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We are extremely pleased to announce the 2007 ADCOLOR® Award Honorees. These 15 individuals were selected from over 100 nominations based on their ability to deliver strong outcomes, their contribution to their company, industry and/or community, their reputation as "best in class" by serving as role model for others and their strong professional character and leadership.
2007 ADCOLOR® Rising Star Honorees
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Melissa Brown
Manager, African American Marketing
The Home Depot
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Melissa Brown, Manager of African American Marketing for The Home Depot began her career with THD in 2003 as an administrative assistant. On-the-job training in the form of exposure to the world of corporate advertising led to the discovery of her own passion and talent for marketing, By 2005, Melissa had advanced through several promotions to the role of Executive Assistant to THD's Chief Marketing Officer. That role soon transitioned to project manager in the multicultural marketing department and led to her present position.
Now an experienced THD marketing professional, Melissa is responsible for The Home Depot's African American marketing strategy and initiatives. Key initiatives driven by her include partnerships with The Steve Harvey Morning Show, Tom Joyner, branded integrations on the CW "Girlfriends", and sponsorship of notable African American organizations such as the NAACP.
A native of Georgia, Melissa and her husband Alonzo reside in the Atlanta area with their three sons Ethan (8), Avery (6), and Blake (2). A highly dedicated working mom and family cheerleader, when not on the job Melissa attends her sons' many school and extracurricular activities and lend support to the doings of her very large extended family -- while also pursuing her Bachelor's degree in Marketing which will be awarded to her in December by Strayer University.
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Rudy Duthil
West Coast Manager of Experiential Marketing
Zoom Media & Marketing
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Born in Brooklyn to Cuban-Dominican parents and raised in Providence, Rudy started his career at Zoom Media & Marketing in June of 2005. He began there as a Coordinator in the Experiential Marketing department, helping to execute custom marketing solutions for clients. In just two short years has been promoted to West Coast Manager of Experiential Marketing based out of Los Angeles. Rudy has grown Zoom's Graffiti Network into a major outdoor advertising industry phenomenon—the mixture of the authenticity and heritage of graffiti with cutting edge media opportunities has placed Zoom at the forefront of innovative media. Programs of note include the PSP graffiti tag campaign, the Silk & Kashi office sampling campaign, and Axe graffiti mural series. He now runs and manages all of Zoom's West Coast based promotions and events, as well as nationwide efforts that originate out of Zoom's LA office. Rudy also serves as the leader of Zoom's Hispanic initiatives.
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Dennis Liu
Assistant Producer
Saatchi & Saatchi
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Dennis Liu graduated from The Taft School and from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts majoring in film.
As a commercial director/producer, Dennis has shot and directed several spots, videos, and promos all over the United States. Clients include Nike, General Electric, IAMS, Folgers, Coldstone Creamery, Wendys, etc.
His spot, "Laundromat" was one of three honorees at the AICP Show for Best Student Commercial and several other spots were short listed. It is currently archived in MOMA's permanent film and media collection.
While in college, Dennis was selected to be the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences winner in Commercials.
After working at a short stint as a jr. creative at BBDO when he graduated from NYU in 2006, he was hired fulltime by Saatchi as an assistant producer in the Broadcast Production department.
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2007 ADCOLOR® Change Agent Honorees
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Heide Gardner
SVP, Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer
Interpublic Group
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Heide Gardner was named Director of Diversity in November of 2003 and promoted to Vice President, Diversity Management in December 2004. She was elected to the post of Senior Vice President – Chief Diversity Officer in 2007. The first African American and person of color to serve as an officer of Interpublic Group (NYSE: IPG), she is responsible for collaborating with senior management to develop new global inclusion management strategies and multicultural marketing programs for Interpublic and its worldwide family of leading agency brands which employ 42,000 employees. Through her office, the company is working to maximize professional development opportunities for women and people of color, to deploy world class education and training on diversity and inclusion management practices, and to better leverage relationships with diverse business partners and external organizations.
Prior to joining Interpublic Group, Heide was a senior vice president of the American Advertising Federation (AAF) and the founding Executive Director of The AAF Mosaic Center on Multiculturalism. During her tenure, Heide was responsible for the development and implementation of innovative programs to promote diversity and a more methodical, strategic approach to brand building among multicultural consumers. She also worked to build bridges across industry segments, uniting many of advertising's most influential leaders to create a groundbreaking set of paradigms for leveraging diversity, The Mosaic Principles. Heide also launched AAF's Most Promising Minority Students Program, which is an enduring major hiring pipeline for agencies, clients and media companies. She has been recognized as a facilitator of President Clinton's Executive Order that included a provision to encourage business opportunities for diverse companies and media in federal government advertising contracts.
