Judging the IAB MIXX Awards

The coveted MIXX Awards is judged by an independent panel of highly acclaimed thought leaders in the advertising ecosystem—brand marketers with direct control over many of the largest advertising budgets in the country, major media company executives and advertising agency experts who create campaigns for the world's most powerful brands.

Intense scrutiny during the judging process ensures that winning campaigns truly reflect the industry’s best work and reward the creatives and brands successfully using innovation to push interactive campaigns to new levels. With two intensive phases of judging by some of the most demanding marketing executives, winning a MIXX Award is one of the most sought-after honors in interactive advertising.

Phase One
The screening committee—comprised of senior marketing professionals—individually evaluates and scores each submission. Every entry is evaluated by multiple screeners to ensure an accurate, thorough review. Submissions with the highest scores become the finalists for each category.

Phase Two
An independent panel of highly acclaimed representatives of the entire interactive advertising ecosystem—brand marketers, major media company executives and advertising agency experts—convenes in New York for sequestering and a day of intense debate with the goal of selecting the most innovative and impactful interactive work in each category and the best campaign overall which receives “Best in Show”. These winners are announced and recognized at the MIXX Awards Gala on September 22, 2009 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Times Square, in New York City

Information about the 2009 judges will be available soon.

The 2009 MIXX Awards judging panel includes:

Paul Alexander – Senior Vice President, Communications, Liberty Mutual Group
Maria Arbusto – Director, Digital Strategy, IBM Corporation
Lincoln Bjorkman – Executive Vice President, Executive Creative Director, Digitas New York
Doug Chavez – Senior Manager, Digital Marketing, Del Monte Foods
Andreas Combuechen – Chairman/Chief Executive Officer/Chief Creative Officer, Atmosphere Proximity
Jane Grenier – Vice President, Executive Director, Creative Services, Condé Nast Digital
Cheryl Guerin – SVP, Group Head, Global Digital Marketing, MasterCard Worldwide
Marc Lucas – Executive Creative Director, Razorfish
Wonya Lucas – Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer, Discovery Communications
Jean-Philippe Maheu – Chief Digital Officer, North America, Ogilvy
Andy Markowitz – Director, Digital Marketing, Kraft Foods
Sam Mazur – Vice President and Associate Creative Director, SS+K
Suzie Reider – Head of Advertising, YouTube & Google Display
David Roman – Vice President, Worldwide Marketing Communications, Personal Systems Group, Hewlett-Packard Company
Alan Schulman – Founder & Chief Creative Officer, U . D I G > The Digital Innovations Group
Debbie Jo Severin – Chief Marketing Officer, 8x8, Inc.
Baba Shetty – Executive Vice President, Chief Media Officer, Hill Holliday
Mitch Spolan – Vice President, North American Field Sales, Yahoo!
David Sturman – Principal Architect. Massive (part of Microsoft Advertising)
Heidi Marie Youngkin – Executive Director, Global Marketing Group, Johnson & Johnson

The 2009 MIXX Awards Screening Committee:

