The Ad Podcast

Jo is perpetually bored with the status quo, she's a visionary leader at the forefront of transforming the future of work through generative AI & the agentic future. After a successful tenure as CEO of Burns Group—where she drove significant growth & participated in the company's acquisition by a leading agency—she redirected her passion and expertise to redefine organizational transformation across industries. She employs a future-back approach, partnering with companies to reimagine every workstream & workplace, not just for efficiency but to envision entirely new ways of working, with a particular focus on marketing, advertising & insight.

Mat transform how brands connect with their markets by fusing creative storytelling with strategic rigor. From copywriter to CMO at Prophet, my 25+ year journey spans digital innovation, agency leadership, and brand transformation for Fortune 500 clients.
My expertise bridges the brand-demand divide to drive measurable growth in both B2B and B2C environments. I've led digital disciplines of 30+ specialists globally, served as CCO at OgilvyOne, and pioneered integrated marketing approaches since 1996.
Beyond client work, I have judged at Cannes Lions and Effies, spoken at industry events such as B2BMX and ANA Brand Masters, host two podcasts (Cidiot and Rising), and written "Bronze Seeks Silver"- a memoir on creative marketing leadership. Recently named among "Top 25 Marketing & Sales Consultants" by The Consulting Report.

Jonathan Haber is a cofounder of Giant Spoon, an independent, integrated agency that expands the ways people experience brands. Giant Spoon is known for turning marketing upside down. Obsessed with culture and driven by insatiable curiosity, the agency blends teams across creative, media, and experiential to stir shit up for ambitious brands.

Pep loves working with amazing people, He loves solving problems, and he loves meeting new folks from everywhere in the world.

Currently, he has the privilege of leading a fantastic team of engineers and business leaders. Together they are driving the future of brand-consumer relationships. They are building SaaS that helps brands uncover authentic conversations at scale and help them put the most effective marketers front and center – everyday people with 4-8x better engagement on vertical video than produced, branded content.

Zelf brings together Pep's long-time passions. Originally from the Netherlands, he studied astrophysics while dipping his toes in video-making and progressive political activism. At the age of 9, he had his first entrepreneurial venture and had the fortune of living various lives since: from popcorn baker, to video editor, to sustainability activist, and eventually joining the consulting firm McKinsey & Company, before founding his first company.

McKinsey allowed him to see the workings of a wide array of industries (consumer goods, e-commerce, retail, food, finance, etc.), took him all over the world and allowed him to live and work on all of the six major continents, with most notably business building adventures in Vietnam, Thailand, Sydney, Madagascar, Colombia, and the US, all with fantastic people.

From there, he had the honor to pursue his MBA at MIT Sloan — where I founded Alfie one of the first movers in ISAs (Income Share Agreements) and through which he met so many of the amazing people that are now helping me build Zelf.

Damaune serves as Global Chief Growth Officer at 72andSunny, one of the world’s most admired and innovative creative agencies, where he is responsible for the global revenue of the business including marketing and revenue operations, business development, and corporate communications.

For Journey, success means driving growth on both the agency and the client sides of the partnership, and he works across 72andSunny’s four global offices, as well as its long roster of brands, including the National Football League, United Airlines, Zoom, and Audible. Previously, Journey was Chief Growth/Marketing Officer at Private Medical, a concierge medical practice serving select UHNW families across the United States. In this role, he successfully developed and led the organization’s growth and expansion strategy. Prior to Private Medical, Journey was hired by private equity firm TPG Growth to serve as Chief Revenue Officer at the renowned private security firm Gavin de Becker & Associates, where he was responsible for
revenue growth, marketing and commercial operations, and scaling strategy.

As an executive and business unit leader at ShotSpotter, a venture-backed technology company, Journey helped lead the
firm’s IPO with its 2016 NASDAQ listing and was a featured protagonist in the Harvard Business School case, “ShotSpotter: A Gunfire Detection Business Looks for a New Market” about his efforts. Before ShotSpotter, he led global marketing and business development for CSECO, where he successfully
expanded the business to international markets on four continents.

