Debbi is global chief creative officer at VMLY&R, a brand experience agency delivering contemporary, integrated work across the connected consumer experience to clients worldwide, including Colgate-Palmolive, Danone, Dell, Ford, Intel and Wendy’s. She was named the 2020 Ad Age CCO of the Year and has helped lead the agency to Ad Age Agency A-List honors over the past several years as well as being named to Adweek’s Creative 100 and Business Insider’s “30 Most Creative People in Advertising.”

The company has experienced unprecedented growth and recognition under Debbie’s leadership, earning accolades from top international shows including Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity (receiving 31 Lions, including two coveted Grand Prix in the Glass Lion and Social & Influencer categories, 69 shortlists and Agency of the Year in the Reach and Good Tracks in 2019), Andys, ADC, Clios, D&AD, Effie Awards, LIA, One Show and Spikes Asia.

Debbi has led top international juries, including Andys; ADC (2018 jury chair); Cannes (2020/2021 Social & Influencer jury president, 2018 Entertainment jury president); Clios (2019 Direct & Experiential/Events jury chair, 2016 Digital jury chair); D&AD (2020 Experiential jury president); One Show Interactive; and Spikes Asia (2019 Entertainment & Music jury chair).

Originally from Germany and educated at Miami Ad School Europe in Hamburg, Felix Richter joined Droga5 New York in 2011.

Since then, Richter has climbed the ranks and created some of the agency’s most notable work—including the celebrated Under Armour campaigns “I Will What I Want” and “Rule Yourself”; Hennessy’s cinematic “What’s Your Wild Rabbit?” rebranding effort; and the successful global product launch of Google’s Pixel phone.

Richter has won nearly every major international advertising award, including two Cannes Lions Grand Prix. He has also been named “Young Gun of the Year” by YGA in 2011, one of Adweek’s Creative 100 in 2016 and Ad Age’s Creative Director of the Year in 2017.

Partner and Head of Brand Strategy at GS&P, Bonnie Wan is re-imagining the reach and role of strategy for brands as well as everyday people.

At GS&P, Wan has expanded its strategic offerings to include new revenue streams such as Brand Camp, an accelerated and concentrated path to identifying a brand’s position. Brand Camp has proven to be a new client generator, bringing in new clients including Kraft/Heinz, Bare Snacks, One Medical, Indigo Agriculture, and the San Francisco Giants. Brand Camp also generated new assignments from existing clients such as Comcast Business, Boston Beer, HP, BMW and Frito-Lay.

Beyond the industry at large, Wan is using strategy to transform how everyday people approach life. As creator of “The Life Brief,” she helps people live with greater clarity and creativity by teaching them to write briefs for their lives. The Life Brief is a practice based on her belief that “you cannot have it all, but you can have all that matters.”

The Life Brief has evolved from an agency talk into a workbook, workshops and recurring speaking appearances at Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop, 3% Conference, change.org, Accenture, Bain & Company and the University of Oregon. Wan and The Life Brief have been featured in Fast Company, Well+Good and Campaign.

Wan currently serves on the Ad Age Diversity Council and has been a two-time finalist for Chief Strategy Officer of the Year as part of Ad Age’s A-List & Creativity Awards.

Fortunate to come up in a constantly changing market, Lee Maicon has enjoyed finding opportunities to channel his curiosity and help move his clients’ business—and the industry—forward.

Along the way, Maicon has built a track record leading diverse cross-disciplinary teams across all the different flavors of strategic thinking. Recognized as a leader in the evolution of the marketing strategy and its application, he has spoken widely on multiple occasions at SXSW and Cannes Lions as well as at NYU’s Stern Business School and at the IESE Business School’s Madrid campus.,/p>

Maicon joined Edelman as its first global chief innovation and strategy officer in April of 2020, responsible for a diverse and multidisciplinary team aimed at helping clients reimagine how trust is earned. Previously Maicon served as chief strategy officer for North America at McCann, recognized as the most creatively effective agency by both the Effies and the 4As during his tenure. Prior to McCann, Maicon spent 8 years at 360i where he built an industry-leading strategy team and served as a part of the executive team of the eight-time Ad Age A-List agency.

From early on, Maicon has applied his passion for culture into a career building teams and helping iconic entities as diverse as Absolut, Clinique, Coca-Cola, HBO, MINI, New Orleans, Oreo, Oscar Mayer and Unisys reinvent themselves, land in culture and drive business growth, reaching new audiences and new channels.

Prior to 360i, Maicon served in leadership roles at innovative agencies, tech and media companies StrawberryFrog, Berlin Cameron, StarMedia and Univision.

