IAB Annual Leadership Meeting 2015: Content and the Kingmakers

Boff is responsible for GE’s global advertising, digital and content marketing along with the company’s brand, experience, sponsorship and design strategy.

Previously, Boff was CMO of iVillage Properties, part of the NBC Universal.  Boff joined GE in early 2004 with 18 years of experience in marketing, advertising and communications including senior roles at Citigroup, the American Museum of Natural History and Porter Novelli.

??Boff is a 2014 AWNY Changing the Game Award winner, B2B Magazine’s 2012 Digital Marketer of Year and 2012 Media Maven.  She is on the Board of Partnership with Children, a NYC-based organization which provides social support to 5000 hard-to-reach school children. Boff is also on the Ad Council’s Executive Committee and is a member of Digital 50.

Boff earned a BA in Political Science and Psychology from Union College.   She lives in Irvington, NY with her husband and two children.

Jeffrey Cole has been at the forefront of media and communication technology issues both in the United States and internationally for the past three decades. An expert in the field of technology and emerging media, Cole serves as an adviser to governments and leading companies around the world as they craft digital strategies. He is Director of the Center for the Digital Future and a Research Professor at the USC Annenberg School.

Cole founded and directs the World Internet Project, a long-term longitudinal look at the effects of Internet technology conducted in more than 30 countries. He has worked with both the Clinton and George W. Bush White House on media and telecommunications issues and regularly makes presentations across the U.S. and in Europe, Asia, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa.

Scott Donaton is the Head of Creative at Hulu where he leads the teams responsible for bringing compelling creative behind Hulu’s brand, product offering and award winning content to life. In his role, Donaton oversees Greenhouse, Hulu’s creative studio, which includes a full-service multi-disciplinary creative team responsible for creative deliverables across every touch point in the consumer experience , and the industry’s first-ever branded entertainment function that designs and delivers creative opportunities for advertiser partners in streaming TV.

Prior to Hulu, Donaton served as the Global Chief Creative & Content Officer at Digitas, leading the agency’s worldwide creative practice including the agency’s brand campaign, content, experience design and production capabilities. Donaton also served as Head of Content for The Americas for Publicis Media and was the chief architect of the Digitas’ NewFront.

Before joining Digitas, Donaton was Global Chief Content Officer at Interpublic Group’s UM and head of UM Studios, where he led a team of award-winning content strategists and producers who developed creative programs and innovative experiences for clients including Chrysler, Coca-Cola, J&J, BMW and Sony. Prior to UM, Donaton founded Ensemble, an Interpublic Group content studio, where he served as CEO from 2009 till 2013.

Donaton coined the phrase “Madison & Vine”, and is the author of a book by the same name. The book helped launch the branded-content revolution by declaring that the entertainment and advertising industries need to converge to survive. Prior to joining Interpublic, Donaton served as publisher of Entertainment Weekly. Before that, he was at Advertising Age, where he served as its editor for more than a decade before becoming publisher. Donaton oversaw the publication’s extension into digital media and the growth of its global presence.

Donaton has numerous advertising awards, including the Cannes Lions, Clios and London International Advertising Awards. He was inducted into the AAF’s prestigious Advertising Hall of Achievement, and was once honored as one of the “21 Most Intriguing People in Media.” Donaton served as president of the Entertainment jury at Cannes in 2013 and 2019, and is the current president of the AICP Branded Content & Entertainment jury this year. He is also known for his industry thought-leadership, which has been published in numerous media outlets including Fast Company, Adweek, Huffington Post, Business Insider, Ad Age and MediaPost.

As Global Brand President for Starcom Worldwide and member of the Publicis Media global leadership team, Lisa Donohue is driving a next-generation media agency focused on the convergence of media, technology and creativity. Starcom Worldwide is the leading global media agency brand within Publicis Media, part of Publicis Groupe, driving more than $26 billion in global media billings for client partners. In her role, Lisa is responsible for global brand vision, culture, partnerships, talent and product excellence, and is enabling the design of unique human experiences with impressive results.

Most recently serving as Starcom USA CEO, Lisa guided that office to exceed challenges on behalf of the world’s leading marketers and new establishment brands, including Airbnb, Samsung, Procter & Gamble, Bank of America, Kellogg’s, Kraft Heinz, Visa and more. In this role she led $10.3 billion in media billings and more than 1,100 employees spanning four U.S. office locations. She drove Starcom’s industry-leading digital offering and built out the agency’s data and analytics practice.