Outside of his private-sector career, Journey has proudly served as National Chairperson and advisory board member of the National Society of Black Engineers and currently serves as a board director for a number of non-profits and social enterprises. Journey has a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial & Operations Engineering from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor and an MBA from Harvard Business School. Born and raised in Flint, Michigan, he
lives in Oakland, CA with his wife and their two young children.

Christopher Brady, President, Global Chief Commercial Officer at Tribeca Enterprises. In this role, Brady is responsible for revenue strategy across the organization, including finding new ways to grow the Tribeca Festival, as well as other live events and Tribeca Studios, the organization’s production company. This past year he’s helped drive the highest sponsorship figures for the Tribeca Festival and further expanded Tribeca Enterprises into the international realm with Tribeca Festival Lisboa. Brady explores sponsorship, distribution and production deals, as well as franchise experiences and other opportunities. He reports directly to Jane Rosenthal, Tribeca Co-Founder and CEO.

Dustin is a musician who became an award-winning marketer more than 20 years ago after receiving his first guitar, a truly life-defining moment that set him down a path of creative exploration. He is passionate about filmmaking, photography, design, illustration and all things creative, as well as marketing strategy, data and analytics. He specializes in telling engaging stories and connecting brands and artists with global audiences through proven strategic marketing efforts. He splits his time between Los Angeles and Paso Robles, California and is honored to work alongside some of the best and brightest creatives to produce work for the world’s most respected brands.

German is a practitioner of "mixed cognitive arts" building modern brands across a full spectrum of categories (with a leaning toward health, pharma, wellness, beauty, finance, insurance, food, hospitality, sports and automotive).
A Silicon Valley-trained entrepreneur and thought leader applying ingenuity and leading methodologies to simplify marketing challenges using human insights, cultural trends, lateral thinking and new technologies.
A passionate advocate for anthropology bringing ethnographies, artificial intelligence, expert crowdsourcing and cultural computing to advertising, media, innovation and corporate strategy.
A client-savvy executive building long-lasting client relationships and driving high-profile pitch wins and account retention for agencies.
A visionary team architect mentoring talent, rejuvenating culture and shaping the future of the Strategy & Planning discipline.
Feeling at home in both disruptive and mainstream agencies with a preference for the former.
Brands: Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Intel, NASDAQ, Ask.com, Creditcards.com, Ely Lilly, AMGEN, Novartis, Pfizer, Otsuka, Kyowa Kirin, Ipsen, Stryker, Foundation Medicine, National Jewish Health, Weight Watchers, Bank of America/Merrill Lynch, American Family Insurance, Emblem Insurance, Volvo, Volkswagen, Honda, Lufthansa, Expedia, L'Oreal, Estee Lauder, Erno Laszlo, Victoria's Secret, RadioShack, Best Buy, CVS, Burger King, Domino’s Pizza, Wendy's, Miller Coors, Brown Forman, Kahlua, Nike, Pearl Izumi.

Mark Barker is the Co Founder of Craft & Commerce (C&C) an integrated media agency that connects growth science, media strategy, and modern measurement to help our partners create greater marketing impact and grow with confidence. C&C is purpose-built to bring a marketer’s mentality to today’s dynamic media landscape. The result is an expert, senior-level team that approaches media not as an agency, but as a business stakeholder committed to one thing: helping our partners outshine the competition through smarter, more agile planning and buying.

