Tulani André has worked in the digital space for the last 12+ years with most of her career spent working at agencies in New York and Washington DC. She is the Vice President of Social Media at National Geographic. André leads social strategy and planning across television, editorial and magazine. Prior to this, she was the Global Lead, Social and Editorial at Prime Video and the Vice President of Social Media at FOX Entertainment.

André has created social storytelling and marketing campaigns across sectors, including in government, non-profit, entertainment and consumer. This has given her a holistic perspective on the importance of tech and digital, and the impactful role that social media marketing plays in any project, campaign or brand. She has a Bachelor of Arts in History from Spelman College and a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University.

Stacie Barrett is the director of internal communication at Domino’s. She’s responsible for digital and in-person communication to franchisees and corporate team members worldwide. She specializes in integrating messages from all areas of the company into simple, coherent and digestible communications. She leads a team that strategically tells stories through a robust intranet, lighthearted newsletters, compelling video and world-class events. She also leads Domino’s Worldwide Rally, an event that is translated into nine languages and brings 9,000 franchisees and team members from over 85 countries to Las Vegas for education, inspiration and celebration.

Brandi Boatner, manager of Digital Advocacy Communications for IBM, is the social and influencer communications lead for global markets for IBM‘s Global Technology Services in New York. She oversees a holistic digital ecosystem across platforms (including websites, blogs, social media sites and mobile devices) and people globally. Boatner’s responsibilities include developing and driving digital communications and content that supports the way IBM engages external audiences and enterprise IT professionals on topics such as hybrid cloud, enterprise mobility and business continuity. She is a former national president of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) and is a social media co-chair for the PRSA Technology Section.

IBM is a member of Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council.

Danielle Brigida is the Senior Director of Wildlife Communications & Strategy at the World Wildlife Fund. She previously served as the Deputy Director of Digital Strategy at for the  U.S. Department of the Interior and leading social media roles for Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.  She has been lauded as one of the 10 Most Generous Social Media Mavens by Fast Company, one of the 75 Environmentalists to Follow on Twitter by Mashable, and one of 10 People to Follow Who are Saving the World by Mother Nature Network. She’s been interviewed about her social media experience by USA Today, The New York Times, Fast Company, Washington Post, and Mashable. She loves spending time outside and sharing curiosity and wonder with others.

Laura Brusca is Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications at Forbes, where she directs strategic corporate communications, thought leadership, issues management, media relations and internal communications. An accomplished and award-winning communications executive, Laura exerts influence that shapes the modern-day narrative at one of the world’s most-storied media brands. She brings to Forbes nearly 15 years of corporate communications/reputation management experience, gleaned from in-house and agency roles, where she worked with established global brands. Prior to joining Forbes, Laura worked in the Corporate Communications practice at Ruder Finn, directing communications for well-known brands including Novartis, Kering (parent to Gucci and PUMA) and H&M.

Laura earned her Bachelor of Communications from Denison University and she was named to PRSA NY’s “Exceptionals Under 35.” She currently serves on three Boards. She is the VP of Communications for New York Women in Communications (NYWICI). She is also on the U.S. Board for Brass for Africa, a charity focused on empowering youth through music education, and on the Board for Superlost Coffee, a Bushwick-based coffee roaster.

Steve Cody is the founder and CEO of Peppercomm, a fully-integrated strategic communications firm headquartered in New York City, with offices in San Francisco and London. He’s responsible for everything from implementing strategy and counseling clients to leading business development and bringing new products and services to market. He’s also the current chairman of the Institute for Public Relations, a longtime member of the Arthur W. Page Society, a member of the advisory councils of the College of Charleston and the University of Florida.

Amanda Coffee is a senior director of global media relations at Under Armour where she oversees CEO media, public relations, brand communications and media partnerships. Under Armour works closely with its athlete partners on joint media storytelling, highlighting the brand’s focus on innovation, performance, and style.