During her six-year tenure as U.S. CEO, Lisa led Starcom to be the most awarded media agency in the country, winning a total of 571 industry awards. In 2014, this success led Starcom Mediavest Group to be named Most Effective Agency Network by the North American Effies, Media Network of the Year at Festival of Media and Media Network of the Year at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. For the last three years, the SMG Chicago office dominated the WARC 100, the annual list of top agency brands based upon performance in effectiveness and strategy industry competitions.

In addition to her Starcom U.S. CEO duties, Lisa oversaw business units including Halogen and Local Spectrum, comprising direct response media and directory marketing, and global practices including the SMG Global Product Committee, the Human Experience Strategist practice and Audience & Measurement Solutions. She was also a member of Starcom Mediavest Group’s global executive team for the past six years.

Prior to assuming the CEO role at Starcom, Lisa served as President, Truth & Design at sister agency Mediavest in NYC. In addition she also oversaw the agency’s digital practice, P&G-dedicated investment group and product development team, helping Mediavest garner 25 award winners and finalists in her last 12 months.

Prior to her time at Mediavest, she worked her way up to EVP, Managing Director at Starcom on accounts including Morgan Stanley / Discover Card, Nintendo and Altria. Since launching her career in 1987, she has exhibited strong strategic thinking on a variety of accounts including Kellogg’s, General Motors, Mars, Miller, NYSE, P&G, Samsonite and Sony.

Lisa was awarded the Chicago Advertising Federation’s Advertising Woman of the Year in 2011, as well as Adweek’s 2011 Executive Media All-Star. In 2006 Advertising Age recognized her as a Woman to Watch. In addition, Lisa is a frequent panelist and public speaker at key industry conferences including New York Advertising Week, mainstage at Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, Association of National Advertisers Masters of Marketing, the 4A’s Transformation Conference, Interactive Advertising Bureau Annual Leadership Meeting and Adobe Marketing Cloud Summit, to name a few.

Lisa is President of the Board of Trustees of Milton Academy in Massachusetts, serves on the She Runs It (formerly Advertising Women of New York) Board of Directors, the 4A’s Board of Directors and Media Leadership Council, the Twitter #Influence Council, and is a member of The Chicago Network and the Economic Club of Chicago. She is a graduate of Brown University and a loyal Brunonian.

Jonah Goodhart is the CEO and Co-Founder of Moat, a New York based Analytics company focused on driving success for brand marketers and premium publishers. Moat is at the forefront of helping shift digital advertising away from impressions and clicks and toward new models of attention. Jonah was the Founding Investor and Board Member of Right Media (acquired by Yahoo!), Founding Partner of WGI Group, and Co-Founder of Billions.org. Jonah was also a member of Mayor Bloomberg’s Council on Technology and Innovation.

Eric Harris is BuzzFeed’s Chief Business Operations Officer and is responsible for all business operations and partnerships. Eric was one of the company’s first employees and has been a key figure in developing its business model, new ventures, and growing the site’s relationships with publishers and brands. Eric leads a team of strategists, planners, account managers, marketers, and advertising operations professionals who work with Fortune 500 brands. Before joining BuzzFeed, Eric was VP of Product Management at Operative Media, where he helped to build its best of breed Advertising Management platform. Prior to Operative, Eric was Director of Operations at washingtonpost.com and spent several years doing consulting work at Price Waterhouse. Eric has an MBA from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University and lives with his wife and two children in Brooklyn.

Mike Hopkins is Chief Executive Officer of Hulu. Mike is a media veteran who brings more than 20 years of video experience to Hulu and has an accomplished track record of both building innovative television products and negotiating landmark distribution agreements. While President of Distribution for Fox Networks, he oversaw Fox Networks broadcast distribution, and the strategy, sales and marketing for Fox’s 45 linear and non-linear U.S. cable networks. His team also developed many of the television industry’s leading authenticated and digital video products, including BTN2Go, FXNOW, FOX Sports Go, and FOX NOW. Hopkins served as a member of the Hulu board for over two years prior to being named CEO. He has also served on the boards of the National Geographic Channel and the Big Ten Network. Hopkins previously spent time at both The Weather Channel and Harte Hanks. Hopkins graduated with an MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management and a Bachelor’s from California State University, Long Beach. He lives with his wife and daughter in Santa Monica, California.