Michael Nyman has made a career by being on the leading edge of marketing trends. With this latest venture he has created another new go to market strategy. Nyman, the former long time PMK*BNC Co-Chairman & CEO, has now launched Acceleration, a new investment vehicle & advisory firm.
With Acceleration, Nyman will be developing a new go-to market business approach with a series of strategic and complementary acquisitions and build outs aimed at providing a unique collective of specialized agencies, designed to help clients move quickly and efficiently with their branding, marketing and media decisions.
Nyman, a 30-year veteran, started his own firm, Bragman Nyman Cafarelli (along with founder Howard Bragman and co-founder Brad Cafarelli) in 1991, before selling it to Interpublic Group of Companies (IPG:NYSE) in the fall of 2000, and leading the firm through its transition to a public company and subsequent expansion. In the fall of 2009, Nyman was asked to lead the merger combining the talent powerhouse of PMK with BNC’s established leadership in not only communications, but also marketing services and expertise in merging brands with entertainment. Within five years PMK*BNC had doubled its revenue and built up to 300 employees representing nearly 1,000 entertainment and Fortune 500 clients.
For more than two decades of work with BNC and PMK*BNC, Nyman has architected and contributed to numerous award-winning campaigns and/or counseled clients, including Samsung, Pepsi, American Express, Avon and BeatsbyDre to Product(Red), Jordan Brand (Nike), The Television Academy (Emmys), Shonda Rhimes, JC Penny, The Academy of Country Music (ACM’s), Warner Bros, Digital Networks Group and Condé Nast.
Nyman has served on multiple boards over the past two decades. Currently he is the Chairman of the California Film Commission, serves on the Board of Governors at Cedars-Sinai and the Board of Councilors for USC’s Annenberg School of Communications and Journalism.

As the Global CEO and Founder of Meet The People, an advertising group headquartered in New York City, he leads a team of more than 750 staff across ten offices in the US and Canada. He created MTP in 2021 to build a unique new consultancy group that focuses on helping brands to growth their business by combining the power of integrated marketing and advertising strategies merged with data and technology. MTP works for world know blue chip brands like IBM, Google, LG, LVMH, L’ORÉAL, Moderna, CME Group, Sappi and many mid-sized businesses in North America.
Furthermore he's an active investor in EU and US based startups, with a track record that includes pre-IPO investments in firms like Airbnb, Anduril, Animoca Brands, Anthropic, Blockchain.com, Blockdeamon, Forge, Klarna, OpenAI, Palantir, Robinhood, SoFi, SpaceX, Spotify, TON, Tonies and many more.
With over 27 years of entrepreneurial experience in marketing, He has built and managed multiple international advertising groups, with operations in EMEA, APAC, MENA, and the US. He is passionate about innovation, entrepreneurship, and social impact, He regularly speaks at industry events and support charitable causes.

While carrying the “ethos” of a Marketing Technologist to many enterprises, He's always possessed a firm understanding of how technology has continued to transform the discipline of Marketing while disrupting today’s conventional consumer engagement models. Over that past 20+ years his communications experience ranges from African American, Hispanic, LGBT, Asian American, Arab American, Indian, Boomers, Millennials, Urban, GM to International.
He's been an audience "segmentation specialist" for clients looking to enhance their brand positioning by rethinking and redefining their Go-To-Market approach. Some of them include the likes of Lexus, NYPD, Medline, State Fair, Spalding, HBO, MCD, LA Sparks, Game Show Network, Verizon Wireless, Clear brand under Unilever, Ford Division, Lincoln Mercury, Burger King, Colgate, HSBC, Time Warner Cable, Home Depot, AstraZeneca, US Marines, Pfizer, Novartis, Merck, and Hyatt Resorts.
His vantage point is oriented around enhancing a clients’ Brand building efforts through ROI driven programs that leverage unique consumer insights and deliver relevant customer experience. I've always thought outside the traditional framework to solving business problems because the only thing constant is EVOLUTION.
He has also done guest speaking for Meltwater Social, MediaPost, Digiday, ThinkLA, CYNOPSIS, Adweek, and The VAB inclusive of live and virtual events.  In the past, he's participated in guest speaker series for NYU, Baruch, University of Maryland, University of Nevada, and Georgetown.  Tune into the  HYPERLINK "https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/IvUyCwp2q2H2LpTVv9A2?domain=open.spotify.com" The Transient Identiti, podcast which chronicles the Voice of the Consumer.
Other than Strategic Intuition and the Human Truths in Marketing, "gratitude" is one thing he value deeply in business. Meaning, being grateful for how open-minded he's been to constantly challenge and even disrupt my own thinking!

