faberge”.
In 1999 Philippe came to North America to lead our efforts in Relationship Marketing, in the IBC and most recently as Director of the Relationship Marketing Innovation Center .
His team successfully piloted and rolled out Home Basics as an efficient Relationship Marketing program for Unilever brands, developed and increased usage of our Unilever consumer database and initiated key Relationship Marketing projects with some of our key retailers.
Max Kalehoff
Vice President; Buzz Metrics
Max Kalehoff is the Vice President of Marketing for BuzzMetrics, a word-of-mouth research and planning firm. He leads marketing and communications, and supports corporate strategy and product development. He also spearheads strategic partnerships with other the marketing-services and research companies.
An evangelist for word-of-mouth as well as interactive marketing, Max is widely quoted in the news media and is an active representative in numerous industry groups, such as the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) and the Advertising Research Foundation (ARF). He also is a monthly columnist for MediaPost's SearchInsider, focusing largely on the intersection of Internet search and consumer-generated media.
Prior to BuzzMetrics, Max ran his own marketing and strategy consultancy, working with firms such as BuzzMetrics, Hitwise and the Interactive Advertising Bureau. Max previously led marketing, communications and industry ratings analysis for comScore, an online media research firm. Max joined comScore from Jupiter Media Metrix, when comScore acquired the pioneering Media Metrix ratings business.
Max graduated from Syracuse University 's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. He lives in Brooklyn , New York.
Andrew Katz
Marketing Manager, Mountain Dew; Pepsico
Since joining Pepsi in 2002, Katz has been involved in several brand-marketing positions. Between late 2002 through early 2004, he was associate marketing manager, developing marketing and channel strategy initiatives within Pepsi's Foodservice division. From May 2004 to the present, he has been working as a marketing manager, responsible for various aspects of the Mountain Dew brand including online strategy and development, marketing platform management, as well as urban grassroots initiatives.
For the first 10 years of his career, Katz worked in account management at several advertising agencies in New York City including Lowe Lintas and Deutsch.
e received his MBA from the Owen Graduate School of Management at Vanderbilt University and his BA in Political Science from Trinity College.
Alpa Pandya
Chief Strategic Officer; Sterling Brands
Alpa Pandya heads up our New York Strategy Group. She is one of our most experienced brand strategists here at Sterling, having been with us for over eight years and has led branding, research and innovation initiatives for MTV, Unilever, SABMiller, Microsoft, and Pepsico. Prior to joining Sterling, Alpa held Brand Management positions for the Gillette Company and Homepride Foods in Europe. Alpa grew up in Scotland and graduated from the University of Stirling.
Jeff Poorman
Senior Vice President, Citi Cards;
Citigroup
Jeff manages Business Development for Citigroup's industry-leading credit card business. Business Development leads the acquisition of credit card businesses as well as the origination of new corporate partnership and distribution programs. Partnerships identified as a key component of the Citi Cards strategy; Citi manages over 100 million accounts and $85 billion assets branded in partner names.
Jeff was a managing director in the investment bank of Citigroup prior to joining Citi Cards in 2002. He delivered corporate finance and acquisition advisory services to commercial banks and other financial institutions. Many of his advisory assignments helped to accelerate the rapid consolidation of the credit card industry. He began his career in the investment banking division of Salomon Brothers Inc in 1985.
Jeff earned his MBA from Columbia Business School and graduated from Dartmouth College. He resides with his wife and three children in Bronxville , New York.
Laura Schuler
President US; Jack Morton Worldwide
As President, US, Laura Shuler is responsible for driving the growth and
profitability of the agency’s operations in eight markets across the country,
and for continuing to raise Jack Morton Worldwide’s profile as a leading
experiential marketing agency.
In assuming the role of President in 2004, Laura identified as key priorities
enhancing collaboration across domestic offices, fueling new business
development and continuing to build the company's core offerings in the
areas of consumer marketing, internal branding, BtoB marketing and public
events.
A member of Jack Morton’s Executive Team since 2000, Laura has played
a leading role in growing the agency’s brand, its core offerings and its
relationships with key clients. She has held senior management positions
overseeing the agency’s New York office and its Eastern operations as
well as its strategic development and US brand marketing. She has been
a passionate spokesperson for Jack Morton’s evolution as an experiential
marketing agency.
An outspoken advocate of the growing value of experiential and event
marketing, Laura is a founding co-chair of the Experience & Event
Marketing Council. She speaks regularly to business and industry audiences.
Prior to joining Jack Morton in 1988, Laura worked for The J.C. Penney
Company and ABC Television.
Laura received a BA in Communications from the University of Delaware.
She lives in Rye, New York with her husband and their four children.
Lamont Swittenberg
Director, Promotions & Partnerships; Virgin Mobile USA
Lamont Swittenberg is currently Director of Promotions and Partnerships at Virgin Mobile USA , a wireless carrier that targets young people with a hip, irreverent, Pay-As-You-Go cell phone service. Lamont oversees the development and execution of all national promotions for Virgin Mobile. In addition he also manages a year-long calendar of consumer events for the company, including its sponsorship of the MTV Video Music Awards. Lamont and his team work to create high-impact events that bring the brand to life for consumers while promoting Virgin Mobile's products and services. Finally, Lamont is responsible for Word-Of-Mouth Marketing at Virgin Mobile, working with partners to accelerate the spread of key messages via non-traditional tactics such as product integration, viral marketing, and the deployment of a team of over one thousand young people as part of the Virgin Mobile “Insider Network”.
Prior to joining Virgin Mobile, Lamont spent 10 years in various youth consumer products marketing roles. Most recently he was Senior Manager of Urban Marketing for Hewlett Packard. Before HP, Lamont worked in marketing at the Coca-Cola Company, where he was a Brand Manager on both Coca-Cola and Sprite. Lamont has a BS in Marketing from the University Of Virginia and an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill . He currently resides with his family in Maplewood , New Jersey.
Sunil Gupta
Meyer Feldberg Professor of Business, Columbia University
Professor Gupta's expertise lies in the areas of marketing strategy, customer management, pricing and analytical decision making. His work in these areas has been published in many journals and have won many awards, including the best paper awards for the Journal of Interactive Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, the International Journal of Research in Marketing and the Marketing Science Institute. Professor Gupta serves on the editorial board of several journals. His new book, Managing Customers as Investments , was published by Wharton School Publishing in February 2005.
Professor Bernd Schmitt
Robert D. Calkins Professor of International Business
Professor Schmitt is widely recognized for his major contribution to branding, marketing, and management through his unique focus on the customer experience. He teaches the course Managing Brands, Identity and Experiences , and won an award for innovation in the classroom for the course Corporate Creativity . He has also taught several other courses including Consumer Behavior and Advertising , as well as the Marketing core course. He has held visiting appointments in China, Germany and Poland. Schmitt's research focuses on experiential marketing, brand management and international business. Schmitt has authored or coauthored several books which have been translated into 15 languages (see books below). He has also published more than 50 articles in marketing, management and psychology journals.
