Speakers

Dr. Yele Aluko

Chief Medical Officer, Ernst & Young

Dr. Aluko is Chief Medical Officer and Managing Director in EY Americas. In this role he is a member of EY’s Health Sector Board and advises health system C-suite clients on megatrends confronting the health industry, enterprise growth strategy and business operations.

He is a visible and vocal advocate for the elimination of health disparities in U.S. medicine and is the Director of EY’s Center for Health Equity. He led team members through the articulation and design of EY’s Health Equity point of view which provides customized competencies for industry stakeholders that enable progress towards elimination of health disparities and achievement of Health Equity.

Daniel Alvarez

Chief Product Officer, Quartz

Daniel Alvarez is the chief product officer at Quartz. He is responsible for all product development, ensuring the company’s continued excellence in editorial product innovation and overseeing the engineering, design, product management, and analytics teams.

Alvarez joined Quartz from NBC Universal, where he served as VP of product and design for local NBC and Telemundo TV stations, most recently earning the News Innovator of the Year award from the Local Media Association in 2020. He also serves on the advisory board of the News Product Alliance.

Prior to NBC, Alvarez was the head of product and design at HuffPost and held various product and engineering roles at companies including AOL, Nextel International, and Motorola. He graduated from Universidad Simon Bolivar in Caracas, Venezuela, with a bachelor’s degree in electronics engineering.

Kathryn Beiser

Vice President, Global Communications, Eli Lilly and Company

Dana J. Bolden

Senior Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs, GSK Consumer Health Division

Dana Bolden joined GSK Consumer Healthcare in January 2021 where he leads the Global Corporate Affairs function and sits on the “NewCo” executive committee.

Over the course of his 25-plus year career in corporate communications, Dana has been on the front-lines of leading and executing large-scale business development and strategic transformation efforts at some of the most powerful brands in the world, including  Philip Morris, The Coca-Cola Company, Corteva Agriscience and, currently, GSK’s consumer health division, which is slated to spin off from GSK (and rebrand) in the summer of 2022.

Prior to GSK, Dana served as Senior Vice President for External Affairs at Corteva Agriscience formerly the agriculture division of DowDuPont, where he has managed complex corporate affairs issues including a spin off and listing process. Prior to this, he worked for The Coca-Cola Company. He has a wealth of consumer and regulated industry experience working in-house and in agency having started his career at Cohn and Wolfe and has lived and worked in the United States, Europe, Africa and Asia. 

Bolden’s contributions to reputation management, enterprise strategy and the communication craft extend well beyond the corporate realm. He currently serves on the Board of Trustees for Washington & Lee and chairs the university’s Trusteeship Committee. He also serves on the College of Charleston’s Communications Advisory Council and lectures at his alma mater as well as several universities across the nation and the world. Additionally, he has a passion for raising funds for first-generation college student scholarships and for connecting people of color with corporate board service.  

Julian Boulding

President, thenetworkone

Julian began his career in advertising sales, before working in independent agencies in London. He then joined the DMB&B Group, now part of Publicis, where he spent fourteen years in a succession of senior roles. While with DMB&B, he lived and worked in UK, Europe, USA and Latin America, where he spent 3 years as Regional Client Service Director for Salles DMB&B in Brazil.’ During this time, he directed global advertising campaigns for companies like Procter & Gamble, M&M Mars, Avon and Philips Electronics, rising to be President, International for DMB&B’s sister network, NW Ayer.

In 2003, Julian left the world of traditional agency networks, to co-found thenetworkone.

Valerie Chan

Founder & Principal, Plat4orm PR

Valerie Chan is the Founder and Principle of Plat4orm PR. In her role as principal of Plat4orm, Valerie works hand-in-hand with established brands, mid-sized businesses and start-ups – with a particular focus on clients in the legal, privacy and cybersecurity sectors – on a range of campaigns including product launches, crisis communications and thought leadership.

Valerie has cultivated deep relationships with influencers across the technology, entrepreneurial and corporate sectors over the course of two decades. Her experience includes both in-house and agency communications roles.  In addition to her work at Plat4orm, Valerie is also a teaching fellow at the NASDAQ Entrepreneurial Center and frequently lectures on communications at a wide-variety of industry conferences and groups, most recently at Hastings School of Law. Valerie received her bachelor’s degree in English and communications and Juris Doctorate from Seattle University. 

Subhankar Roy Chowdhury

Executive Director HR, Lenovo Asia Pacific

Subhankar Roy Chowdhury is a HR leader, speaker, and blogger with varied experiences in re-imagining leadership, culture, and talent practices to create a human work environment in the digital age.

He currently heads HR for Lenovo Asia Pacific, and is responsible for developing the transformation and people strategy in Asia Pacific with a focus on building leadership, cultural transformation and developing talent resources. With over 10 years of experience at Lenovo, Subhankar wore various hats in the HR segment, most recently as Global Head HR Analytics, Strategy, M&A, where he built the Global HR Analytics function in Lenovo for over 63,000 people across all geographies, leveraging the use of data science in HR to solve organisational challenges.

Prior to Lenovo, Subhankar held various leadership positions in HR consulting and HR generalist roles at Nokia, PwC Consulting, IBM Business Consulting and Siemens Business Consulting in the Asia Pacific region.

Subhankar holds a masters degree in personnel management and a bachelor’s degree in Economics. He enjoys researching and speaking on topics related to the ‘Impact of Digitisation of the Workforce’, ‘Future of Work’ and ‘HR of the Future’.

Adam Collins

Chief Communications and Corporate Affairs Officer, Molson Coors Beverage Company

Adam Collins is the Chief Communications and Corporate Affairs Officer for the Molson Coors Beverage Company, a multinational Fortune 500 company.

Adam has built an impressive track record of achieving tangible results through communications and public affairs over nearly 20 years in the field. Leading politicians, corporate executives and trade associations have leaned on Adam for strategic advice to help their organizations deliver results or to navigate the most challenging crises.