Previously Amanda was a director of global corporate affairs at PayPal Holdings, Inc. She supported global strategies, plans and execution for corporate communications, including earned media, executive social media and employer brand.

At PayPal, in addition to managing global corporate media relations and executive visibility projects for the CEO and CFO, Coffee supported ten social media channels for PayPal and its executives. Additionally, she oversaw PayPal’s employer brand strategy, leveraging earned and owned channels to bring to life PayPal’s employee value proposition. Previously, Coffee spent five years on the corporate communications team at eBay Inc., including Retail Innovation communications and the separation of eBay and PayPal in 2015.

Previously, Coffee held positions at Burson-Marsteller and Weber Shandwick, supporting various client accounts including H-P and SAP. She holds a B.A. in Media Studies from the University of California, Berkeley. Amanda relocated from San Francisco to New York in early 2020.

Michelle Delery advises senior leaders on communications strategy, branding and reputation management, and crisis communications at New Orleans-based Entergy Corp.

During her 20-year career at Entergy, she has directed employee communications strategy during major crises and companywide change initiatives including hurricanes Katrina and Rita, various mergers, acquisitions and divestitures, companywide reorganizations, and most recently the COVID-19 pandemic.

She is a New Orleans native and holds an MBA from Tulane University, M.A. in Mass Communications from Loyola University, and a B.A. in Journalism/Advertising from Louisiana State University. She’s a member of Entergy’s Women’s Leadership Advisory Council, serves on the executive committee of the Greater New Orleans’ United Way Women United and is a board member of Dress for Success New Orleans.

She is also the co-owner of UpLIFT NOLA, a yoga, art, meditation and wellness studio.

Entergy is a member of Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council.

Paul Dyer is president and CEO of Lippe Taylor. He entered the PR industry as one of the first people to make social media his full time job. He then spent eight years at W2O Group (now Real Chemistry), where he was responsible for re-organizing the PR firm into an integrated marketing communications structure while building the agency’s Analytics and Integrated Media capabilities.  In 2017, he joined Lippe Taylor as President and became CEO in 2020. At Lippe Taylor, Paul architected an overhaul of the agency’s creative and digital capabilities, evolving them to be fully integrated, while maintaining the integrity of the firm’s iconic reputation and excellence in earned media. In five years, the agency has quadrupled under his leadership and was named PRWeek’s Midsize Agency of the Year for 2021.

Along the way, Paul received his MBA from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas and was named a “15 to Watch” an “Innovator 25” and a “40 under 40”. His book, Friction Fatigue, was a 2021 best seller according to Amazon, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal. It addresses the failings of Big Advertising and the remaking of the media landscape for the 2020s, providing a roadmap for executives and marketers trying to wean themselves off advertising dependency.

Margot Edelman is the Deputy General Manager of Edelman’s New York Office and leads the Corporate Practice in New York. Previously, she led the Bay Area Hub, which spans 170 professionals in Sacramento and San Francisco, and before that, Edelman’s Technology Practice in the Bay Area.

Margot brings a wealth of experience in brand building, corporate reputation and executive visibility to her clients large and small. Margot also leads a monthly “get to know the media” speaker series, with top reporters from The FT, The New York Times, Forbes and other top publications.

Margot has worked for seven years on the press team at the World Economic Forum during its Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland, where she led broadcast media from Reuters, Bloomberg, Associated Press and others around the Forum and arranged broadcast interviews with participants.

Margot is a graduate of Harvard Business School and Harvard University.

With over 20 years of experience in digital media, communications, design, marketing strategy, and team building, Christina Frantom brings proven knowledge of creative strategy, communication planning, and client management to academic, corporate, agency and municipal organizations through a DE&I lens. Frantom has a long history of DE&I-focused work throughout her communications career. She served on the board of the Tuscaloosa Civil Rights History and Reconciliation Foundation as well as the Invisible Histories Project of Alabama. Frantom is currently the International Communications Lead at Mercedes-Benz U.S. International, a global automotive manufacturing plant in Vance, Alabama. Frantom holds an M.S. in Consumer Quality Management from The University of Alabama and a B.A. in Philosophy from Texas A&M University.

