IAB Leadership Dialogues

Kurt Andersen is a writer.

His latest book is Fantasyland: How America Went Haywire: A 500-Year History(2017). He’s also the author of the critically acclaimed, bestselling novels True Believers (2012), Heyday (2007) and Turn of the Century (1999).
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Fantasyland, according to Walter Isaacson (Steve Jobs, Benjamin Franklin), “is an important book — the indispensable book for understanding America in the age of Trump.” And Stephen Dubner (Freakonomics) says “the thinking and the writing are both dazzling; it’s an absolute joy to read and will leave your brain dancing with excitement long after you’re done.”
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True Believers appeared on the best-novels-of-the- year lists of the San Francisco Chronicle and Washington Post. Booklist called it “an ambitious and remarkable novel” of “spellbinding suspense.” According to other reviewers it’s “fiendishly smart, insightful and joyously loopy” (Chronicle); “the best reverie on the 1960s and their legacy” (Fortune); “intelligent and insightful,” “emotionally accurate” and “profound” (USA Today). And Vanity Fair called it “a great American novel.”
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Heyday was a New York Times bestseller that the Los Angeles Times called “a major work.” The New York Times Book Review said there is “something moving, a stirring spirit, in the energy of its amazement.” And the Houston Chronicle (and nine other papers) said it “deserves instant acceptance into the ranks [of] Thomas Berger’s Little Big Man, E.L. Doctorow’s Ragtime, [and] Gore Vidal’s Lincoln.” It was included on several best-books-of-the-year lists, and won the Langum Prize as the best American historical novel of 2007.
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The New York Times called Turn of the Century “wickedly satirical” and “outrageously funny” and named it a Notable Books of the year, while The Wall Street Journal called it a “smart, funny and excruciatingly deft portrait of our age.” It was a national bestseller, and Publishers Weekly called it one of the ten best long novels ever.
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In 2009 he published Reset, an “influential” (Huffington Post), “heavyweight” (USA Today) and “inspired and inspiring” (BoingBoing) essay about how America could have changed for the better following the economic and financial crises of 2008 and 2009.
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He has also written for film, television and the stage. During the 1990s he was executive producer and head writer of two prime-time specials for NBC, How to Be Famous and Hit List, starring Jerry Seinfeld and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and a creator of three pilots for ABC and NBC. More recently he wrote scripts for HBO and Amazon. He was also co-author of Loose Lips, a satirical off-Broadway revue that had long runs in New York and Los Angeles starring Bebe Neuwirth, Harry Shearer and Andy Richter.
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In 2011 he served as a guest Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times. From 2004 through 2008 he wrote a column called “The Imperial City” for New York (one of which is included in The Best American Magazine Writing 2008), and contributes to Vanity Fair. He was previously a columnist for The New Yorker (“The Culture Industry”) and TIME (“Spectator”). He began his career in journalism at TIME, where during the 1980s he was an award-winning writer on politics and criminal justice before becoming, for eight years, the magazine’s architecture and design critic.
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He is also host and co-creator of Studio 360, the cultural magazine show produced by Public Radio International. It is broadcast on 217 stations and distributed by podcast to almost 1 million listeners in all each week. The show won Peabody Awards for broadcast excellence in both 2005 and 2013.
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As an editor, he co-founded the transformative independent magazine Spy, which increased its circulation tenfold and became profitable after just three years. He also served as editor-in- chief of New York during the mid-90s, presiding over its editorial reinvigoration and record profitability.

In 1999 he co-founded Inside, an online and print publication covering the media and entertainment industries, and in 2004 and 2005 he oversaw a relaunch of Colors magazine. In 2006 he co-founded Very Short List, an online cultural newsletter. From 2007 to 2009 he was editor-at- large for Random House.
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He serves on the boards of the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum and Pratt Institute. He graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College, where he was an editor of the Lampoon. He received an honorary doctorate from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2005, and in 2009 was Visionary in Residence at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. He was named by New York magazine as one of the “100 People Who Changed New York,” and by Forbes as one of the “25 Most Influential Liberals in the U.S. Media.” And he was named the 2014 arts Medalist by Harvard College’s Signet Society. He lives in Brooklyn with his wife, Anne Kreamer.

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.

Marie Gulin-Merle has 15+ years of strategic digital and integrated communications experience. As CMO for L’Oréal USA she drives new marketing models, innovations and partnerships across the company’s portfolio of 30+ iconic brands.

From content creation and distribution to enhancing consumer engagement through data and analytics, Ms. Gulin-Merle is passionate about developing the creative platforms and tools needed to keep the consumer at the center of L’Oreal USA’s business.