Prior to joining Molson Coors, Adam served as the Communications Director for Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel where he led strategic communications and message development for the mayor and his cabinet. He has also led strategic communications at multiple communications agencies, at big city police departments and political offices including governor, Lt. governor and more.

Jessica Cortes

Partner, Labor + Employment, Davis+Gilbert

Jessica Golden Cortes is a partner in the Labor + Employment Practice Group of Davis+Gilbert. Ms. Cortes regularly counsels and litigates in all areas and aspects of employment law. She investigates discrimination and retaliation complaints and advises clients on hiring, terminations, reductions in force, restrictive covenants, wage and hour issues, federal and state family and medical leave laws, employment policies specifically including the impact of social media in employment, handbooks, and employment and separation agreements. She regularly conducts “respect in the workplace,” “manager best practices” and “unconscious bias” trainings for clients all over the country, including for both for-profit and non-profit clients.  Most recently, Ms. Cortes has been actively involved in educating clients regarding employee rights and employer obligations and best practices during the COVID-19 pandemic, and in assisting clients in developing post-pandemic, return-to-work safety protocols. 

Ms. Cortes is known by clients for her ability to simultaneously analyze legal, practical and business-related factors inherent in each employee matter, and to devise creative solutions that also minimize client burden and cost. She has been recognized by The Legal 500 United States in the area of labor and employment: workplace and employment counseling area for nine consecutive years (2013-2021). She has also been recognized as a leading lawyer for labor & employment law by Chambers USA: America’s Leading Lawyers for Business (2012-2016) and has been selected as a Super Lawyer (2018-2020) and Rising Star (2013-2016) by New York Metro Super Lawyers. Ms. Cortes was also named a winner in the Esquire Industry Practice category for SmartCEO’s 2015 CPA & ESQ Awards. Ms. Cortes was appointed Chair of the NYC SHRM Legal & Legislative Committee for the 2020-2021 and the 2021-2022 programming years and was elected President of the Wesleyan Lawyers Association in 2020.

Before joining Davis+Gilbert, Ms. Cortes was a litigation attorney at Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP.

Duncan Cox

Vice President, Business Development, Learning Economy Foundation

Heather Craft

Co-President, North America, Hotwire

Anne DeAngelis

EVP, Employee Engagement Strategy, Zeno Group

Anne DeAngelis guides business leaders on how to best reach one of their most important stakeholders: their people. With more than 20 years of global employee experience, Anne advises clients on internal communications during the toughest transitions they face, crafting employee experience strategies, change management, employer branding, recruitment communications, executive communications, and hybrid work dynamics. Her work touches nearly every aspect of a company’s voice, from media relations and brand management, to recruitment marketing and content creation, to advertising and digital.

At Zeno Group, Anne leads a team that keeps its fingers on the pulse of evolving workplace expectations, with learnings applied to both clients and the Zeno network at large.

Prior to Zeno, Anne spent two decades at The Boeing Company, guiding the aerospace company’s leadership through critical events including CEO transitions, structural re-organizations and international crises. She led the company's talent acquisition marketing strategy team and developed the company’s first-ever Employee Value Proposition. Notably, she created and executed employee education plans during union negotiations.

Anne earned a bachelor’s degree in Broadcast Journalism at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband and three children, where she enjoys walking her dog, reading, and traveling.

Licy Do Canto

Managing Director, APCO Worldwide

Licy Do Canto, a veteran of public policy, corporate strategy, health care communications and diversity and inclusion, is managing director of APCO Worldwide’s Washington, D.C., headquarters office and mid-Atlantic region lead.

A well respected expert in public health and health care policy, with nearly three decades of experience at the international, national, state and local levels across the nonprofit, philanthropic, corporate and government sectors, Mr. Do Canto is an accomplished, values-driven leader with unparalleled experience in developing and leading integrated public affairs campaigns combining strategic communications, public relations, political/legislative initiatives, policy, coalition building, grassroots efforts and advocacy.

Mr. Do Canto has held a wide range of positions and has worked across diverse sectors and industries over the course of his successful career, making him uniquely qualified to understand and support leaders and organization to successfully navigate both the opportunities and the diplomatic, technical, and multifaceted industry challenges with which they are confronted.

Mr. Do Canto has vast inside knowledge of the Washington political process, and deep substantive experience on a wide range of public policy issues from public health, health care and social impact to immigration, trade and economic development. Over the years, his expertise has been sought out by policymakers, lawmakers, c-suite executives, advocates and other leaders on international, national and state issues from economic inclusion, equity and diversity, and medical supply chain to environmental protection, fisheries and sustainable development.

Prior to joining APCO, Mr. Do Canto served as Executive Vice President and Managing Director in Burson Cohn & Wolfe’s Public Affairs and Crisis practice, overseeing BCW’s North America Health Care Policy team in Washington, D.C, where he drove healthcare and social impact policy and strategy, and diversity and inclusion, supporting clients in public and corporate affairs, government relations, communications, crisis and reputation management.

Mr. Do Canto also founded and lead a nationally recognized strategic public affairs and communications firm, served as Health Practice Chair and Principal at The Raben Group, was the Chief Executive Officer of The AIDS Alliance for Children, Youth and Families, and managed and helped set the leadership direction for strategic policy, communications, and advocacy investments in executive and senior government affairs roles for the American Cancer Society and the nation’s Community Health Centers.

Before joining the private sector, Mr. Do Canto served as health care policy advisor to U.S. Congressman Barney Frank and served in several positions in the Office of Senator Edward M. Kennedy. Over the course of his extensive tenure in Washington, D.C., Mr. Do Canto has played a leading role in efforts to draft, shape and enact legislation and policy impacting socio-economic and public health, the health care safety net and the health and well-being of the nation’s disadvantaged and underserved communities.