Winston Binch is the Chief Brand & Experience Officer at GALE, leading the creative, production, and experience design teams. GALE is one of the most diversely awarded agencies in the industry, with accolades including Ad Age Business Transformation Agency of the Year, ADWEEK U.S. Media Agency of the Year, Campaign US Advertising Agency of the Year, and Ad Age Data & Analytics Agency of the Year. At GALE, Winston works with a variety of world-class clients, including Delta Air Lines, MilkPEP, and Fogo de Chão. Over the past twenty years, he's helped leading global brands craft their narratives and create innovative campaigns and experiences that harness the marketing potential of the digital and social age. His diverse client portfolio includes Domino's, Michaels Stores, American Express, Target, Burger King, Nike, Vail Resorts, Taco Bell, Pandora, AB InBev, and Volkswagen Group. Before GALE, he was a brand consultant and Chief Digital Officer of Deutsch North America.

Matthew Garcia is the President of The Sasha Group. The Sasha Group is a VaynerX company founded in 2019, infused with entrepreneurial DNA and built by folks with decades of Fortune 500 expertise. They teach, guide, and execute present-day brand building for ambitious businesses of all sizes to unlock meaningful growth. In a world that’s constantly changing, they build brands that win hearts in their vision of a future full of beloved brands. In addition to marketing services, their education products provide knowledge, tactics, and strategies to business leaders through in-person and virtual events and weekly content delivery. They also offer consulting packages to guide businesses through their journeys with their expertise and network.

Dana Seguin is a passionate brand builder and marketing leader with 25 years of experience reshaping the retail and fashion industries. Her career began on the merchandising side at American Eagle Outfitters, but she found her true calling in creative marketing—developing powerful strategies in advertising, PR, and social media for brands like SPANX, Chico’s, and Aerie.
Her proudest accomplishment is spearheading the groundbreaking “Aerie Real” campaign, which set a new industry standard by refusing to retouch images and championing a positive body image for women of all sizes. This authentic, inclusive approach propelled Aerie into one of the top brands among young consumers. At SPANX, she led a complete creative redesign—from packaging to product navigation—and launched the brand’s first advertising campaign introducing leggings as a new product category, driving significant brand expansion.
Currently, as SVP Chief Marketing Officer at Altar’d State, she oversees all creative and marketing initiatives as well as the eCommerce business for their family of brands—Altar’d State, Arula, Vow’d, Tullabee, and AS Revival.
She thrive's on transforming businesses, inspiring teams, and delivering bold ideas that resonate with consumers. Whether building an iconic campaign or driving a strategic shift, she's committed to turning vision into reality—and creating meaningful, measurable growth every step of the way.

As a transformative business leader, she has built a career defined by driving growth, accelerating iconic brands, and delivering unbeatable results for global retail, technology, and consumer industries.
She has guided world-renowned companies to achieve record-breaking success and enduring market impact, including consumer and B2B leaders in retail, technology, and analytics. Currently, she serves as President of January Digital, The Marketing Leadership Company™, which solves business challenges through media excellence, strategic guidance, and actionable analytics for leading global brands including Kendra Scott, Carhartt, Interstate Batteries, StriVectin, and Steve Madden. Her focus on human connection, strategic excellence, and profitable growth has not only propelled business results but also fostered an ethical, high-performing, and award-winning organization.
Throughout her career, she has provided some of the world’s most respected brands—such as Travelocity, Lilly Pulitzer, iProspect (Dentsu Aegis), Chevrolet, ClearSaleing (eBay), and Match.com—with strategic leadership across business growth, brand marketing, creative direction, operations, HR strategy, and customer acquisition.
She has served on multiple executive teams, worked collaboratively with boards of directors and guided private companies through successful funding and acquisitions as well as public companies through rapid growth initiatives.
Beyond executive roles, she is dedicated to industry innovation and mentorship. Her advisory board roles with Shoptalk, Trybe, and Rebel Nell underscore her commitment to advancing the retail and tech sectors while championing opportunities for women and underrepresented voices. Her philanthropic work further reflects this passion, including support for underserved communities, families experiencing homelessness, and domestic violence survivors through nonprofit LSH in Philadelphia.