Nancy Argent – VP, Marketing and Brand Strategy, Break Media
Michael Babiak – SVP Advertising, NeoEdge Networks
R. Cass Baker – SVP, Leapfrog Online
Doug Bandes – VP Sales - Senior Account Director, Digital Broadcasting Group
Russell Banz – VP, New Media, Bonneville International
Benjamin Barokas – Founder and Chief Revenue Officer, AdMeld
Pilar Belhumeur – Creative Director, Greater Than One
Matthew Bellows – VP Consumer Strategy, Vivox
Jennifer Black – VP, Marketing, Local.com Corporation
Allison Bodenmann – Regional Sales Director, IAC Advertising Solutions
Lisa Buco – Marketing Director, TENNIS
David Bultema – VP and Assistant Controller, AOL
Ted Burns – VP Products, 4INFO
Daniele Campbell – VP Rodale Interactive, Rodale Inc.
Tina Carnow – SVP of Sales, Impact Engine, Inc.
David Carson – Co-CEO, Heavy.com
Julia Casale-Amorin – Chief Marketing Officer, Casale Media
Deirdre Cavener – President and CEO, KISS Marketing, Inc.
Ren Chin – VP of Marketing and Product Management, Yield Build Inc.
Noelle Cleary – VP, Marketing and Sales Development, IAC Advertising Solutions
Ran Cohen – VP Product Planning, Eyeblaster Inc.
Jean Paul Colaco – SVP Advertising, Hulu
Christine Cook – SVP, Digital Advertising Sales, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
Charles Cordray – SVP/General Manager of Hearst Digital Media, Hearst Corporation
Michelle Cox – Senior Director, Marketing Communications & Sales Development, Metacafe
Rob Crumpler – President & CEO, BuzzLogic
Josi Davis – Sales Development Senior Manager, BabyCenter
Susan Daw – Director, Marketing, Digital Element
Sachin Devand – VP of Advertising Sales, LucidMedia Networks, Inc.
Stephen DiMarco – Chief Marketing Officer, Compete
Marshall Eubanks – CEO, AmericaFree.TV
Bryan Everett – EVP, Strategic Alliances, Development and Marketing, Kontera Technologies, Inc.
Malcolm Faulds – VP, Digital Media, BzzAgent
Neil Feinstein – Director, Brand & Creative Strategy, True North Inc.
Adam Gerber – Chief Marketing Officer, Quantcast
Kerrie Gillis – Advertising Director, Corporate, The New York Times
Jill Glassman – Director, Sales, WeatherBug
Erika Graffeo – Director of Marketing, Advertising Sales, Pandora
Scott Greenberg – SVP, Business Development, Marchex
Dani Grindlinger – Director, Advertising Sales Operations and Strategic Initiatives, TiVo Inc.
Dan Hadel – Sr. Director, Marketing Services, ESPN Customer Marketing and Sales
Jay Hallberg – Co-founder & VP Marketing, Spiceworks
Ben Hanna – VP Marketing, Business.com
Elizabeth Harz – SVP Global Media Sales, Electronic Arts
Liza Hausman – VP, Marketing, Gigya, Inc.
Masami Hirata – Director of Marketing, adap.tv
Jim Hoos – VP, Advertising Sales, National Geographic
Cindy Hunt – Creative Director, Wild Tangent
Bob Huseby – SVP Publisher, Wikia Inc.
Marco Ilardi – EVP, Sales and Marketing, Fox Audience Network
Peter Imburg – Founder & CEO, Elfster, Inc.
Jeff Kamikow – President, Pulse 360
Amanda Kanaga – VP, Digital Sales, Time Inc.
Erin Kapczynski – VP, Marketing, Panache
Jay King – Director of Digital Sales and New Business Development, Cox Ohio Publishing
Allie Savarino Kline – VP of Marketing, BAT
Mitchell Kreuch – VP Eastern Sales, MySpace
Lisa Lamb – VP, Sales & Marketing, DailyMe Inc.
Ken Lauher – Director of Marketing, ContextWeb, Inc.
Eric Laurence – Director, Advertising Sales, Gannett Digital | USATODAY.com
Jessica Ling – Marketing Director, Pontiflex