Mr. Do Canto lectures on healthcare quality and policy; diversity, equity and inclusion; crisis management and preparedness; congressional advocacy, and media relations and diversity in communications. His perspectives and views also have been featured in Reuters, The Financial Times, Politico, The Hill, CQ Roll Call, Bloomberg, The Boston Globe, Corporate Counsel Business Journal, among others, and he is co-founder and co-host of the upcoming podcast, Crisis and Coffee, which highlights crisis management and preparedness through the stories of challenge confronting today’s world.

Mr. Do Canto is a graduate of Duke University and holds a certificate in public health leadership in epidemic preparedness and management from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill School of Public Health and Kenan Flagler Business School. He is the recipient of multiple industry awards and citations for his leadership, policy and public affairs acumen, including being named to The Hill Newspaper list of most influential leaders in Washington, D.C., consecutively over the last eleven years, and being described as an expert and influencer that “the nation’s biggest companies…turn to when they want their voices heard in the nation’s capital.”

As a global citizen, Mr. Do Canto has lived in Turkey and Spain, traveled broadly to several regions of the world, and is fluent in Spanish and Cape Verdean Portuguese.

Laura Duda

Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer, The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company

Laura Duda is Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company. As the chief communications officer, Duda leads all internal and external communications for the company, including public and media relations, employee communications, corporate reputation management, philanthropy and community relations, as well as Goodyear’s fleet of world-famous airships.

Duda joined Goodyear in 2016, serving as Vice President of Communications for the company’s Americas business unit. Before joining Goodyear, Duda led corporate, utility and commercial communications for Chicago, Ill.-based Exelon Corporation and corporate and utility communications for Tampa, Fla.-based TECO Energy, Inc.

Raised in St. Petersburg, Florida, Duda attended Western Carolina University, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Writing & Editing. She later received her Master of Arts degree in Mass Communication from University of Florida and her Master of Business Administration degree from The University of Tampa. She is accredited in Public Relations and is a member of the Arthur W. Page Society and a graduate of Leadership Tampa, Leadership Greater Chicago and Leadership Akron.

In 2020 and 2021, Duda was named to the National Diversity Council’s Power 50, honoring women in the C-suite from top corporations who endeavor to improve not just departments and companies, but communities as well. She was also named to PR Week’s 2021 Hall of Femme, recognizing inspiring women who set the bar higher within their organizations, nominated by their peers and colleagues, and as one of the 2021 Women of Note by Crain’s Cleveland Business. Duda was Goodyear’s 2020 Employee Resource Group executive sponsor of the year for her work with the company’s Asia India Middle East (AIM) ERG. Duda is a board member of the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, the Greater Akron Chamber of Commerce and the Ohio & Erie Canalway Coalition and a trustee of the Institute for Public Relations and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Duda and her husband, Michael, both avid hikers, live in Northeast Ohio with their four-legged children.

Sherine Ebadi

Associate Managing Director, Business Intelligence and Investigations, Kroll

Sherine Ebadi is an Associate Managing Director in the Business Intelligence and Investigations practice of Kroll, where she leads high-profile and highly sensitive investigations from cradle to grave, including testifying as an expert. Prior to joining Kroll, Sherine spent 10 years as a Special Agent at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), where she successfully investigated and helped prosecute several high-profile cases involving complex financial crimes, bank fraud, money laundering, securities fraud, public corruption, organized crime, fraud against the government, and asset forfeiture.

Michael Estevez

EVP and Managing Director of Public Affairs & Crisis, BCW

Michael Estevez is an executive vice president and managing director with BCW Public Affairs & Crisis practice in New York. At BCW, Michael advises clients on crisis communications, litigation communications, issues management, and cybersecurity crisis communications. He has counseled corporate clients on unplanned CEO transitions, workplace health and safety issues, international intellectual property litigation, large-scale Advanced Persistent Threat cybersecurity events, high-profile workplace violence incidents, and responses to the coronavirus pandemic across the pharmaceutical, assisted-living and food production industries.

Chris Foster

CEO, Omnicom Public Relations Group

Chris Foster is the CEO of Omnicom Public Relations Group, overseeing the communications, consulting and public affairs firms within Omnicom. In his role, he is focused on talent, innovation and cross-agency collaboration to drive growth. Chris previously was the President of North America at BCW Group, responsible for managing growth, talent and client relationships in the region. Chris took a break from public relations agencies in 2010 and spent five years at the global management consulting firm, Booz Allen Hamilton, where he was Senior Vice President and Partner leading teams and growth across the government and civil business. Foster serves on the Board of Directors for The LAGRANT Foundation, The Institute for Public Relations, 4A’s, Public Relations Counsel (Vice Chairman) and the University of Virginia’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies.  Foster is also a founding member of the Black Executive CMO Alliance (BECA) founded in April 2021. He earned an M.S. in Applied Behavioral Counseling from The Johns Hopkins University and a B.A. in Philosophy from The University of Virginia.

Dr. Monica Gandhi

Infectious diseases and HIV doctor, UCSF

Monica Gandhi MD, MPH is an Infectious Diseases doctor, Professor of Medicine and Associate Chief in the Division of HIV, Infectious Diseases, and Global Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). She is also the Director of the UCSF Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) and the Medical Director of the HIV Clinic ("Ward 86") at San Francisco General Hospital. Her research focuses on HIV and women and adherence measurement in HIV treatment and prevention and most recently, on how to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic.

Michelle Giuda

EVP, Geopolitical Strategy & Risk, Weber Shandwick

is Executive Vice President of Geopolitical Strategy & Risk at Weber Shandwick, counseling clients to prepare for and address the impact of geopolitical issues on their business and reputation.

From February 2018 to March 2020, Giuda served as the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs. In February 2019, Secretary of State Pompeo also delegated to Giuda the authorities of the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs. Giuda served on the U.S. State Department Operating Committee and was a Board Member of the U.S. Agency for Global Media. In May 2019, Giuda led the largest restructuring at the State Department in twenty years to modernize the Department’s global public affairs and public diplomacy operations.