James Edmunds cofounded plant-based CBD-infused drinks brand TRIP in 2019. Its canned sodas are now stocked in stores and bars in over 30 countries and the London-based company raised $5 million from investors in 2021 to expand into the United States.

Blayne Ross is a creative entrepreneur, experience designer and producer known for award winning experiences, environments and content that sparks meaningful connections. He began his career in the entertainment industry in 2001 and quickly found a home working on the Emmy nominated HBO series Six Feet Under at the Greenblatt Janollari Studio. With a passion for complex stories that influence culture, Blayne became a Creative Executive in Original Programming for the Showtime Network, where he supervised "hit" series such as The L Word and Queer As Folk. He also helped develop the critically acclaimed, Peabody award winning political drama Brotherhood. Embracing his love of design and inspired physical environments, Blayne left Los Angeles for New York City to found a Design-Build shop KAID DESIGN. There, Blayne provided an end-to-end solution including architecture.

With over 20 years of hospitality experience, Dan has been honored to work in New York City’s most prestigious and historic hotels. With a backdrop of iconic locations like the United Nations, Times Square, and the heart of Manhattan, he has shared indelible experiences alongside the finest hoteliers in the world. Throughout his career he has attained a broad knowledge of operations from his hands-on experience and built successful teams through his collaborative leadership. His breadth of experience, passion for learning, and team development have been the driving forces to enable organizational improvement and transformation.

Hem is an accomplished investment, board and executive management leader with two decades of experience as an entrepreneur, venture capital & private equity investor, board professional, investment banker, general management executive as well as a researcher. He was recognized as a Top 25 Founder’s Choice VC in 2023, an Emerging 50 VC in 2022 and as San Diego’s 500 Most Influential People in 2021.
Hem's passion lies in helping founders as an active investor by “rolling-up his sleeves” to create and executive 360⁰ strategies to maximize outcomes. His industry experience spans diverse industries, including software & technology services, healthcare, consumer, financial services, property & casualty insurance, food manufacturing, industrials, transportation, hospitality & restaurants, education tech, sports tech, beauty tech, legal tech and digital marketing.
Hem currently serves as the Founder & Managing Partner of Spark Growth Ventures, an early to mid stage technology venture capital firm with a Pan American focus. Previously, he was the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of ClearVision Equity Partners (a boutique VC firm), a 2x Interim CEO of emerging healthcare companies, an executive of a KKR Private Equity portfolio company, an investment banker on Wall Street as well as a functional leader in multiple Fortune 500 companies in the US.
Hem has also served on over 25 startup and social enterprise boards across the US and is heavily involved with several prominent incubators and accelerators in Southern California supporting budding entrepreneurs. He has executed 80+ venture, private equity and M&A transactions with over $2B in total capital spanning over 15 years at Spark Growth Ventures, ClearVision Equity Partners, Deutsche Bank, a KKR private equity portfolio company as well as an independent board professional working with startups.
Hem has an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School, an M.S. in Industrial Engineering from University of Illinois and a B.Tech. in Mechanical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi. He is passionate about the environment and education for under-privileged children, and loves reading, traveling and active pursuits.