Heide's portfolio of experience spans a variety of roles in marketing services, lobbying and community affairs for companies including Advo-System, Coca-Cola Enterprises – the world's largest soft drink bottler, Colgate-Palmolive, Pepsi-Cola North America, NationsBank (now Bank of America) and others.
Heide received many honors during her career and was one of the first inductees for the Ebony Outstanding Women in Marketing and Communications award in 2000. She was also recognized by Working Mother Magazine as a mother of the year, in Mothers We Love of 2000 – the same year J.K. Rowling was selected. Most recently she was recognized as a Woman of Distinction by the New York Council of Girl Scouts in 2006.
Many of Heide's most satisfying and educational experiences have come from service to others. She received great rewards from her contributions to the concept and launch for the nationally acclaimed non-for-profit athletic and educational organization, the Midnight Basketball League. Heide has worked with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and other organizations over the years and currently serves on the boards of the AAF Foundation, the Association of American Advertising Agencies Foundation and the New York Council of Girl Scouts.
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R. Vann Graves
VP, Associate Creative Director
BBDO NY
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R. Vann Graves was born and raised in the Commonwealth of Virginia. He attended Howard University in the early 1990's, financing his own education. It was this struggle that shaped his firm belief that no student should be denied a quality education for lack of funds. As a result, he established the R. Vann Graves Endowed Scholarship for students interested in a career in advertising.
Vann worked at America's Most Wanted and for The Washington Times' advertising department to pay his way through school. While at AMW, he was honored by the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences for a PSA he wrote and produced.
Upon graduation from Howard University in 1993, Vann went on to receive his Master's degree from Pratt Institute and joined BBDO New York as an intern where he was ultimately hired to a full-time creative position. During his 14 years with the agency, he has risen through the ranks to Vice President, Associate Creative Director, art directing award-winning work for top BBDO accounts including Masterfoods, Visa, Motorola and AT&T. His work has received several industry awards and nominations such as Gold, Silver and Bronze New York Festivals World Medals, ADDY awards, the Mobius Award for Excellence in the Creation of Television Advertising, the Award of Excellence by Communication Arts and Certificates of Merit for creativity and concepts in television commercials from the London International Advertising Awards.
Intent on making a difference, Vann is involved with several organizations like the AGL Service, the Scholarship Foundation, and was former co-chair on the executive board for the American Association of Advertising MAIP Alumni Program. He is a member of the Howard University Alumni Association, member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated and serves as chairman of the Organization's Publications Committee. He has also served on the Board of Managers at the Harlem YMCA and the Board of Trustees for Pratt Institute.
Additionally, Vann serves as a Captain in the United States Army (Reserve) and is the commander of the 138th PAD, which recently returned from a tour in Iraq.
For his performance in Iraq, he was nominated to receive the Bronze Star Medal. For is outstanding efforts while being actively engaged by anti-U.S. forces he was awarded the Combat Action Badge and inducted
into the Order of the Spur. Vann is also due to receive a Purple Heart after he received a head injury in Iraq when an IED (improvised explosive device) hit his convoy.
Vann returned to the ranks of BBDO New York January of this year.
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Marcus A. Jiménez
Creative Director
The Integer Group
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Mr. Jiménez carries over a decade of advertising and marketing experience as a results-oriented creative professional producing innovative solutions and substantial growth for some of the world's leading agencies and brands. Some career achievements include work on domestic and international brands for the General, Hispanic and US Multicultural markets at agencies such as Y&R - New York, Vidal Reynardus & Moya Advertising, and Rowland Worldwide. Currently he serves as Creative Director at The Integer Group, a Denver based Omnicom company specializing in retail marketing and promotions blazing new ground into the world of Hispanic Shopper Marketing.
Prior to his advertising career, he served as an Assistant Director at Youth Force, a non-profit program of the Citizens Committee for NYC. For over six years he worked on the development of youth leadership programs helping at risk inner city youth overcome the challenges and adversity of inner city life. Continuing in same effort of giving back today, he now works to help Denver area at-risk youth via the James P. Beckwourth Mountain Club, a local
non-profit organization.
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2007 ADCOLOR® Innovator Honorees
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David W. Brown
President
BrownPartners
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David W. Brown has been in the advertising and communications industry for more than 20 years. As Principal and President of BrownPartners – a full service minority-owned firm reaching multicultural markets – Brown guides the company in using a range of marketing disciplines to reach and influence consumers of color.
