BrandSmart 2007 Speakers

Dr. Philip Kotler

Professor, International Marketing
Northwestern University Kellogg Graduate School of Management

Dr. Philip Kotler (M.A., University of Chicago, Ph.D., M.I.T.) is the S. C. Johnson Distinguished Professor of International Marketing at the Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University. He published his 12th edition of Marketing Management, the world’s leading textbook in teaching marketing to MBAs. He has also published Principles of Marketing, Strategic Marketing for Nonprofit Organizations, Marketing Places, Kotler on Marketing, Marketing Insights A to Z, Lateral Marketing, Social Marketing, Museum Strategies and Marketing, Standing Room Only, Corporate Social Responsibility, and thirty other books. His research covers strategic marketing, innovation, consumer marketing, business marketing, services marketing, distribution, e-marketing, and social marketing. Dr. Kotler has been a consultant to IBM, Bank of America, Merck, General Electric, Honeywell, and many other companies. He has received honorary doctorate degrees from ten major universities here and abroad.

Keynote Address: Are You a Brand-Run Company?

Randy Susan Wagner

Chief Marketing Officer
Orbitz

Speaker Topic: Branding Innovation to Deliver Customer Value

Brooks Boyer

Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer
Chicago White Sox

Speaker Topic: Driving Home-Run Branding from the Bottom Up

Rich Jernstedt

Chief Marketing Officer
Fleishman-Hillard

Rich Jernstedt is chief marketing officer, executive vice president and senior partner on the corporate staff with a focus on providing strategic counsel, strengthening client relationships, and supporting the firm's growth initiative. As CMO, he leads the development of strategies and activities designed to reinforce the company's reputation as the best public relations firm in the business. Mr. Jernstedt brings more than 35 years of experience in military public affairs, a corporate communications department, and agency work to his position at Fleishman-Hillard. He has provided strategic and creative counsel over the years to such category leaders as McDonald's Corporation, Campbell Soup Company, Florida Department of Citrus, Sara Lee Corporation, and Levi Strauss & Company. During his 26 years with GolinHarris, Mr. Jernstedt played an integral role in the firm's growth from a local Chicago agency to an international leader. He was CEO for 12 years and served as chairman. In the process, he built a strong reputation for his skills as a counselor and his ability to develop and lead successful integrated communications programs. One of the top strategic and tactical thinkers in the world of consumer branding and product marketing, Mr. Jernstedt has significant experience in such areas as crisis management, brand positioning, and reputation management. In addition to his years in public relations agencies, Mr. Jernstedt spent five years in the corporate marketing communications department of Container Corporation of America. He served for three years as a U.S. Navy public affairs officer on aircraft carriers with deployments to the Western Pacific and the Mediterranean. Mr. Jernstedt is a member of the Board of Directors of the Institute for Public Relations and The Arthur W. Page Society where he also serves as secretary. He is a founding member of the Board and former chairman of the Council of Public Relations Firms, and is a member of PRSA and IPRA. Mr. Jernstedt serves with other Chicago area senior executives on the Business Leadership Group of workforceChicago2.0 and the Boards of Off The Street Club and the Lincoln Park Zoo. He is a frequent speaker on agency management and communications strategies at professional meetings and university campuses around the world. A native Oregonian, Mr. Jernstedt is a graduate of the University of Oregon. He served on its Board of Trustees for eight years.

Speaker Topic: Corporate Branding and Reputation Management

Bob Bernstein

Senior Vice President & Director of Media
DraftFCB Chicago

Bob Bernstein heads up Draftfcb's Media Department in Chicago with extensive experience on Coors, Taco Bell, Hilton Hotels, John Deere, SC Johnson and more. Through his career, he's worked with several blue chip brands ranging from McDonald's and Anheuser-Busch theme parks to packaged goods with Frito-Lay snacks, Kraft cheese, and General Mills. Mr. Bernstein leads Draftfcb's Emerging Platform team that is charged with keeping the agency and clients on top of new media. He has also led Coors into several big, innovative properties including The Restaurant, Monday Night Football, Mobile ESPN, Survivor, and The Contender. He brought a "Meet the Press" 360 idea to NBC Universal that was executed for Boeing, developed an innovative ESPN deal for John Deere, and works closely with new client Taco Bell on many of their big properties. Outside the office, Mr. Bernstein is a Board Member of the National Sports Marketing Network in Chicago and Adjunct professor at North Park University.

Speaker Topic: New Media and Integrated Marketing

Curt Schreiber

Principal
VSA Partners

Curt Schreiber is a partner and a member of the board of directors of the Chicago-based design agency, VSA Partners, Inc. In addition to creative leadership and direction of VSA's cross-disciplinary teams, Curt participates in the long-term strategy of the 100-person firm, manages daily business in Chicago and co-manages the New York and Minneapolis offices. He currently leads VSA's work for such clients as IBM, Converse, Nike, and HUMMER, applying the multiple design disciplines of brand identity, packaging, corporate communications and interactive programs. Notable past client relationships include the Chicago Board of Trade, Coca-Cola, General Motors, Harley-Davidson, Harpo (Oprah) Productions and TimeWarner. Mr. Schreiber grew up in Davenport, Iowa and joined VSA in 1991 directly after receiving a BFA in Design from Iowa State University. His work has been recognized by more than 200 international design and communications organizations, publications and competitions, and is included in the permanent collection of the U.S. Library of Congress. He was a 2004 nominee for the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Awards. A passionate advocate of the arts in Chicago, Curt is a member of the Museum of Contemporary Art and The Art Institute of Chicago, as well as the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA). Outside of work, Mr. Schreiber spends much of his time with his wife, Martha, and their four children. He is also an avid motorcycle rider and art collector.