Born in Mexico, raised in Miami but a lifelong New Yorker, Maicon lives in Brooklyn with his brilliant wife and two creative children.

Justin Thomas-Copeland joined DDB North America in 2020 as chief executive officer.

For almost 30 years, Copeland has worked in the precision and integrated marketing industry across a number of sectors including technology, automotive, travel, financial services, fashion and health and wellness. Throughout his career, Copeland has helped build brands using his relentless curiosity of the ever-evolving world of technology, his deep understanding of consumer behavior and his passion for creativity.

Copeland joined DDB from OPMG Health, an Omnicom Precision Marketing Group network, where he served as global CEO. As CEO, he was responsible for developing the vision, position and strategy of the network and its clients across all brands and regions globally. Before OPMG, Copeland successfully led RAPP NYC, relaunching the flagship New York office and launching the first-ever global RAPP WELL network. Under his leadership, RAPP saw multiple new business wins and was named to MM&M’s Top 100 for the last three consecutive years.

A true globalist, Copeland has led global teams in London, Paris, Benelux, Singapore, Moscow, Finland and New York, supporting large, complex client engagements. He has won multiple creative and strategic awards, including the Precision Marketing Grand Prix for merging creative, data and technology strategies. Earlier in his career, Copeland served client-side as chief digital officer at Novartis Consumer Health based in Switzerland, setting a global digital transformation strategy which saw Novartis develop partnerships with the likes of Google, Adobe, Amazon, Boots (Walgreen) and ePharmacies. Copeland has a track record of developing effective, lauded, data-led communications in virtually every category and for some of the world’s most famous brands.

In his role as CEO of DDB North America, Copeland will help integrate creative with brand insights, data and technology to help clients generate innovative and revenue-driving business solutions. He has spent his career developing and leading teams to take brands through the complete consumer journey, leveraging brand awareness down to immersive experiences and demand generation. Data, digital, brand, integrated or direct, Copeland has experience in all facets of precision strategy and communications, all driven by the belief that creativity is the most powerful force to connect brands with consumers and drive business.

When he’s not working, on a plane or studying a new language, Copeland spends time with his wife and three children.

Dara Treseder is a business leader with expertise in building and leading high performing global marketing, communications and commercial organizations. Treseder is currently senior VP, head of global marketing and communications at Peloton, the world’s largest interactive fitness platform. At Peloton, Treseder sets the strategy and goals for Peloton’s marketing efforts to build the Peloton brand and drive the company’s growth and international expansion. She also oversees brand and strategic marketing, consumer insights and strategy, communications and creative.

A veteran chief marketing and communications officer (CMO), Treseder was previously the CMO of Carbon and the CMO of GE Business Innovations and GE Ventures. Earlier in her career, she led marketing and growth efforts at Apple and Goldman Sachs.

Treseder has received several awards and industry recognition for her work. She was recognized by Silicon Valley Business Journal as one of Silicon Valley’s Top 40 Leaders Under 40, named one of AdWeek’s Women Trailblazers, by Business Insider as one of the Top 25 Most Innovative CMOs in the World, by Forbes as a “CMO Next”—a list made up of 50 marketing chiefs redefining the role and shaping the future—by Ad Age as a Women to Watch and by Inc. Magazine as one of the 30 Inspirational Women to Watch in Tech.

A champion of public health, women’s issues and diversity initiatives, Treseder is the vice chair of the board of the Public Health Institute (PHI). She also serves on the board of PG&E. Treseder graduated cum laude from Harvard University with the highest honors in the field and holds an MBA from Stanford University.

Joan Colletta is senior Director, global brand marketing for McDonald’s. In her role, she leads McDonald’s Global Creative Effectiveness Program, inspiring and enabling the marketing community to harness the power of the McDonald’s brand to move people and the business. In her time at McDonald’s, Colletta has led workshops around the globe connecting with over 1,500 marketers and agency partners to drive inspiration and alignment for elevating the work.

Colletta is a passionate, cross-trained marketing communications leader with extensive experience on the corporate, creative agency and media sides of the marketing world. Prior to McDonald’s, Colletta was managing partner, communications planning lead for Mindshare and has held marketing communication leadership positions at Cramer-Krasselt, Miller Brewing Company and Leo Burnett. Over the course of her career, she’s guided business-building strategies, integrated approaches and award-winning ideas for an impressive roster of iconic brands including Heinz, Miller High-Life, Cheerios, Special K, The Gap, Allstate, Huggies and Hallmark. Notably, her strategic leadership served as the catalyst for Corona’s “Find Your Beach” platform, which broke the brand out of its “beach” occasion typecast (without breaking the brand) while contributing to double digit sales increases, sustaining its position as America’s number one selling import.

