EP250: Rich Shea, President, Shea Communications and President, Major League Eating

Just in time for the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest festivities at the corner of Surf & Stillwell on July 4th, we’re please to present this incredible discussion with Rich Shea, President of Major League Eating.

Richard Shea has an extensive background in corporate communications, media relations and event production. For 20 years, he has developed and implemented integrated communications programs that incorporate public relations, live events, paid media and social media. Richard has conceived and developed powerful marketing campaigns for national clients, including BING and Netflix, and he acts as a spokesperson for various businesses in major print, online and digital outlets. He is recognized for his expertise in crisis communications.

EP249: Ben Jeffries, CEO & Co-founder, Influencer

Ben Jeffries is the 27-year-old CEO of Influencer, a global influencer marketing solution, focused on providing global advertisers with the ability to succeed on social media. Influencer’s mission is to build meaningful relationships between creators and brands, whilst making advertising effective, but more importantly inclusive. Influencer works with a number of global brands such as P&G, offering guaranteed results by combining strategic creativity, insights and technology.

Ben is an award-winning entrepreneur, with awards from Forbes 30 Under 30 to BMW Entrepreneur of the Year, and has previously spoken at global events such as Cannes Lions, Web Summit, Facebook, TikTok, Advertising Week and Social Media Week, plus many more.

EP247: Suki Thompson and Jazmyn Thompson of Let’s Reset

On this very special episode of Great Minds, we feature Suki Thompson, Founder and CEO at Let’s Reset and Co-Founder of Oystercatchers (as well as host of Reset, the podcast, in partnership with Advertising Week), along with her daughter Jazmyn Thompson, Senior Psychological Wellbeing Practitioner (PWP) at Hertfordshire Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust (HPFT).

EP246: Ian Sohn, North American CEO, Iris

Ian is the North American CEO for Iris, a global creative innovation network. He previously served as President and Chief Client Officer of Hawkeye; CEO of Wunderman Thompson Central; Managing Director of SapientRazorfish Chicago; Executive Vice President of Digital and Social at Ogilvy & Mather Chicago; and global partnership lead for a division of Nokia.

EP245: Dina Meyers, Head of New Markets and Business Development, Lighthouse Immersive

Entrepreneurial, highly organized entertainment and production executive with extensive live entertainment and event management experience within highly competitive markets. Creative professionals and businesses seek Dina’s guidance and knowledge because she can provide top-class event planning by utilizing her expert project management skills and employing her solid track record of success managing client satisfaction and training teams to achieve demanding goals.

Dina shares her career journey on this latest episode of Great Minds.

EP244: Jon Patricof, CEO and Co-Founder, Athletes Unlimited

Jon Patricof is CEO and Co-Founder of Athletes Unlimited, a network of professional sports leagues. Launched in March 2020, Athletes Unlimited now operates leagues in pro women’s softball, volleyball, lacrosse, and basketball. In 2022, the company will conduct over 120 games that will be broadcast to over 150 countries.

Before founding Athletes Unlimited, Patricof served as president of Major League Soccer’s New York City Football Club, where he currently serves on the board of directors. Prior to NYCFC, Patricof spent 11 years as a member of the board, President and COO of Tribeca Enterprises, the owner and operator of the Tribeca Film Festival and related business ventures. Among his accomplishments was the creation of the Tribeca/ESPN Sports Film Festival as well as the company’s landmark branded content partnerships with Dick’s Sporting Goods and American Express.

Throughout his career, Jon has been involved in driving revenue and expanding operations. At Tribeca, he helped expand the company from film into branded entertainment and sports as well as the company’s JV with Lionsgate and international partnerships in the Middle East and Asia. Prior to Tribeca, he worked in media private equity prior to which he worked in Corporate Strategic Planning at Disney helping grow the Disney, ESPN and ABC brands across video, audio and digital platforms. His first job was at Forest City Ratner at the inception of the Atlantic Yards development (future site of Barclays Center); he worked on Dean Kamen’s Segway project and with Harvard Prof. Michael Porter’s Initiative for a Competitive Inner City.

EP243: Sheri Bachstein, CEO, The Weather Company

Sheri Bachstein is a formative strategic thinker who diagnoses complex problems and rapidly creates solutions in a high-pressure environment. As a turnaround expert, she quickly assesses a situation, see multi-dimensional perspectives and make fast, targeted changes for immediate wins. Sheri joins Great Minds to discuss her career path.

EP242: Linda Boff, CMO and VP, Learning and Culture, and President, GE Foundation

Linda is GE’s Chief Marketing Officer, Vice President, Learning and Culture and President, GE Foundation. She oversees global marketing, brand, content, digital, and sponsorships, while also managing GE’s global learning and GE’s philanthropic arm. She also co-leads the GE Women’s Network. Having marketing, learning and philanthropy tied together opens many opportunities to expand and show GE’s impact on the world.