Executive with 20 years of experience in finance, operations, M&A, venture investing and strategic board work for a combination of private companies, Fortune 500 corporations and private equity firms in the U.S. and Europe. Solopreneur working as strategic CFO with select emerging fund managers and high growth companies.  Former Partner at seed stage venture capital firm that quadrupled its AUM.  CPA with Big 4 and CFO experience.  Board member for a scaling K-12 edtech company, seed stage data infrastructure company, and former director (5 years) for a growing $11B NASDAQ-listed pharma services company.

He was born and raised in Turkey by a mathematician mother and a father who started and ran a successful technology company. He observed their love relationship and witnessed the positive impact of math, technology and entrepreneurship in my life. His parents' presence, values and parenting style define who He is.

His father took risks when no one was talking about startups or knew what computers were. Every night he would wait for his father to carry his computer on his shoulder and walk up 5 floors to our apartment. He would code and take his computer back to his office before Yigit woke up. He leads by example, is open minded and has a positive outlook on life. He grew up with him as his role model.

His mother is a super woman. When he was growing up, she carried the whole household. She was the main breadwinner while his father was building his business. She was the angel investor in his father's business, taking her savings from under her pillow and asking her father to invest in the company as well. She has supported the whole family tirelessly for decades. She has high conviction, which most people lack. Yigit feels fortunate to observe that love, and to have found his wife, another super woman who has been supporting him with high conviction since day 1.

He was exposed to computers at a young age. As any 4 year old would do, he started playing DOS-based games and shell commands. That turned into IRC-based socializing, then hacking, designing and coding. His father started involving him in his business during my teenage years. He was exposed to strategic business decisions and high-stake activities such as scaling a reseller network, meeting enterprise customers and hiring/firing executives. In retrospect, that encoded his DNA and strong business intuition.

In principle, he valued being a good human being and working unbelievably hard. The rest follows.

He will continue doing what he is doing until the last day of his life. Build new products, solve real problems and work hard with excellent people whom he can learn from.

Jonathan Hung is a successful VC and entrepreneur. He has evolved from his role as a prolific angel investor with over 100+ pre-seed and pre-IPO investments under his belt to becoming the Managing Partner for Entrepreneur Ventures and Head of Consumer/Partner for Trousdale Ventures.

Jonathan is a driver of value creation who supports entrepreneurs, investors, startups, and high-net-worth individuals seeking capital and exposure. His work at Entrepreneur Ventures and Trousdale Ventures demonstrates his strategic expertise and investment acumen. He encourages growth through finance, business development, networking, data analysis, and leadership excellence.

Jonathan’s hands-on approach focuses on long-term success and seamless expansions into new global markets. He provides intuitive business mentorship based on his experience running the US and China offices as President of United Overseas Textile Corporation and work as a Financial Adviser at Morgan Stanley and UBS. He believes every company deserves genuine mentorship despite its size or niche.

Mr. Hung rounds out his time as a Managing Member of his family office fund, J Heart Ventures. He leverages prestigious degrees from renowned institutions, such as the University of Southern California (BSc Business Administration), London School of Economics (M.Sc. History of International Relations), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) (M.Eng.Supply Chain and Logistics), and The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania (MBA).

Shradha, is the Chief Growth Officer at Withlocals, a global marketplace connecting travelers with local hosts for personalised and authentic travel experiences.
With over 5+ years of experience in the travel industry, she has developed a passion for creating innovative products and building partnerships that drive growth. At Withlocals, she is responsible for driving revenue growth and expanding the company's footprint in new markets. She is constantly exploring new opportunities for strategic partnerships and innovative marketing strategies to achieve these goals.
In her career, she has held diverse roles in product management, partnership, and business & growth strategy, which has helped her discover her strengths. She has a talent for maximizing profits, a deep empathy for customers and their needs, and an ability to simplify complex problems into manageable tasks. Winning is important to her, but more importantly, she also prioritize helping her team succeed. These insights have enabled her to understand herself better and how she can contribute to any organization's success.
She has a deep hunger to learn about new ideas and technology as she truly believe there is an opportunity to become my better version of myself each day. I also love to meet new people, explore new cultures and discover new perspectives. Reach out to me if you would like to talk about building technology products and exploring the world.