With the voice of a storyteller and the mind of a strategist, Lanita Withers Goins helps organizations craft a cohesive narrative of who they are and where they’re going through effective communications.

Lanita is AVP, Employee Communications with Arch Capital Services LLC, where she oversees editorial content for the company’s global intranet, manages a team of talented internal communicators, and plans and executes company-wide communications that help employees connect with the company’s purpose, vision, values and strategic initiatives. She also serves as an advisor to senior executives and employee leaders, creating and refining communications that take strategies beyond words on paper and into messages able to capture the hearts and minds of their audiences.

Prior to Arch, she worked in higher education communications and started her career as journalist for a mid-sized regional newspaper.

Arch Capital Services is a member of Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council.

Emily Graham is Chief Equity & Impact Officer at Omnicom (NYSE: OMC) a Fortune 250, and one of the largest media, advertising and marketing conglomerates in the world.

In her role, she advances Omnicom’s vision to achieve systemic equity across the holding company’s global network, which spans more than 1,500 creative agencies and 5,000 clients. A seasoned corporate communications strategist, Emily also serves as Global Head of Diversity & Inclusion Communications at Omnicom. She also counsels an array of Omnicom’s largest clients on DEI matters including AT&T, General Motors and Microsoft.

Emily leads Omnicom’s OPEN team, 30+ dedicated DE&I professionals responsible for driving DE&I strategy company wide. Previously, Emily was Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer at FleishmanHillard, the first in the agency’s history. While at Fleishman, she was a Senior Partner, Global Client Leader (GCL) and member of The Cabinet – the firm’s executive leadership team. She also founded and led True MOSAIC; a global communication consultancy dedicated to driving DE&I to the center of corporate strategy. Prior to that, she led the firm’s professional and financial services sector in the Americas. She held previous roles at MWWPR and Burson-Marsteller. Graham has been recognized as a 40 Under 40 Honoree by PRWeek and Crain’s New York Business, 15 under 35 by PRSA New York and a Top Diversity Officer in the United States by National Diversity Council.

She serves as board trustee for the Institute of Public Relations where she is Director for the Center of DE&I along with an advisory board member at Southern Methodist University’s Meadows School of the Arts and Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Communications.

Tiffany Guarnaccia is the CEO of Kite Hill PR and the Founder of Communications Week. Under Tiffany’s leadership, Kite Hill has grown to become recognized as one of the top tech PR agencies in the US. Tiffany continues to set the bar high, and most recently in 2019 launched the PR Sprint™ Workflow, an agile model for the industry. Tiffany saw the need for the industry to have a larger platform to showcase innovation in communications and launched Communications Week in 2014, a global cross-industry celebration of the PR, communications, and media industries. Previously, Tiffany was at The Huffington Post as Senior Director of Communications to launch their streaming platform, HuffPost Live, and expanded her role to include PR for Huffington Post Media Group. She has held positions at companies that represented the industry’s reinvention: as the spokesperson for LimeWire in the Arista Records v. Lime Group case, and as the Director of PR and Communications for LimeWire Store, previously eMusic.

Mara Hedgecoth, chief communications & marketing officer at APCO Worldwide, leads the global corporate marketing and communication team and is a member of APCO’s Global Leadership Team. Ms. Hedgecoth sets the strategic direction and oversees corporate communication, including media relations, thought leadership, internal communication, and crisis and issues management. She also directs the development of APCO’s brand and global marketing and business development initiatives on behalf of the company. Ms. Hedgecoth has more than 25 years of events, marketing, fundraising and consulting experience.

She completed the 2017-2018 Arthur W. Page Society Future Leaders Experience and is a member of Page Up. She also serves on the board of directors of Women Entrepreneurs Grow Global. In 2005, she was named “Good Person of the Year” by Goodwill Industries. She has a Bachelor of Business Administration with a specialization in Hospitality and Tourism Management from James Madison University and a Master of Business Administration with a specialization in Marketing Management from Johns Hopkins University.

