The HMC Annual Summit is the premier Hispanic marketing conference featuring dynamic and interactive sessions with notable newsmakers, C-suite leaders and top trendsetters. Check out the 2022 replays and stay tuned for 2023 information!
CHECK OUT THE REPLAYS
The 2020 Census made it crystal clear that the time to act is now. Companies who aren’t engaging Hispanics with targeted efforts are at risk of being left behind. At the same time, brands and their agencies are dealing with the complex challenges of finding premium supply, achieving scale, and doing all of that in a culturally-relevant way. Join this C-suite panel as they discuss the challenges and opportunities they face in activating Hispanic audiences for critical business growth.
- Kirk McDonald, CEO, GroupM
- Dave Penski, CEO, Publicis Media
- Doug Rozen, CEO, dentsu Media
- Ralph Pardo, CEO, Omnicom Media Group
Moderated by Donna Speciale, President of Advertising Sales & Marketing, TelevisaUnivision, Inc.
Sponsored by:
Latinos’ growing appetite for streaming video content is driving a proliferation of paid and ad-supported platforms. In September 2021 alone, Hispanics spent 20 BILLION minutes watching subscription and non-linear Video On Demand content. How are key players in the content acquisition and distribution industries programming to meet the demand of those seeking in-language content? Join this session featuring leaders of key streaming platforms as they discuss what’s next for Latino content and audiences.
- Isabel Rafferty Zavala, Founder & CEO, Canela Media
- Romina Rosado, EVP & GM, Hispanic Streaming, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises
- René Santaella, EVP, Digital & Streaming Media, Estrella Media, Inc.
- Rafael Urbina, GM/EVP of AVOD Streaming, TelevisaUnivision, Inc., and Chief Executive Officer, VIX
Moderated by Stacie M. de Armas, SVP Diverse Intelligence & Initiatives, Nielsen
Sponsored by:
Kellogg’s joins the prestigious short list of elite brands that have received the HMC Marketer of the Year Award, which is given to companies that demonstrate a top-down commitment to multicultural marketing with significant spending proportional to the Hispanic opportunity.
- Julie Bowerman, Chief Marketing & E-Commerce Officer, Kellogg’s North America
- Chelsea Jenkins, Director, Cultural & Inclusive Marketing, Kellogg’s
Moderated by Walter Boza, President and General Manager, Captura Group
Sponsored by:
One of the most anticipated sessions of the year, this panel of 2022 winners share the strategic insights, the creative process, and the blood, sweat and tears of how these award-winning campaigns came together. You’ll learn what made this campaign so effective and how putting culture first in account planning pays dividends. The winning team from Casanova//McCann and Mucinex/Reckitt Benckiser Group will join judge Paula Castro for an in-depth session.
- Albert So, Associate Director, Mucinex/Reckitt
- Paula Castro, Creative Business Partner, Google
- Carla Noriega, VP Group Account Director, Casanova//McCann
- Will Pierce, EVP Chief Strategy Officer, Casanova//McCann
Moderated by Victor Paredes, Executive Director, Multicultural Strategy, Collage Group
Sponsored by:
When facts seem malleable and individual headlines dominate across different platforms, quickly disseminating verified information can be difficult. And as we’ve learned from the COVID-19 pandemic, that information can be the difference between life and death. Learn how businesses, the government, NGOs and others can identify misinformation, optimize their communications and mitigate harm on an ongoing basis.
- Maria Cardona, Head of Dewey Square Group’s Public Affairs Practice and Founder of Latinovations
- Elmer Huerta, MD, MPH, Clinical Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology & Oncology and CNN en Español Medical Correspondent
- Kerry Perse, Vaccine Education Talent Expert, Ad Council and Founder of Influence & Inspire Consulting
Moderated by Victor Paredes, Executive Director, Multicultural Strategy, Collage Group
Sponsored by:
Kantar’s latest research on diversity and inclusion in advertising utilizes neuroscience techniques–facial decoding, eye tracking, and intuitive associations and emotional priming–to evaluate the performance of racial and ethnic representation in advertising. In this session, you’ll learn how diversity in advertising is evolving, how different consumer demographics react to diverse advertising, and what excellence in diverse advertising looks like.
- Deepak Varma, Head of Neuroscience Insights, Kantar North America
- Valeria Piaggio, SVP, Head of Identity & Inclusivity Insight, Global Lead Kantar Inclusion
Moderated by Nancy Tellet, Founder, Brand & Consumer Navigator, PureClarity LLC, and HMC Research Chair
49% of Hispanics don’t currently own individual stocks, mutual funds, or other investment assets. That’s nearly twice the percentage of non-Hispanic Whites who are not invested in any assets. While owning investment assets correlates with higher household income, cultural attitudes toward money management also affect whether disposable income is invested. In this session, ThinkNow combines the results or their recent Pulse, Cryptocurrency and Financial Services reports to paint a picture of the current state of and attitudes towards investing held by Hispanics to identify strategies best suited for increasing Hispanic investing and participation in the financial services sector.
- Roy Eduardo Kokoyachuk, Co-Founder / Principal, ThinkNow
Moderated by Nancy Tellet, Founder, Brand & Consumer Navigator, PureClarity LLC, and HMC Research Chair
With more than 63 million Hispanics in the U.S, marketers must understand Latino consumer behaviors. Claritas will share the latest insights across various industries, including technology, retail and financial services to help brands engage their customers, identify their best prospects, and deliver more engaging messages to optimize campaigns and increase ROI.
- Ron Cohen, VP of Product Strategy, Claritas
Moderated by Nancy Tellet, Founder, Brand & Consumer Navigator, PureClarity LLC, and HMC Research Chair
Spending on home improvement by Latinos has increased about 80% over the last seven years, triple the growth rate for non-Hispanic households. The Home Depot estimates the Hispanic home improvement market at $25 billion to $30 billion. Join this candid conversation with Tiffany Mitsui, The Home Depot’s Sr. Manager of Multicultural Marketing, as she discusses insights, obstacles and wins for the company along with Pedro Lerma, owner of LERMA/, The Home Depot’s Hispanic Market Agency.
