Kamran Asghar is the CEO and co-founder of Crossmedia U.S., one of the largest, minority-owned media agencies in the US. He is Adweek’s 2022 Media Executive of the Year and a Campaign 40 over 40 & Adweek Media All-Star. Kamran is the driving force behind the agency’s success which includes double digit growth 9 of the last 11 years as well as being named on Ad Age’s Best Place to Work the past 5 years in a row and a 2x Ad Age Small Agency of the Year winner.  

Kamran started the agency in 2000 with a simple idea – that the right way to do media was holistic, neutral and accountable. From the beginning, Kamran rejected the unbundling of creative and media, believing it to be the original sin of advertising. He has always been adamant that the separation of creative & media would have a negative impact on client business and thus has built the agency around the powerful concept of doing media the right way. 

This belief, that disciplines together are stronger, informed much of Crossmedia’s practice of partnering closely with creatives throughout the history of the agency. In 2019, with industry veteran Bob Kantor, Kamran formed DAWN Marketing which brought together a coalition of marketing services agencies with Crossmedia’s advanced analytics practice at the core of this new grouping. Most recently in 2023, Kamran pioneered a new partnership with award-winning Joan Creative  to launch JoanxMedia in the U.S., “reimagining reintegration" as Adweek proclaimed. 

Kamran sets the tone across the company’s US offices through his open hands-on style and dynamic personality. A College of William & Mary alum and diehard Washington Commanders NFL fan, Kamran is passionate about marrying the art & science of media and bringing the most forward-thinking, omnichannel approach to all clients. 

Ricardo Aspiazu leads creative marketing and strategy at Verizon. Before joining the company he spent over 15 years in advertising both in Ecuador, his home country, and in the USA. He worked with some of the best agencies like DDB, JWT and Dentsu. Problem solving, creating and disrupting for small and global brands like Heineken, Johnson & Johnson and Burger King. In this journey is how Ricardo got to work with Verizon and crossed over to help them build their creative organization in 2017. 

At Verizon, his role spans from creative strategy to brand design, naming and identity, content creation and agency ecosystem management. He is also the creative liaison to Verizon's most valued partners like Apple, Samsung, Google, Disney and the NFL; developing award-winning co-branded brand and product activations. He holds degrees from Loyola University New Orleans, Universidad de Barcelona and Baruch College CUNY. Ricardo lives in NYC with his husband Rorbert and his four-legged daughter Pepa. 

Yusuf Chuku serves as the Executive Vice President, Client Advisory, Advertising and Partnerships, NBCUniversal. In this role, he harnesses a deep understanding of audience insight, culture, brand strategy and communication strategy to deliver solutions that maximize advertising effectiveness for NBCUniversal clients. 

With over 25 years in the business, both in London and New York, Chuku has worked across both planning and strategy functions. His experience spans Microsoft, BMW, Samsung, Kimberley-Clark, Kraft and Verizon.  

Prior to NBCUniversal, Chuku was Global Chief Strategy Officer of VMLY&R where he led the strategy discipline across its 75 locations around the globe. Chuku has also led strategy at McCann New York and had previous stints at DDB London, JWT New York and Naked Communications. 

Chuku’s work has been recognized by the IPA, Effies, the Jay Chiat Awards, Cannes and the Marketing Effectiveness Awards. He’s a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, and previous chair of 4As Strategy Committee and non-executive board member of OFSTED.

A senior marketing executive, board director and growth expert, Dhiraj has built a track record in scaling multi-billion dollar businesses and building best-in-class marketing functions at high-growth companies such as PayPal, Facebook and BlueVine. With multi-disciplinary expertise in organizational and P&L management, customer marketing e-commerce and technology, Dhiraj has driven transformative change in rapidly evolving digital enterprises. He is known for creating a team culture that is centered around the customer, values excellence, fosters diversity of ideas and thrives on a test and learn approach. Dhiraj currently serves on the board of Paga and Mutual Markets. 

Sarah Larsen leads the Integrated Marketing team for Samsung Home Entertainment and is responsible for building our brand with our consumers and customers across the US. 