Amy Jaick is the U.S. Head of Communications at FREYR Battery. She works across functions and channels to create integrated programs that bring FREYR Battery’s mission, vision, and values to life.

Prior to joining FREYR Batter, Amy built and led the first-ever corporate digital marketing and communications team at ViacomCBS and helped launch Goodman Media’s digital business. Jaick has also held the role of Director of Digital Marketing at Estimize, where she implemented acquisition, engagement, and retention campaigns across mediums. Before Estimize, she oversaw marketing for The Economist‘s events business in North and South America, after first serving as The Economist‘s Communications Manager for the region. Jaick initially began her career at Goodman Media designing media relations programs for marquee clients.

Meredith Klein has led the communications strategy behind a major social media brand’s biggest initiatives and launches, working closely with cross-functional partners to uncover consumer insights to create compelling campaigns and stories that support the brands’ innovative products, bringing inspiration to people around the world.

Klein served as the director of PR at Walmart, leading its acquired brands portfolio, including Jet.com, Bonobos, Hayneedle, ELOQUII, Moosejaw and Art.com. In addition to this role, she also led comms for Walmart’s Product organization, including managing thought leadership communications for the company’s first-ever chief product officer.

Before formally joining Walmart, she served as the director of media & public relations for Jet.com, Walmart’s acquired eCommerce site. As the first communications hire for the company, she established Jet’s communication practice and press strategy, responsible for all aspects of communications, from corporate and consumer communications to social influencer strategy.

In September 2018, she led communications for Jet’s brand relaunch to consumers, partnering with teams across merchandising, analytics and marketing to develop a robust communications strategy and drive consumer awareness. Prior to the relaunch, in October 2017, she led communications for Jet’s private label launch, Uniquely J.

Prior to her in-house career, Klein spent over a decade on the agency side, holding leadership roles at Makovsky and Golin where she managed account teams and led the agency’s key clients, including WebMD, Cisco, Adidas and Walmart, respectively. She also helped launch the Consumer Practice at Makovsky while managing startup tech brand launches at leading conferences including the Consumer Electronics Show.

Klein resides in New York with her husband and two children. In addition to being on the Advisory Board for Ragan’s Communications Week, she sits on the Board of Quinnipiac University’s School of Communications.

Jessica has held various roles across communications in both information technology and biotechnology. In 2019, she joined Blueprint Medicines to design the internal and brand communications capabilities and today is continuing a focus on all-things employee, change, executive and brand while developing Blueprint’s corporate social responsibility strategy. Prior to Blueprint, Jessica worked on the Global Communications team at Dell Technologies where she held various roles across internal communications, digital communications and executive communications, including working on the integration team for the Dell-EMC merger and driving 360° communications for the President of Dell Technologies’ largest organization. Jessica earned a B.S. in business administration from Bryant University, a M.S. in corporate and organizational communication from Northeastern University and is an active member of Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council. Jessica was recognized as one of Ragan’s Top Women in Communications in 2021 and through her leadership, her teams have won multiple awards for excellence in communications.

Sean Langston, Jr. leads internal communications at Reddit, and having spent the past ten years submerged in all things organizational communications, he calls it a passion and a hobby more than a career. He has partnered closely with c-suite executives and senior leaders to build, scale, and transform organizational communications programs at Autodesk, Glassdoor, A.P. Moller-Maersk, Paypal, and eBay. Langston, Jr. thrives in fast-paced and high-stakes growth environments and quickly positions himself as a cross-functional advisor and catalyst for change within highly diverse, globally dispersed organizations. Beyond his work with large enterprises and late-stage companies, he’s also advised tech startups, marketing agencies, food and health brands, and e-commerce businesses. He’s passionate about helping founders and small businesses drive impact at scale.