- Tiffany Mitsui, Sr. Manager, Multicultural Marketing at The Home Depot
Moderated by Pedro Lerma, Principal & Founder, LERMA/
Sponsored by:
GOOOOOOOOL! How can we have an Annual Summit without talking about the most followed sporting event in the world taking place this year: The FIFA WORLD CUP QATAR 2022™! World Cup continues to draw high levels of live consumption, co-viewing and multi-platform engagement across generations, despite fragmented audiences and a rapid proliferation of platforms. For the first time, the World Cup will be played in the fall—what does this mean to players, coaches and fans? How will competition from the NFL and NBA affect Hispanic share? And, how can advertisers meaningfully engage Latinos with content across various social, digital and streaming platforms? You’ll learn this and more—including how the elevation of women’s soccer plays into World Cup culture—from key members of the team putting on the World Cup for Telemundo Deportes, the exclusive Spanish-language media rights-holders of the FIFA World Cup through 2026.
- Andres Cantor, Lead Soccer and World Cup Commentator, Telemundo Deportes
- Eli Velazquez, Executive Vice President of Sports Content, Telemundo Deportes
Moderated by Victor Paredes, Executive Director, Multicultural Strategy, Collage Group
Sponsored by:
Speaker Information
April 12, 2022
One of the “50 vital leaders in tech, media and marketing,” according to Adweek, Kirk McDonald is the CEO of GroupM North America (NA) where he leads 6,500 people passionate about shaping the next era of media where advertising works better for people. A member of GroupM’s Global Leadership Team, he is a key player in championing GroupM’s strategy to work with agency and GroupM leadership in the region to use its scale in providing more powerful and effective solutions for clients through the development of technology-enabled services.
With $17.6 billion in media investment billings across the U.S. and Canada, GroupM owns a 22% market share in the world’s largest region. Kirk is particularly driven to help GroupM lead the way in driving real change across the industry to find a new balance of making advertising less interruptive and a valued part of the media experience. He also believes that, as the desire for brands to play their part in leading the way toward real change grows stronger, GroupM is the one to help clients be authentic and bold in this moment.
Kirk served as the Global CEO of Choreograph, and was responsible for launching WPP’s global data company which brought together over 700 technologists, product developers, and data scientists. Kirk and Choreograph focused on helping marketers and brands realize the value of their first party data in the fast-changing data landscape.
Kirk joined GroupM from WarnerMedia’s Xandr where he most recently served as Chief Business Officer in charge of the go to market functions including sales, communications, product marketing, and marketing strategy and execution after holding the role of Chief Marketing Officer for nearly two years.
Prior to AT&T, Kirk was President of PubMatic, the marketing automation software company, and held roles with Time Inc., Fortune|Money Group and CNET Networks, among others.
Throughout his career, Kirk received many accolades including being named to Ebony Magazine’s Power 100 list in 2018, Adweek’s 2014 “12 Stars of Ad Tech Who are Building the Future of the Industry Right Now” list and Business Insider’s 2014 “The 46 Most Important African-Americans in Technology” list, among others.
Kirk is a founding member of the Black Executive CMO Alliance (BECA). He currently serves on the Board of Directors for Elanco (NYSE: ELAN), and is a member of the prestigious Executive Leadership Council. He also serves on several other professional and not-for-profit boards including the Ad Council, Advertising Week Advisory Council, and is the co-chair of MOUSE/CI.
As CEO of Publicis Media U.S. and Chairman of Publicis Media Exchange (PMX) Global, Dave Penski oversees Publicis Media’s agency brands and capabilities in the U.S., in addition to maintaining global oversight of PMX, which saw double-digit growth in 2020. Penski is a member of Publicis Groupe’s U.S. ComEx where he plays a critical role in driving growth across the company, and is an executive sponsor on a number of client accounts including Verizon, FCA and Disney.
As a Publicis veteran of over two decades, Penski is a leader, innovator and trusted partner to some of today’s top advertisers. He has led and secured some of Publicis Media’s most notable new business wins including Disney, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, GSK, Lionsgate and Macy’s. In his previous role as Chief Operating Officer of Publicis Media Americas, Penski led operations across all media practices spanning PMX, Precision, Apex, CJ Affiliate, partnerships and performance.
Prior to that, as CEO of Publicis Media Exchange Global, Penski spearheaded investment strategies on behalf of the Publicis Media network, ensuring every client across Digitas, Zenith, Performics, Spark Foundry and Starcom, received the best possible service and return-on-investment. Earlier, as CEO of Zenith U.S., he notably led the Verizon account and grew client ad spend from $65 million to $2.5 billion.
Throughout his tenure at Publicis Media, Penski has made it a mission to foster a robust and enriching environment for all employees. He is responsible for creating a number of best-in-class initiatives including Vision for Excellence, Zenith Gives Back and the Media Trainee Program, which creates a sturdy pipeline of diverse entry-level talent for Publicis Media and its agencies.
Outside of the office, Penski dedicates his time to helping those in his community and giving back to students and families throughout New York City. As an active Board Member of the Binghamton School of Management, Penski mentors students looking to break into the business world and received the Binghamton School of Management Alumni Award in 2015. He was also honored by Young Audiences New York, a non-profit organization that supports arts educations programs for NYC public schools, at their annual gala in 2016, is a proud supporter of Partnership with Children, a NYC-based philanthropy that provides critical mental health services for students and their families, and has provided pro-bono media support for the Autism Speaks organization.
Ralph Pardo is the North American CEO of Omnicom Media Group (OMG), the media services division of Omnicom Group. As CEO, Ralph orchestrates media, data and content to improve business outcomes at the award-winning agencies he leads including, OMD, PHD and Hearts & Science, and Annalect, the data and analytics division.