Her extensive knowledge of the latest and greatest in innovative marketing and especially digital activations paired with her deep expertise with partnerships, experiential and influencer programs has led to numerous sales-driving and award-winning campaigns. Prior to joining Samsung, Sarah held leadership roles in several global marketing agencies such as Edelman and Ogilvy, working with globally renowned CPG, consumer electronics brands and retailer brands which provided her with a well-rounded view of the marketing landscape. 

An avid trends spotter, Sarah spends her free time consuming all things culture related, though her two teenage daughters frequently inform her what is actually cool. She is passionate about the culinary arts, home décor, fashion, entertainment and even picked up mixology while quarantining. Sarah’s husband is from Ireland so she is able to satisfy her travel bug with lots of trips back and forth.   

Thomas is a Global CMO with 25-years of experience spanning the public and private sectors across categories from tourism and tech to consumer hardware and packaged goods. He was recently named to the list of Forbes Top 50 Entrepreneurial CMOs.  
 
Thomas recently joined Chobani as Chief Marketing Officer after being the Global CMO at Uber and spending a decade in leadership roles at Google. At Uber, Thomas led an organizational turn around for marketing, spearheaded the company’s social impact response during COVID and put Uber Eats on the map with the award-winning “Tonight I’ll Be Eating” campaign. 
 
Prior to Uber, Thomas was the first VP of Hardware Marketing at Google where he defined and launched the Google Pixel and #MadebyGoogle family of devices, as well as founding and leading the Google Brand Studio where he named Alphabet and launched the Google Store. Thomas was also the first CMO for the State of New York leading the famed “I LOVE NY” campaign and a former management consultant at both McKinsey and Interbrand. 
 
Thomas earned a Master of Public Policy at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government and a Bachelor of Arts in political science with honors at Stanford University. He grew up in Brooklyn NY, the grandchild of Italian immigrants and the first to go to college. Thomas recently returned to NYC with his partner Brian and their lab Bruno. 

Brian Robinson holds the position of Global Chief Strategic Officer & Head of Growth for Havas Health & You (HH&Y) leveraging his expertise to drive the development of modern health brands and navigate the evolving landscape of health-related cultural shifts. With over two decades of experience in various facets of healthcare marketing and strategy, Brian has demonstrated his corporate and commercial strategic expertise and capabilities as a thought leader in evolving philosophies and models to branding, culture of health evolution, and data-led brand go to market planning. His experience spans engagements with clients and brands of all sizes, across diverse healthcare verticals. 

Brian's tenure at Havas has been marked by a focus on key accounts such as Sanofi, Novartis, and Merck. His focus on new business development has fostered the creation of strategically driven health brands. He has played a pivotal role in transforming the HH&Y strategy team into one of the industry's leading forces in health and wellness communications. He oversees Trinity Life Sciences, an HH&Y equity investment, to further expand the company’s footprint in the healthcare sector.  

Prior to joining Havas Health & You, Brian held strategic leadership roles at Omnicom and WPP health agencies. His background in life sciences commercial consulting with UnitedHealth Group and Covance has provided him with a deep understanding of health marketing and equipped him with the skills necessary to navigate complex business, portfolio, and brand strategic assignments. 

Overall, Brian's track record exemplifies his ability to drive innovation, foster client relationships, and lead transformative initiatives in the health and wellness marketing landscape. 

Along with his family, Brian enjoys time skiing, hiking, cooking, and exploring. 

Michelle has made a name for herself within the Omnicom community as an executive sponsor of Omni, OMC’s industry-leading data and marketing orchestration platform. Leveraging Omni as well as Omnicom Commerce’s suite of proprietary solutions she helps to shape and refine the data strategy and solutions to deliver value at scale for the practice area. In addition, she keeps the commerce agencies at the forefront of delivering unprecedented shopper and consumer intelligence that inspires compelling work that drives brand buying. 

Her expertise in the commerce landscape, honed over the past 25 years spans a variety of areas including; applied consumer market research, product marketing and category marketing experience, having worked at first gen start-ups to Nielsen(NIQ) in both Buy & Watch sectors and Crossmark Sales & Marketing; she has delivered insights for entities across the CPG landscape including: Target, Walmart, GMI, AB-Inbev, Kellogg’s, Diageo and SC Johnson. Notably, Michelle’s research projects have extended to the White House, including collaboration with the esteemed First Lady Michelle Obama.  