Tim Mahlman – Vice President, Network Sales, YAHOO!
Iván Markman – COO & CFO, MarketShare Partners
Kirsten Matetich – Market Relations Manager, Microsoft Advertising
Lana McGilvray – VP Marketing, Datran Media
Ramsey McGrory – VP, NA Partnerships, Yahoo!, Inc.
Mack McKelvey – VP of Marketing, Millennial Media
Paul McLenaghan – VP, Interactive Markets, TARGUSinfo
Leigh McMillan – SVP, Marketing & Communications, Marchex
Curtiss Melanson – Managing Director Advertising Sales, interCLICK
Arthur Meyerovich – Managing Partner, Forward Health
Doug Miller – VP, Global Media Solutions, Expedia
Chuck Moran – VP Marketing, Burst Media
Vikki Neil – VP & General Manager, Digital, Scripps Networks Interactive
Zvika Netter – CEO, Innovid Inc.
James Oppenheim – Chief Marketing Officer, Peer39
Katrina Osio – EVP, Marketing, digital SIDEBAR
Lisa Parente – Vice President, Global Brand Marketing, Millward Brown
Steve Patrizi – VP, Advertising Sales & Operations, LinkedIn
Borja Perez – VP of Integrated Solutions & Digital Media, Telemundo
Erin Pettigrew – Director of Marketing, Gawker Media
Erin Quist – VP, Enterprise Solutions, EyeWonder, Inc.
Amit Rahav – VP Marketing, Eyeblaster
Tim Reynolds – Director of Interactive Media, Meredith Broadcasting
Bruce Rogers – Chief Brand Officer, Forbes
Pete Roper – Sr. Director Sales, Digital, Advertising Age / Creativity
Dana Runnells – Sr. Director, Marketing Communications, Canoe Ventures, LLC
Sergio Sanchez – VP, Creative Director, Univision Interactive Media
Liz Sarachek Blacker – SVP Digital Sales, impreMedia
Stephan Scherzer – EVP & General Manager, IDG PC World / Macworld
John Schneider – VP of Sales, Federated Media
Greg Schwartz – VP, Zillow.com
Catherin Seele – VP, Creative & Production, Univision Interactive Media
Richard Sexton – President, Carolina Rustica
David Shay – EVP of Marketing, CPX Interactive
Brian Silver – CEO, Travel Ad Network
Eddie Smith – VP, Sales & Business Development, Socialmedia.com
Pete Spande – SVP, Federated Media
Jason Spero – VP & General Manager, North America, AdMob
Mindy Spire – Director, Sales Development, World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc.
Steve Spiro – VP Marketing, Myxer
Michael Sprouse – Chief Marketing Officer, Epic Advertising
Shane Steele – VP, Marketing, Tremor Media
Tom Straszewski – VP Interactive Sales, Comcast
Marybeth Strobel – VP, Sales Manager, CNN Digital
Chan Suh – Founder & CEO, Agency.com
Daniel Timoney – Marketing Director, Electronic Media Group, Advanstar Communications, Inc.
Lynn Tornabene – Chief Marketing Officer, Quattro Wireless
Svetlana Toun-Sambell – CMO, EDU Research Group
Carl Trautmann – VP, Sales, Beliefnet/Fox Digital Media
Rich Ullman – SVP Marketing, Ripple6, Inc.
Jeffrey W. Ulrich – Director, Digital Sales, Cox Television
Lisa Valentino – Sr. Director, Digital Media Sales, ESPN.com
Derek Van Nostran – Director of Marketing, The Weather Channel Interactive
Chet VanWert – Director of Strategy & Planning, Consumer Marketing, Condé Nast Publications
Jason Wadler – SVP, Leapfrog Online
Ian Wallin – VP, National Digital Ad Sales, Gemstar - TV Guide International, Inc.
John Weisgerber – VP, Digital Advertising, Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S.
Jeff Whatcott – SVP Marketing, Brightcove, Inc.
Esmee Williams – VP Brand Marketing, Allrecipes.com
Steve Yanovsky – VP, Marketing, BBE
Omar Yousif – Creative Director, Local Digital Media, NBC Local Integrated Media