Previously, Giuda was Senior Vice President of Global Corporate Communications at Weber Shandwick in New York. Prior to Weber Shandwick, Giuda was a political communications strategist in Washington, DC, serving for five years as a lead member of former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich’s communications team, including her role as National Deputy Press Secretary during the Speaker’s 2012 presidential campaign.

In 2016, Giuda was honored with the Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business Award by the Asian American Business Development Center.

Giuda received her Master’s Degree in Political Management from George Washington University and earned a B.A. in Political Science from UCLA where she was an NCAA Champion and Team Captain of the UCLA Women’s Gymnastics Team.

Graham Goodkind

Chairman and Founder, Frank PR

Graham is the Chairman and Founder of Frank PR, one of the UK's leading and most award-winning agencies.  Pioneers of Talkability® (a registered trademark of Frank), the agency is renowned for coming up with ideas for its clients that see them becoming part of everyday conversations.  It's recent work for client Weetabix, that suggested – rather controversially - combining the breakfast cereal with baked beans, practically broke the internet, became a global viral sensation and led to a 15% sales uplift in a week.  

Rachel Hodgdon

President & CEO, International Well Building Institute

Rachel joined the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) in November 2016, bringing her broad sustainability expertise and her track record as a leading global advocate for green schools, movement building and social equity to IWBI’s work to advance human health through better buildings, more vibrant communities and stronger organizations. She was named president of IWBI in 2018 and CEO in November 2020. With over 2.5 billion square feet of space registered, rated or certified in 97 countries, IWBI’s evidence-based WELL offerings anchor an ecosystem of solutions that advance, measure and monitor real estate features that help people thrive.

Paul Holmes

Founder & Chair, Provoke Media

Paul Holmes, founder and chair of PRovoke Media, has been writing about public relations for more than 25 years. Paul began his career in local newspapers in the north of England and also worked for a newspaper group in South London before joining PR Week as news editor in 1985.

In 1987 he moved to New York to launch the short-lived US edition of that publication, and after that project came to an inglorious end worked with Adweek and Adweek’s Marketing Week for a year.

In 1989, he launched his own company, initially publishing Inside PR, and later Reputation Management magazine, both focused on providing analysis of critical trends and issues in the public relations industry. He created the annual Public Relations Agency Report Card, which included profiles of the leading PR firms in the US, and the Creativity in Public Relations Awards, which grew to become the largest in North America.

Early in 2000, Holmes launched The Holmes Group, which provides knowledge and insight to public relations professionals across a variety of platforms, including a website, an e-newsletter, events, printed reports, research and consulting assignments, and the SABRE Awards competition. The group’s flagship title, PRovoke Media (p/k/a The Holmes Report), covers the public relations business in the Americas, EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) and the Asia-Pacific region. In 2011, Paul was inducted into the ICCO Hall of Fame.

Bill Imada

Founder, Chairman and Chief Connectivity Officer, IW Group

About the fim: Founded in 1990, IW Group, Inc. is a marketing and communications firm that specializes in reaching the growing multicultural market in the United States. The agency prides itself in the ability to provide timely strategic counsel and deliver quality results for the corporations and organizations it represents. With offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, IW Group’s capabilities include advertising, public relations, corporate and community relations, events marketing, partnership marketing programs, market research, interactive, social media and cultural awareness training

About Bill Imada - Bill, co-founder and chairman of IW Group, has worked alongside some of the top companies in the U.S., including Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Southern California Edison, Walmart Stores, Walt Disney Imagineering, Warner Bros., Wells Fargo and many others. As a specialist in multicultural and generational marketing, Bill is one of the leading experts in reaching diverse consumer and B2B markets. He’s active in civic and community affairs and serves on more than seven boards and advisory councils. Bill remains committed to all that he pursues and believes that the best work comes from people who care about what they are doing. A coffee fanatic, he spends his spare time searching for coffee roasters wherever he travels.

Teneshia Jackson Warner

Founder & CEO, Egami Group

Teneshia Jackson Warner is the Founder and CEO of EGAMI Group, an award-winning multicultural agency. EGAMI is a trusted partner to world leading consumer, lifestyle, healthcare, financial and corporate brands; and the first multicultural and Black woman-owned agency to win Grand Prix film honors at the Cannes Festival of Creativity.

Teneshia is a dynamic speaker and two-time author whose first book, Profit With Purpose: A Marketers Guide to Deliver Purpose-Driven Campaigns to Multicultural Audiences earned rave reviews as the first-of-its-kind guide to multicultural, purpose-driven marketing. She is also the creator of The Dream Project Symposium and coach to Dreamers at all stages of their path to greater purpose.

Throughout her career, Teneshia has amassed several professional awards including the coveted Black Enterprise Rising Star Award, Black Enterprises Forty Under 40, AdColor MVP and The Network Journal’s Forty Under 40 Award. She has also been featured in Fast Company, Forbes, Success Magazine, AdWeek, Ad Age, Entrepreneur, Essence and Black Enterprise magazines and made guest appearances on outlets including ABC News and The Steve Harvey Show.

Jackson Jeyanayagam

Vice President and General Manager, Direct-to-Consumer businesses , The Clorox Company

Jackson is currently Vice President and General Manager of the Direct-to-Consumer businesses at The Clorox Company which includes full P&L responsibilities, including supply chain; & fulfillment; engineering; product; R&D; growth marketing; and analytics & data science.

Prior to Clorox Jackson was the Chief Marketing Officer for e-commerce startup Boxed, where he oversaw growth, performance media, brand, above the line, CRM & loyalty, creative, SEO, CSR, Communications, CX and trade marketing. In 2018, Jackson was named to the Forbes CMO Next 2018 list -- identifying the 50 CMO's redefining the role and shaping the future.