In his prior role as CEO of Hearts & Science, Ralph transformed the agency service model, expanding into consultative and creative capabilities while reigniting the entrepreneurial culture that served as the backbone of Hearts. After opening their doors in 2016, Ralph was an inaugural member that led Hearts to land the consolidated AT&T business. He led a cross-agency team that orchestrated creative, media and analytics talent from across Omnicom. A future-focused leader, Ralph defined a new standard for how media and creative disciplines collaborate to build better client business outcomes.
Moving seamlessly between the worlds of big business and entrepreneurship Ralph was named Adweek Media All Star in 2016. Ralph was also one of 30 Hispanic and Latinx professionals – including CNN journalist Celeste Arrarás and CEO and president at the United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Ramiro Cavazos – spotlighted in a 2021 campaign from Outfront Media recognizing the contributions of Hispanic business leaders.
Ralph was born and raised in New York City as a child of the Puerto Rican diaspora. He is passionate about creating pathways for the next generation of diverse leaders and can often be found mentoring young minority entrepreneurs and startups in the media space.
Donna Speciale is President of Advertising Sales and Marketing at Univision Communications Inc., the leading Spanish-language content and media company in the United States, where she leads the expansion and advancement of Univision’s offering for advertisers. A leading innovator in the modern advertising industry, Speciale is tasked with showcasing Univision’s unique value proposition for advertisers and helping those partners realize the growth potential of engaging Hispanic consumers. She also ensures Univision continues to serve as a trusted partner to the advertising and marketing community by implementing advanced ad sales innovations and providing advertisers new and compelling ways of reaching consumers.
In her role, Speciale oversees Univision’s go-to-market ad sales strategy for the Company’s multiplatform portfolio, which includes Univision’s top-rated Spanish-language broadcast and cable networks, plus the company’s leading streaming and digital business featuring PrendeTV, the first free, ad supported, premium streaming service designed exclusively for U.S. Hispanics, and its robust digital footprint with Univision.com and the Univision Creator Network. A trailblazer known for transforming advertising and a pioneering leader in the early days of advanced television advertising, Speciale has emphasized the need for marketers to shift investment into audience-based ad capabilities, harness a company’s suite of brand studios for content development and improve the overall ad experience on TV for consumers.
Speciale has served as an industry leader in the evolution of television advertising with an extensive knowledge of sales optimization for over two decades, a critical asset as Univision seeks to expand its portfolio of advertising products with innovative offerings to connect viewers and advertisers. Prior to joining Univision, she served as President of Advertising Sales at WarnerMedia where she helped establish the groundbreaking launch of OpenAP, the first open platform for TV advertisers to reach audiences across publishers. Prior to joining WarnerMedia, she was president of investment, activation and agency operations at MediaVest Worldwide, overseeing the agency’s integrated digital, broadcast, print and out-of-home practice. Earlier in her career she held senior roles at WPP’s Mediacom.
Highly admired in the industry, Speciale has been lauded with numerous accolades throughout her distinguished career. She was named one of Adweek’s Top 50 Most Indispensable Executives for several consecutive years and inducted into Broadcasting & Cable’s Hall of Fame in 2015. Speciale has been named to Variety’s New York Impact Report and is recognized regularly by leading publications including AdAge, Multichannel News and Adweek. Speciale has also been honored by Advertising Women of New York as an “Advertising Woman of the Year” and received both its “Impact Award” and “Working Woman Award.” She received the “Reisenbach Award for Distinguished Citizenship” by the John A. Reisenbach Foundation in 2014.
Speciale currently serves on the Board of Directors for National CineMedia and is a member of PTTOW! and the Video Advertising Bureau (VAB). She also is a corporate supporter and active member of She Runs It, as well as an advisor for Home From College and The Forem.
A graduate of Bryant University, Speciale is now an empty nester residing in NY with her husband Gary. Her son Jonathan, a Syracuse Graduate, is now an architect and her daughter Devon, a USC Graduate, works at Snapchat.
April 26, 2022
Isabel Rafferty Zavala is a digital marketing pioneer. She is the Founder and CEO of Canela Media, a leading digital media tech company that gives brands the tools they need to effectively connect with multicultural audiences through multiple touchpoints, including its newly launched free-to-stream platform Canela.TV, branded content, and more than 180 exclusive Spanish-language sites. Prior to starting Canela Media, Rafferty founded Mobvious, a company dedicated to reaching U.S. Hispanic audiences via mobile advertising. Under Rafferty’s leadership, Mobvious quickly became the largest Hispanic-focused ad network, as ranked by Comscore, before being acquired by PRISA in 2017.
In addition to being a minority woman CEO in an industry dominated by men, Rafferty is one of the few Latinas to successfully secure VC funding for her company, with tremendous support from women-led funds. In 2019, she was the recipient of Culture Marketing Council’s 2019 Rising Star Award. Under her leadership, Canela Media became one of the top Hispanic media companies in its first year of operation. Canela.TV was launched in May 2020, becoming the first AVOD streaming service built exclusively for Latinos by Latinos – offering culturally relevant content in Spanish and English. In 2021, Canela.TV debuted Canela News, the first free live-streaming newscast for U.S. Latino cord cutters.
Most recently, she brought Canela Music to market – a uniquely authentic music experience across all genres curated specifically for bicultural U.S. Hispanics, as well as original content; hosted her first upfront that sold out with over 40 first-time marketers coming onboard with annual commitments; and secured $35 million in VC funding (most of which will be used to expand significantly). Never one to slow down, she also has plans to launch a third app later in 2022 – aimed at providing educational, Spanish language entertainment for Latino kids.