Langston, Jr. earned his BA in organizational communication from North Carolina State University in Raleigh. He is devoted to mentoring young, aspiring technologists from marginalized communities, when not entrenched in all things communications. You may also find him playing competitive soccer or chess, searching for the best Pad See Ew, or anxiously working through how to not need to check a bag for an upcoming trip with friends or family—he aspires to one day under-pack, with particular focus on shoes.

Lisa Lanspery is a senior vice president for external communications at Synchrony, a Fortune 200 consumer finance company. With more than two decades of expertise in corporate communications, Lanspery has a range of experience in public relations, issues management, storytelling and brand positioning. At Synchrony, she has worked on multiple change management programs including a CEO transition, COVID-19 communications, acquisitions and other corporate reputation projects.

Prior to joining Synchrony, Lanspery was vice president of communications at IBM where she led a global team of internal, external, executive, and social media leaders to help tell the company’s cloud and systems hardware story. She also held public relations roles at GE and at barnesandnoble.com where she took the company through an initial public offering. She started her career at Burson-Marsteller.

Lanspery was part of the team that won the PRSA Silver Anvil award for IBM’s Centennial “IBM at 100: Modernizing the Way the World Sees Big Blue.” She holds a bachelor’s degree in Journalism from Ohio University.

Nicole Neal is Vice President, Head of Internal Communications, for Zurich North America. With a multifaceted career in multicultural and general consumer marketing communications, issues management, public relations, executive and employee communications, Nicole Neal has helped brands and leaders lean in so that they can tap into the diverse passion points of employees and customers. During her broad career spanning more than 15 years in corporate communications and agency leadership, Nicole has crafted creative strategies and integrated communications solutions for global B2B and B2C brands in commercial real estate, restaurant/hospitality, technology, pharmaceutical, financial services, event marketing, food and beverages, tourism, higher education and supplier diversity.

Sarah Plaster is the Senior Director, Environmental, Social and Governance Strategy and Execution for SAIC. In this role, she is responsible formalizing and accelerating SAIC’s environmental, social and governance communications as well as leading major change management communications for the company. Previous to her current role, Plaster spent more than 11 years at Aflac in a variety of roles. As the director of ESG communications, Plaster was responsible for advancing the reputation of Aflac’s ESG objectives and leading the communications that supported of the company’s objectives in this area. As the director of organizational communications, she was responsible for communications to all internal audiences and, as a member of the Corporate Communications leadership team, led strategic efforts such as acquisition and crisis communications. She was also involved in the development and leadership of the Aflac WorkForces Report, a thought leadership employee benefits study examining trends and attitudes for 10 years.

Before joining Aflac, Plaster spent 11 years with financial services and insurance forerunner USAA leading both internal and external communications functions. She holds a Ph.D. in Mass Communications Research from Ohio University, and a Master of Science and a Bachelor of Arts from Purdue University.

Asha Gopalan Ramirez is a brand strategist and marketer. She has twelve years of experience driving brand innovation, corporate reputation and growth for global companies and advertising agencies. Currently, she is SVP of Marketing & Communications for Dentsu Americas, the global advertising network’s largest region and headquarter to S&P 500 clients.

Originally from the New York metropolitan area, Asha moved to the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex at the start of the pandemic and has since been focused on building a vibrant and inclusive community of marketers and communications leaders. In 2019, she launched Ramirez Writes, a brand consultancy that helps small business owners more effectively tell their story to attract investors and customers. In November 2023, Asha was appointed Board Member of the American Marketing Association – DFW Chapter with the goal of driving connection and community growth through storytelling, experiences, and membership insights.