Previously, Jackson was Head of Digital for Chipotle responsible for leading all digital marketing efforts including mobile, social media, content, CRM & loyalty, analytics and e-commerce integration. Before that Jackson was SVP, Digital at Taylor where he built and oversaw the digital marketing practice and supported a number of brands including Diageo, P&G, Jordan Brand, NASCAR and Starwood.

At Citizen Paine, Jackson led social media integration and influencer marketing for Old Spice as well as Dentyne, working closely with each brand team and their collective agencies to create and implement through the line campaigns.

Jackson started his career at Waggener Edstrom working with brands such as Microsoft and T-Mobile. There, he helped manage the launch of several high-profile products, including the first ever Android-based phone and all of the T-Mobile Sidekick products.

Personally, Jackson serves on the Board of Directors for Goodwill International. In the past he has been a board member for the University of Oregon Alumni Association, Peace Direct and The Arts & Business Council of New York. He is currently also an advisor for three high-growth startups: Dynamic Signal, BounceX and Miles.

Christian Josephi

Founder & Managing Director, Panama PR

Christian Josephi is the Founder and – together with Meike Grisson – Managing Director of Panama PR in Stuttgart. He and his agency's two teams focus on food & wine and complex B2B technology communication. They work with established European and global brands, medium-sized businesses and public institutions: Pink Lady Apples, the Champagne Committee, pwc PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Donnafugata wines, Uhlmann pharmaceutical packaging and Walter technologies. Panama PR's multilingual consultants developed a particular focus on representing international brands in German-speaking Europe. Today 60 percent of their business is international.  

Panama PR's services range from brand visibility media campaigns, brand protection, product launches, influencer marketing, social media management, crisis prevention to thought leadership.

Christian holds a degree in international business from Reutlingen ESB business school, University of Exeter and Bergamo University. He is a teaching fellow at the German and Austrian universities of Geisenheim and Krems. 

Kerman Kasad

Vice President, Global Communications & Brand, Project Management Institute

As Vice President, Global Communications & Brand, Kerman Kasad helps the organization enhance its strong global reputation with a wide variety of stakeholders. Kerman leads the global communications function, communications strategy and reputation management, media relations, social media, CEO communications and positioning, stakeholder communications, internal communications, and issues and crisis management.

Kerman joined PMI in 2020 and provides strategic counsel to the CEO, members of the Executive Leadership Team (ELT), and other members of the global staff — helping to tell the PMI story and what the organization delivers to its stakeholders around the world.

Prior to joining PMI, Kerman worked for large, global, matrixed technology and IT consulting companies, including Symantec, Persistent Systems, and ARC Document Solutions. Most recently, he served as Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Communications for Nihilent — a leading IT consulting and services company.

Kerman earned a Bachelor of Commerce degree (focus on Business Administration) and Master’s degree in International Relations (focus on International Policy & Diplomacy) from the University of Mumbai. He also completed the Executive Leadership Business Management Program at the Steven Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.

Eric Kraus

former CCO, Bacardi LTD, former CCO, Covidien

Erin Lanuti

Chief Innovation Officer, Omnicom Public Relations Group

As OPRG’s Chief Innovation Officer, Erin Lanuti is responsible for digital innovation and product development, working closely with all agencies to scale and build performance-driven offerings in areas such as social media, content marketing, creative, influencer marketing, media relations, SEO and commerce. Prior to OPRG, Erin spent nine years at Publicis, driving integrated marketing and digital transformation across MSLGROUP and Performics. She developed and scaled a suite of global performance marketing solutions including Conversation2Commerce, a solution that linked PR to a measurable business impact across brand lift and sales. She has been awarded “Innovator of the Year” by the International Business Awards, “Digital 40 over 40” by Campaign Magazine and added to the prestigious “Innovator 25” by the Holmes Report.

Michael Lasky

Founder and Chair of the Public Relations Practice Group, Davis+Gilbert

Michael is the founder and chair of the Davis+Gilbert’s Public Relations Practice Group, the only legal practice group in the country devoted to meeting the needs of public relations and marketing communications firms.

Michael is proud to represent many of the fastest growing public relations firms in the U.S and those seeking to enter the U.S. He and his colleagues work closely with clients to design strategies, programs, and agreements to enhance profitability and growth. Michael prides himself on his ability to counsel clients to help them achieve their business objectives and implement best practices in legal and risk management.

Michael helped form the PR Council over 20 years ago and continues to serve as its legal counsel. He also serves as legal counsel for the Arthur Page Society and collaborates with other industry trade associations, including the American Marketing Association and the Public Relations Society of America. Michael is widely recognized as a thought leader in the marketing communications and public relations industry, working with clients to implement best practices throughout their organizations, both anticipating and responding to the legal and business changes affecting the industry.

Michael is also co-chair of Davis+Gilbert’s Litigation + Dispute Resolution department, where he devotes a significant portion of his practice to advising executives and owners of service sector companies on their employment, shareholder and incentive compensation arrangements and disputes. He is also regarded as an expert in the areas of restrictive covenants and the movement of talent between competitive organizations.

Michael is an honors graduate of Rutgers College and Rutgers University School of Law, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of Rutgers University Law Review. He also serves on boards of a host of professional, educational and charitable organizations, including Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, the leading legal aid and education organization dedicated to New York artists, and cultural institutions.

Carol Levine

Co-Founder, CEO, energi PR

Carol is regarded as a public relations and marketing communications expert and thought leader in Canada and internationally through her decades-long career. In 1990 she co-founded energi PR seeing it grow into a national, independently owned bilingual consulting firm with a presence in Toronto and Montreal and a network of professionals across the country.

Past Chair of the Canadian Council of Public Relations Firms, Carol advocates passionately on the role and value of PR as a strategic management function. She is a prolific blogger on PR, communications, entrepreneurship, and healthcare, and is sought out by the C-suite to support corporate reidentification, institutional and individual image building and issues and crisis management. 

