Keynote Speakers

Susan Sobbott
President and General Manager, OPEN from American Express

Susan Sobbott is President & General Manager of OPEN from American Express, the division dedicated exclusively to the success of small business owners and their companies.  OPEN is the fastest-growing proprietary business unit within American Express, and the nation’s largest credit and charge card issuer for small business.  Daughter of the owner of a small trucking business, Susan returned to her small business roots when she joined the OPEN team in 2003 and was named its President in 2004.

Since her becoming President, OPEN has achieved and retained record numbers of new card accounts, leading to a doubling of charge volume and pre-tax income.  Under her leadership, OPEN has been recognized by NAWBO as Corporate Partner of the Year and by B2B Magazine as one of Business to Business Best Brands of 2006. 

Susan joined American Express in 1990.  She has played a leadership role in many of the milestones that contributed directly to the Company’s growth: developing and managing reward programs and strategic partnerships with airlines, hotels and retailers; creating and launching innovative new products that attracted new customers; and signing up new merchants that broadened the range of places Members could use their cards.  During her 17 years with American Express, she has managed brand, marketing, operations and technology infrastructures, and defined strategies for growth.

Susan Sobbott is committed to leadership development, especially among women.  She currently co-chairs American Express’ Women’s Issues Network, which helps develop female talent at American Express, and is a long-time mentor and advisor for Women Unlimited, Inc., a leadership development program for executive women. In addition, Susan is Honorary Chair of the Women’s Leadership Exchange Advisory Board, Co-Chair of Corporate Council of the White House Project, recipient of the YMCA- NYC Women Achievers Award, Office Depot Corporate Visionary Award, Business to Business Marketer of the Year, the Count Me In Leadership Award for advancing the success of women small business owners and the Women’s Leadership Exchange Compass Award for shifting the paradigm of how women are perceived as leaders.

Susan graduated from Georgetown University in the top 10 of her class.  After a time on Wall Street, she then earned an MBA and became a Shermet Scholar at the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia.

A mother of two children under 4, Susan lives in New Jersey, where she enjoys spending time with her family and restoring her “antique” home.

Steve Stoute
Founder and Chief Creative Officer, Translation Consultation + Brand Imaging

Steve Stoute, founder and chief creative officer of Translation Consultation + Brand Imaging, is the driving force behind one of the leading and most influential brand marketing firms in the industry.  The mastermind behind innovative promotions between Fortune 500 companies and superstar celebrities from music, sports, entertainment and fashion, Mr. Stoute has led Translation to unprecedented growth and expansion.

Mr. Stoute’s remarkable ability to create and implement pioneering marketing concepts that establish an authentic connection between an artist and product is the key to his phenomenal success.  His proven track record as both a music label executive and consumer brand marketer has placed him at the forefront of today’s popular culture, with unique access to the trend-setting urban youth market.  As a result, Mr. Stoute has become a virtual hit-maker for many global consumer brands seeking to reach a broader audience, and his groundbreaking campaigns have placed him at the forefront of the entertainment marketing field.  Among his clients are such worldwide marketers as McDonald’s, Reebok, Verizon and Proctor & Gamble, to name just a few.  In addition, Mr. Stoute is actively involved in developing several entrepreneurial ventures, including Carol’s Daughter, a retailer of exceptional beauty-care products for men and women.

Before forming Translation in 2003, Mr. Stoute partnered with the legendary Madison Avenue guru Peter Arnell to establish PASS, a Manhattan-based marketing and advertising firm that repositioned Reebok and conceived the silver bullet brand rbk, through which Mr. Stoute brokered the enormously successful S. Carter Collection by rbk.  As part of a long-term strategic alignment with pop culture on behalf of his client McDonald’s, Mr. Stoute positioned Justin Timberlake as the embodiment of the “I’m Lovin’ It” campaign.  In addition, he has arranged strategic partnerships between high-profile artists and blue-chip marketers for many products, including Hewlett-Packard’s Harajuku Lovers digital camera and Tommy Hilfiger’s True Star fragrance for women.

From 1990 to 1999, Mr. Stoute was a top executive at several leading labels in the music industry.  At Interscope Geffen A&M Records, Mr. Stoute served as president of the Urban Music division and executive vice president, producing best-selling albums from U2, Eve and Limp Bizkit, as well as Eminem’s debut album, “The Slim Shady LP.”  Mr. Stoute has also produced several major motion picture soundtracks.  Prior to joining Interscope, Mr. Stoute was president of Urban Music for Sony Music Entertainment, where he was responsible for launching the music careers of Mariah Carey, Will Smith and Nas. 