Meagan Ayres and Meghan Fialkoff, co-CEOs of The Modern Day Wife

Dr. Jonathan Snow is Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Avenue Z. He was President and Founder of The Snow Agency (acquired by Avenue Z). Jonathan has an interesting background in that it blends two entirely different skill sets: digital marketing and dentistry.
Jonathan earned his Bachelor of Science degree at Ramapo College of NJ and subsequently his Doctor of Dental Medicine degree at Rutgers University, where he finished top 5 in his class of over 100 doctors. After dental school, he served Active Duty as a General Dentist and Captain for three years in the US Air Force. Following his military service, Dr. Snow specialized in Orthodontics, where he attended a 3-year residency program at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY.
During his time as a dentist, Dr. Snow got his start in digital marketing when he built an affiliate marketing / influencer platform that drove 9 figures in revenue within 2 years of launch. Leveraging his influencer network, he co-founded and launched several e-commerce stores, generating over $50M in revenue in under 3 years, with his brother/partner Daniel Snow, eventually leading to the establishment of The Snow Agency, a full-service digital marketing agency.
The Snow Agency is a performance marketing agency that helps ambitious 8 and 9-figure brands unlock new growth through holistic strategy and execution. The Snow Agency has taken brands from launch to $100M run rates in under 4 years, worked with the largest Shopify brands in the world, and was named the Inc 5000 #2 fastest growing marketing company in the United States. The Snow Agency was acquired by Avenue Z in 2023.
Avenue Z is a strategic marketing and communications firm breaking traditional boundaries between marketing, advertising and PR. From the Wall Street Journal to TikTok, PR to social and search, Avenue Z creates narratives that drive commerce, connections, and conversion, across all channels. With experts, tech and teams based in Miami, NYC, Boston, Orlando, and Tel Aviv - it drives global influence.
Jonathan Snow also serves as an advisor to Revere Partners VC (the world's only oral health VC fund) as well as numerous tech and DTC brands, he is an Industry Expert for KeyBank Capital Markets, public speaker, and newsletter author.

Matt Sattel is the Chief Revenue Officer at OpenX. In his role, he leads the company’s global sales and partnerships team focused on broadening OpenX’s relationships with markets and agencies. He concentrates on expanding the sales organization and deepening relationships across agencies and brands.

Matt came to OpenX after spending nearly four years at programmatic media partner MiQ, where he rose from director of sales to SVP, head of in-housing. He led a team focused on helping Fortune 100 brands move their programmatic business in-house through trading and ad tech expertise. Prior to MiQ, Matt held senior posts at Samba TV, Speakr and xAd, Inc., becoming a well-known industry thought leader on critical issues such as inhousing and the evolution of programmatic buying.

Matt holds a B.B.A. in Marketing from the University of Florida and a certificate in Data Analytics for Business Professionals from the University of Chicago.

Lucy Arnelle is the CEO of Sauterelle, the first culinary supplement brand made entirely of grasshoppers.

Darlene Justiniano, the founder of Fancy’s Hair Innovation: The Natural Hair Regimen, was raised in an environment surrounded by the buzzing energy of a Black hair salon, where her mother worked tirelessly. From an early age, she was immersed in the world of hair care, learning the trade and honing her skills. Throughout her college years and beyond, Darlene relied on her passion for helping women care for their hair, providing styling services to support herself financially while encouraging her clients to embrace healthy hair care routines. After building a successful career in Human Resources, Darlene’s journey took a pivotal turn when she realized her deep love for wellness and the importance of a positive self-image, particularly in embracing natural curls. This realization prompted her to make the bold decision to leave corporate America behind and focus solely on providing high-quality natural hair products for both clients and professionals. Driven by her passion for empowering others to embrace their natural beauty and care for their hair, Darlene founded Fancy’s Hair Innovation: The Natural Hair Regimen, a brand dedicated to delivering premium products that nourish and enhance natural curls. With her background in both hair care and HR, Darlene brings a unique perspective to the industry, prioritizing not only the efficacy of her products but also the empowerment and well-being of her customers. Through Fancy’s Hair Innovation, Darlene continues to inspire individuals to embrace their authentic selves and cultivate healthy, vibrant curls.