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Paul is Senior Vice President, Communications for Liberty Mutual Group.  He is responsible for advertising, public relations, internal communications, creative services, and conference and meeting management.

He previously served as Vice President, Global Advertising and Design for the Campbell Soup Company in Camden, New Jersey from 2002 to 2008.  Prior to Campbell’s, Paul spent fifteen years as a Director of Advertising Development and a Brand Manager for Procter and Gamble (P&G) in Cincinnati, Ohio and London, England.

Paul is a graduate of Harvard Business School and Harvard College.  He serves on the Boards of the Association of National Advertisers and Feeding America (formerly America’s Second Harvest).

Maria Arbusto has over 12 years of experience developing user experience and business strategies for the web. When Maria joined IBM in 1997, she was part of a small team that was responsible for building IBM’s award-winning intranet which serves the nearly 400,000 employees worldwide. From 1997 to 2007, she was been responsible for developing the user experience strategy and standards along with the management system for IBM's intranet. Since 2007, Maria has been responsible for the digital strategy within the IBM marketing and communications group.  As the Director of Digital strategy, Maria is responsible for defining how IBM uses digital experiences, e.g., the web, social media, and virtual worlds, to enhance the brand and drive future growth and greatness across a broad range of constituencies – employees, clients, business partners, investors, communities, and governments.

As Executive Creative Director at Digitas, Bjorkman leads creative responsibility for the agency’s New York office and its largest account, American Express.  He sits on the Digitas Senior Leadership Team and engages at various times on many of the agency’s clients such as General Motors, Samsung, and Pfizer.

Prior to Digitas, Bjorkman spent two separate stints at Y&R Inc. serving first as director of concepts for the Wunderman New York office, and then later as creative director and principal of Y&R Inc’s BRAND BUZZ. At BRAND BUZZ he leveraged his multi-discipline background to create award winning programs across all disciplines and media channels for Y&R clients like SONY, Colgate, Lincoln-Mercury, Jim Beam, and Mattel. Moreover, he was the creative engine for Brand Buzz New Business -- whose wins included 7up’s “dnL” soft drink and Sunkist, LG Home Appliances, Heinz (Pounce), Absolute Brands (Danzka Vodka / Plymouth Gin), Kronenbourg 1664, WTT, The United Nations and many others.

Previously, Bjorkman and four partners formed Sierra Communications, a full-service marketing communications agency. Clients included SNET, 5 Divisions of GE Capital, Hard Rock Cafe and others. Prior to that, Lincoln was a creative director at Ryan Partnership where he served on a broad range of direct, promotion, general advertising, design, collateral and interactive work for clients that included such clients as Pepsi, Prudential, Chesebrough-Ponds, and Oxford. As Creative Director there he helped launch Ryan Direct, the agency’s first direct marketing division. Before Ryan Partnership, Lincoln spent a number of years creating direct response, advertising and promotional programs for many of Wunderman Cato Johnson’s (Y&R) major accounts including Miller Brewing Company, AT&T and USPS.

Bjorkman has won multiple ECHO, NY Festivals, PROMO Pro and REGGIE creative awards. He has been short listed at Cannes. He holds a BA from Wesleyan University (with Honors in English). While there he wrote an honor’s thesis on Faulkner’s short fiction and reported for The Associate Press.

Doug Chavez leads Digital Marketing for Del Monte Foods. Mr. Chavez leads strategy and planning across the digital media landscape, including emerging platforms. Under Doug’s leadership Del Monte has developed a comprehensive consumer engagement strategy for Del Monte brands, such as Del Monte®, Contadina®, College Inn®, Meow Mix®, Kibbles 'n Bits®, 9Lives®, Milk-Bone® and Pup-Peroni®.

Prior to Del Monte, Doug was Director of Ad Solutions at Yahoo! leading monetization strategy for Yahoo!'s Communications properties – Mail, Messenger, Flickr and Groups. Prior to Yahoo!, Doug was Senior Director at Tribal DDB –Chicago. Under Doug’s leadership the business achieved double digit growth and guided the team to win a Cyber Lion at Cannes – a first for the agency – for the “Lincoln Fry” campaign. Doug has received a number of industry awards including a Cannes Cyber Lion, Yahoo!'s Big Idea Chair, and a London International Award.

Jane Grenier is responsible for the ideation team creating custom advertising initiatives across the lifestyle group of sites, including Style.com, Men.Style.com, Epicurious.com, Concierge.com, and the sites associated with the company’s well-known magazine brands such as Glamour, Self, Vanity Fair, and Allure.

Prior to assuming this role, Ms. Grenier was responsible for magazine integration, coordinating online sales efforts at individual magazines within Condé Nast with the sales efforts at Condé Nast Digital. When first named Vice President of Condé Nast Digital, Ms. Grenier focused on advertising client opportunities within several areas: NutritionData.com, Flip.com, and the social media arena, where the company has launched a number of applications, both freestanding and associated with existing Condé Nast Digital brands.