BrownPartners is one of the fastest growing full service advertising agencies focusing on multicultural marketing in the Northeast with clients in various industries including telecommunications, tourism, healthcare, hospitality as well as social marketing areas including smoking cessation, underinsured families, obesity, health disparities, public education and dropout prevention.
David serves in leadership positions with several organizations including the Board of Directors of the Avenue of the Arts, the Philadelphia Youth Network (PYN) and Chairman of the Marketing Committee for the Greater Philadelphia Urban Affairs Coalition. He is one of the few communications executives who has served as Chairman of the Board of both the Philadelphia Advertising Club and the Philadelphia Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). He has also chaired the Board of WYBE-TV and also serves as a member of the Marketing Steering Committee of the United Way of Southeastern Pennsylvania. He is also the Creator of "The Big Pitch" – a high school competition introducing inner city students to careers in advertising that since its inception has provided opportunities for dozens of students and was honored with a Mosaic Award by the American Advertising Federation (AAF). He is also Founder of the Urban League Young Professionals (started in 1985 which now has dozens of chapters throughout the country).
A graduate of Duquesne University where he majored in Journalism, David is also a graduate of Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary where he received a Masters degree in Theology focusing on Public Policy. He has been commissioned as a Reverend in the United Methodist Church responsible for urban youth and communications ministry throughout the Philadelphia region. He has served as a member of the Adjunct Faculty at the University of the Arts and Temple University as well as Guest Lecturer at Lincoln University, Duquesne University, Arcadia University and Rowan University. Brown was recently honored by his alma mater Duquesne University as the 2005 recipient of an award for Excellence in Communications Ethics – the first person of color to receive this prestigious award. Brown was also named Speaker of the Year in 2006 by the Pennsylvania Communication Society – the first African American to receive this honor in more than 20 years. He was also recently named the 2007 Inductee to the Public Relations Hall of Fame by the Philadelphia Public Relations Association – the first African American to be inducted in more than 25 years.
David resides in Turnersville, NJ with his wife of 20 years, Sharon, and their two teenage daughters, Lauren (18) and Candace (15).
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Karl Carter
CEO
GTM
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Karl ‘s focus at GTM is the consistent strategic growth and innovation of GTM and its clients. received his bachelor's degree in Business Administration from George Washington University, specializing in Electronic Media Marketing. Karl's expertise in innovative, ears-to-the-street marketing soon caught the attention of executives at Burrell Communications, where he pioneered the use of "guerrilla media" with truth.com. The Truth campaign became a founding client of GTM Inc. In 2001, the truth® campaign and the team of GTM and Arnold Brand Promotions, won the Guerrilla Marketing Campaign of the Year from Brandweek. The following year it won the Gold Reggie awards for cause marketing from the Promotional Marketing Association, and in 2003, the truth® campaign won the Grand Effie and an award for Achievement and Diversity from the Boston Ad Club. Also In 2003, Carter and GTM helped launch Wheat Bread (www.wheatbreadlife.com), a progressive urban streetwear apparel company. In 2005, Carter & GTM were tapped by co-founders Al Gore and Joel Hyatt to help launch Current TV. In 2006 , Al Gore & Current TV received Brandweek's Guerrilla marketing Campaign of the Year. Emmy award winning Current TV, is the first User Generated national TV network and one of the most successful TV network launches in history, going from 18 million to 48 million homes globally in less than 2 years and was named the most successful new network launched by TV Week.
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Orlando Reece
Executive Director, Sales Strategy
YAHOO!
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Orlando Reece is Yahoo!'s Executive Director, Sales Strategy and is responsible for working with the company's sales teams to leverage an audience based sell. This approach offers advertising partners a holistic solution, utilizing the broadest array of products, service and data insights to better target and engage customer brands.
Orlando Reece joined Yahoo! in November 2006, bringing more than 15 years of network and cable television sales experience to the company. He started his career as a page at NBC and moved as a media buyer to the International Communications Group. He became an Account Executive for MTV Networks and later moved to the Walt Disney Company's ABC Television division where he held several positions: ABC News Sales, Director of Special Program Sales, Primetime Sales and was last Vice President of Disney ABC Unlimited, the integrated sales and marketing arm of the Walt Disney company.
Orlando is an active member in the advertising community and is a graduate of the College of William and Mary, in Williamsburg VA.
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Dr. Lauren R. Tucker
SVP, Director of Consumer Forensics
The Martin Agency
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Dr. Lauren Tucker is Director of Consumer Forensics at The Martin Agency, where she leads a team of consumer intelligence experts focused on uncovering data-driven insights that fuel actionable business ideas. Educated the Universities of Wisconsin-Madison, Texas-Austin and Virginia, Lauren has accrued more than twenty years of providing creative, disciplined thought leadership to colleagues and clients, including BFGoodrich Tires, Bacardi Rum, DaimlerChrysler and Kellogg.