Vincent Schell is the co founder of Kittylamb the worlds best ready made brownie mix

Alley Biehl is the founder and creative behind Obelisk Beauty brands. Her daily work routine includes brand development, design and creation to make her vision a reality. Alley has over 15 years of experience in the beauty industry and has developed some of the industry's best-selling products. Her life experience, coupled with her passion, led her to found her holding company. She will launch her brands in 2020. Alley lives between New York City and Los Angeles with her dog Kiki.

Fresh Fizz Sodas was founded in 2021 by Yoni and Rebecca Schwartz. Out of their Fresh Fizz Factory in Island Park, NY, they produce award-winning organic sodas made with only real food ingredients and sweetened with honey.

Vera Koch is the CMO of T3 Micro and a Global marketing leader with over 18 years of experience in innovation, branding and performance marketing development in D2C and Retail. Proven track record of delivering global, cross functional projects in very fast moving environments, combining strong creative, strategic and analytical expertise with intercultural understanding and excellent leadership skills. Expert in post-merger management, bridging the culture gap between corporate and start-up. Strong expertise in connecting and leveraging different marketing components including growth, brand, and CRM to drive brand engagement and business growth.

Tom Shay's experiences as a fourth generation small business owner provide him with the knowledge and background to present tried and proven ideas to assist owners, managers, and staff with the day to day operation of their business. During the 25 plus years that Tom was a part of the family business, the businesses were ongoing laboratories for the techniques that Tom shares.

He presents proven and time tried ideas on the topics of business strategy, marketing, staff education, sales, and financial management.

A native of Fort Smith, Arkansas, Tom started his first job working in his grandfather's general store. Tom moved to Florida to join his parents in the family operation they had purchased in 1971. Over the next 26 years, the Shay family owned and operated three businesses. In 1997, Tom sold the business to devote full time to the development of educational program as well as writing magazine columns and books.

In addition to providing proven business building ideas through his writings in over 80 trade publications, Tom has authored twelve books on small business management and a college text book on small business accounting.

As a speaker, Tom earned the Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) distinction, an honor that has been earned by less than 8% of speakers worldwide. As a magazine columnist, Tom received three Jesse H. Neal award nominations, the most prestigious editorial honors in the field of business-to-business journalism.

Stefania Di Bartolomeo founded Physis Investment with the vision to disrupt the financial system by empowering individuals to invest in companies and projects that respect and protect people and the planet. Physis is a startup that allows investors to understand their environmental and social impact while generating a positive financial return. Stefania was born in Italy and worked all across Europe in sustainable finance. By the time she turned 25, she had already started a company and traveled across the globe. During her travels, she saw many inequalities and problems firsthand. These experiences inspired her to find solutions to integrate sustainable principles into investment portfolios and drive impact and financial performance.

Their mission at Batch is to empower groups to create unforgettable memories together with a seamless way to plan and book incredible experiences.

Kristen Herr, owner of Evolution Expeditions.

Kate Weatherly is a fractional CMO and B2B marketing influencer on TikTok.

Daphne Tsevreni is co-founder and CRO of Clio Muse Tours, an integrated platform to create and share engaging audio tours for top attractions & city walks around the world. She has a 9-year experience in bridging culture & tourism by designing innovative business models & products. Through Clio Muse she has collaborated with multiple OTAs, Tour Operators and Cultural Institutions to optimize travelers’ in-destination experience through technology and high-quality cultural content.