Ms. Grenier first joined the team at Condé Nast Digital as Publisher of Flip.com for its launch in early 2007, bringing teen-market expertise from her previous position as Associate Publisher, Marketing, at Teen Vogue. Before Teen Vogue’s highly successful launch in 2002, Ms. Grenier was Associate Publisher, Creative Services, at Gourmet, where she partnered with Condé Nast Digital colleagues at Epicurious.com on some of the company’s early integrated advertising initiatives. Her 20-plus years of print experience also includes stints at Esquire, Vogue, and Details.

Ms. Grenier began her New York career on the client side, with several posts at noted footwear maker Charles Jourdan. She holds an M.F.A. in Acting from the Asolo Conservatory, a division of Florida State University, and has occasionally been seen in off-off-off-Broadway productions. Ms. Grenier lives with her husband, a ceramic sculptor, in Brooklyn.

Cheryl Guerin has been at MasterCard for nine years and is currently responsible for Digital Marketing strategy and activation globally.

Cheryl focuses on identifying new digital strategies, opportunities and integration to drive MasterCard’s brand strength, cardholder usage, and value to business partners. Responsibilities include oversight of MasterCard’s global web sites, Mobile and Social Marketing, and digital content/utilities.

In her previous role as Interactive and Promotions lead, Cheryl redefined MasterCard’s consumer digital brand presence with the launch of priceless.com. The site which launched in 2006, leverages MasterCard’s successful Priceless advertising campaign and brand positioning to provide consumers with payment tools, differentiated content and experiences. Priceless.com was awarded the 2008 MIXX Gold award for Best Brand Destination web site. Cheryl also led successful award winning integrated programs leveraging emerging consumer trends, including “Write Your Own Priceless Ad” consumer generated ad campaign and “Priceless Peyton Pep Talks.”

Prior to MasterCard, Cheryl spent nearly 10 years in the Advertising Agency business, managing campaigns, new product launches and marketing programs for clients such as BestFoods, American Home Products, Avis, Samsung, America West Airlines and NatWest Bank.

Marc Lucas
Executive Creative Director
Razorfish

Marc Lucas is executive creative director, overseeing digital marketing programs in the Northeast Region for Razorfish, one of the world’s largest digital marketing agencies. In this role, he directs all advertising creative, including design and copywriting from the agency’s Manhattan flagship. His current clients include Unilever, Panasonic and Terra Networks.

Lucas has extensive experience leading award-winning creative teams for high-profile advertising agencies in New York, Hong Kong and the Philippines. Prior to joining Razorfish in 2008, Lucas was vice president/creative director at SS+K in New York, where he created award-winning advertising inspired by unique ideas, design, public relations, and popular culture. His international experience includes stints as executive creative director of D’Arcy Hong Kong and Ogilvy Manila, where he worked on accounts such as Nestle, The Economist, Seagram’s, and Kimberly Clark. Lucas previously served as chairman of the Hong Kong 4A’s and was co-chairman of the Asian Advertising Awards.

Learn more about Marc at http://www.marclucas.net.

Wonya Lucas provides company-wide brand strategy leadership and coordination across Discovery’s global businesses as Chief Marketing Officer. She is responsible for strengthening Discovery's world-class brands and leveraging the company's many assets to increase awareness and expand its worldwide viewer base.

Most recently, Lucas served as General Manager and Executive Vice President of The Weather Channel Networks, where she was responsible for corporate strategy and development, strategic marketing for The Weather Channel and weather.com, and operations and programming The Weather Channel, The Weather Channel HD, Weatherscan, The Weather Channel Radio Network, and newspaper syndication. Before joining The Weather Channel in 2002 as Executive Vice President of Marketing, Lucas was with the Turner Broadcasting System where she held several positions, including Senior Vice President of Strategic Marketing for CNN Networks and Vice President of Business Operations and Network Development for TBS, TNT, Turner Classic Movies and Turner South. Her other experience includes brand management for The Coca-Cola Company and The Clorox Company.