Carol credits some of the most recognizable consumer brands as clients, including P&G, AVON, Hilton International, ADT, Berlitz, McGill University and Burger King. Her core expertise however lies in healthcare communication. She leads a team of senior healthcare communicators, producing award-winning programs in the pharmaceutical, biotech, medical device, institutional, professional, and not-for-profit area. Her experience includes counsel to Astellas Pharma Canada, Bausch Health, Pfizer, Janssen, TEVA

Innovation, ViiV Healthcare, ORCAM and the International Federation of Aging, among others. 

energi PR is the sole Canadian affiliate of GLOBALHealthPR, the world’s largest network of independently owned public relations agencies specialized in consumer wellness and medical science communications with partners in more than 40 offices in 17 countries including Asia Pacific, Europe, US, and Latin America.   

Carol is a graduate of McGill University. A trailblazer, she is the only PR professional inducted into the Canadian Healthcare Marketing Hall of Fame. 

Avra Lorrimer

Executive Vice President, H+K New York

Executive Vice President for Hill+Knowlton Strategies’ New York market, Avra recently returned to the US after 12 years living in the UK, including seven at H+K London where she led the consumer packaged goods sector and was the WPP PR lead for Ford of Europe. Avra previously worked at Edelman and Ogilvy Public Relations. Her work has received industry recognition, including a D&AD pencil for PR, PRWeek’s Hall of Femme, Drum Marketing’s Global Brand Strategy of the Year, Marketing Week’s Purpose Beyond Profit award and a shortlist at Cannes Lion in Creative Data.

Mark Martin

Executive Vice President, Technology Sector, WE Communications

Bob Martineau

Senior Partner, FINN Partner

Bob Martineau, senior partner, FINN Partners, is a champion for our planet’s health and therefore ours.  He has dedicated his career to environmental and public health issues as a leader at the Environmental Protection Agency headquarters guiding regulatory initiatives to reduce the impact of air pollution on public health and the environment.  From national to regional community policy leadership positions to benefit local communities, he served as commissioner responsible for the state environmental agency and protection of the state parks and natural areas.  Tackling priority public health efforts, he led efforts to address coal ash impoundments, clean up contaminated landfills, increase recycling and reuse and increase energy efficiency and greater use of renewable energy across the state. At FINN, Bob is a voice for global ecohealth.

Beth Monaghan

CEO, Inkhouse

Beth is the CEO of Inkhouse, which she co-founded in 2007 and has grown into one of the top-ranked agencies in the country. Beth’s been recognized as one of the Top Women in PR by PR News, as one of the Top 25 Innovators by The Holmes Report, and as an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist.

Beth believes in culture as a business model. When people can come as they are, creativity and innovation follow. She has implemented workplace policies such as an email ban between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m., 10-year anniversary sabbaticals, and work from home Fridays to create space for perspective. Additionally, through the “Inkies” storytelling events and the book of employee essays, Hindsight 2020, Beth works to create a culture of creative skills development that also builds community.

A writer and compulsive reader, Beth believes stories can effect change. She designed Inkhouse’s Storytelling Workshop, which identifies the emotional connections and narratives that spark curiosity about new ideas, products and groups. She launched GoodInk to help companies connect their values and their work. And she is building Inkhouse’s integrated PR offerings to create digital doorways to the complex ideas that will move the world forward.

Outside of the office, Beth believes that economic growth and cultural progress are contingent on social equity. She has been part of the successful efforts to pass paid family leave, equal pay and transgender rights laws in Massachusetts, and has testified at the U.S. Capitol and the U.S. Department of Labor. She served as board chair for The Alliance for Business Leadership, sits on Eastern Bank’s Board of Corporators and on the Advisory Council for the ERA Coalition.

Beth studied PR, creative writing, music, and journalism at Syracuse University and graduated from its S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. She lives in the Boston area with her husband and two children.

Jessica Nerren

Lecturer in Communication Studies, California State University, San Bernadino

Professor Jessica Nerren is a public relations, marketing, and photography professional with 18+ years of experience as the president of her own public relations firm, Felten Media Services. In this capacity, she serves as PR and Marketing Director for an Irvine-based law firm with offices throughout California and was the publicist for Autism Speaks Southern California for many years. At CSUSB, Professor Nerren teaches classes in Public Relations and Strategic Communication at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

In the community, Professor Nerren is heavily involved in the autism nonprofit and behavioral health community with past and current service: on the Autism Speaks Parent Advisory Board to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, on the executive committee of the Riverside County Special Education Local Plan Area as Public Information Officer and Legislative Chair, as a founding board member of The Miracle Project national nonprofit, as the communications chair of the Los Angeles, Orange County, Santa Barbara and San Diego Autism Speaks Walks, and on the Stakeholder Committee and Diversity Special Interest Group for CalABA, the state governing body for behavior analysts in the State of California providing services to individuals with autism and other developmental and behavioral needs.

Drew O’Brien

President, Direct Impact

Andrew O’Brien is President of Direct Impact (DI). In this capacity, O’Brien is responsible for building DI’s offerings, growing its client base, and overseeing talent management. He works across the BCW Group of companies to develop a comprehensive suite of offerings for clients that need grassroots, lobbying, and policy solutions as part of their reputation efforts. O’Brien also serves as lead for BCW's business in Boston and throughout the Northeast region.

O’Brien has extensive experience in the public sector. He served as a senior adviser for more than a decade to former Secretary of State John Kerry and was his Special Representative for Global Partnerships at the U.S. Department of State. Under O’Brien’s leadership and with the engagement of across-section of private companies and NGOs, the Office of Global Partnerships played a major role in the U.S. Water Partnership, the Secretary’s Our Oceans Conference, the Global Entrepreneurship Summit and the U.S. response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa in 2014.