Linda brings a strategic mindset, global perspective, and expertise in communicating with our key stakeholders. Under Linda’s leadership, GE’s marketing campaigns and fresh approach to media technology and content have driven strong results in global brand growth and recruitment efforts. GE has been recognized as AdWeek’s hottest digital marketer and won a coveted Cannes Grand Prix Award in 2016.

Passionate about all things digital and the future of media and communications, Linda is recognized as one of today’s most influential marketing executives. She was named 2017 AdWeek Grand Brand Genius and is a 2016 Matrix Award winner among other accolades. Linda is a past Chair of The Ad Council and a member of the ANA Executive Committee and Marketing 50.

EP239: Dan Boever, Professional Golf Entertainer

Dan Boever has been a full time corporate and charity golf entertainer since 2000 with 1800+ personal appearances around the world. His clients have included Bank of America, Microsoft, TD Ameritrade, McDonalds, Citgo, AT&T, Sprint, Pepsi, Yahoo!, Make A Wish, MGM Grand, Marriott Hotels, PGA Tour. Dan has made 18 consecutive trips to the RE/MAX World Long Drive Championship including a World Title.

EP238: Tanya Woods, Chief Impact Officer & Head of Partnerships, Project In-Kind

Tanya Woods is a dynamic, future-forward leader with entrepreneurial edge and successful track record advancing government and industry partnerships to deliver strategic results at scale. Sought out to provide executive-level strategic legal and policy counsel, visionary foresight, navigation on complex legal and systemic challenges, and to deliver success with triple bottom line benefits. Especially skilled at systems thinking, translating complex business, legal and economic risks into simple language, and executing fast-paced, high-impact projects that achieve desired outcomes for all sizes of companies and organizations. Passionate about advising on and implementing projects and technologies that will make a positive and innovative impact in the world.

Launched at the World Economic Forum in 2020, Project In-Kind is an inclusive global philanthropic and social impact movement leveraging in-kind giving, technology and partnerships to help communities and meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This is the world’s first-ever tech-supported global in-kind giving movement to enable and measure 1 billion in-kind donations from businesses, government, and citizens by 2030 and help non-profits and charities use contributions of skills, services and goods to help their communities.

EP237: Peter Schube, Founder and President, Ladder & Light

Peter Schube, Ladder & Light’s founding principal, is an entertainment and corporate executive with broad and deep experience across all areas of the media industry, including the production and distribution of television programming, feature films, and digital/mobile content.

Previously, Peter served as Chief Operating Officer for Illumination Entertainment (Despicable Me, Minions, The Secret Life of Pets, Sing franchises), overseeing business strategy and all core business operations for the company, including Illumination MacGuff, its 800+ person animation studio in Paris. Prior to Illumination, Mr. Schube spent nearly three decades at The Jim Henson Company, including the last 13 years as President and Chief Operating Officer. There, he was responsible for the worldwide operations of the company’s businesses, including its distribution, sales and marketing, finance, H/R, and administration functions, as well as the company’s Academy Award® winning Creature Shop. Prior to serving as President, he was the company’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel, where he supervised an international staff of 10 lawyers and support personnel as head of the company’s worldwide business and legal affairs functions.

EP236: Marla Kaplowitz, President & CEO, 4A’s

Bringing 30 years of industry experience in marketing and communications, Marla joined the 4A’s in May 2017 to help define and shape the future focus for the association. Under her leadership, the 4A’s helps empower members to drive commerce, spark connections, and shape culture through infinite creativity all while moving the industry forward.

As the former CEO of MEC North America, beginning in 2011, Marla drove the agency’s strategic initiatives with a focus on delivering growth for its people, clients and the industry. Marla led MEC to become a major disruptor in the area of talent management with its innovative approaches to attracting, nurturing and retaining the industry’s top talent. MEC NA was cited in Fortune’s “Great Places to Work” feature and was named in Advertising Age’s “Best Places to Work in Advertising and Marketing” in 2015.

Prior to joining MEC, Marla spent 12 years at MediaVest, where she oversaw the Procter & Gamble Communications Planning assignment for North America, and previously managed a multi-client team. Marla began her career at DMB&B before moving to Ammirati Puris Lintas. Marla serves on the Boards of The Ad Council, AEF (ANA Educational Foundation), BBB National Programs, Digital Advertising Alliance (DAA), Trustworthy Accountability Group (TAG), and General Assembly’s Marketing Standards.

EP235: Bob Liodice, CEO, ANA

Bob Liodice is chief executive officer of the ANA. He previously served as executive vice president, responsible for member relations and business development with a primary focus on strengthening relationships with ANA member companies and broadening the membership base. Bob joined the ANA as senior vice president in 1995.

Prior to the ANA, he was vice president of global marketing and sales for Grupo Televisa, a major worldwide broadcaster. His previous experience includes more than 15 years in marketing and financial management at Kraft General Foods and tenure as category marketing manager for the Jell-O and Bakers brands.