Mr. Stoute has also contributed his impressive skills and expertise to a variety of civic causes.  He played a key role in the development of minority recruitment campaigns for both the Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) and the New York City Police Department.  For his work on the “Heroes Wanted” campaign, Mr. Stoute received the 2004 Humanitarian Award from the FDNY.  In 2003, Mr. Stoute served as the co-chairman of the New York City Fresh Air Fund, a non-profit program offering minority children an opportunity to experience life outside the confines of the inner city.

Welcoming Remarks

Michael Fanuele
Managing Director of Strategy, Euro RSCG

After a sordid stint in politics, Michael joined the noble ranks of the advertising industry. 

Over the past ten years, he’s had the good fortune to work at some of the world’s most-respected advertising agencies, including Mad Dogs & Englishmen and J. Walter Thompson, where he has devised brand strategies and crafted communications for clients such as The Economist, Nickelodeon, Pepsi, Unilever, Sun Microsytems, Verizon, Volvo, and Kraft.

For his work on these clients, Michael has won more awards for effective thinking than any other strategist in the industry.  He’s also helped make work that has gone on to garner creative accolades, including One Show Pencils and Cannes Lions.

In addition to being on the faculty at The Miami Ad School, Michael is founder and Co-Chairman of the Account Planners of New York (APNY).  In 2003, his peers chose him as Chairman of the US Account Planning Conference.  Last year, The Harvard Business Review published an article he penned, “Embracing The Dark Side: Brand Shadows.”

Today, Michael is Managing Director, Strategy at Euro RSCG.  He lives in Maplewood, New Jersey  with his wife and two totally-awesome young sons.

Panelists

Panel #1: How do you control your brand image in a consumer controlled world?

Bernd Schmitt
Professor, Marketing Division, Columbia Business School

Bernd Schmitt is Executive Director of the Center on Global Brand Leadership and Professor of Business at Columbia Business School in New York.  

Devrin Carlson-Smith
Honeyshed

Aliza Freud
Founder and CEO, SheSpeaks Incorporated

Aliza Freud is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of SheSpeaks Incorporated. SheSpeaks is a national network of smart and insightful women who are interested in influencing the products and services around them.  SheSpeaks gives women a forum to express what they need and want as well as opportunities to connect with other women.  SheSpeaks is committed to broadcasting women’s opinions to a broad audience including the companies that develop products and services, the media as well as other women.

Understanding the tremendous power that women have as consumers, Freud created SheSpeaks.  In the US women are responsible for more than $5 trillion dollars of spending every year and over 80% of all purchase decisions. Women are a growing economic force in the world and more companies are recognizing the need to understand their preferences in much greater depth.

Since launching SheSpeaks in February of 2007, the member network has grown to over 35,000 women from across the United States.  SheSpeaks has successfully tested products and services for leading clients including some in the snack food, hair care, media, publishing and baby food industries.  ABC News recently said SheSpeaks “Isn’t too good to be true. For once.”

Before founding SheSpeaks, Freud spent over 10 years in marketing and product management for the American Express Company.  In her last two years at American Express, Freud led worldwide brand initiatives in the company’s Global Marketing group.

Freud holds an MBA from Columbia Business School.  She lives outside New York City with her husband and two daughters.  Freud serves on the board of Step Up Women's Network, a non-profit organization dedicated to developing the next generation of female philanthropists.

Shane Kent
Brand Marketing Manager , Unilever

Trudy Larson
VP of Marketing, PR, and Retail Services, Joseph Abboud

Trudy Larson is the Vice President of Marketing, PR and Retail Services at Joseph Abboud, a part of JA Apparel Corp. Ms Larson has 16 years of experience in marketing and branding.

Graduating from the University of Vermont with a bachelor's degree in Psychology, her love of fashion drove her to New York City, where she quickly landed a job at Mirabella Magazine, beginning as an intern, and working her way up to Creative Services Editor. Her next stop was at Sam & Libby, where she was the Director of Public Relations. In 1997, Ms. Larson was hired by Candie's inc, where, as Vice President of Marketing, she worked on their iconic marketing initiatives, including
the controversial Jenny McCarthy campaign, and launched The Candie's Foundation. After 6 years, Trudy branched out into the apparel market when she was hired by Apparel Holdings Group as Vice President of Marketing, working on their various men's, women's, junior, and kid's apparel brands.

Currently at JA Apparel Corp., Ms. Larson oversees all of the marketing and public relations for the Joseph Abboud, and JOE Joseph Abboud brands. Her responsibilities include advertising, media, endorsements, public relations, events, promotions, retail services, packaging, environmental branding, and tradeshows.

Panel #2: Is loyalty built on branding or is it routine?