Before this, O’Brien’s roles included serving as State Director and Senior Advisor to then-U.S. Senator John Kerry, Special Assistant to Mayor Thomas M. Menino of Boston, Executive Director of Mayor Menino’s Office of Neighborhood Services, Special Assistant to the Director of the Boston Redevelopment Authority, Chief of Staff to the Massachusetts State Lottery Commission and Deputy Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Boston. O’Brien has also worked on political campaigns at the local, state and national levels, including in several capacities during Kerry’s 2004 presidential run.

Additionally, O'Brien has lectured on politics and government at colleges and universities in Massachusetts and throughout the country. In 2007, O’Brien was named one of the Boston’s “Ten Outstanding Young Leaders” by the Boston Jaycees and in 2009 he was named one of Massachusetts' “Top Ten Political Operatives” by Campaigns and Elections Magazine. O’Brien was the recipient of the Chancellor’s Medal from the University of Massachusetts Medical School for work in response to the 2010 Haiti earthquake and in January of 2017, he was presented with the State Department’s Distinguished Service Award by Secretary Kerry.

Andrew O’Brien holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and a Master of Public Administration degree from Northeastern University.

Jim O’Leary

U.S. Chief Operating Officer & Corporate Affairs Practice Chair, Edelman

Jim O’Leary advises CEOs and Fortune 500 executives on how to navigate complex business, social and geopolitical challenges. As U.S. Chief Operating Officer and Chair of Edelman's largest practice, Corporate Affairs, Jim leads strategy, large clients and operations for Edelman in the United States. He also oversees a national business unit comprising advisory services, corporate reputation and business marketing teams across the country. His clients have included FedEx, Mitsubishi, General Electric, Hewlett-Packard and Lockheed Martin, among others.

Jim is an expert in corporate communications, analytics-driven marketing and business transformation. He has helped company leaders across multiple industries integrate mergers, separate conglomerates and successfully reposition in the market.

In 2018, Jim led the development and launch of Edelman’s Business Transformation line of business and in 2019, he launched Edelman’s new Behavioral Science offering in partnership with researchers from Harvard Business School. In 2020, Jim launched Edelman’s first-in-the-industry capability in communications technology, known as CommsTech, as well as Edelman’s Disinformation Shield offering, which helps companies monitor the “grey web” for disinformation and combat it with transparency and fact-based communications campaigns.

Prior to joining Edelman, Jim was a communications leader and spokesman for Honeywell. He was recognized in PRWeek’s Dashboard 25 Class of 2021 as one of the most innovative professionals in the industry. He was previously named to PR Week’s “40 Under 40” in 2014.

Maja Pawinska Sims

Associate Editor, Provoke Media

Maja Pawinska Sims has been the EMEA editor of PRovoke Media since January 2018. She has been writing about public relations and communications for 22 years, first as features editor of PRWeek and then as a freelance writer and editor for PR agencies and their clients around the world, including three years as Weber Shandwick’s EMEA editor. She was named Journalist of the Year at the Global Women in Marketing Awards in 2019, where the judges noted: “Maja proves how empathy can drive brilliant editorial thinking. She is clearly an absolute expert in her field and proves that you can challenge an industry while also championing it.”

Emily Poe

Group President, Integrated Communications, Real Chemistry

Emily Poe is Group President of Real Chemistry’s Integrated Communications business unit, which supports more than 150 healthcare companies, providers and nonprofit organizations.  She brings more than two decades of healthcare and scientific communications to her work.  Her expertise spans US, global, corporate and product communications, social media, advocacy relations and digital marketing initiatives. Over the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, she has overseen teams that have brought to life new COVID-19 diagnostics, treatments, and vaccines, and worked to engage underrepresented and disproportionately impacted groups in covid confidence initiatives.

Paul Quigley

Co-Founder and CEO , NewsWhip

Paul Quigley is CEO of NewsWhip, a technology that monitors and predicts news engagement in real time. NewsWhip is used each day by thousands of journalists and communicators to predict news, unpack crises and issues, and better understand which stories are engaging audiences in 80 countries. It is backed by the Associated Press, and counts major news organizations, Fortune 500 Brands and global NGOs as clients.

Before founding NewsWhip, Paul was an attorney based in New York City. He holds law degrees from New York University and Trinity College Dublin. He is interested in how new media formats and technologies change how we live and relate.

He is a winner of the Emerging EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award, the Eir Spider Awards, and the PRovoke Innovator 25.

Aaron Radelet

Senior Vice President and Global Chief Communications Officer, Walgreens Boots Alliance

Aaron Radelet oversees all communications globally across the organization – externally, internally and for every brand. His team’s responsibilities include media relations, employee communications, executive communications, financial communications, digital communications, corporate-responsibility communications and corporate events.

Previously, Radelet served as Hilton Worldwide’s Chief Communications Officer and Senior Vice President, as well as Vice President of Global Communications. He headed communications at the corporate level across Hilton’s 14 brands and 5,000 properties in 105 countries during the company’s unprecedented growth. At Sprint Nextel, he led the communications for the entertainment division, and at AOL Time Warner, Radelet successfully announced the new AOL for Mac OS X, as well as initiatives with other AOL Time Warner divisions such as HBO, TNT and Time Warner Cable.

Aarti Shah

Chief Product Officer/Executive Editor, Provoke Media

Aarti oversees several products within PRovoke Media's portfolio of editorial and events, including the Innovator 25 - North America, the Influence 100 and the Innovation Summit San Francisco, among others. She has leadership roles across the Holmes Report's global portfolio including for news, features and events. More recently, she has taken on additional responsibilities overseeing the company's revenue generating initiatives. 

Prior to joining PRovoke Media, Aarti spent three years at the tech PR boutique March Communications working on clients across the US, Europe and Asia. This experience gives her invaluable perspective into the tumult the PR industry is now experiencing, especially when it comes to modernizing services/offerings against client demands. Before this, she spent three years as PRWeek’s West Coast bureau chief, leading the publication’s breaking news and coverage of the Silicon Valley PR scene.