Warren St. John is the editor in chief of Patch.com, the hyperlocal news network that spun off from AOL in Jan 2014. Since then he has overseen the retooling of an editorial team of 70 journalists spread across 20 states, one that has increased traffic by 50% since August, in six successive months of growth. St. John spent six years as a reporter at The New York Times, and is the author of two bestsellers, Outcasts United and Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer, both published by Random House. He was also a senior writer at Wired and has written for the the New Yorker, Slate, GQ and other publications. He lives in New York City.

Freada’’s work is at the intersection of racial/social justice and tech. As a Partner at Kapor Capital (www.kaporcapital.com), Freada Kapor Klein, Ph.D. invests in women entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs of color whose tech start-ups aspire to generate economic value and positive social impact.  Kapor Capital’s investment sectors include, but are not limited to, education, health, and consumer finance.  

Freada is the founder and Board Chair of the Level Playing Field Institute (www.lpfi.org), which promotes innovative approaches to fairness in higher education and workplaces. The Institute’s Summer Math and Science Honors Academy (SMASH), a three-summer high school program serving under-represented students of color, is in the process of scaling nationally.  The Academy works to ensure racial equity within the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.  

The Institute’s workplace programs have conducted landmark research, including the 2011 study The Tilted Playing Field: Hidden Bias in IT Workplaces. Freada’s book Giving Notice: Why the Best and the Brightest Leave the Workplace and How You Can Help Them Stay (Jossey-Bass 2007) combines quantitative research on who leaves corporate America and why, with stories of day-to-day experiences detailing the human and financial cost.

Freada co-founded the first organization in the U.S. to address sexual harassment in 1976. She holds a Ph.D. in Social Policy and Research, and has conducted many large survey projects on perceptions and experiences of bias, harassment, and disrespectful treatment in workplaces.

Her first job in tech was as the first head of Employee Relations, Organizational Development, and Management Training at Lotus Development Corporation. Her job description was to make Lotus the most progressive employer in the U.S. Lotus 1-2-3 is widely recognized as the “killer app” that made the personal computer ubiquitous in business.

A frequent speaker (some of her 2014 engagements include presentations at: Asana, Generation Investment Management Women’s Leadership Summit, RAND Corp., Twilio, Twitter, and Women 2.0), Freada is also quoted and written about in the media (examples from 2014 include: New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, National Public Radio, Huffington Post, Bloomberg, San Francisco Chronicle, and San Jose Mercury News).

Freada is also a Co-Chair of the Kapor Center for Social Impact (www.kaporcenter.org) and an Advisory Trustee of the U.C. Berkeley Foundation.

Robert Kyncl is the Global Head of Content & Business Operations at YouTube where he oversees all business functions including content, sales, marketing, platforms, access, and strategy.  Previously, Robert was Vice President of Content at Netflix, where he spearheaded the company’s content acquisition for streaming TV shows and movies over the Internet.

Frequently a keynote speaker at major media events worldwide such as CES, Mipcom, Cannes Lions, EBG, Abraaj Annual Forum and the Abu Dhabi Media Summit, Robert is also much sought after to address senior leadership at NBCU, Warner Music Group, L’Oreal, UBS, The Producer’s Guild, Bertelsmann, the BBC, and Starcom Mediavest, and Vivendi, among others.  Robert has been listed in Variety’s 2012 Dealmakers Impact Report as one of their “disruptors”, Vanity Fair’s 2012 & 2013 New Establishment List, Billboard’s Power 100 List in 2012, 2013 and 2014, Billboard’s 2014 International Power Players List and AdWeek’s 2013 “Top 50 Execs Who Make the Wheels Turn.”  He has also served as a member of the Paley Center’s Media Council.

In 2012, Robert was honored for his commitment to CoachArt, a local non-profit that provides arts and athletic lessons for children with chronic and life-threatening illnesses.

?Robert holds a Masters of Business Administration from Pepperdine University and a B.S. in International Relations from SUNY New Paltz.  He resides in Beverly Hills with his wife and two daughters.

Ben Lerer is the founding CEO of Group Nine Media – a digital media holding company consisting of NowThis, The Dodo, Seeker and Thrillist (which he founded). Lerer was among Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year Award Winners, and has been featured in Vanity Fair’s Next Establishment, Crain’s “40 under 40” and Forbes list of “Most Powerful CEOs Under 40”.
Ben is also the co-founder and Managing Director of Lerer Hippeau Ventures, among New York’s most successful technology investment funds. He chairs the Board of Directors for Urban Upbound, a New York non-profit organization and is an Associate Member of the International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences (IADAS). Ben sits on the Board of Directors for Casper, the Advisory Board for Refinery29 and the Board of RaisedByUs.