In 2007, Lucas was named as the “Woman To Watch” by Women in Cable Telecommunications. Previous honors include a listing among the “50 Most Powerful Black Women Leaders in Business” by Black Enterprise magazine a Brand Builders Award at the 2006 Promax & BDA Conference, recognition as a “Women To Watch” in the 2005 Wonder Women of Cable TV Awards, and the Inspiration Award for "Woman of the Year" in the WICT-Atlanta’s 2007 Red Letter Awards. Lucas serves on the Board of Directors of the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing and she was the co-chairperson for the 2007 CTAM Summit. She also has served as a board member for WICT, Inc and is a graduate of the Betsy Magness Leadership Institute.

Lucas has served on the board for The Children’s Museum of Atlanta and as a member of the Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Foundation board. She is also a member of the the Women’s Forum of Georgia in affiliation with the International Women’s Forum. Lucas earned an MBA in finance and marketing from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

As Chief Digital Officer for Ogilvy North America, Jean-Philippe is charged with accelerating “digital” revenue growth and digital innovation at Ogilvy. He leads digital innovation for Ogilvy clients including Dove, IBM and Kraft. He is also responsible for recruiting and nurturing the best talent and strategic partners across the spectrum of the digital landscape, including mobile marketing, video, gaming, digital media, search and social media.

Jean-Philippe is the former chief executive officer of Razorfish, a leading web professional services company. He served as an Adjunct Professor at Columbia Business School’s entrepreneurship program and is a member of the New York City Investment Fund.

As Director, Digital Marketing for Kraft Foods, Andy oversees all online media activity and Agency relationships. In this role, he leads efforts to create best practices by providing thought leadership in the management and development of digital engagement including Word Of Mouth, Web-site production and targeted media. Specifically, he is focused on developing a wide range of on-line marketing principles, a pipeline of emerging media opportunities, and leading the digital medium towards accountability for the Kraft brands.

Andy has been involved in the on-line industry since 1998. He joined Kraft Foods in 2000 and has served as the e-Commerce marketing lead for both the Desserts and Post Cereals businesses. Prior to joining Kraft, Andy worked at Send.com, the on-line gift company, as well as Dentsu Corp., Ammirati & Puris, and Lintas.

Sam Mazur is a lead creative at SS+K in New York, working in interactive, traditional and nontraditional advertising, PR, design, politics and new business.
With an omnivorous philosophy, a curious mind and dual degrees in marketing and advertising from Syracuse University’s Newhouse and Whitman Schools, Sam has brought a unique problem-solving approach to creative communications for more than a decade. 

His recent A Fuller Spectrum of News work for msnbc.com has generated acclaim for creativity, interactivity, pr, design, effectiveness and use of media, including a 3D visual newsreader, a branded arcade cabinet and the world’s first interactive cinema crowd game. Msnbc.com is now the #1 news site in America.

Suzie Reider leads the sales organization for Google’s Display media business, which includes YouTube and the Google Display Ad Network.

Suzie was hired as the CMO of YouTube in summer of 2006 and prior to that served as Senior Vice President and General Manager for the Games and Entertainment Division of CNET Networks (now CBS). Before joining CNET Networks, Suzie spent 14 years with Ziff-Davis publishing where she leveraged her expertise in advertising sales, promotions, events, research and marketing for various computer and video gaming publications.

Suzie is a graduate of Middlebury College in Vermont. A native of Cambridge, MA she now lives in San Francisco with her husband and two YouTube fan daughters. Suzie serves on the board of the San Francisco Film Society.

Responsible for driving advertising, media relations and marketing services.  
Prior to joining HP, David was Vice President of Corporate and International Marketing at NVIDIA.  He also held a number of different marketing leadership roles at Apple computer in Europe, Asia Pacific and the USA.  His last apple role was vice president of worldwide advertising and brand marketing.  

David is the recent recipient of the Creativity 50 award to honor those most influential creatives in the year 2008 for the work he’s done spearheading the HP advertising and marketing campaign.  HP has also won the Advertising Age Campaign of the Year award based on the success of HP’s The Computer is Personal Again campaign.   

David graduated in Architecture and Industrial design from the Queensland University of Technology (Australia) after starting his architectural studies at the Polytechnic of Torino (Italy).  He also pursued executive MBA studies at INSEAD in Paris.