As a journalist, she has also spent time covering military policy and affairs in Washington DC, as well as contributing features to Inc Magazine, Austin-American Statesman, North Carolina’s News & Observer, among other publications.

Helen Shelton

Global Chief Diversity Officer, Finn Partners

Helen is a communications strategist with particular expertise in creating impactful platforms and programs that address the needs and interests of diverse communities.  She serves as a trusted point of counsel for corporations and brands facing DE&I challenges and crises both internally and externally.

At Finn Partners, Helen also oversees the agency’s award-winning Diversity Equity and Inclusion program, Actions Speak Louder. Helen has worked tirelessly in the industry not only to responsibly promote client products and services spanning the health, technology, consumer, automotive, spirits and wine sectors, but also to advance important causes, ranging from adult education and housing, arts and culture, voter registration, disparate unemployment, health disparities and disease awareness initiatives.

Named one of the 25 Most Influential Black Women in Business by The Network Journal magazine, Helen is a Board Member of the New York Urban League, and was recently inducted into PR Week’s Hall of Femme. Helen is a graduate of Dartmouth College, and holds an M.S. degree from Boston University. She is also one of 40 PR executives of color featured in the seminal book, Diverse Voices and regularly writes about multicultural marketing and DEI in industry trades, including PR News , Triple Pundit, PR Week and BusinessWire.

Arun Sudhaman

CEO/Editor-in-Chief, PRovoke Media

Arun Sudhaman is CEO and editor-in-chief at PRovoke Media.

In this role Arun oversees PRovoke Media's global content offering, including its analysis and insight into reputation, public relations and communications trends and issues. Since joining PRovoke Media in 2010, Arun has comprehensively redefined the title’s content platform, which includes its digital presence and new products such as the Influence 100 compendium of key global influencers, the Global PR Agency Rankings, the Global Creative Index, and the PRovoke Media podcast. He also led the rebrand of the Holmes Report to PRovoke Media in 2020.

Arun has also played a pivotal role expanding PRovoke Media's coverage into Asia-Pacific and other emerging markets, and has helped steer the company’s international events programme, particularly the Global Public Relations Summit — which has featured such luminaries as Sir Martin Sorrell, P&G’s Marc Pritchard, Chuck Porter and IBM’s Jon Iwata. 

He brings to the position more than a decade’s experience as a journalist and digital content specialist, most of which has been spent analysing the media, marketing and communications industries. His career has encompassed coverage and analysis of reputation and leadership issues in numerous countries across the world, including the US and UK, Russia, China, India and South Africa. 

Prior to joining the Holmes Report, Arun spent more than seven years with Haymarket Media in Hong Kong, Singapore and London. He joined Haymarket title PRWeek UK in January 2009, after covering Asia’s media and marketing landscape at sister Haymarket title Campaign Asia-Pacific in Hong Kong and Singapore. 

Before Haymarket, Arun spent one year at public relations firm Weber Shandwick during its tumultuous mergers with Weber and BSMG. During his career as a journalist he has appeared on BBC News and has also contributed to The Guardian and the South China Morning Post, where he began his career as a business reporter.

In 2015, Arun became the youngest-ever inductee into the ICCO Hall of Fame.

Lisa Sullivan

Partner, Managing Director, Technology Industry, Ketchum

Matthew Swift

Co-Founder & CEO, Concordia

Matthew Swift is the Co-Founder & CEO of Concordia. Since its inception in 2011, Matthew has grown Concordia into a reputable and impactful nonpartisan organization dedicated to actively creating, elevating, and sustaining cross-sector partnerships for positive social impact.

Matthew’s passion for entrepreneurship, global affairs, and collaboration has led to Concordia being recognized as the preeminent global hub for cross-sector partnerships. Under the leadership of Matthew and his business partner, Nicholas Logothetis, Concordia has hosted numerous global summits and practitioner-level convenings. Concordia has now held eleven Annual Summits in New York City, with the most recent held in September 2021. The Concordia Annual Summit is the largest and most inclusive nonpartisan forum alongside the UN General Assembly. Concordia has also held regional summits in Miami, Bogotá, Athens, Madrid, and London. Matthew has brought together an impressive group of international leaders to serve on Concordia’s Leadership Council, which is comprised of Heads of State from around the world and top CEOs from multinational corporations.

Prior to establishing Concordia, Matthew spent six years in the media industry, holding positions within News Corporation and its subsidiaries, Fox News Channel, British Sky Broadcasting, and the New York Post. He has also spent considerable time on Capitol Hill, working for Senator John Warner of Virginia and the Business Roundtable.

Matthew is a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Matthew is a Senior Executive Advisor to SAS and a Senior Advisor to Rubicon. He serves as an Advisory Council Member to the Inter-American Foundation and he is an Air Mobility Command Civic Leader with the United States Air Force. He sits on the board of the Seleni Institute.

Matthew holds a bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University.

Jay Wang

Director, USC Center on Public Diplomacy

A scholar and consultant in the fields of strategic communication and public diplomacy, Jay Wang is Director of the USC Center on Public Diplomacy and an Associate Professor at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. He previously worked for the international consulting firm McKinsey & Company, where he advised clients on matters of communication strategy and implementation across a variety of industries and sectors. Dr. Wang has written widely on the role of communication in the contemporary process of globalization. He is co-editor of the newly published book Debating Public Diplomacy: Now and Next, and the author of Nation Branding at the World Expo: Shaping China’s Global Imagination and several other books. He serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Communication. At the USC Center on Public Diplomacy, he has led successful partnerships on research and training with a wide range of organizations on topics, including soft power in global affairs, U.S. public diplomacy and national security, digital advocacy, and public diplomacy performance and evaluation.