Colletta has judged the Effie’s and Jay Chiat awards has received various recognition for her work—from Effie’s to Cannes Lions to Clios. Her leadership skills were also honored in 2020 when she was recognized as a finalist in the inaugural North American WeQual awards. Colletta resides in Chicago and is a graduate of Northwestern University.

Diane Jackson, an award-winning Chief Production Officer, transcends barriers and expectations, not only by what she does for DDB Chicago, but also by who she is as an industry leader, mentor and creator. She defies the conventional constructs of the production discipline, and in turn, has significantly impacted not only the Chicago ad community, but also the global advertising industry.

Colleagues and clients alike recognize Jackson’s rare combination of tenacity, strategic vision, and creativity. Thus, not only has Jackson been critical to sustaining DDB Chicago’s growth and profile in the industry, she has also taken an active leadership role in strategizing for the entire agency network. Her influence permeates the company both locally and globally on brands such as Molson Coors, Mars/Wrigley, State Farm, McDonald’s and the U.S. Army.

As Chief Production Officer, Jackson has built an award-winning team that truly understands integrated production and believes in the power of collaboration. She introduced a new production model that allows the agency to quickly produce branded content for both planned and unplanned opportunities, and designed Studio225, a 10,000-square-foot agile facility within the agency that is “always on.” Jackson advises on production procedure, best practices, market trends, media solution and creative collaborations throughout the DDB global network.

Additionally, Jackson has led award-winning production teams, creating work that has been recognized by the Emmys, Cannes Lions, The One Show, D&AD, London International Television Awards, Clios, Webbys, and the Effies.

Jackson has represented DDB as a juror on numerous award shows. In 2012, she was selected for the Film Craft Jury at the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival, making her the first female agency head of production to be part of the jury. She served again in 2018 and, the following year, Jackson was on the Film Advertising Jury for the D&AD Awards. She has served as a jury president at the London International Awards and has also served multiple times on the AICP Curatorial Panel for the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

Jackson is dedicated to advancing diversity and inclusion in advertising. As a former board member of the VCU Brandcenter, she is invested in encouraging young people of color to consider advertising as a career path. On behalf of DDB, she sponsors the Free Spirit Media Program, which connects more than 700 underserved youth in the Chicago area to arts education and opportunities in media production.

Jackson was also an early supporter of Free The Bid and ensured that DDB was one of the first agencies to partner with the initiative, dedicated to increasing the number of female directors, and now supports “Free the Work” for broader inclusion.

Jackson is mum to Spike and Alfie and lives in the city of Chicago.

For two decades, Mike Davidson has been bringing impossible ideas to life. He’s won awards for launching a sandwich into space, saving the world from ending through a video game and letting the internet play music through a man’s muscles. With expertise across film, digital development, gaming, live-streaming content and more, Mike says, “If I haven’t done it yet, that’s what I want to do next.”

As Leo Burnett’s Executive Vice President, Head of Integrated Production, Davidson leads with a collaborative mentality and a diverse and inclusive vision, creatively solving problems alongside leaders and production talent across all agency disciplines. Before joining Leo Burnett, Davidson served as head of integrated production for Wieden+Kennedy Portland, leading efforts on brands including Old Spice, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Coca-Cola. Prior to W+K, Davidson produced groundbreaking work at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco for clients such as The National Basketball Association and Frito-Lay. He brings both best-in-the-world-bar-none craft to our ideas and helps unite the best of Publicis Groupe to deliver world-class production solutions for our clients.

Ruben Mercadal, associate director of film production at Droga5 New York, is a cross-platform content and creative executive producer from the UK and Spain. With over 20 years in production, he holds a wide range of experience, having worked on feature films, long-form dramas and TV programs and music videos. He’s also worked in advertising across all disciplines of production: for production companies (Godman, Passion Pictures), in post production and at the agency level, including seven years at BBH London where he produced award-winning work such as Johnnie Walker’s “The Man Who Walked around the World” campaign, which won the Best in Show at the One Show and various Cannes Gold Lions. Mercadal is creatively driven and passionate about producing highly effective, award-winning work as well as providing production and management solutions for brands and clients. He has produced and overseen production on Droga5’s most recent work for Hennessy and The New York Times, including the recent two-time Cannes Lions Grand Prix– and a D&AD Black Pencil–winning campaign “The Truth Is Worth It.”