Daniel is Head of Communications for BrightDrop, a start-up created by General Motors with a portfolio of products and software designed to decarbonize last-mile deliveries and reduce congestion. He oversees a team focused on both internal and external communications. Before this role, he was the Global Innovation & Growth Communications Lead at General Motors, where he led the communications team focused on GM’s Global Innovation incubator that creates new start-ups for the company and GM’s Global Connected Services. He previously served as Head of State Policy Communications at Facebook where he led the policy communications strategy across all 50 states and served as a spokesperson for tech issues at all levels of the U.S. government. Before Facebook, he led East Communications at Lyft where he managed PR firms in various markets – DC, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Miami, and others – while overseeing the execution of national campaigns at the regional level. Prior to Lyft, Daniel spent time at Viacom Media Networks; worked at Edelman Public Relations; served in the Obama White House; worked at the National Governors Association; served in the Office of U.S. Representative Elijah E. Cummings; and interned for First Lady Michelle Obama.

Daniel holds a B.A. in Public Policy Leadership from the University of Mississippi and serves on the board of the Washington Government Relations Group that provides scholarships to minority students interested in advocacy work.

Ayanna Robinson has more than 26 years of experience with public relations, issues management, and behavior change campaigns. She serves as Porter Novelli’s chief client officer leading the company’s commercial approach and ensuring clients experience the best of Porter Novelli.

Robinson has worked across industry sectors leading cross-functional teams for clients including Bayer, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Habitat for Humanity International. She is adept at building successful integrated communications campaigns that achieve impact. As CCO, she continues to counsel senior leaders in today’s ever-changing communications environment.

Ayanna was named by PR News among the Top Women in Public Relations and has won numerous industry awards. She obtained a Master’s in Public Policy, specializing in social policy, from the University of Maryland’s School of Public Affairs and holds a B.A. from the University of Virginia. Her work has been the subject of articles in U.S. and international journals and presentations.

In his current role as senior vice president, corporate communications at Marriott International, Shackley oversees multiple groups including global consumer PR, creative services and internal communications.

His path to Marriott includes a stint as executive producer of global launch events at Apple where, among other noteworthy feats, he worked on the launch for the iPhone 7 and the first waterproof Apple Watch. From 2013-2015, he was the president and chief creative officer at RedPeg Marketing, driving creative and agency social and digital departments while working with Geico, NBA, Mercedes and producing over 1,500 live events. Before RedPeg, Shackley was head of marketing and communications at Mark Burnett Productions, chief marketing officer at Discovery Channel, the world’s number one non-fiction media company, and vice president, global rvents and promotions at AOL, producing their highest profile projects including the Super Bowl, SXSW, Nascar and the Live 8 concert series.

Marriott International is a member of Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council.

Diane Schwartz is the Chief Executive Officer of Ragan Communications, a leading media company that serves communicators worldwide with education, networking and unparalleled event experiences. Brands include Ragan, PR Daily, Communications Week and Ragan Training. Tentpole events include the Employee Communications Conference, Future of Communications, Social Media Conference at Disney World and the newly launched Women’s Retreats. Ragan’s Communications Leadership Council is the premier member organization for communicators at large, multinational organizations.

Diane joined Ragan in 2019 after serving for 23 years at Access Intelligence, where she was SVP of the media communications division and oversaw the growth of brands including PR News, Cynopsis, AdExchanger, Admonsters and many others.

Schwartz has launched more than 100 conferences, training and certificate programs, awards competitions and subscription products that put customer and premium content front and center. A former journalist, Schwartz is a frequent guest lecturer at universities nationwide, a board member of the Institute for Public Relations and a founding member of Chief. She is a wish granter for Make a Wish, a volunteer for the Visiting Nurse & Hospice of Fairfield County (CT), a mother of two young adults and a rescue dog.

Esther Mireya Tejeda was formerly the chief marketing & communications officer for SoundExchange, the premiere music-tech and royalties solutions company in the U.S., building the future of music through technology innovations to create a more simple, efficient and fair industry across the globe. Tejeda oversaw the brand strategy and marketing, global communications and public relations, industry engagement, and government relations and public affairs functions as part of the company’s executive leadership team.