Her innovative approach to brand marketing, diversity management and consumer intelligence has resulted in fundamental changes in the way The Martin Agency thinks about the industry and executes its world renowned creative product. A former tenured professor at University of South Carolina , Lauren continues to take her passion for marketing and communication education beyond The Martin Agency's doors to inspire and encourage today's professionals, educators and young thought leaders on whom the future of marketing depends.
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Dawn Williams Thompson
Director, Advertising Development, Beauty & Health
Procter & Gamble
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I have been with P&G for slightly over 17 years, constantly working with diversity in mind. During this time, I have worked in our Family Care, Fem Care, Beauty, Personal Health, and Oral Care Global Business Units. I have spent much of my time on building brand equity and growing businesses with consumer's at key life stages (teens, college, after 1st child, young families) inclusive of diverse groups (African-American and Hispanics). This has been across brands like Crest, Always, Charmin, Puffs, Olay, Secret, Cover Girl, Head & Shoulders, Oral B and New Products (Impress launch to Glad Press ‘n Seal in Clorox Joint Venture). Additionally, I work with the African American group in the Multicultural Development Organization to create and ensure communication principles for successful advertising, and this is how I thought of putting "My" into the "My Black Is Beautiful" campaign. I've always thought of the work that I do as helping to improve the personal lives of women like me, and homes of families, everyday.
I love advertising, marketing and communications, and was honored to lead the first Brand Building Symposium and Awards in 2001, when Jim Stengel became P&G's Global Marketing Officer. This led to my current career in P&G's Advertising Development Department focused on Oral Care. Advertising Development, led by Lynne Boles, is comprised of a focused group of only about 80 communication experts who share best practices on holistic communications across the company's 5,200 marketers, and with our partner agencies in strategy, development and production. This group is selected based on significant previous contributions in line brand management and agency careers.
I am passionate about consumer communications and finding ways to improve the "daily life" for busy, caring moms, dads, and kids! I take this very personally because I've been a busy kid; I am a working, involved mom; and I'm really close friends with a working, involved dad. Net, I'm glad to be a consumer and a worker of a company who genuinely lives with recognizing the "consumer is boss" inclusive of diverse cultures, thinking and ethnicities.
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2007 ADCOLOR® Legend Honorees
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Valerie Graves
Chief Creative Officer
Vigilante
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Valerie Graves, Chief Creative Officer of Vigilante, has more than 25 years of experience developing creative campaigns for African American, urban, female and general market consumers. Ms. Graves began her career as a copywriter at the D'Arcy MacManus and Masius and BBDO agencies in Detroit, and J. Walter Thompson and Kenyon & Eckhardt on the East coast. Prior to joining Vigilante, she had been Senior VP and Chief Creative Officer at the UniWorld agency and at legendary Motown Records.
Advertising Age has honored Valerie as One of the 100 Best and Brightest. Campaigns created under her leadership won the ANA Multicultural Excellence Award 2001-2003. Ms. Graves' creative awards include honors from the Art Director's Club of New York, the Boston Ad Club and the Maine Ad Club. She is a 15-time winner of the Creative Excellence to Black Audiences (CEBA) Award and has created breakthrough campaigns for General Motors, Pepsi, Clairol, Lincoln, AT&T, Kraft, Microsoft, Burger King Corporation, World AIDS Day and the Clinton/Gore campaign.
Valerie serves on the prestigious Creative Review Committee of The Partnership for a Drug-Free America and on the Campaigns Review Committee of The Advertising Council. She sits on the Board of Directors of The Advertising Club of New York and chairs its Diversity Committee.
Ms. Graves majored in English at Wayne State University in Detroit and studied screenwriting, directing and film production at New York University. |
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Marcio M. Moreira
Vice Chairman, Global Professional Management
McCann Worldgroup
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Marcio M. Moreira is Vice Chairman, Global Professional Management of McCann Worldgroup. Earlier top executive posts included Vice Chairman, Chief Creative Officer and Worldwide Director of Multinational Accounts, Regional Director of McCann Asia-Pacific, the region's largest western-based ad agency system, and Vice Chairman, Chief Creative Officer-International. Now an American citizen, he began his career with McCann Brazil in 1967. Over the years, he led cross-border creative development on such global accounts as Coca-Cola, UPS, Nestle, Goodyear, General Motors, Unilever - and has won hundreds of creative awards. He was named Brazil's Advertising Professional of the Year (1988), of the Decade (1990) and of the Century (2003). He has served as a judge for every major creative festival and as Chairman of the Cannes Festival. Fluent in Portuguese, Spanish, English and French he has authored two books (in Portuguese): one a collection of poetry, the other a series of short stories.
