Emily Barr
Former President & CEO, Graham Media Group
Emily L. Barr recently retired as the President & CEO of Graham Media Group, the television broadcasting division of Graham Holdings Company. She held this position from July 2012 until March 2022 when she assumed the role of Strategic Advisor until her retirement in June 2022. The seven local media hubs of Graham Media Group represent over 7% television coverage of the US and its television stations, web and mobile platforms are recognized as news leaders across the media spectrum. Barr presently serves on the boards of the Associated Press and Carleton College and has recently served in leadership roles with the National Association of Broadcasters, the ABC Board of Governors and the NBC Affiliates Association.
Lindsay Chapman Bollenbach
Director, Advertising, Mohegan Sun
As Director of Advertising for Mohegan Sun Connecticut, Lindsay Bollenbach oversees strategy and execution of all brand and entertainment advertising. She works with agency partners to effectively manage, budget, and implement media plans and campaigns to raise revenue and achieve business goals. After graduating from Quinnipiac University with a B.S. in Economics, Bollenbach was hired by Mohegan Sun. In 2013, she was promoted to her current position as Director of Advertising. With over 10 years of marketing experience, she will keep using her expertise to develop the brand.
Jennifer Christina
Partner, Integrated Investment, UM Worldwide
Jennifer Christina has worked in the local media partnership space for 10+ years. She began her media career at UM Worldwide as a Client Service coordinator. In her current role as Partner, Integrated Investment, she oversees the execution and monitoring of all local media plans for clients. She promotes the value local brings to advertisers and advocates how diversification within local media channels can bring a client’s strategy to life and meet business objectives. Previously, Jennifer worked at Campbell-Ewald in a Human Resources role.
Kathy Doyle
EVP, Managing Director, Local Investment, MAGNA Global
A 20+ year veteran of IPG/MAGNA, Kathy oversees all local activity for clients such as Amazon, Rocket Mortgage, Gilead, BMW, Sony, T-Mobile and Arby’s, among others. Kathy believes client success in local markets is achieved through leverage, knowledge & relationships that drive effective strategic execution. She manages a team that annually executes hundreds of local retail events for a multitude of clients. Kathy represents the agency with involvement in several industry associations, such as the 4As, IAB, Nielsen and the TVB. She’s also an active member of the Mediabrands Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Council. With 30+ years in the media industry, she has worked for a wide-variety of clients, focusing on local marketing. Kathy received the agency’s “Truth Well Told” award for her outstanding work on General Motors. In 2015, she was named by AWNY as a Working Mother of the Year and in 2016 was added to the IRTS Mentorship Hall of Fame.
Missy Evenson
Vice President Sales, Local Media, Scripps
Missy has been with Scripps for ten years and in her current role as VP Sales, Local Media for four years. Prior to this role Missy was a Regional Director of Revenue Strategy for Scripps, Director of Sales at KMGH in Denver and held previous management roles in broadcasting in Texas. She has been on the planning, buying and sales sides of the media business. Missy is the current Vice-Chair for the TVB Executive Board of Directors, sitting member on the Nielsen Local Media Alliance and member of the Media Ad Sales Council. She is a member of the executive women’s program Chief as well.
Adam Gerber
Executive Director, US Investment Strategy, GroupM
Adam Gerber is Executive Director, US Investment Strategy for GroupM, WPP’s media investment group collectively representing more than $14B in investment from the world’s largest and most dynamic advertisers, including NBCUniversal, Unilever, Ford, Google, Mars, The Coca-Cola Company, and L’Oreal. In his role, Gerber leads initiatives to help GroupM’s clients create and capture value across a rapidly changing media landscape by co-developing new advertising models with media companies, defining and scaling omnichannel addressable capabilities, and creating competitive advantages in an era of platform-based, data-driven campaign management. A regular commentator on issues affecting advertisers, Gerber has been recognized by Adweek and Mediaweek as one of the industry’s leading figures in media.
Hadassa Gerber
EVP, Chief Research Officer, TVB
Hadassa Gerber was named Chief Research Officer of TVB in June 2014. Hadassa joined from the Syndicated Network Television Association (SNTA), where she served as the Director of Research and Systems. Prior to joining SNTA, she served in several senior and executive director roles for leading advertising agencies including Y&R, Media Edge, DeWitt Media, and McCann Erickson. Known as an industry thought leader in media analytics, media strategy and digital, Hadassa has worked with numerous blue-chip companies, agency executives, and brand managers to help develop innovative solutions to complex marketing challenges and maximize return on investment. She is a board member of the Media Ratings Council (MRC), a member of NAB’s COLTAM, the ARF and CIMM.