A seasoned veteran of the entertainment industry, Tejeda has held executive posts at Audacy, Univision, PepsiCo, Diageo, and others. Prior to joining SoundExchange, she founded Audacy’s communications practice and led the communications strategy for its acquisition of CBS Radio and launch of digital streaming service, Radio.com. Among other career accomplishments, Tejeda built the communications practice for Univision’s sports business, and led Univision Deportes to national recognition during its 2014 partnership with FIFA World Cup. She was also instrumental in reimagining the marketing communications for the Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show in 2012 and 2013, and was key in launching Pepsi’s first-ever global marketing campaign in 2012.

Tejeda has been recognized as a Women to Watch (PR Week, 2019), Top Women in PR (PRNews, 2019), Maverick of the Year (Stevie Awards—Women in Business, 2019), Media Relations Professional of the Year (Ragan’s PR Daily, 2018), and Most Influential Women in Radio (Radio Ink Magazine, 2017–2020), among others. An industry leader, she serves on the Board of Directors of the Alliance for Women in Media and previously served on the Board of Directors of the Hispanic Public Relations Association.

Tejeda earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brown University, a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing from The New School, and an executive certificate from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Valerie Barker Waller is the senior vice president and chief marketing & communications officer for YMCA of the USA. A seasoned marketing professional with marketing strategy, branding and integrated communications experience across a variety of brands and industries, Waller is currently responsible for creating opportunities to strengthen the Y brand through strategic marketing and communications efforts, national partnerships, public engagement and collaboration with YMCA locations across the country. Waller came to Y-USA in 2016 after leading local marketing and communications for United Way of Metropolitan Chicago.

Prior to joining United Way, she led brand marketing communications at United Airlines, served as director of marketing and communications for Chicago 2016, and held leadership roles with the Museum of Science and Industry, Ameritech and Leo Burnett. A Chicago native, Waller was recently appointed to the Roosevelt University Board of Trustees. Her civic and professional leadership has included board membership with Chicago Community Land Trust, Women Employed and Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) in Chicago, in addition to national work with the Association of National Advertisers (ANA), the American Advertising Federation (AAF) and the Ad Council. Waller was honored as a 2013 “Top Women in Advertising and Marketing” by Black Enterprise Magazine. In 2009, she was named an Honored Role Model by Heroes in the Hood and a Women of Excellence by the Chicago Defender. As an active member of the National Black MBA Association, Waller was named Chicago Chapter “Member of the Year” early in her career.

As president of MikeWorldWide, Bret Werner oversees all practice groups and geographical markets to ensure best-in-class client service and integrated creative strategy. He has spent the last five years at the agency implementing an insights-driven approach to creating earned-worthy content that moves the needle for businesses across all sectors, with specialized brand-building expertise in the food and beverage, sports and entertainment and alcohol categories for brands including Barefoot, Under Armour, Subway Restaurants, MET-Rx and Vitaminwater. He has earned campaign recognition from top industry award programs and has been recognized for noteworthy contributions to his organizations, clients and industry at large as a 40 Under 40 winner by PRWeek as well as named to the magazine’s Global Powerbook 500 list. Werner’s experience as a senior executive in the industry has won his agency the PRWeek Agency of the Year title in their category size three different times.

Kari Wethington is executive communications director at Procter & Gamble, where she builds company reputation through thought leadership strategies and supports C-suite executive communications. Prior to P&G, she led external communications at Scripps, Rockfish and Central Park Conservancy. Kari started her career in journalism at the Cincinnati Enquirer and ELLE. A graduate of Oberlin College, she resides in Cincinnati with her husband and two children.

Jim Ylisela, co-founder and senior partner of Ragan Consulting Group, is an award-winning veteran Chicago journalist and former publisher of Ragan.com. He brings more than 30 years of experience in writing, editing, communications research and consulting. Ylisela has designed and organized newsrooms for many organizations, including Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, where he served as a faculty member and co-director of Medill News Service from 1988-2001. He works with communicators to create brand journalism news sites, organize and train writers and editors and restore reporting (and creative storytelling) to internal and external communications.