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McGhee Williams Osse
Co-CEO
Burrell Advertising
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McGhee Williams Osse has done nearly every job you can do in advertising. She rose from management supervisor to vice president/client service director to senior vice president/general manager of the agency's Atlanta office, and ultimately, to managing director, before accepting her new role as Co-CEO.
During her history at Burrell she has headed such accounts as Coca-Cola, P&G, Verizon, Bahamas Ministry of Tourism, adidas, Soft Sheen, Bell South Yellow Pages and WXIA-TV.
She is a graduate of Spelman College and completed post-graduate course work in advertising at the University of South Carolina.
She currently serves on the Ad Council Board of Directors, Board of Directors for the Foundation for Sarcoidosis Research, Central Region Board of Governors of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, Mosiac Council Executive Committee (American Advertising Federation), Board of Advisors for the Institute of Brand Research at the University of Texas and the Board of Advisors for Strive Media.
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2007 ADCOLOR® All-Star Honoree
The 2007 ADCOLOR® Selection Committee created a new category entitled ADCOLOR® All-Star to honor individuals who encompass all of the previously established categories: Rising Star, Change Agent, Innovator and Legend.
The first recipient of the ADCOLOR® All-Star Award is Mr. Earvin "Magic" Johnson, CEO of Magic Johnson Companies.
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Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr.
CEO, The Magic Johnson Companies
Magic Johnson Enterprises
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Earvin Johnson, Jr. is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Magic Johnson Enterprises which owns and/or operates business ventures across 90 cities and 22 states. Formed in 1987, Magic Johnson Enterprises strategically invests, consults, partners and endorses opportunities and services that particularly focus on ethnically diverse urban communities.
Through Magic Johnson Enterprises (MJE), Mr. Johnson has bolstered the economy by establishing brand name businesses in underserved communities, training and hiring local residents and employing local contractors. As the only joint venture partner of Starbucks, Mr. Johnson has opened 112 stores across the country (with a commitment to open a total of 125). His real estate fund, Canyon-Johnson Urban Fund, is the country's largest private real estate fund focused on the revitalization of underserved communities.
Partnerships with corporations such as Burger King help to bring quality and convenience to urban America. Mr. Johnson is one of Burger King's biggest franchisees with 31 restaurants to date in Atlanta, Birmingham, Dallas and Miami. He has also established a dozen 24 Hour Fitness Magic Sport centers. The facilities in Sherman Oaks and San Leandro, California have over 18,000 members and rank #1 and #2 in the Magic-Sport fitness chain. Additionally, Mr. Johnson has established 17 Washington Mutual Home Loan Centers, several AMC Magic Johnson Theatres and his T.G.I. Friday's restaurant in Los Angeles is the number one grossing stand alone corporate T.G.I.Friday's restaurant in the Western Division.
Magic Johnson Enterprises recently launched two new initiatives: the Magic Johnson Travel Group and SodexhoMagic, LLC. The Magic Johnson Travel Group is the first multicultural home-based travel agent initiative and franchise network. It is designed to cultivate growth in the minority travel market and develop entrepreneurs from urban America. SodexhoMagic, LLC provides an extensive portfolio of food and facilities management services as well as offers signature dining facilities. The aforementioned businesses have been at the forefront of urban development and are directly responsible for tremendous growth across the country.
In addition to his varied business accomplishments, Mr. Johnson is internationally recognized as the number one rated athlete for corporate endorsements (TSE Sports & Entertainment Survey, April 2007) and one of the most highly rated celebrities able to influence consumer purchasing power (rated 6 out of 350 according to the 2006 Davie Brown Index). He currently has endorsement partnerships with Abbot Laboratories and TNT.
As Chairman and Founder of the Magic Johnson Foundation, Inc., Mr. Johnson continues to focus on improving the quality of life for people residing in urban communities. The Foundation has distributed over 800 college scholarships to deserving minority students, many of which have been recipients of the Foundation's Taylor Michaels Scholarship Program. To help bridge the digital divide in minority communities, Mr. Johnson currently has 20 Magic Johnson Empowerment Centers. The Foundation also has established four HIV/AIDS clinics and continues to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS through programs like the "I Stand With Magic" campaign to end the disease in the black community in particular.
Mr. Johnson is universally known for his 13 year career in the NBA. His honors include: five national championships with the Los Angeles Lakers, 3 MVP awards, 12 NBA All-Star games, a gold medal at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona, Spain and induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
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