Great Minds

The Mandela Institute for Humanity and National Urban League invite you to A Town Hall for Change – as an esteemed group discussing the global need for new frameworks and new thinking around systemic racism.

Susan Smith Ellis was the CEO of (RED), a global marketing company whose partnerships help combat the AIDS pandemic in Africa. She helped produce one of the largest grossing contemporary art auction in, which raised more than $42 million for (RED). Prior to joining (RED), Ms. Smith Ellis served as an Officer and Executive Vice President of the Omnicom Group of Companies ( www.omnicomgroup.com ), t...

Advertising Age has referred to Keith Reinhard as the advertising industry’s “soft-spoken visionary” and in 1999 named him one of the top 100 influentials in advertising history. He is Chairman Emeritus of DDB Worldwide. As a working creative director, Keith was responsible for McDonald’s “You Deserve a Break Today.” Teams under Keith’s direction created award-winning campaigns for Anheuser-Busch,...

The CEO of Republicom Group Tunji Adeyinka discusses growing marketing firms like Connect Marketing Services, Image & Time, Integral, Quore Media, and Neukleos, as well as bringing Advertising Week Africa to South Africa.

Maria Bartiromo has been a pioneer in financial news television. In 1995, she became the first journalist to report live from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on a daily basis. She is host of Mornings with Maria and Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street. She worked at CNN for five years before joining CNBC, where she worked for 20 years. In 2013, she joined Fox Business and Fox News, and she’s als...

Currently, Alvin Bowles holds the position of Vice-President-Global Marketing Solutions at Facebook. He leads Facebook’s audience networking department. It is the technology that makes advertisements more viable for small business owners and directs them toward the proper audience.

Michael Ventura is the CEO and founder of Sub Rosa, a strategy and design firm that has worked with some of the world’s largest and most important brands—from Johnson & Johnson, Pantone, and Adobe, to the TED Conference, Delta Airlines, and The Daily Show.

Ambassador Ido Aharoni serves as a global distinguished professor at New York University’s Program of International Relations in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Ambassador Aharoni is a 25-year veteran of Israel’s Foreign service, a public diplomacy specialist, founder of the Brand Israel program, and a well-known nation branding practitioner. Ambassador Aharoni, who served as Israel’s longest-se...

Jeff was the guy who originally wrote “got milk?”. He is among the co-founders and serves as co-chair of Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco. Goodby is also a director and illustrator whose work has appeared in Time and Mother Jones.

Mathew Knowles is an American record executive, talent manager, and businessman. He is best known for being the manager of Destiny’s Child. He also managed the solo careers of his daughters Beyoncé and Solange Knowles.

Guru Gowrappan is CEO of Verizon Media, a powerhouse of trusted media and technology brands, including Yahoo, HuffPost, and TechCrunch. Prior to this role, he was Global Managing Director of Alibaba where he focused on international expansion and e-commerce for key consumer and enterprise products

Betches is a digital media company started by Aleen Kuperman, Jordana Abraham, and Samantha Fishbein. Originally started as a website, the company now includes a webpage, social media accounts, podcast, a national comedy tour, merchandise, and three best-selling books. 

Patricia has over 20 years’ experience in consumer goods, she was previously Heineken’s CMO/SVP in Mexico and is now CMO of Bayer, based in Switzerland. Prior she was Marketing Vice President and board member for Unilever’s UK & Ireland business. During lockdown she is attempting to learn to play the ukulele.

Emilio “Mimi” Castillo is an American saxophone player and composer, best known as the founder of the band Tower of Power.

Sarah Kate Ellis is an American media executive, journalist, and author, most widely known for launching and turning around media brands within magazines such as New York, InStyle, Real Simple, and Vogue. She is now president and CEO of GLAAD.

Chuck joined the Crispin Agency in 1988 as creative director and partner, after a long career as an award-winning freelance copywriter. The agency was renamed Crispin & Porter, and within three years, it doubled in size and was named one of the top 15 creative shops in the country. Under his leadership, CP+B has become one of the most awarded agencies in the world and was honored as Agency of...

Top marketing strategy and branding expert Alicia Tillman is responsible for the creation and acceleration of SAPs marketing and brand recognition on a global scale. The Chief Marketing Officer at SAP, Alicia Tillman has continued building the brand around how SAP is helping the world run better and improving people’s lives. 

Darlene Love is widely recognized as one of the most distinctive and powerful voices ever in popular music. She received worldwide attention in 1962 for her hit single “He’s a Rebel”. She has performed with and backed up artists such as Sam Cooke, Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley, The Beach Boys, Sonny & Cher, Aretha Franklin and The Rolling Stones.

Christena J. Pyle is the executive director of Time’s Up Advertising. Previously, she served as director of diversity and inclusion at Omnicom and director of Adcolor.

Steve Cropper is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the guitarist of the Stax house band, Booker T. & the M.G.’s, and has backed artists such as Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, Rufus Thomas and Johnnie Taylor, also acting as producer on many of these records. He later gained fame as a member of the Blues Brothers band. Rolling Stone lists him...

Crazy Legs Conti is a top-ranked  competitive eater with Major League Eating. He holds world records in buffet food, French cut string beans, and corn on the cob. He has eaten his way out of an eight-foot box of popcorn, The Popcorn Sarcophagus, earning him the moniker the Houdini of Cuisini. He has eaten 459 oysters on David Letterman and consumed cannoli on “The Sopranos.” He is the subject of t...

Joanna Louise Coles is a British-born media executive, producer, editor, and author. The inspiration for the hit TV show The Bold Type, she currently has a development deal across the ABC Studios Disney platforms. She served as the first ever Chief Content Officer for Hearst Magazines globally in 2016. She has won numerous awards for journalism and leadership, including, when she was editor-in-chi...

Hugh Nanton Romney Jr., known as Wavy Gravy, is an American entertainer and peace activist best known for his role at Woodstock, as well as for his hippie persona and countercultural beliefs. Romney has founded or co-founded several organizations, including the activist commune, the Hog Farm, and later, as Wavy Gravy, Camp Winnarainbow and the Seva Foundation. He was also the official clown of The...

Lisa Gilbert is currently CMO at IBM Japan. Lisa has also served as Vice President of Marketing responsible for IBM’s Growth Markets based in Shanghai, China. Lisa led a team of professionals managing marketing from strategy through to execution for all of IBM’s Enterprise and SMB clients. She also led the marketing strategy for IBM’s Geo Expansion initiative where the company opened over 140 new...

Giles Martin is an English record producer, songwriter, composer and multi-instrumentalist. His studio recordings, stage shows, TV and film works have been critically acclaimed and commercially successful around the globe. He is the son of Beatles producer George Martin, Head of Audio and Sound for UMG, Sound Experience Leader at Sonos and was the Music Director for 2019 film Rocketman.