Brett Gordon
Assistant Professor, Marketing Division, Columbia Business School

Brett Gordon is an Assistant Professor of Business in the Marketing Division at Columbia Business School. His research focuses on competitive pricing, product innovation and replacement, new product development and design, and market structure. He teaches Pricing Strategy in the MBA and Executive MBA programs. Professor Gordon has been involved with several technology start-up companies in the past, such as InfoStructure and Webmind Inc. More recently, he has helped with the pricing and product development strategies of iLab Solutions, a new venture that creates software to improve the collaboration and efficiency of research scientists.

Professor Gordon received his Ph.D. in Economics from Carnegie Mellon University. His dissertation focused on the PC microprocessor industry, where he examined product replacement cycles and the benefits of competition. His dissertation received the distinguished Alden G. Clayton Dissertation Award from the Marketing Science Institute.

Jim Figura
VP of Consumer Research and Insights, Colgate-Palmolive Company

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.

Jim assumed his current position in November, 2006. 

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 (now the Tepper School).  Jim’s concentration was Operations Research and Statistics.

Jim is a frequent lecturer at many schools on research topics such as modeling, pricing research, advanced methods and new product development.  His most recent lectures were at MIT’s Sloan School and Duke’s Fuqua.

Mike McCarley
VP, Strategic Marketing, Communications and Promotions for NBC Sports and Olympics

Mike McCarley was promoted to Vice President, Strategic Marketing, Communications & Promotions, NBC Universal Sports & Olympics in March 2006 after the extensive Torino Olympics coverage. In this role, he directs the publicity, promotional and brand marketing efforts for NBC Universal’s Sports and Olympic divisions.

In this role, he leads all brand-related activities including marketing, communications, advertising and promotion under one strategic vision. McCarley develops the NBC Universal Sports & Olympics brand while also optimizing the brand strategies of its partners. In his first quarter in the newly created position, McCarley tailored/focused NBC Sports' promotional efforts and gained significant ratings increases in all of the network's marquee spring sports properties including the Kentucky Derby, The Players Championship, US Open, French Open and Wimbledon.

In November 2004, McCarely was promoted to Vice President, Communications and Marketing, NBC Universal Sports & Olympics following the critically acclaimed and profitable Athens Olympic Games coverage. His responsibilities included

leading the NBC Universal Sports & Olympics communications department in strategic planning to effectively communicate and promote NBC Universal’s sports and Olympic partnerships. He lead the publicity and promotional efforts on all NBC Sports and USA Network Sports broadcast partnerships including the Olympics, golf's U.S. Open, PGA Tour and Ryder Cup; NASCAR, Wimbledon, Notre Dame football and the Visa Triple Crown.

McCarley joined NBC in February of 2000 as the communications director for NBC’s Olympic division. Following the 2000 Sydney Olympics, McCarley was given the additional communications responsibility of NBC Sports’ $1.2 billion joint venture with Turner to broadcast NASCAR, in which he created innovative programs to increase awareness of the sport in non-traditional NASCAR markets.

A native of Memphis, Tenn., McCarley spent holiday breaks during college working as the media relations director for the Liberty Bowl.

Susan Song
SVP and Director of Branding and Competitive Intelligence, Citi Cards North America

Susan is responsible for all brand strategy, product branding, identity, card design, experiences and competitive market intelligence for the Citi Cards business. Prior to joining Citi Cards, Susan was Managing Partner, Strategy Director at The Helm Agency, a new advertising agency within the WPP Group. Prior to The Helm, Susan was a Senior Strategist at Enterprise IG, a global brand and identity consulting firm, where she worked with Fortune 500 companies developing both corporate and product brands on strategic positioning, global branding, brand architecture, brand identity, name development, brand conversion and engagement, and experiential branding. Susan received a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations/Hispanic Studies from Brown University and an MBA from Columbia Business School. She is a native New Yorker, but after graduating from college, lived in Seville, Spain for a year where she taught English. As a result, Susan speaks fluent Spanish and loves going out for tapas. She also enjoys theater, architecture, yoga, golf, and has a dog named Sasha.

Lindsay is a Senior Marketing Manager at FreshDirect, New York’s online grocer and fresh foods source.  In her role, she leads FreshDirect’s online marketing campaigns, new partnership/service development, and customer research initiatives.

After several years as a management consultant to the consumer products and financial services industries, Lindsay attended Columbia Business School and graduated in 2005.  She spent the the next two years with American Express, based in New York and London, as part of the internal strategy team.  Following her passion for the area of food & wine, as well as a long-time interest in small business, she moved to FreshDirect in early 2007.