Alan Schulman is Founder and Chief Creative Officer of U.DIG >The Digital Innovations Group.

A creative leader in the integration of traditional advertising into digital media, Alan has recently been behind award-winning digital and viral campaigns for M&M MARS, Diet Coke, Splenda, ALLI, Pizza Hut and many others.

Alan recently served as Executive Creative Director of imc2—one of the nation’s top ten digital advertising agencies where he oversaw the development and deployment of digital programs and emerging media for such global brand marketers as Procter & Gamble, The Coca-Cola Company, Samsung, Johnson & Johnson and Nestle among others. Prior to joining imc2, Alan served as Chief Creative Officer of Brand New World—the New York agency he co-founded to specialize in creative solutions for interactive and emerging media. It was there that Alan produced award-winning online programs for such brand marketers as SONY, Verizon, Johnson & Johnson and The Coca-Cola Company.

Alan was the first Creative executive to serve within a major media services company as Senior Vice President/Creative Director of Universal McCann Futures—the emerging media group of Universal McCann North America. There Alan was responsible for the extension of McCann-Erickson’s traditional advertising into Broadband, Video on Demand and Wireless media for such global brands as Coca-Cola, Microsoft, SONY, L’OREAL, Johnson & Johnson and many others. Prior to joining McCann-Erickson, Alan served within the Interpublic network as Executive Director of the Media & Entertainment Practice for FutureBrand Worldwide, the top 5 Branding Consultancy where he created digital branding programs for such noted online publishers as Terra, MSN, AOL and others.

Alan currently serves on the Board of Advisors of the IAB MIXX, OVAB, TiVO, Tremor Media, the Board of Governors of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (EMMYS-New Media) and is a member of the New York Marketing & Media Technologies Council. He has served on the AAAA Advanced Media Committee, Interpublic’s Convergence and Branded Entertainment Advisory Committees and has been a judge of the YAHOO! Purple Chair Award, the IAB MIXX awards and the OMMA Awards.

Alan has been a leading creative voice on emerging media appearing before numerous Media and Entertainment-related organizations including the CES, NAB, NATAS, CTAM, iMEDIA, IAB, IRTS, NCTA, MIPCOM, NATPE and the AAAA’s. He has also appeared as a digital advertising expert before such government organizations as the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the US Information Agency (USIA). Alan has appeared as a regular speaker on the evolution of creative assets in the digital age for such global brand marketers as The Coca-Cola Company, Procter & Gamble, Verizon, M&M MARS, Johnson & Johnson, Anheuser-Busch and many others.

Alan has won many awards across the branding, advertising, and digital spectrum including One Show, Clio, AICP, AIGA,, ADDY, TELE, and ProMax/BDA. Recently, he was the recipient of the MIXX Award for Best use of Broadband Video by the Interactive Advertising Bureau as well as earning Global Branding and Marketing Awards from both the Johnson & Johnson and Procter & Gamble marketing organizations. He has been referred to as a "Creative Director of the Future" by Advertising Age's CREATIVITY magazine.

Among his other creative endeavors, Alan is an avid jazz guitarist who has appeared with such noted jazz artists as Anita Baker, Wynton Marsalis, Herbie Hancock and Michael Feinstein. He resides in Harlem with his wife Stacey Lynn, 3 children…and a very slow broadband connection.

As Chief Marketing Officer, Severin is responsible for 8x8, Inc.’s marketing strategies and operations, driving awareness and adoption of the company’s business Internet protocol (IP) communications solutions through customer acquisition and retention initiatives including brand management, demand generation, direct and online marketing, advertising, promotions, marketing communications and public relations.