Speaker Topic: Brand Identity and Design

John Grace

Partner
Brand Taxi

John Grace is currently Managing Partner of BrandTaxi, a brand strategy consulting and design firm. BrandTaxi provides advice and design services to corporations from Fortune 100 to smaller companies and institutions where brands are important to growth. The firm's mission is to provide powerful insights that optimize value and result in measurable business growth. Prior to founding BrandTaxi, John was the Executive Director of Interbrand, the largest global brand-consulting firm with offices around the world. He was responsible for developing new strategic and marketing initiatives for the benefits of the firm's clients, as well as developing business both domestically and globally. Mr. Grace was Executive Vice President of Lippincott & Margulies, serving on the Executive Managing Committee and the Board of Directors. There he worked for a wide range of the firm's domestic and international clients solving complex branding and identity issues. Mr. Grace pioneered the concept behind Communications Architectures and Brand Architectures. He has fostered the thinking that there must be a simple-to-use yet flexible system behind large and complex brand arrays. These are made up of visual, verbal and structural elements, which must be organized to help large institutions and corporations successfully manage their brand image. Mr. Grace started his career at GREY Advertising working on a broad range of marketing and advertising challenges for that agency's largest clients. As a group management head, Mr. Grace brought synergistic communications solutions to clients, including integration of advertising, public relations, sales promotion, direct response and ethnic marketing. A graduate of Tufts University, Mr. Grace received an MBA with distinction from New York University's Stern School of Business. He is on the Board of Overseers of Tufts University and an Associate of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Speaker Topic: Brand Strategy

Mike Beirne

Senior Reporter
Brandweek

Moderator of 360 degree Point of View Panel

Eric Brinker

Director of Brand Management
JetBlue Airways

Eric Brinker joined the Marketing team at JetBlue Airways in 2001 a year after the airline began operations. Mr. Brinker joined JetBlue as Manager of Sales Development where he helped develop TrueBlue the airlines customer loyalty program as well as many of its' industry leading policies and procedures. Today, he is responsible for oversight of all brand management, product development and design as well as the customer experience. Prior to joining JetBlue Mr. Brinker worked for travel and hospitality conglomerate Cendant Corporation as Director of Relationship Marketing. He was born and raised in Dallas, Texas. He attended Bradley University in Peoria, IL, majoring in Communications. He credits his many years of waiting tables at Chili's as his best preparation to truly understanding customers needs.

Speaker Topic: The JetBlue Brand Experience - Bringing Humanity Back to Air Travel

Dustin Cohn

Director of Gatorade & Propel Innovations
Gatorade

Speaker Topic: Consumer Track - Building and Protecting the Essence of a Brand

Michael O'Malley

Director - External Marketing
Tellabs

Michael O'Malley is director, external marketing in Tellabs' global portfolio marketing group. In this role, he is responsible for application marketing, business case development, product and market segmentation across the entire Tellabs product portfolio. Previously, Mr. O'Malley held domestic and international marketing positions across Tellabs IP/MPLS, VOIP, SONET, DWDM, digital cross-connect and cable telephony products. Mr. O'Malley has more than 12 years of telecommunications industry experience and holds a Master of Business Administration degree, a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering and a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois.

Speaker Topic: B2B Track: How to Inspire New Life: Repositioning a Brand to Meet Changing Customer Needs

Steve Johnson

Senior Vice President & Partner
Slack Barshinger

Steve Johnson began his career in business-to-business marketing in 1989 when he joined Slack Barshinger as an intern. Working with clients such as The NutraSweet Company, Tetra Pak and the National Soft Drink Association, he had the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of business marketing firsthand while at the same time growing with the agency. Over the next nine years, he continued to be an advocate for his clients and helped develop business-building marketing programs for Illinova Energy Partners, Illinois Power, Favorite Brands International and Quest International. During this time, Mr. Johnson's responsibilities increased, and in the spring of 1996, he was promoted to vice president. In the fall of 1998, he left Slack Barshinger to take a client director position with The Grand Group, a consumer sales promotion agency in Chicago. While at The Grand Group, he led strategy and executed consumer promotions for leading companies, including Keebler, Crayola and Bank One. After a year and a half at The Grand Group, Mr. Johnson retuned to his business-to-business marketing roots and rejoined Slack Barshinger to provide strategic brand and lead-generation direction for clients such as Tellabs, Mastertaste and Hoffman Enclosures. Mr. Johnson added the title of Director of Client Services in 2003 and ensures that the staff of 18 account service professionals continues to exceed client expectations.

Cindy Hill

Director, Marketing, Openings
W Hotels Worldwide

Speaker Topic: Brand Immersion