Romina Rosado is the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Hispanic Streaming for NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises. In this newly created division Rosado is responsible for developing, producing and programming a robust content slate to super charge the growth of Latinos on Peacock and across all Telemundo and NBCUniversal streaming platforms. Rosado leads cross-company efforts and collaborates with Peacock’s leadership in the development of the service’s Latino content to effectively target and connect with this growing demographic of 200%ers – audiences who are 100% American and 100% Hispanic, hyperconnected, and media super consumers. She reports to Beau Ferrari, Chairman, NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises.
Rosado is experienced in creating content, building an audience, and driving monetization across linear and digital platforms. Most recently, she was Executive Vice President, Entertainment & Content Strategy for NBCUniversal Telemundo, where she oversaw the company’s omnichannel strategy with a focus on streaming, while ensuring that the network was providing audiences with a unified content and brand experience across all linear and non-linear distribution channels. Previously, she was Senior Vice President of Digital Media for NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, where she oversaw the growth of Telemundo digital into a streaming powerhouse, tripling the Telemundo App usage in 2020 with record-breaking properties, including El Señor de los Cielos (Lord of the Skies) and Pasión Prohibida (Forbidden Passion). Rosado joined Telemundo in 2018 to develop the Noticias’ Telemundo digital strategy in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election.
Prior to that, Rosado was Senior Vice President of Global Content at NBCUniversal´s E! in Los Angeles, where she oversaw all content, news gathering, audience development, and product for the company’s news division. During her time at E! News, she helped to expand programming and grow the brand’s footprint to more than 1 billion engagements per month in over 160 countries, making E! News the largest multiplatform entertainment news and women’s lifestyle brand globally.
Earlier in her career, Rosado was Executive Producer at US Weekly, where she was responsible for launching and executing the company’s digital expansion. She also advised some of the world’s leading NGOs and government agencies on their digital strategies and was a consultant to the European Central Bank ahead of the introduction of the Euro.
René Santaella serves as executive vice president, digital & streaming media for Estrella Media and charged with leading the digital transformation of Estrella Media’s content and distribution strategy, operations and new revenue initiatives. Since joining the company, Estrella Media has quickly become a leader in multi-platform Spanish-language ad-supported distribution, streaming nearly one billion million minutes per month across FAST, AVOD, social and audio platforms. The EstrellaTV APP is now available on Roku, Fire TV, Android TV, iOS, Android mobile, Samsung and Vizio and viewers can also find three curated live streaming T.V. networks – EstrellaTV, Estrella News and Estrella Games – across every major service – The Roku Channel, Samsung TV+, Vizio WatchFree, Xumo, Xfinity Flex, PlutoTV, Amazon News, Tubi and FuboTV. This past year radio listeners made Estrella Media a top 20 leader in streaming audio with stations like Que Buena Los Angeles, La Raza, El Norte and the morning show, Don Cheto Al Aire– all available on TuneIn, the EstrellaTV APP and estrellaTV.com.
Prior to joining Estrella Media, Santaella was the senior vice president, head of ad sales & business operations, at Sony Pictures Television Digital Networks and built Crackle into a leading free ad-supported streaming network with the Emmy nominated hit, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. He also led the creation of a premium video network for advertisers targeting a large audience of “connected gamers” that included PlayStation, Funimation, Pluto TV and Crackle. Before Sony, he was director, ad sales marketing for Disney Interactive, leading digital and cross-platform advertising and integrated marketing solutions across the company with corporate alliance partners.
Santaella is based in the company’s Burbank headquarters and reports to Peter Markham, CEO of Estrella Media. He holds a Master of Business Administration from the Anderson School of Business at UCLA and a Bachelor’s degree from UCLA. He was also a member of the Puerto Rican National Swim Team and UCLA Men’s Swim Team.
Rafael Urbina-Quintero is the General Manager and Executive Vice President of AVOD Streaming at TelevisaUnivision Inc., the leading Spanish-language content and media company in the U.S., and Chief Executive Officer of VIX. In this role, Urbina oversees the company’s broader streaming and digital portfolio, including all owned and operated consumer-facing properties such as PrendeTV and VIX as well as its slate of digital and social media offerings, including Univision.com.
Under Urbina’s leadership, TelevisaUnivision accelerated the launch of PrendeTV, the first and only streaming channels-based and VOD service created specifically for U.S. Hispanic audiences. In addition, Urbina continues to oversee VIX, the largest VOD streaming service for U.S. Hispanic and Latin American consumers. As CEO of VIX, Urbina led the acquisition of VIX by Univision in January of 2021.
Urbina began his career in media at Multicanal-TPS where he spearheaded the introduction of multiple pay-TV channels in Spain and Portugal. In 1999, Rafael launched Planeta Networks, a pioneer in digital video. As Chairman and CEO, he successfully oversaw a series of acquisitions and negotiated multiple rounds of funding for Batanga Media, making it one of the largest independent digital media and content companies for Hispanic consumers in the U.S., Latin America, and Brazil. In 2017, Urbina led the strategic corporate and consumer rebrand of Batanga Media to VIX and closed a strategic investment with Discovery Communications. Rafael forged VIX’s entry into the OTT market in 2019 by securing the acquisition of Pongalo, a Spanish-language streaming service, giving VIX control of one of the largest IP libraries of Latino-focused films and TV shows in the world.
Rafael is a University of Miami School of Business MBA graduate and lives in Miami with his wife and children.
Stacie de Armas is Vice President Strategic Initiatives & Consumer Engagement and a Public Affairs Leader within Nielsen’s Diversity & Inclusion practice. As a subject matter expert for the U.S. Hispanic market, she works to elevate the understanding of the power and contributions of the Hispanic consumer by turning data into insights and stories. Stacie also works to increase Nielsen’s brand awareness with multicultural organizations, leaders and consumers – elevating the understanding of Nielsen’s measurement practice. As a thought leader with more than 20 years of experience in diversity marketing, communications, media and consumer survey research, she has been an integral part of Nielsen’s multicultural market expansion and success.Previously, she served as vice president of community alliances, vice president of multicultural advocacy and marketing, and director of Hispanic marketing. Stacie sits on advisory boards of the Association of National Advertisers AIMM initiative.
