Jan. 29 - Randall smith

Associate Brand Director - Procter & Gamble

Randall Smith has been developing advertising for almost 30 years around the world for some of the world’s greatest brands including two campaigns in Ad Age Magazine’s “Top 15 campaigns of the 21st century.”   In his current role at Procter & Gamble, he supports the Gillette and Secret brands as well as P&G’s “Thank You Mom” Olympic Campaign.

Whether at agencies in the US, Europe and Asia with clients like General Mills, J&J, and Samsung or on the client side including his almost 15 years at P&G, Randall has been committed to the development of brand building advertising. His work for Polaroid, Old Spice, Pampers, Gillette, and the Olympics has received extensive industry recognition including:  The Grand Ogilvy Award, AICP Best Of Show, Penta Pencil, 2 Emmy awards as well as over 15 Effies and 40 Cannes Lions.

Feb. 12 - Chris Marino

Director, Global Social Media Strategy - American Express

Chris Marino is the Director of Global Social Media Strategy for American Express OPEN, a division dedicated to serving businesses. His team is focused on developing thumb stopping social first creative fueled by audience insights to drive brand reappraisal and consideration. Chris is a data driven marketer with a passion for quantifying the impact that brands are having through digital experiences.

In his six years at American Express, he has worked in a variety of cross-functional capacities including Finance, Marketing and Strategy.

Feb. 21 - Abbey Klaassen

CMO - 360i

Abbey oversees 360i's marketing, PR, and business development initiatives, shaping the agency's global industry reputation and developing new and existing client partnerships. She is deeply involved in the agency's newly formalized Amazon Marketing capability, which helps brands capitalize on change in an increasingly Amazon-dominated world.

Abbey joined 360i from its parent company Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN), where she served as Director of Corporate Strategy Development for the Americas. 

Prior to joining DAN, Abbey spent a decade at Advertising Age where she rose to the position of Associate Publisher. She spearheaded the launch of Ad Age Digital, transforming the outlet into a digitally led news source for advertisers and marketers. 

Abbey is a widely respected industry thought leader who has erved on many juries - Ad Age Small Agency Awards, Ad Age A-List Awards, Effie Awards, SABEW Business Journalism Awards and Creativity A-List - and spoken at major conferences - Ad Age Digital, Advertising Week, Business Insider Ignition, dmexco and more. Abbey holds a Journalism degree from Iowa's Drake University. 

Mar. 22 - Jon Cook

Global CEO - VML

A driving force at VML for 20 years, Jon has served as global CEO since 2011. During Jon’s tenure at VML, the agency has grown from 30 employees in Kansas City, Missouri, to more than 2,500 on six continents. He embodies the agency's primary objective — to be the leading strategic partner for the world’s most forward-thinking brands. Jon helped guide VML to Advertising Age’s 2016 A-List honors, which recognizes the industry’s top 10 agencies.

VML serves some of the world's most recognized and respected brands, including Bridgestone, Colgate-Palmolive, Ford, Kellogg, PepsiCo, Wendy’s and many more. Jon was recognized as the Advertising Professional of the Year by the American Advertising Federation (AAF-KC) and serves on the National Advisory Board of the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial in Kansas City, Missouri. Jon is a proud graduate of the University of Missouri with a Bachelor of Science in journalism.

Mar. 29 - Tom Murphy

Co-Chief Creative Officer - McCann, NY

He and his partner have led at the agency through a period of creative rebirth. From the iconic State Street Fearless Girl to Cigna’s TV Doctors of America, their work is famous for its ability to impact culture.

McCann was the most awarded North American agency at Cannes in 2016 and 2017. They were 2017 Agency of the Year at the One Show, Andy’s, Clio’s, LIAA, and New York Festivals. They were recently named Adweek’s Agency of the Year.

Tom graduated from Syracuse in 1994 with a BFA. An art director by trade, Tom has been at McCann since 2005. He is a devout believer in the power of creativity.

Apr. 9 - Ryan Parkhurst

General Manager - AKQA, NY

AKQA is a cutting-edge agency focusing on “Innovation and Design” that has earned many accolades from top advertising awards including Cannes Lions, One Show and others. 

As General Manager of AKQA NYC, Ryan is responsible for the overall success of the agency's New York Studio.  His focus is on building a culture that attracts and nurtures the industry’s best talent, clients and work. Prior to this role, Ryan led AKQA’s New York Strategy practice and has worked across traditional and digital marketing for more than a decade, with over half of that dedicated to the digital space. Previously Ryan has held positions at Organic NY, Digitas NY and NYCA in San Diego.

Apr. 10 - Paul Vinod

Creative Director/Brand Innovator/Copywriter - Paulcansolve.com

A career spanning two continents at Ogilvy, Publicis, BBDO, 360i, Y&R and Havas, Paul has worked on global and national clients like P&G, Phillips, Gillette, Toyota, Unilever, CapitalOne, Citibank, Heineken, Reckitt, IBM, Colgate and others.

Paul co-founded a creative hybrid incubator at Havas Worldwide, which changed how ideas are created and made. He also co-founded a Roman pizza startup in Boston.

Paul’s brand consultancy – The Gravity Field, helps startups, organizations and companies create unique and profitable business models based on their DNA. He speaks on creativity and innovation at various companies and industry events, including the One Club, South-Asian Advertising forums, universities and colleges.

‘Walk with Paul’ is a thing he does in NYC. He helps you solve, while you walk with him.

Apr. 17 - Leslie Sims

Chief Creative Officer - Y&R, NY

Y&R is one of the iconic and largest global agencies with 189 offices in 93 countries.