Erin McPherson serves as Chief Content Officer at Maker, driving the brand’s programming strategy — overseeing all aspects of original content, series development across platforms, strategic programming partnerships, talent relationships, and editorial content on Maker’s proprietary platform Maker.tv. Maker is the world’s largest network of short-form online video bringing together a diverse community of YouTube creators and global franchises as part of The Walt Disney Company. The company is home to the biggest digital stars and leading programming such as the hugely popular online series “Epic Rap Battles of History.” Since joining Maker, Erin has spearhead multiple content and talent acquisitions including Morgan Spurlock’s Smartish channel with four original series in production along with the Maker LABS development concept attracting James Franco and Vince Jolivette’s Rabbit Bandini Productions and “The Walking Dead” creator Robert Kirkman’s Skybound, among others. She has been a strong advocate for expanding and shepherding the Maker brand voice on a global level and aligning internal operations to meet commercial and consumer needs. Under Erin’s leadership Maker now has over 270 shows in various stages of development and 40 active productions. Prior to Maker, Erin served as Vice President & Head of Video Programming and Originals at Yahoo where she led the company’s foray into original video, growing the original programming roster to more than 80 ongoing daily or weekly series, branded entertainment programming, and specials. She oversaw the launch of Yahoo Screen, the award-winning Yahoo Studios, and brought to Yahoo a large roster of third-party partners including Red Hour/Paramount (“Burning Love”) and Playtone/Tom Hanks (“Electric City”), among many others. Prior to joining Yahoo!, Erin practiced entertainment and media law, representing a wide number of individuals and companies, including Halle Berry, Kevin Spacey, Zachary Quinto and others. She also served as in-house counsel for LivePlanet, the transmedia company founded by Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Chris Moore and Sean Bailey, and z.com, an early online video start-up funded by Bill Gross’ Idealab. Erin is a graduate of Harvard Law School and received her B.A. from Middlebury College.

Rosemarie is a renowned leader, brand builder and rabble-rouser in the marketing industry.

She began her career in account planning and was among the first wave of Brits to import the Account Planning discipline to the United States at Chiat Day. As president of K&B, she took it from a 30-person boutique to a 400-person strong award-winning agency. She then took on the mantle of leading the 125 year-old JWT into the 21st century. In her tenure she restructured the workplace, the teams and creative product, and doubled the profits of the agency. Not satisfied with reinventing an agency, she decided it was time to reinvent the industry. In September of 2010, Rosemarie, along with her creative partner Ty Montague, left JWT and founded co:collective. Co: is a Storydoing collective focused on business and brand transformation and is fortunate enough to be working with likes of YouTube, Infiniti , Google and Timberland.

In September 2012, Rosemarie was named as one of the ‘100 most influential Women in Advertising, by Advertising Age.

Bob Rupczynski is Kraft’s Vice President of Media and Consumer Engagement, reporting to CMO Deanie Elsner. He is responsible for reinventing Kraft’s marketing capability and consumer communications in the age of media, data and digital disruption. He joined Kraft in this role in September 2012.

Bob is leading the evolution of Kraft’s marketing tools to enable consumer-tailored, real-time communications and precision marketing. He is responsible for spearheading the strategy that allows Kraft to connect more closely to its consumers, by creating and delivering more relevant content, in the right context, at the right time.

Bob brings a long track record of disruptive marketing innovation to Kraft. Previously, he served as the Global Director of Digital Marketing for the Wrigley Company where he developed the global social media strategy that grew the company’s Facebook engagement by more than 42 million fans in 18 months. Before that, Bob spent seven years in global digital marketing at Alberto Culver where he transformed the company’s online presence from a single website into a global digital platform.

A recognized leader, Bob’s work has earned 15 Cannes Lions and two of the inaugural Facebook Awards in 2012 for innovation in global digital marketing. In addition, Bob serves on the AOL CPG Advisory Board.

He received a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from Wheaton College and a Master of Science in Integrated Marketing Communications from Roosevelt University. In his spare time, Bob is an avid triathlete who has competed in Ironman events.