In 2016, she was included in WWD’s 10 Most In-Demand Execs in Digital Fashion and E-Commerce list, Ad Age’s 40 Under 40 list and Business Insider’s Most Innovative CMO’s list.

Kristin Lemkau is the Chief Marketing Officer for JPMorgan Chase, responsible for marketing, brand, advertising, media, sponsorships, marketing analytics and market research firmwide and communications for Chase.

She has spent 19 years at JPMorgan Chase in communications and marketing roles across the firm. In 2017 she was recognized as a Matrix Award winner by NY Women in Communications. In 2016, she was named one of Ad Age’s 10 Power Players and one of Adweek’s Most Indispensable Executives in Marketing, Media and Tech.

Prior to JPMorgan Chase, she held communications and marketing positions at Allied Signal (now Honeywell) and Freeport-McMoRan. She is a member of the Leadership Council for the Robin Hood Foundation and on the Board of the Association of National Advertisers (ANA).

Marne Levine is Chief Operating Officer of Instagram, a community of more than 700 million who use the social platform to strengthen relationships through shared experiences. As COO, she is responsible for helping to scale the company’s business and operations globally.

Marne joined Instagram from Facebook, where she served as Vice President of Global Public Policy from 2010 to 2014.

Prior to Facebook, Marne served in the Obama Administration as Chief of Staff of the National Economic Council (NEC) at the White House and Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy. Marne began her career in 1993 at the United States Department of Treasury under President Bill Clinton where she held a number of leadership positions.

Marne holds a B.A. in political science and communications from Miami University and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School. She serves on the Board of Directors for Chegg along with several not for profits including Lean In.org, the Urban Institute, Women for Women International, LIFT, National Endowment for Democracy, and the American Council on Germany and is a member of the Trilateral Commission. She resides in Menlo Park, CA with her husband and two sons.

Bob is IBM Senior Vice President, The Weather Company and Alliances. He is responsible for driving growth within the The Weather Company, Watson Advertising, and TradeLens – a blockchain-based platform that is digitizing the global supply chain and transforming trade. In addition, Bob is responsible for driving IBM’s strategic partnership transactions to enable the company’s growth and focus on embedding its hybrid cloud and AI technology platform.

In his previous role as Senior Vice President, Worldwide Ecosystems, Bob successfully launched IBM’s global ecosystem model, guided by an unwavering commitment to open innovation within the ecosystem. He transformed how the company engages with partners and developers to ensure client success using an open hybrid cloud approach infused with AI.

In his role overseeing IBM’s ecosystem of developers, Bob launched Call for Code, the largest and most ambitious effort to bring together the world’s software developers to take on pressing societal issues by using the latest advanced technologies to problem solve and create cutting-edge solutions. Winning solutions are successfully incubated, field-tested, and deployed in communities where they can make the greatest impact, driving immediate and lasting humanitarian progress. To date, more than 500,000 developers and problem solvers across 180 nations have answered the call. Bob joined IBM in 2016 as the company’s first Chief Digital Officer with a mission to change how IBM innovation is delivered and consumed by the world’s leading organizations.

Prior to IBM, Bob served as President of AOL, leading the company through its evolution into a leading, global advertising platform. He also served as CEO of Razorfish, a pioneering digital transformation consultancy helping companies like Cisco, Condé Nast, Ford, Mercedes-Benz and Pfizer redefine their brands for the digital age.

Bob’s experience and passion made him an active member of the TED community, board member for the Partnership for New York City and Aqua Finance, a Blackstone Company and former board member for Williams-Sonoma and Screen Vision Media. He is one of CRN’s 50 “Most Influential” channel chiefs and the author of Converge: Transforming Business at the Intersection of Marketing and Technology.

He began his career as an engineer, graduating from Syracuse University with a BS in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, and holds an MBA from Harvard University.

John Martin is chairman and chief executive officer of Turner, a portfolio of news; entertainment; kids and young adult; and sports networks and businesses including CNN/U.S., CNN International, CNN.com and HLN; TBS, TNT, Turner Classic Movies and truTV; Cartoon Network and Adult Swim; and Turner Sports.

Martin assumed executive leadership of Turner in January 2014. Previously, he was chief financial and administrative officer of Time Warner Inc., overseeing Time Warner’s finance, accounting, mergers and acquisitions, internal audit, investor relations, treasury and tax areas. In addition, he had oversight of corporate human resources and worked closely with other members of Time Warner’s senior management team and its operating divisions on a variety of organizational, development and diversity issues.