Beyond her professional endeavors, Michelle finds joy in the simple pleasures of life – enjoying baking, live music, thrift-store shopping, and spending time with her husband John and their great dane – Ella Fitzgerald.  

Lynn Teo is the Chief Marketing Officer of Northwestern Mutual. Her responsibilities encompass brand strategy, product marketing, field and customer experience marketing, digital marketing, marketing technology, operations, and consumer insights/market research. She is a data-driven and revenue-centric tech sector marketing executive specializing in driving growth for the enterprise through the buildout of modern marketing capabilities. 

Ms. Teo joined Northwestern Mutual in September 2022. In her 24 years in industry, she has led digital transformation initiatives in a broad range of industries: advertising, publishing, education, retail, finance, travel, and health. 

She is a seasoned international executive who has lived and worked in the US, Europe, and Asia during her career. From 2014 – 2018, Lynn assumed roles as VP Digital Marketing and Head of Marketing (Asia Pacific & Japan) at CA Technologies. From 2018 – 2021, Lynn expanded her scope of responsibilities as VP (CMO) of Global Marketing and Customer Experience at Wolters Kluwer Health. Before joining Northwestern Mutual, Lynn served as the CMO of three lines of business at Thomson Reuters.  

Ms. Teo received her Honors BA degree from the National University of Singapore and an MA in Professional Writing (Information and Online/Interaction Design) from Carnegie Mellon University.   

Lynn enjoys international travel, experiencing new cultures and cuisines, and hiking in the National Parks across the US.  

As the Senior Vice President, Head of Marketing at The New York Times Amy is responsible for guiding all brand strategy and marketing, and has driven the continued evolution of The Times brand for market relevancy and growth. She’s an astute marketer who is focused on building a strong consumer marketing strategy that emphasizes storytelling and humanizing the legacy brand. 
 
This storytelling focus shines through in the numerous award-winning campaigns that Amy and her team have developed from concept to execution (in partnership with Droga5). These include “The Truth Is Worth It” campaign which demonstrates that deeply reported, independent journalism is worth paying for, and “The Truth Takes Journalist,” which highlights some of the 1,700+ Times journalists who help us understand the world through their coverage. 

With every campaign, Amy and her team aim to grow the number of readers who believe Times journalism is worth paying for, and connect what’s happening in culture to the role Times journalism can play in readers’ lives. Amy and her team led the brand strategy, the development and execution of all marketing communications for campaigns including “Truth Is” and “More of Life, Brought To Life” which demonstrate why quality journalism is worth paying for. 
 
The campaigns have earned numerous marketing awards including two Grand Prix Cannes Lions, the Grand Clio, the One Show CMO Pencil, the ADC Black Cube and a Sustained Success Gold Effie. 
 
Amy also leads marketing for each of The Times’s sub-brands including New York Times Games, Cooking, Audio, Wirecutter and The Athletic. Previously, Amy led global marketing for Wilson Sporting Goods and held marketing leadership roles at Beam Global Spirits & Wine and Trunk Club. Amy started her career at Unilever where she helped launch AXE Hair Care. 

Amy received a B.A. from DePauw University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. 

Michelle graduated with a Grand Diplôme from Le Cordon Bleu in London and landed a job as a pastry chef at London’s Grosvenor House Hotel. The creativity and intensity of the culinary world provided a perfect training ground for the world of advertising - and an eye-opening experience for a woman finding her way in another male-dominated field.

Michelle’s advertising career took her from Leo Burnett in Chicago to Dailey in West Hollywood where she was the agency's first female Managing Partner and President in its 50-year history.

Michelle has worked on iconic brands across categories, everything from Philip Morris and Qantas Airlines to Butterfinger and Panda Express. But the one constant has been her love of brands and their ability to connect with consumers' hearts and minds, particularly when those brands embrace the power of creativity and authenticity.

A change-maker within creative industries, Michelle has spoken at SXSW, Forbes, Apple, Cannes and was named on the 2024 Forbes Entrepreneurial CMO 50 list. Other recent acknowledgments include a ColorComm Circle award in recognition of her outstanding leadership and mentorship to other women in the industry and being named on Brand Innovator’s Top 100 list of Most Innovative Women in Marketing.

As the CMO at Sprinkles, Michelle leads all creative strategy and communication, product innovation and brand partnerships.