Catherine Herkovic
EVP, Managing Director, Local Television, Nielsen
Catherine Herkovic is a Nielsen veteran and is currently EVP, Managing Director of Local Television Client Services. She leads the team that serves local television stations, local cable stations, and MVPDs. Other roles Catherine has held at Nielsen include: Global Quality Leader, Managing Director of National Client Services, General Manager Local Television, and SVP Sales and Marketing, NSI.
Carol Hinnant
Chief Revenue Officer, Comscore
As Chief Revenue Officer, Carol Hinnant guides Comscore’s revenue-generating operations across the company’s global digital, television and cross-platform business lines. Overseeing the company’s commercial sales organization, Carol is responsible for building, nurturing and managing sales teams across all client vertical markets to grow revenue, expand client relationships and leverage marketplace expertise to increase sales channel profitability. Throughout her career, Carol has been recognized for her contributions to the media industry with multiple awards including being named one of the “Most Powerful Women” in 2021 by Cablefax, a “Woman to Watch” in the cable industry by Multichannel News and Women in Cable Television (WICT), and a “Rainmaker” by CTAM in 2008. Carol also represents Comscore in its work with critical industry organizations such as ARF, CIMM, IAB, ANA and MMA. Carol is a member of CTAM and Chief.
Jennifer Hungerbuhler
EVP, Head of Local Video and Audio Investment, dentsu Media US
In her role Jennifer Hungerbuhler oversees the investment strategy for local video and audio channels across all screen/devices for all dentsu Media clients. Jennifer is charged with reinventing the supply side of media, innovating consistent and scalable buying and investment capabilities, and developing richer media owner partnerships, locally and globally. She oversees staff in New York, LA, Detroit, and Atlanta, and is responsible for over $2B of media spending. Jennifer has over 25 years of experience in advertising and media buying across a variety of categories including Quick Serve Restaurants, Fine & Causal Dining, Travel and Entertainment, Retail, Automotive, CPG, Spirits/ Beer, Pharma, Gaming and Tune-In.
Drew Klopp
Senior Account Executive, FastPay
Drew Klopp joined FastPay in December of 2021 as a Senior Account Executive managing the Media Supplier relationships of FastPay’s payment processing business. Drew previously worked in a variety of media sales positions based in New York City for companies such as The New York Times, Specific Media, LIN Digital and Giant Media. As a result, Drew has extensive experience in the media industry and understands the importance of efficient billing and invoicing practices.
Steve Lanzano
President and CEO, TVB
Steve Lanzano is President and CEO of TVB. Steve joined TVB as president on January 1, 2010. He came to the association from HAVAS U.S., where he was the Chief Operating Officer. Previously he was the North American CEO of Mediaedge:cia (now Wavemaker), responsible for overseeing the agency’s operations across the U.S. and Canada. Steve was also global media director at sister agency Mindshare, where he was responsible for the American Express business.
Bob Liodice
CEO, ANA
Bob Liodice is CEO of the ANA. Having previously served as EVP, he is responsible for member relations, business development, strengthening relationships with ANA member companies, and broadening the membership base. Prior to joining ANA, he was VP of Global Marketing and Sales for Grupo Televisa. He previously worked in marketing and financial management at Kraft General Foods and as category marketing manager for the Jell-O and Bakers brands for over 15 years. Bob serves on the boards of directors of The Advertising Council, Better Business Bureau National Programs, Geopath, Advertising Educational Foundation, Digital Advertising Alliance, Trustworthy Accountability Group, and World Federation of Advertisers.
Patrick Manzi, PhD
Chief Economist, NADA
Patrick Manzi, PhD is NADA’s Chief Economist. In this role, Patrick works with both NADA and the American Truck Dealers (ATD), a division of NADA. Patrick regularly speaks to various audiences about the auto industry and is responsible for many of the association’s monthly and annual economic reports including NADA Data and ATD Data.
Eric Mathewson
Founder & CEO, WideOrbit
Eric founded WideOrbit in 1999 after realizing that there was an opportunity to dramatically streamline and automate the buying and selling of media. Prior to founding WideOrbit, Eric worked at Montgomery Securities in San Francisco and New York, managing portfolios for wealthy technologists as well as Kidder Peabody in Palo Alto, primarily focused on Equity Derivatives. Eric has been an active private equity technology investor since 1994 and maintains controlling ownership of WideOrbit. WideOrbit serves as the System of Record for more than 5,000 stations and cable networks worldwide processing more than $35 billion in advertising revenue annually.