Of Cuban descent, Stacie resides in Los Angeles, CA.
May 3, 2022
Julie Bowerman is the Chief Global Digital Customer and Consumer Experience Officer, Kellogg Company, since February 2019. In her current role, she has responsibility for Kellogg’s online ecommerce business, all digital brand experiences, media and shopper marketing.
Ms. Bowerman has over 20 years of CPG experience in a variety of marketing, commercial and digital roles. Prior to Kellogg, she was the SVP of Global Ecommerce and Digital Engagement for Hain Celestial. She was GM of Hain’s ecommerce business
which included accountability to the P&L, customer relationships, digital marketing and brand experience across their portfolio of 55+ brands.
Prior to Kellogg and Hain Celestial, Ms. Bowerman spent most of her career at Coca-Cola. Her most recent role at Coca-Cola was Global Vice President of Shopper Marketing and eCommerce where she was responsible for the strategy and execution of Coke’s
global ecommerce business and shopper marketing capability. Prior to that role, she built Coca-Cola’s U.S. ecommerce business where she was accountable to develop Coke’s U.S. ecommerce vision and strategy as well as run and manage the P&L. She also
led digital marketing for the Coke portfolio and started their Loyalty and CRM program known as My Coke Rewards.
Ms. Bowerman serves on the Board of Directors of Brixmor Property Group Inc. She also serves on the non-profit board of 48in48 and serves on the advisory board of OTHRSource. She has her under-graduate degree from the University of Dayton, post-graduate degree from Michigan State University and an executive education from Harvard University.
Chelsea lives her life by the mantra: for the highest good of all. As a change agent leveraging over 10 years of experience across Communications, Marketing, Training and Development, and driving Equity, Diversity and Inclusion throughout, she has a demonstrated history of working with clients and internal stakeholders in global tech, media, education and consumer goods industries. She encourages transparent and authentic storytelling and representation to bring consumers joy, build a sense of community and can impart connectivity to a mission or brand. She currently leads the Cultural and Inclusive Marketing Team at Kellogg and resides in Chicago, IL.
Walter Boza joined Captura Group in 2019 as President / General Manager as part of the founders’ vision to build the best cross-functional team of advertising professionals to continue the evolution of Captura Group as a best-in-class agency. He brings over 25 years of experience in international and U.S. markets, having held leadership positions in multiple advertising disciplines. With a strong background in research and strategy, Walter has been an international account leader and a general manager.
For the past 8 years his focus has been on the U.S. Hispanic market, having shaped the multicultural practice at FCB Chicago and helped launch several multicultural shops. His big and small agency background, strategic acumen, and account stewardship experience bring a unique perspective to his role: be strategic, focus on what matters, and create the best environment in which the team can thrive.
A Venezuelan-born U.S. Citizen, married to a Venezuelan woman and father of two U.S.-born kids, in his own words, Walter’s family represents the “full range of the acculturation spectrum”. He holds a M.A. in Communication Management from the University of Southern California.
May 24, 2022
Albert So has over 15 years of experience in the CPG industry, he worked on variety brands including Planters, Nature’s Bounty, and Mucinex. And brand management experience, driving growth and renovating brands through engaging marketing communications, new product launches, and consumer driven insights & strategy. He often ended up working with brands that have iconic mascots, including the Pillsbury Doughboy, Mr. Peanut, and now – Mr. Mucus. Albert has a MBA from NYU Stern School of Business.
Paula Castro is a Creative Business Partner focused on Multicultural audiences within Google’s Creative Works Team based in Chicago, IL. With over 8+ years of experience in the Multicultural Industry, Paula has championed the importance of Inclusive and Multicultural marketing by consulting with agencies and clients on digital and creative strategies to reach Multicultural audiences across Google platforms. She is deeply passionate about uncovering cultural insights through data and in the process, impacting multiple digital campaigns across Fortune 500 companies.
Before joining Google, she started her career in the Multicultural creative world at Wing/Grey Global Group in New York City. Paula’s passion for culturally relevant creative is something she continues to pursue as a member of the board of the Culturally Effectiveness Council for Advertising Research Federation (2019-2021) and having served as a Judge in the following Industry Awards: ANA Multicultural Excellence Awards (2019, 2020), AAF Mosaic Awards (2019), AAF Most Promising Multicultural Students Awards (2020). In 2020, Paula was recognized with The Research & Equitable Leadership (REEL) award, sponsored by Remesh, honoring the 50 most influential corporate and agency insights leaders of the day.
Paula was born and raised in Venezuela and moved to Boston in 2007 to earn her Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Northeastern University, specializing in Marketing and Social Entrepreneurship with a Minor in International Affairs.
Will has over 22 years’ of strategic experience across nearly every type of market, from Global to General Market to his ultimate passion, the Hispanic Market. He’s worked within a wide array of categories for leading, iconic brands such as Coca-Cola, Nestlé, Hershey’s, McDonald’s, Toyota, Lexus, LEGO, Milk-Bone, and Smirnoff. Additionally, he has extensive experience in the pharmaceutical space, most notably in the diabetes category for both DTC and HCP communications.
Beyond his brand building and strategic work, Will has established himself as a thought leader in the industry, with provocative white papers and ground-breaking quantitative studies on Latino culture.
While his work has helped win several Effie and strategic excellence awards from the industry, his most treasured award is a Certificate of Latino Naturalization given to him by his peers. In his spare time, he loves cooking bandeja paisa with his Colombian mother-in-law and playing fútbol with his Peruvian-American nephews.
Carla started out with a degree in Architecture at Cornell University. After traveling extensively and living abroad, she started practicing, but soon after realized she was more intrigued by culture and started pursuing a career in marketing instead.