Severin has over 20 years of marketing experience and was most recently VicePresident of Marketing at Covad Communications, the first company to commercially deploy DSL technology in the United States. Severin managed Covad’s national go-to-market plan for direct sales of the company’s VoIP and data services.  She also served as Vice President of Marketing at Valiant Networks and NorthPoint Communications.  While at NorthPoint, she launched a groundbreaking marketing partnership with RadioShack and MSN.  Previous senior management roles include Vice President of Marketing & Sales at Pacific Bell start-up PrimeOne Tele-TV and Executive Director of Marketing & Sales at Pacific Bell Video Services. Severin received a Masters Degree in Mathematics and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

At Hill Holliday, Baba oversees the work of connecting consumers with brand ideas. As Chief Media Officer he oversees media across all channels, branded entertainment, and all digital marketing capabilities. Prior to Hill Holliday, Baba led interactive marketing at Fallon Worldwide. Before Fallon, Baba was a research director and principal analyst at Forrester Research in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Baba has also served on the advisory board of Maven Networks, a start-up broadband video company recently sold to Yahoo! for $160 million.

Mitch Spolan is Yahoo!’s Vice President of North American Field Sales, based in New York. In this role, Mitch leads Yahoo!’s entire North American field sales organization, with a particular focus on growing revenue and share with Fortune 500 customers.  

Mitch has been a part of the Yahoo!’s sales organization since 1998, most recently leading the southern sales team which has offices in Atlanta, Dallas and Austin. He relies on his creative and technological background to help his team be first to take advantage of new opportunities and accelerate revenue at market leading rates.

Mitch began his career as an Architect after graduating from the University of Florida with both a Bachelors degree in Design (1993) and a Masters in Architecture specializing in Architectural Acoustics (1995).  He practiced at a large architecture firm in Atlanta for several years before becoming fascinated with the growing world wide web.  The web offered both infinite creative outlets along with the ability to leverage new technologies in ground breaking ways; the same qualities that drew Mitch to Architecture and Architectural Acoustics as a career.  The web’s combination of art and science was extremely appealing.

In 1997, while continuing to practice Architecture, Mitch opened an interactive advertising agency out of his spare bedroom.  His agency specialized in creative design along with media buying, which was concentrated on Yahoo!. 
In 2003, Mitch won the Yahoo! Super Star Award which is the highest distinction a Yahoo! employee can earn.  He became the first winner ever from the Yahoo! Sales team.

David Sturman has over 30 years of experience in the technology industry. He was a founding member and Chief Technology Officer of Massive Incorporated where he combined his expertise in graphics and games with his online expertise to create the technology driving video games as a new advertising medium. Microsoft acquired Massive in 2006 and David now leads Microsoft’s technology development for in-game advertising. David is a past CTO of Acclaim Entertainment, formerly a leading Developer and Publisher of console video games. While at Acclaim, he led the company’s on-line games initiative and instituted a program to coordinate software tool development across five formerly independent game studios. He is also the former Vice President of Technology for MaMaMedia, an award-winning Internet site for children, and served as Director of R&D at Medialab Paris, where he spearheaded the development of 3D real-time computer puppetry and virtual reality software. David was an early computer graphics pioneer at Bell Laboratories and the New York Institute of Technology Computer Graphics Lab and received a Ph.D. in computer graphics and animation from the MIT Media Lab. He is an adjunct professor for Columbia University where he teaches videogame technology and design.

Heidi Marie Youngkin is Executive Director in the Johnson & Johnson Global Marketing Group, supporting its core mission of helping J&J operating companies build world-class brand equities. Heidi works closely with J&J operating companies and their agencies in their creative and strategic brand development efforts. She focuses on building effective agency partnerships, translating business requirements into successful brand strategies, and introducing innovative approaches and strategies to brand marketing.

Heidi works extensively in digital marketing and communications, and has been instrumental in leading the development and promotion of J&J’s social media efforts. She was co-author of the Johnson & Johnson global social media policy, and is a member of the Johnson & Johnson Social Media Steering Committee.

Heidi has an extensive background in global healthcare marketing and communications, with over 20 years experience in the pharmaceutical and medical device industries. Prior to joining Johnson & Johnson, she has worked with companies such as Guidant, Allergan, and Smith + Nephew, leading a variety of marketing, communications, and business strategy efforts.

Heidi holds a B.S. in Biological Sciences from the University of Southern California, and an M.B.A. in Business Management from Pepperdine University. She and her family live in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.