Before becoming Time Warner’s chief financial officer in January 2008, Martin had been executive vice president and chief financial officer of Time Warner Cable Inc. since August 2005. Previously, he spent nearly 12 years at Time Warner, ultimately as senior vice president, investor relations, from 2002 to 2005. He was a director in the equity research group of ABN AMRO Securities LLC from 2000 to 2002. Earlier, he served as director in the Office of the President at Time Warner and director of finance special projects. He began at Time Warner in 1993 as a manager of SEC financial reporting. Before joining Time Warner Inc., he was a Certified Public Accountant, working as a senior accountant at Ernst and Young LLP in New York.

Martin received an M.B.A. degree in finance and organizational behavior from the Columbia University Business School and a B.S. in economics from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. He is a member of the board of trustees of Columbia University’s business school. He also serves on the boards of the Paley Center for Media.

Turner, a Time Warner company, creates and programs branded news; entertainment; kids and young adult; and sports media environments on television and other platforms for consumers around the world.

Dr. Oz has won Nine Daytime Emmy® Awards for “The Dr. Oz Show” and is a professor of Surgery at Columbia University. He directs the Complementary Medicine Program at New York Presbyterian Hospital and performs 50 heart operations annually. His research interests include heart replacement surgery, minimally invasive surgery, alternative medicine and health care policy. He has authored over 400 original publications, book chapters, and medical books, has received numerous patents, and participates in 50 heart surgeries per year. He also hosts the internationally syndicated “Daily Dose” in numerous radio markets syndicated thru iHeartRadio, a newspaper column syndicated by Hearst in 175 markets internationally, and has a magazine with Hearst “The Good Life”, which was voted the hottest new publication in 2014.

Dr. Oz was born in Cleveland, Ohio, raised in Delaware and received his undergraduate degree from Harvard University (1982) and obtained a joint MD and MBA (1986) from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Wharton Business School. He was awarded the Captain’s Athletic Award for leadership in college and elected Class President twice followed by President of the Student Body during medical school. He lives in Northern New Jersey with his wife Lisa of 32 years and their four children, Daphne, Arabella, Zoe and Oliver and two grandchildren Philomena and John.

Previously, Dr. Oz was a featured health expert on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” for six seasons, spanning over 60 episodes. He also served as chief medical consultant to Discovery Communications, where his “Transplant!” series won both a Freddie and a Silver Telly award. He has appeared on all the network morning and evening news broadcasts and guest hosted numerous shows. He also served as medical director of Denzel Washington’s “John Q” and performed in the hip-hop video “Everybody” as part of the Let’s Move Campaign.

Dr. Oz authored seven New York Times Best Sellers, including “You: The Owner’s Manual”, “You: The Smart Patient”, “YOU: On a Diet”, “YOU: Staying Young”, “YOU: Being Beautiful”, “YOU: Having a Baby”, “YOU: The Owner’s Manual for Teens”, as well as the award-winning “Healing from the Heart”. He has a regular column in Oprah Magazine and Time, and his article “Retool, Reboot, and Rebuild” for Esquire magazine was awarded the 2009 National Magazine Award for Personal Service. He co-founded Sharecare.com which won “Best Medical App” award for AskMD in 2014.

In addition to belonging to every major professional society for heart surgeons, Dr. Oz has been named Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, Forbes’ most influential celebrity, Esquire magazine’s 75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century, a Global Leader of Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum, Harvard’s 100 Most Influential Alumni, as well as receiving the Ellis Island Medal of Honor and AARP 50 Influential people over 50. He won the prestigious Gross Surgical Research Scholarship, and he has received an honorary doctorate from Istanbul University. He was voted “The Best and Brightest” by Esquire Magazine, a “Doctor of the Year” by Hippocrates magazine and “Healer of the Millennium” by Healthy Living magazine. Dr. Oz is annually elected as a highest quality physician by the Castle Connolly Guide as well as other major ranking groups. He is also an honorary police surgeon for New York City.

Mike Pesca is the host of daily Slate podcast The Gist. Previously, he was an NPR correspondent for over 10 years, most of which were spent covering sports. He has guest-hosted the public radio programs On the Media, Brian Lehrer Show, Leonard Lopate Show, Science Friday, Left, Right and Center, Bullseye, On Point, To the Point, All Things Considered, Talk of the Nation and Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me, along with regularly appearing on CNN and MSNBC. He has won two Edward R. Murrow broadcasting awards.

Jacob Weisberg is Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of The Slate Group, which includes Slate magazine and Panoply. He is also the creator and host of Trumpcast, a near-daily podcast dedicated to understanding the Trump phenomenon. He began at Slate as Chief Political Correspondent in 1996, and was Editor from 2002 to 2008.

He is the author of several books, including 2008 New York Times bestseller The Bush Tragedy, and his latest, a 2016 biography of Ronald Reagan. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the PEN American Center, the Committee to Protect Journalists, and the Interactive Advertising Bureau.