Since then, she has built over 18 year’s of experience across a wide range of industries, with a focus on Hispanic and multicultural communications for Pharmaceuticals, Healthcare and CPG. She joined Casanova//McCann in 2014 and is currently the agency lead for the NY office. She has since then managed a diverse portfolio of brands including Cigna, Nestlé Nutrition and Mucinex, as well as initiatives for Novartis, Gilead, Genentech, Taiho, Bayer and Takeda.
Victor Paredes is a successful marketing and advertising executive with proven experience in building practices that drive brand equity, sales, traffic, and qualified leads. His marketing experience spans sectors such as entertainment, hospitality, healthcare, consumer packaged goods, and direct-to-consumer services. Throughout his career, Victor has led multidisciplinary teams of strategy, digital, media, promotions and public relations experts in building effective integrated marketing platforms. Victor is the new Executive Director of Account Planning at Lopez Negrete Communications. Paredes will be responsible for leading a team that applies cultural intelligence to inspire work that matters and work that engages today’s Latino consumer. He previously served as VP Creative Strategy at UWG.
His passion for marketing and branding began in the music industry, propelling artists like Marc Anthony and extending into marketing communications. His professional career has been a rewarding journey of connecting iconic brands with myriad diverse audiences including Latinx, black, and LGBTQ. Victor excels at empowering brands with cultural relevance to succeed in a diverse America and a global economy.
Victor has had the privilege of fostering enduring success for iconic global brands including Target, Heineken, MasterCard, Nestlé, McDonald’s, Kleenex, Sprint, and Walgreens. His healthcare experience also includes Pfizer OTC, GSK pharmaceuticals, and Humana Vitality. Today, he has vast experience across many categories including wellness, automotive, beverages, financial services, beauty, and fashion.
Victor earned his MBA at the University of Texas McCombs School of Business, and his undergraduate degree at CUNY’s Herbert Lehman College. He currently lives in Dallas with his wife Nora, his 13-year-old daughter Penelope, and a Bichon Frise named Sebastian.
June 1, 2022
Maria Cardona has more than two decades of experience in the community affairs, government, politics, and public relations arenas. Recognized among the most influential Latinos in the country, and as one of the most sought-after communications and media strategists, Maria Cardona is a Principal at the Dewey Square Group (DSG) and Founder of Latinovations, the Latino Strategies Practice of DSG. She is a seasoned Democratic Strategist and communications profession who currently serves as a CNN and CNN Español Political Commentator as well as the host of the MARIA! Show on El Rey Network. As the head of DSG’s Public Affairs Practice, she combines public policy, communications, coalition building, constituency outreach, government relations, traditional and new media at this premier national public affairs firm.
Prior to signing on exclusively with CNN, Maria was a frequent political commentator on MSNBC, Fox, Univision and Telemundo, appearing as a public policy expert and providing political analysis on all manner of national issues. During the 2008 Democratic primary election, Maria was senior adviser and spokesperson to Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and served on the campaign’s Hispanic outreach team. During the 2008 general election, Maria was a key surrogate for the Obama for America campaign, a role she revisited in the 2012 presidential election.
Previously, Maria was a senior vice president for the New Democrat Network, and before that, the communications director for the Democratic National Committee. During the Clinton administration, Maria served as chief spokesperson at the Immigration and Naturalization Service at the U.S. Department of Justice after serving as Press Secretary for the Department of Commerce.
For most of her career, Maria has been an advocate for some of the biggest issues affecting the Latino community. Working hand-in-hand with some of the biggest Latino groups, she has been at the forefront advocating for issues like comprehensive immigration reform, voting rights protection, access to affordable healthcare, protecting the environment, closing the digital divide, equal pay for equal work, and closing the wage gap.
Elmer E. Huerta, MD, MPH is a Clinical Professor of Medicine in the Division of Hematology & Oncology and the GWU Cancer Center and CNN en Español Medical Correspondent.
Dr. Huerta earned his Medical Degree at Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Peru in 1981. He completed a five-year program in Medicine and Medical Oncology at Instituto Nacional Enfermedades Neoplasicas in Peru in 1985. After emigrating to the United States, he completed a two-year internal residency in Internal Medicine at the Saint Agnes Hospital, Baltimore MD in 1991 and then embarked on a three-year Fellowship in Cancer Prevention and Control at the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, in 1994. He completed a Master in Public Health at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in 1992. Dr. Huerta is licensed in the District of Columbia and Maryland.
Dr. Huerta’s experience has developed in two main areas, cancer prevention and control and public education. He was the Founder and Director of the Cancer Preventorium at the Washington Cancer Institute, MedStar Washington Hospital Center, Washington, DC. His pioneering model in cancer prevention and early detection is highlighted by the Innovation in Prevention Award that Dr. Huerta received from the US Secretary of Health and Human Services in 2004. Furthermore, the Cancer Preventorium was the inspiration for the Patient Navigator, Outreach and Chronic Disease Prevention Act (Public Law 109-18) signed by President George W. Bush in 2005. Dr. Huerta has developed a high degree of respect and trust from the Hispanic community at the local, national, and international level through his radio and television educational programs. He is a senior health correspondent for CNN en Espanol and heard daily nationwide and in Latin America.
Dr. Huerta was appointed by President Clinton as Member of the National Cancer Advisory Board in 1998, and was the only Hispanic appointed as National President of the American Cancer Society in 2007.
Kerry Perse is the Founder of Influence & Inspire Consulting. She is a content, social media and influencer marketing executive with 20 years of experience building innovative and market leading solutions for brands and agencies. As the Principal Consultant, she collaborates with her clients to define a bespoke approach to content, social media and influencer strategy as well as operationalize the capability. She is a thought-leader, respected industry expert and trusted partner. Before founding Influence & Inspire, she spent her career working at several prominent creative, media and social media marketing agencies including: OMD, Horizon Media, Possible and Attention. During her tenure at each of these agencies, she rapidly built and operationalized new capabilities to meet the ever-evolving needs of the brands they serviced.