He is a member of the boards of directors of The Advertising Council, Better Business Bureau National Partner Program, Geopath, Advertising Educational Foundation, Digital Advertising Alliance, Trustworthy Accountability Group, and World Federation of Advertisers.

He is co-chair of the ANA Alliance for Inclusive and Multicultural Marketing, chair of the Privacy for America coalition, and he serves on the governing bodies of the Partnership for Responsible Addressable Media and the Global Alliance for Responsible Media.

Bob holds bachelor degrees in accounting and management and an M.B.A. in finance from New York University.

EP234: Jon Wilkins, Executive Chairman, Karmarama

Jon joined Accenture Song as the Executive Chairman of Karmarama – a role he has held since 2014. In his position he now leads client conversations around experience and works extensively in the marketing and communications space.

Prior to joining Accenture Song, John’s 30 plus years of experience in advertising and marketing were spent at ITV, MTV Europe, Disney, BMP DDB, and PHD (part of Omnicom). He also founded and launched Naked Communications in 16 markets globally, trailblazing joined up thinking across legacy and digital channels, and advising global marketers on modern communication strategies to engage with customers.

Jon is a regular speaker at the World Federation of Advertisers, Cannes Lions, SXSW amongst others.

EP233: Maryam Banikarim, Marketing Industry Veteran and Co-Founder, NYCNext

Maryam is a marketing industry veteran who has led and infused purpose into some of the world’s top brands including Hyatt, Gannett, NBC, and most recently, Nextdoor. As a co-founder of NYCNext, Maryam mobilized a volunteer army of 700 passionate New Yorkers to incite both action and optimism—by way of pop-up performance events throughout the city’s five boroughs, supporting the city’s performing arts community by doing it. Featured cultural institutions included the Metropolitan Opera, stars from Broadway, Central Park, Times Square, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others. NYCNext’s activities ultimately culminated in a love letter to the city in the form of a music video re-imagining Billy Joel’s iconic “New York State of Mind,” featuring a diverse group of talent that included Idina Menzel, Stephen Colbert, Sara Bareilles, and many others.

EP232: Rob Perry, Founder & CEO, XOMAD

Rob Perry is the Founder & CEO of XOMAD, an influencer-led marketing agency founded in 2010. While representing athletes (50% of his time on Michael Jordan), Rob recognized the power of social influencers to set trends and spike sales. Later he deployed global influencer strategies as President of Champion Footwear International. At XOMAD, Rob seeks to propel influencer marketing out of the scripted era, optimizing the ROI of large scale media buys with organic content created from powerful influencer campaigns. He has led XOMAD’s development of a proprietary technology platform that revolves around influencer creativity, trend-setting and group collaboration with programmatic-like audience targeting, while creating engaging brand campaigns for clients such as Clorox, Unilever, L’Oreal and Ocean Spray.

EP231: Shelly Palmer, Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at the Newhouse School of Public Communications, the CEO of The Palmer Group 

Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at
Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications,
CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500
companies with technology, media and marketing, and co-founder
of Metacademy, a free educational platform that teaches practical
applications of blockchain, crypto, NFTs, Web3, the metaverse.
Named LinkedIn’s “Top Voice in Technology,” he covers tech and
business for Fox 5’s Good Day New York, and is a regular commentator
on CNN and CNBC. He’s the co-host of the award-winning
podcast Techstream with Shelly Palmer & Seth Everett and he hosts
the Shelly Palmer #Web3Wednesday Livestream.

Shelly is a prolific author. Along with his daily newsletter, his books
include, the Amazon #1 Bestseller, Blockchain – Cryptocurrency, NFTs
& Smart Contracts: An executive guide to the world of decentralized
finance and Television Disrupted: The Transition from Network to
Networked TV, the seminal book about the technological, economic,
and sociological forces that have changing everything about the the
business of television, Overcoming the Digital Divide: How to use
Social Media and Digital Tools to Reinvent Yourself and Your Career,
and Digital Wisdom: Thought Leadership for a Connected World.

EP230: Nicole Lapin, News Anchor, Author, and Businesswoman

Nicole Lapin is the New York Times and Wall Street Journal Bestselling author of Rich Bitch, Boss Bitch, Becoming Super Woman and Miss Independent. Lapin has been an anchor on CNN, CNBC and Bloomberg. She is the founder of Money News Network, which is the home of her daily show “Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin” that reached #1 on Apple’s business charts.

EP227: Tiffany Xingyu Wang, Chief Marketing Officer, OpenWeb

Tiffany Xingyu Wang is the Chief Marketing Officer of OpenWeb. OpenWeb, which powers over 1,000 publishers and brands, is a comprehensive, Web3-ready solution designed to create trusted spaces for online conversation and build highly engaged communities.

An award-winning social entrepreneur and marketer, she champions trust, safety, and ethics in web3 development. She co-founded and serves as the President of the Oasis Consortium, a think tank that helps advance digital sustainability through ethical standards and technologies, which launched the first-ever User Safety Standards for the metaverse.