Eric Meyrowitz
Executive Vice President, Hearst Television
Eric Meyrowitz was named Executive Vice President and group head of Hearst Television in 2021, with operational oversight over a portfolio of Hearst Television markets. Prior to that, Meyrowitz was Senior Vice President, Sales, since 2017. He rejoined Hearst Television as Vice President, Sales in 2014, having previously served as National Sales Manager for WBAL-TV, Baltimore, between 1997 – 2000. Before returning to Hearst, he was Vice President and General Manager of WPIX-TV, New York, where he helped create and launch the station’s first 5 p.m. newscast, as well as New York’s first Health and Wellness Expo. Before WPIX, Meyrowitz was Vice President and General Manager of WDCW-TV, the CW affiliate in Washington, D.C. He began his television sales career as an analyst and, later, Account Executive at HRP, now a unit of Cox Reps. Twice listed in Washington Life magazine’s annual Most Influential Washington Leaders Under 40, Meyrowitz is chair of the NBC Affiliates Board, treasurer of the Television Bureau of Advertising (TVB), a member of the Nielsen Local Media Alliance and serves on the board of the International Radio & Television Society.
Debra OConnell
President of Networks, Disney Media & Entertainment Distribution (DMED); Chair, Board of Directors, TVB
In her role, Debra oversees operational leadership including P&L oversight of all of the company’s linear television channels, as well as business planning, network/channel commercial marketing, and audience strategy for the ABC broadcast network and eight ABC Owned stations, Disney Channel, Disney Junior, Disney XD, ESPN Networks, FX Networks, Freeform and National Geographic Networks, as well as National Geographic Media and Magazine. She also oversees content requirements and programming budgets for each of the channels, working closely with the company’s creative content teams while also leading acquisition strategy for second-run and library content across Disney’s portfolio of channels in partnership with the company’s streaming services.
Steven Passwaiter
Vice President, Growth & Strategy, Media Intelligence, Kantar and Senior Advisor, CMAG
Steve Passwaiter is Vice President, Growth and Strategy for Kantar and Senior Advisor to CMAG, Kantar’s political advertising intelligence unit located in Washington, DC. Steve joined Kantar/CMAG in 2015 and has experience in broadcast sales management, consulting and media research. Prior to joining Kantar, Steve was a Board Advisor to Sportsdigita, a digital sports marketing firm, and VP, Business Development for BIA/Kelsey. Steve’s media career includes print, radio, and TV experience – including leading the local sales staffs at WDCA-TV and WUAB-TV.
Megan Quirk
Account Executive, CBS News and Stations
Megan Quirk has worked in local television for 11+ years. Quirk began her career locally at WCBS-TV in New York and has since transitioned to represent CBS’s twenty-seven owned and operated television stations and their corresponding digital platforms around the country via the New York and Boston sales offices. She looks forward to what the future has in store for local broadcast and how, as an industry, it will continue to adapt and remain a trustworthy source for viewers.
Karthik Rao
Chief Operating Officer, Nielsen
Karthik is responsible for driving a global product-driven technology transformation. He has held a variety of leadership roles at Nielsen and most recently was the Chief Product & Technology Officer for Nielsen Global Media where he led the International Media product and technology teams. Previously Karthik was the President of Nielsen Portfolio, where he led the Nielsen Entertainment, Nielsen Gracenote, Nielsen Brandbank and Nielsen Telecom businesses across all global markets. Karthik has a passion for talent development and serves as Nielsen’s co-Executive Sponsor for the Asian Affinity Link (AAL) internal employee resource group.
Anne Schelle
Managing Director, Pearl TV
Anne has more than two decades of wireless and media industry experience. Anne was founder and President of APS Connext LLC, providing senior-level advisory to some of the nation’s largest public media companies. She served previously as senior advisor to the NAB and as Executive Director of the Open Mobile Video Coalition. Anne serves currently as board chair of the ATSC 3.0 Security Alliance (A3SA), on the Advisory Board at Ateme, and on the Humber College B²C Lab Advisory Committee. She formerly served on the ATSC Board, as Vice Chairman of the Mobile Marketing Association’s North American Board, and as a founding member of the advisory board of the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering for Professionals.
Lisa Sherman
President & CEO, Ad Council
As President and CEO of the Ad Council, Lisa Sherman works at the intersection of media, marketing, technology, entertainment and advertising – convening the world’s best marketers to create public engagement campaigns. Sherman is a thought leader, frequent public speaker, and an active participant on advisory boards for several industry and public service organizations, including the World Economic Forum’s Information and Entertainment Stewardship Board. She is an Advisor to Guild Education – a female founded EdTech Unicorn, and a member of the Board of Trustees at Dickinson College. Sherman received the prestigious 2019 Matrix award from New York Women in Communications.