One of her current projects is leading the influencer marketing efforts for the Ad Council’s COVID-19 Vaccine Education initiative. Knowing the importance of using trusted messengers to help educate Americans who are vaccine hesitant, Kerry developed a strategy that includes multiple sources of influence – from celebrities to medical professionals to community leaders and the business community. To date these efforts have engaged 925 influencers, produced 1260 pieces of content and reached 40M Americans.
June 7, 2022
Valeria Piaggio is a thought leader in diversity, equity and inclusion, consultant, and educator with twenty years of professional experience in the areas of human insights and inclusion marketing.
Valeria is the Head of the new practice, Kantar Inclusion. In this role, she is the conceptual leader and chief consultant on diversity and inclusion matters and diverse high-growth segments. Some of her key clients include Coca-Cola, The Disney Company, ABC News, Airbnb, Colgate-Palmolive, Google, and Meta.
In addition, Valeria teaches “Cultural Competence in Marketing Communications” at the University of Chicago, Graham School.
Before joining Kantar, Valeria spent ten years at Iconoculture, where she was responsible for the launch of their U.S. Latino service. During her tenure, the Iconoculture Latino service grew to become its Multicultural practice. She also was instrumental in the development of the global product and was the Lead Consumer Strategist for Latin America.
Valeria is a sought-out speaker in the diversity space, with recent engagements at Culture Marketing Summit, Worldz, P&G Multicultural Media Summit, Retail Planning Conference, Unilever Hispanic Summit, and many others. Her thinking has been shared in publications such as Adweek, Newsweek, Produ en Español, QuoteEndQuote (Canada).
Valeria is a champion of inclusion, inside and outside of Kantar. She is an executive sponsor for PRIDE at Kantar; and member of several organizations like Women in Research’s chapter WIRe’s in Color group, and member of DEI Councils for key Kantar clients such as Colgate-Palmolive.
She started her career in Argentina, her home country, where she held various positions in the areas of education and communications.
Deepak Varma is Head of Neuroscience Insights at Kantar North America. Deepak has been working with Kantar for 4 years to improve insight delivery from neuroscience tools, including client-specific training programs, especially focusing on Facial Coding.
Recently, Deepak has worked studies to understand consumer feelings on inclusive advertising around the social justice movement using neuroscience techniques and has done webinars on this topic.
He has over 12 years of experience in neuroscience (using EEG, Facial Coding and eye tracking) in the area of advertising, packaging, brand equity, product development and shopper solutions globally. He has been among the few people in the industry who have educated clients worldwide on the application of neuroscience in market research and integration with traditional survey methods. He also has close to 20 years of experience in traditional qualitative and quantitative marketing research techniques. Deepak was an Executive Vice President – Client Services at Nielsen NeuroFocus where he managed the International business & managed relationships with several global clients making neuroscience a protocol in the areas of copy testing, packaging, product testing and POS testing. Prior to NeuroFocus, Deepak was a Senior Vice President and country head for Nielsen Custom Research in the US for 8 years. He has played a variety of other leadership roles and worked across several industries.
June 8, 2022
Roy Eduardo Kokoyachuk is Co-Founder and Principal of ThinkNow. Before co-founding the agency, Roy held executive leadership positions at Warner Bros. Media Research and Garcia Research Associates, successfully launching the firm’s online market research program and opening several market research operation centers in the U.S. and Mexico.
Roy has conducted ground-breaking studies on Hispanic cultural values and advertising effectiveness as well as a series of widely cited white papers on multicultural Millennials and Gen Z consumers. In 2009, he initiated the creation of the first nationally representative opt-in online market research panel of U.S. Hispanics by developing new panel recruitment and sampling strategies focused on Spanish-speaking Hispanics.
He has since developed several multicultural panels and online communities to address the market research needs of a demographically evolving marketplace.
Companies such as General Motors, McDonald’s and Disney as well as Government Agencies such as the U.S. Army, The Center for Disease Control, Covered California, and their Ad Agencies seek out Roy’s expertise to help craft their multicultural consumer messaging.
Roy also holds a BA in Communications from the Annenberg School at USC, an MBA in Marketing from The Cal State Los Angeles College of Business and Economics and post-graduate Certificate in Business Management from the UCLA Anderson School of Business.
A sought-after speaker and panelist, Roy frequently speaks at Advertising, Marketing, and Market Research conferences, such as The Advertising Research Foundation Annual Conference, AHAA, Hispanicize, and The Vision Critical Intelligence Summit.
June 9, 2022
With over 30 years of experience working with market research, segmentation, analytics, digital marketing and geographic information systems, Ron has come full circle currently working at Claritas as VP of Practice Leadership with extensive subject matter expertise, including multicultural data and solutions.
Prior to joining Claritas, Ron worked at Geoscape and was responsible for research, analytics and international products including their technology platforms – DirecTarget® & the Geoscape Intelligence System. Ron was also the Research & Development Director for VNU Marketing Information Europe, where he worked in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands creating international marketing intelligence and CRM solutions.
Ron had worked for Claritas in the US for 10 years designing and developing marketing information products and services for the retail, financial services, telecommunications, media, automotive, pharmaceutical and consumer packaged goods industries. His experience also includes several years in the financial services industry as well as 3 years with Commodore Business Machines.
June 14, 2022
Tiffany Mitsui is a senior marketing leader focused on developing highly personalized, data-driven audience-based marketing campaigns, currently for the multicultural marketing team where she creates experiences tailored to Hispanic and Black home improvement shoppers. She also manages Retool Your School, a campus improvement grant program dedicated to funding infrastructure updates at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, creating safe and comfortable learning spaces for students. Prior to this role, she supported the development of The Home Depot’s audience-based marketing practice and was a leader in the media strategy organization.