Over the past 26 years, Doug Weaver has worked with over 700 leading companies including Spotify, Vevo, Samsung Ads, BuzzFeed, Hulu, Viacom, LinkedIn, MIQ, Cars.com, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, NBC Universal, Adobe and The New York Times. For these clients and many others, he’s trained thousands of Internet media and technology sellers through both public and private workshops focusing on sales strategy and digital landscape perspective.

Over the years, Doug has been a frequent moderator, host and keynote speaker at leading conferences produced by the IAB, AdExchanger, iMedia, PubMatic and AdMonsters. For 17 years, he hosted Seller Forum, the industry’s only peer-to-peer networking and content event just for digital sales leaders. And since 2001, he’s authored The Drift, a provocative industry blog that directly reaches more than 7,000 top industry executives and is syndicated and referred to thousands more.

After a 15-year career in print advertising sales with companies like Hearst and Condé Nast, Doug became advertising director and east coast employee number one for Wired Magazine in 1994, and sold some of the Web’s first ads on the company’s Hot Wired site. He then served as vice president of sales for Firefly Network, a pioneering company in personalization, targeting and community.

Doug was elected to the Board of Directors for the Internet (now “Interactive”) Advertising Bureau in 1997 and managed the development of both the IAB Roadshow (the organization’s first omnibus presentation to marketers) and the IAB Professional Development Series (its first seller training initiative.) In 1999, he received the first IAB Service Award for commitment and contribution to the industry; In 2007 Doug received the “Oldtimers Award” from the Aspen Group, a gathering of top digital agencies; In 2011, ad:tech honored him with its Industry Achievement Award for lifetime service; and in 2016, 212 NYC presented Doug with its Thought Leadership Award.

Doug’s company, Upstream Group, Inc. is based in Vermont, where he shares a home his wife and partner of 37 years, Sharon Richards. They have two grown daughters, Lucy & Madeline and two perfect grandchildren named Henry and Lila. Doug is a grateful beneficiary of public education, and a proud graduate of both Long Beach City College and California State University, Fullerton.

Sir Mark Thompson is Chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide where he oversees all aspects of the business in the U.S. and around the world. He also serves as the editor-in-chief of CNN.


In addition to his work at CNN, Mark is the Chairman of Ancestry; Deputy Chair of the Royal Shakespeare Company and Co-Chair of the International Fund for Public Interest Media, a new global fund to support journalists around the world.


Mark stepped down as President and CEO of The New York Times Company in the summer of 2020 after an eight-year tenure (2012-20) during which he led the transformation of the 170-year-old news brand into a digital powerhouse. Digital subscribers jumped to nearly 6 million, up from half a million when he joined. NYTCo stock quintupled in value during his period as CEO.


Sir Mark’s appointment at The New York Times Company followed an eight-year term (2004-12) as Director General (Editor-in-Chief and Chief Executive) of the BBC. As well as guiding the BBC’s coverage of the global financial crisis and the 2012 London Olympic Games, he is credited with major advances in the BBC’s digital offering and digital audience reach, including the successful launch of the BBC’s iPlayer, one of the world’s first streaming services from a major broadcaster (2007).


He joined the BBC from Channel 4 where he was Chief Executive from 2002 to 2004. Before Channel 4 he held a series of senior posts at the BBC including Editor of The Nine O’clock News and Panorama, Controller of BBC Two and Director of Television.


His book, “Enough Said: What’s Gone Wrong with the Language of Politics?” was published in the UK and US in September 2016. He was educated at Stonyhurst College and Merton College Oxford. He is an honorary fellow of Merton College Oxford and a member of the American Philosophical Society.


Mark is married and has three children and is based in New York City.


He was knighted for services to Media in King Charles III’s Birthday Honours in June 2023.

Troy Young is president of Hearst Magazines Digital Media. In this position, Young oversees content, technology, operations, product and business development strategies for the magazines division’s digital portfolio, which includes 21 brand websites such as Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Harper’s Bazaar and Delish, and attracts more than 150 million uniques.

In 2015, Young was named Adweek’s Magazine Executive of the Year, which recognized him for unifying Hearst’s “print and digital brands into a single, well-oiled machine whose traffic has surged” leading to a 75 percent revenue increase, and for his development of MediaOS, “a combined CMS, ad sales and data strategy tool for all Hearst properties.”

A media executive with 20 years of experience in digital publishing and advertising, Young was previously president of Say Media. Prior to Say, Young held several executive positions at Omnicom’s digital agency Organic, including the role of chief experience officer.