Before her time at The Home Depot, Tiffany has worked at brands and media agencies such as American Express, IPG Mediabrands and OMD. Tiffany received her bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University’s Newhouse School of Public Communications and an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business.
Tiffany is a native of Honolulu, Hawaii and currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Pedro Lerma has a vision. He sees a world where all people and all cultures are valued and embraced, and he believes in the power of cross-cultural communications, marketing and branding to reshape it. But Pedro is more than a visionary; he’s an architect and a builder.
LERMA/, the agency he conceived and founded in 2009, is a testament to his commitment to creating an omnicultural agency that is not only a beacon for advertising today but long into the future. Pedro knows the importance of being culturally fluent. Raised by immigrant parents in West Texas, Pedro has lived the omnicultural life. It’s in his DNA.
Combining his life experiences with his vast expertise in general, digital, and Hispanic marketing, Pedro is uniquely qualified to guide a growing and impressive list of clients through today’s everchanging and ever-challenging world. Brands like Dr Pepper, Avocados From Mexico, The Salvation Army and The Home Depot rely on Pedro and his team at LERMA/ for leadership, perspective and business results.
Pedro’s passion for caring continues outside of the office. He’s deeply involved in the community serving on the boards of the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, Booker T. Washington High School for the Visual and Performing Arts, Big Brothers & Big Sisters International and the Culture Marketing Council. He also chairs the annual Latino fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and serves on the Refugee Services Task Force for Catholic Charities.
Despite being very busy, Pedro isn’t all work. After hours and on weekends, you’ll either find him riffing on a six-string, launching off the wake behind his boat or chilling with family.
June 28, 2022
Andres Cantor, a five-time Emmy Award-winning sports commentator, is one of the most popular soccer voices in the United States. Over the past three decades Cantor has called thousands of matches all over the world, becoming a staple both of Telemundo and sports culture for his undeniable passion and legendary “GOAAAAL” call.
Since joining Telemundo in 2000, Cantor has become a part of the routine of every soccer fan. He currently serves as commentator for Telemundo Deportes’ broadcast of the Premier League and all FIFA events. He has been a staple of the network’s Olympic Games coverage since 2004 and made history as lead commentator and anchor for Telemundo’s exclusive Spanish-language coverage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup RussiaTM.
Cantor’s career began in 1987, when he took his first steps as a broadcaster at Univision. His innate skill to carry his passion over to the audience while providing an additional spark of emotion to the unpredictable nature of the game put him on the fast track to fame, and ever since then he has participated in the broadcast of every World Cup. He has covered the event for radio since 2002 and for television from 1990 through 1998; and will do so again in 2018. He also covered the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico for the “El Gráfico” and “Somos” magazines.
Cantor himself said that his career had a breakthrough moment during the 1994 FIFA World Cup USATM when he was recognized with several awards, including a regional Emmy and a National Career Achievement Emmy, for his work during the event. In addition, he was recognized as “Sports Personality of the Year” by the National Sports Media Association, an honor previously bestowed to renowned sports broadcasting icons such as Dick Vitale and John Madden. In addition to these, he holds two Sports Emmy Awards as Outstanding On-Air Personality in Spanish (2014 & 2017). In 2014, he was also the only Spanish-language representative to be included in the official FIFA magazine’s list of the world’s top soccer commentators. Other milestones in Cantor’s career came soon after joining Telemundo when he became the first Hispanic broadcaster to call matches in English for NBC’s coverage of both Men’s and Women’s Soccer. Four years later, he also debuted as commentator for Telemundo’s historic coverage of the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens that marked the first time ever a Spanish-language network in the United States covered the most important sporting event in the world from beginning to end. Cantor’s career was also forever marked by the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, since Landon Donovan’s last-minute goal for the U.S. against Algeria not only propelled the Americans to the Round of 16, but it also made Cantor’s radio call of the goal a worldwide sensation. That broadcast is still considered one of the World Cup’s most unforgettable moments.
Outside broadcasting, Cantor has explore new frontiers in Hollywood, since he was part of the movie “Speed Racer” where he played the role of Grand Prix race broadcaster. He has also been the spokesman for various national brands and has marveled audiences in commercials with GEICO, Volkswagen and other popular brands.
Eli Velazquez is Executive Vice President of sports content for Telemundo Deportes. In his role, Velazquez leads the division’s multimedia content strategy including programming, acquisition, production and editorial efforts. He is also responsible for coordinating resources across the company to provide Telemundo Network, Universo and the respective digital platforms with high-quality sports content. Working closely with NBC Sports on major events, Velazquez also ensures collaboration across division and businesses.
Over the last two decades, Velazquez has played an integral role in the planning and production of Telemundo Deportes’ marquee sports events including Olympic Games, Premier League, Confederations Cup and FIFA World Cup, among other FIFA tournaments. He spearheaded the production of Telemundo’s historic coverage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia, 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup and Copa America Brazil 2019, that delivered record audiences across Telemundo’s linear and digital platforms. Under his leadership, Telemundo Deportes continues to establish itself as the destination for the biggest, best global sports programming in Spanish-language.
Previously, Velazquez served as Senior Vice President, Sports, Telemundo, where he oversaw all sports programming and operations for the network, and led the strategic initiatives related to domestic growth, integration of the department’s content beyond broadcast, and helping to develop new and innovative ways to evolve the sports brand across multiple platforms.
Velazquez joined Telemundo in 1999 as a producer for Boxeo Telemundo and was the first to produce Titulares Telemundo. He progressed to roles of increasing responsibility, including Senior Producer, Director of Sports and Vice President of Sports. Velazquez is a five-time National Emmy Award winner and over the years has helped secure historic programming agreements, earning prestigious, industry-wide recognition for the network.
Velazquez is a graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences at Loyola University, New Orleans, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications.