WOMMA's Board of Directors

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Chairman:
David Witt, Director, Global Digital Marketing and Brand PR, The Hershey Company

David recently joined The Hershey Company, where he leads the brand public relations and consumer engagement efforts for the company.

Prior to his current role, he worked at General Mills, where he led social media and the company's WOM efforts. During his time at General Mills, he also led brand public relations for various brands, including Yoplait, Progresso, Hamburger Helper and Old El Paso. He also created the company's three consumer engagement networks – MyBlogSpark, Pssst… and MyGetTogether.

David is President-Elect of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association and a Hershey's representative on socialmedia.org (formerly the Social Media Business Council).

Additionally, David worked for eight years as a concert and festival producer and promoter in California, focusing mainly on classical and jazz musical events. He also worked in sports and event marketing for Blue Cross Blue Shield and worked in brand public relations for clients including Reynolds Consumer Products, Home Depot, Virginia Beach Tourism and Amelia Island, at a public relations agency in Virginia. He received his MBA from Azusa Pacific University in California.

Past Chairman:
Rod Brooks, Vice President & CMO, PEMCO Mutual Insurance Company

Rod has enjoyed tremendous success during his 35 year career in sales, marketing, and business development roles since graduating with a bachelor’s degree in communications from Washington State University in 1975. He is known for his vision, leadership, and ability to transform vision into effective corporate strategy and unique implementation plans. Rod has been the marketing force behind successful start‐ups, emerging growth companies, and well established businesses such as Schuck’s Auto Supply, Egghead Software, WordPerfect Corporation, and Coinstar.

In 1999, Rod took the marketing helm at PEMCO Mutual Insurance Company. With the role came the opportunity to help transform an analytical operations‐based organization with a predominantly commoditized product into a dynamic customer‐centric, market‐driven and results‐oriented mutual organization. Now, 10 years after joining the company, Rod calls the insurance business one of the biggest marketing challenges he’s faced, and he views PEMCO’s current campaign as one of his most rewarding.

Rod has served in numerous volunteer leadership capacities and as the currently longest standing member of the Washington DECA Board of Directors. His service and contributions were recognized in 2009 when he was presented the Washington DECA Award of Merit ‐ the organizations highest recognition for volunteer service.

Rod has been active in the Word of Mouth Marketing Association since 2007 and was elected to the WOMMA board of directors and executive committee in 2008 where he currently serves as President.

Leadership & Charitable Participation
• Board of Directors, President, Word of Mouth Marketing Association
• Board of Directors & President Emeritus, Marketing Communications Executives International, Seattle
• Board of Directors, Washington DECA (Past Chairman)
• Dean’s Advocacy Board, Washington State University’s College of Education
• Advisory Board, School of Business, University of Washington
• Board of Directors, PEMCO Life Insurance Company
• Board of Directors, PEMCO Insurance Agency
• VP & Chief Marketing Officer, PEMCO Mutual Insurance Company

Chairman-Elect:
Virginia Miracle, EVP of Services, Spredfast

Virginia leads the Customer Success team at Spredfast - a leading Social Media Management software company located in Austin, TX. In her role, she works with large enterprises as they socialize their organizations - assisting in everything from technical expertise around the SaaS Spredfast platform to training and change management. Prior to Spredfast, Virginia was EVP of Digital Strategy at Ogilvy PR Worldwide where she led the North American footprint of the agency's social media and word of mouth marketing practice – 360° Digital Influence. Prior to Ogilvy, Virginia led WOMM at Brains on Fire and served in multiple positions at Dell, Inc - where she is believed to be the first person to hold a Word of Mouth Marketing title at a Fortune 50 company. She began her career in marketing at Trilogy Software. Virginia earned a B.A. in English from Princeton University and was named as one of PR Week's 40 Under 40 in 2008.

Treasurer:
Adam Lavelle, Chief Strategy Officer, iCrossing

As Chief Strategy Officer, Adam Lavelle delivers leadership, strategy and innovative ideas to iCrossing teams, while driving the development and delivery of iCrossing’s service and technology offerings to create comprehensive digital marketing programs for the company’s Fortune 500 client-base. Lavelle has more than twelve years of interactive expertise helping clients succeed online, with senior positions at Agency.com, iXL/Scient, Digitas, and The Internet Group, where he led the first launch of Mapquest.com. Lavelle has a B.A. in Classical Studies and Creative Writing from the University of Pittsburgh. He speaks at numerous industry events, including SXSW, Web 2.0 Expo, Adweek’s Social Media Strategies Conference, ad:tech NYC, Pluck 2008 Socialize Conference, StarVest Partners, SES Chicago, and was the keynote speaker at Infopresse Search Summit, among others.

Secretary:
Blake Cahill, Principal, Banyan Branch

Blake Cahill is a Principal at Banyan Branch, a leading agency for social media strategy and engagement. At Banyan Branch, he is responsible for client acquisition, customer execution strategies and marketplace awareness efforts. Prior to Banyan Branch, Blake was CMO at Visible Technologies where he led marketing, branding, social initiatives, analyst and media relations in addition to lead development programs for their Social Intelligence platform and solutions.

Blake has more than 18 years of executive management experiences leading marketing, sales, branding, product management, customer acquisition and customer support organizations both domestically and internationally in a variety of technology, consumer, and telecommunications companies such as SafeHarbor Technology Corporation, AT&T, Belgacom, Qwest, SBC, and ServiceMaster.com. Through these diverse experiences Blake has witnessed and applied insights from the intersection of “listening to the customer” that drive customer experience, brands, and technology adoption. Blake holds bachelor’s degrees in political science, history, and business from Salve Regina University in Newport, Rhode Island.

Member at Large:
Gary Spangler, Corporate, E-Marketing, DuPont

Gary Spangler has worked for DuPont for 29 years. He holds a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering Technology and an MBA from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Gary leads E-Marketing for DuPont Electronic & Communication Technologies. DuPont has global sales of nearly $30 billion in 70 countries.

Gary’s experience at DuPont has covered a variety of assignments in Sales, Marketing and Operations. He has been a Marketing Manager specializing in the Internet for the past 10 years. Gary represents DuPont to the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) and has served on WOMMA’s Board of Directors. Gary currently leads WOMMA’s Brands Council that provides a forum for brand marketers to collaborate on ethical and effective Word of Mouth and Social Media marketing.

Gary has spoken on Word of Mouth and Social Media marketing to audiences in the United States and Europe including venues sponsored by the American Bar Association, the Online Media, Marketing and Advertising (OMMA) Expo, Ad-Tech, Marketing Sherpa, Cutter Consortium, Direct Marketing Association (DMA) and WOMMA. His opinions have been written in Information Week, NPV Marketing Magazine, Brand Week Magazine, BtoB Magazine and Marketing Sherpa. Gary was nominated for the DMA’s Direct Marketer of Year 2007 and his "DuPont Science Stories" word-of-mouth marketing video campaign was a national finalist for OMMA's Best Campaign in Social Media for 2007.

		Member at Large: Brad Fay, Author & Word of Mouth Marketing Expert Brad is the Chief Operating Officer of the Keller Fay Group (kellerfay.com), the award-winning word of mouth research and consulting company he co-founded with CEO Ed Keller. He is also the co-author, with Ed Keller, of The Face to Face Book, scheduled to be published in March 2012 by the Free Press imprint of Simon & Schuster. In The Face to Face Book, the world’s pre-eminent word of mouth marketing experts demonstrate how in-person social networking, not just online social media, is the key to soaring revenues. Based on his firm’s extensive research, the book includes illuminating social marketing case studies drawn from leading companies such as Apple, Best Buy, Dell, General Mills, Kimberly-Clark, LL Bean, MillerCoors, Procter & Gamble, and Toyota. Brad is the winner of the Grand Innovation Award from the Advertising Research Foundation for the development of Keller Fay’s TalkTrack®, the first continuous measurement system for all word of mouth, including the 90% of WOM which occurs offline. In 2011 he received the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Connecticut Graduate Program in Survey Research, where he received his Master’s degree. Brad is a member of the Board of Directors of the Word of Mouth Marketing Association, a member of the Market Research Council, and has lectured about survey research at Rutgers, Yale, and Boston University. Prior to founding the Keller Fay Group, Brad served as managing director at RoperASW (and its successor companies), where he supervised a variety of business units, including Roper Public Affairs, Starch Communications, Financial Services, Technology, and Media. Brad lives with his two teenage children in Montgomery Township, NJ, where he served four years as a member of the town’s council, including one year as deputy mayor. He is a cum laude graduate of Colby College in Waterville, ME, and holds a Master’s in Political Science from the University of Connecticut.

Christine Cea, Brand PR Director, Unilever, U.S.

Senior communications executive bringing business-minded strategic approach and creative vision to account leadership. Twenty years public relations experience in client growth, campaign and people management -- most recently as Consumer Practice Director for Porter Novelli UK.

Oversight for public relations across Unilever’s U.S. portfolio of foods and personal care products, which include some of the world’s most iconic brands: Dove, Lipton, Vaseline, Hellmann’s, Sauve, Axe and upwards of thirty more. Working closely with the company’s brand marketers and PR agency partners, Christine and her team, provide the gamut of communications counsel from PR program strategy and stewardship to issues and crisis management.

Pepper Evans, VP, Socializing Membership, American Express

Pepper Evans is VP of Socializing Membership in the International Consumer & Small Business Services division of American Express. In her current role, she is responsible for driving brand engagement through digital innovation, and leveraging online communities and social media, among other channels. Previously, despite having a high handicap, she managed the golf industry for American Express. Prior to joining American Express, Pepper held leadership positions at a variety of Internet and media companies, including boo.com, Biztravel.com, News Corp., and Random House. She holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Jodi Flicker, VP, Audience Development, Digital Media at Warner Bros Television Worldwide Marketing

With over 15 years experience in marketing, Jodi Flicker has a very diverse background which has been clearly defined by consumer behavior trends and the evolution of communication platforms. She was recruited to CBS to head up the marketing and research divisions for CBS Interactive where she set up centralized marketing resources and created a marketing infrastructure for the division as well as focused on synergy projects throughout the CBS Corporation. Two years later, Ms. Flicker felt the itch to go out on her own retaining CBS as a client and signing several others, including Warner Bros focusing on the implementation of their digital strategy, helping to secure several online video portal partnerships as well as developing the launch campaigns for several Warner Bros digital destinations. Within six months, Ms. Flicker accepted a full time position at Warner Bros and created the Audience Development department for the Worldwide TV Marketing division. Here she formed a team that specializes in communications and marketing on several digital platforms and developed a word of mouth marketing department (currently employing 500+ independent contractors) that supports marketing initiatives throughout the studio as well as with outside clients.

Sarah Hofsetter, SVP of Emerging Media & Brand Strategy, 360i

As 360i's Senior Vice President of Emerging Media & Brand Strategy, Sarah oversees the agency’s brand strategy and emerging media team, including social, mobile, consumer insights and brand strategy groups. Sarah’s expertise is in providing strategic counsel to clients such as Kraft Foods, Coca-Cola, and NBC Universal on utilizing digital to help marketers foster relationships and form emotional bonds between brands and consumers. Under her leadership, 360i has developed industry leading practices that have helped cement its reputation as a leading "next generation digital agency," as pronounced by AdWeek. Sarah's expertise is in providing strategic counsel on utilizing digital to help marketers foster relationships and form emotional bonds between brands and consumer.

Sarah currently sits on the Word of Mouth Marketing Association's (WOMMA) Board of Directors. Prior to joining 360i, Sarah was President and Founder of Kayak Communications, a boutique marketing agency focused on developing brand strategy and communications plans for new media brands such as Adobe Systems, Vibrant Media and Covad. Before starting her own agency, Sarah spent ten years at Net2Phone, one of the world's first providers of VoIP technology. There, she held a variety of senior positions, most recently Senior Vice President of Corporate Communications, where she was charged with developing the company's communications and brand strategy. Sarah lives on Long Island with her husband and two kids. To blow off steam, she enjoys painting, cooking and kickboxing.

Rob Key, CEO, Converseon

Rob is founder and CEO of Converseon, the leading international social media consultancy that helps brands harness the value of social across the enterprise. Founded in 2001, Converseon was the industry's first pure play social consultancy and has garnered an enviable reputation for innovation and excellence for leading brands around the world.

Converseon provides a unique "listen, operationalize, engage, measure" framework via a combination of "next generation" proprietary technologies, management consulting and agency services. Converseon's Conversation Miner™ technology was recently recognized at category "leader" in Forrester's Wave (Q3) on listening platforms. It is also one of the very few providers with the full Twitter Firehose. Its consulting services provide industry-leading services and best practices for brands to integrate social into the fabric of the enterprise. It's activation services, which include the full range of paid, earned and owned" solutions have been well recognized for excellence. Awards include the 2009 Forrester Groundswell B2C "Talking," an OMMA for Best Use of Virtual Worlds, WOMMIE for Best Word of Mouth Program and multiple SAMMY's including "Best Social Agency." Clients including Hilton Hotels, IBM, 3m, Siemens, Yahoo! among many others. Converseon's work has been featured in leading publications including Fortune, CNN, Financial Times. Converseon's leadership hails from a wide range of leading organizations, including Digitas, IBM, Accenture and others, bound together to help create a new generation of solutions for its clients in a nimble, fast moving environment.

Headquartered in New York, Converseon's team extends to Detroit, San Francisco, Austin, Boston, Copenhagen and Shanghai (via partnership).

Prior to Converseon, Rob was head of the Innovations Group at a division of Young & Rubicam and a member of the WPP.com board. He has been deeply enmeshed in digital marketing since the early days of 1995. Rob speaks frequently at a range of leading conferences in North America, Asia and Europe about the transformative nature of social media, including the Conference Board, 4As, iBrand Summit(s), Search Engine Strategies, Adtech, Word of Mouth Marketing Association (where Converseon is a governing member), Public Relations Society of America (PRSA International), Advertising Research Foundation (ARF), Affiliate Summit, among many others. He was a 2010 ARF Great Mind Award Honoree, a member of the CASRO submittee on social listening ethics and a founding Fellow at the Society of New Communications Research.

Chris Laird, Marketing Director, North America, Procter & Gamble

Over his seventeen years at P&G, he has progressed through a variety of Sales and Marketing assignments in the company's Market Development Organizations, Global Business Units, Canada and the U.S., and across the majority of company's brand portfolio. His CPG marketing experiences span from selling directly to retailers such as Wal-Mart to developing global consumer segmentation models. He has marketed brands as diverse as Braun, Tide, Gillette, Bounty, Old Spice, and Swiffer. Today, Chris is the CEO of Tremor, a P&G-owned Word-of-Mouth (WOM) marketing capability that for over ten years has been recognized as a leader in its field. Through its community of 650,000 women called Vocalpoint, Tremor offers clients a range of innovative WOM marketing capabilities to deliver brilliant results and strong ROI.

Ekaterina Walter, Social Media Strategist, Intel Corporation

Ekaterina Walter is a marketer, thinker, speaker, and connector. As Social Media Strategist for Intel, Ekaterina works at the intersection of high tech and integrated marketing—driving global strategies and helping colleagues to leverage new media in support of business goals. She believes that building relationships with customers should be at the core of any business and that social media provides a perfect opportunity to do so. At Intel Ekaterina is responsible for corporate social networking strategy and company-wide social media enablement. She is a recognized though-leader in her field and is a regular contributor to well-know industry publications such as Mashable, Fast Company, AdWeek, iMedia Connection, and others. You can connect with her on Twitter @ekaterina. She blogs on her blog - Building Social Bridges.

Ted Wright, Founder, Managing Partner, Fizz

The founder and Managing Partner of Fizz, Ted Wright has been at the forefront of word of mouth marketing since he helped Neal Stewart’s team bring back Pabst Blue Ribbon in 2000. Often quoted correctly in the press about marketing, Ted leads his team of word of mouth marketing professionals from their Atlanta offices. Ted and his team at Fizz have been honored for their work with a variety of awards and the occasional bomb threat. They take none of it seriously. An alumni of Booz Allen & Hamilton, Ted also holds an MBA with honors from The University of Chicago, enjoys great bourbon and drives too fast.

Dave Balter (Observer), CEO, BzzAgent

Dave Balter is the founder and CEO of BzzAgent, Inc., one of the advertising industry's most recognized word-of-mouth marketing and media firm. He launched BzzAgent in 2002, and since that time the company has established itself as the leading provider of word-of-mouth services for the world's most esteemed brands, including Anheuser-Busch, Levi Strauss and Ralph Lauren. Under Balter's leadership, BzzAgent has been featured in The New York Times Sunday Magazine and The Wall Street Journal. In January of 2006, the company closed a groundbreaking $14MM round of institutional financing.

Balter is an international speaker on the topic of word-of-mouth marketing and holds a provisional patent in the process and systems of word-of-mouth marketing and research. He co-authored Grapevine: The New Art of Word-of-Mouth Marketing, which has become the industry's seminal business title. Dubbed a "serial entrepreneur" by The Boston Globe, Balter built and sold two promotional agencies prior to forming BzzAgent. Prior to launching his own companies, Balter spent a number of years working in customer loyalty capacities for companies including Kessler Financial Services, where he managed direct marketing and affinity program implementations for Fortune 1000 clients. He was named to the "40 under 40" by the Advertising Specialty Institute in 2001 and "Top 7 Individuals Changing the Face of Beauty" by Women's Wear Daily. Balter earned a B.A. in Psychology from Skidmore College.

Pete Blackshaw (Observer), Global Head of Digital Marketing & Social Media Marketing & Consumer Communication, Nestle

Pete is a recognized expert in interactive marketing, word of mouth, and consumer understanding. Before Intelliseek's acquisition by Nielsen BuzzMetrics, Pete served as the Intelliseek's Chief Marketing and Client Satisfaction Officer, responsible for major client engagements and marketing efforts.

He is a co-founder of the 2004 Word of Mouth Marketing Association. He authors a bi-weekly column on digital marketing strategy targeted to CMOs for ClickZ network and several work and personal blogs, including www.consumergeneratedmedia.com, www.hybridbuzz.com, and parenting centered www.dosbebes.com.

In 1999, Pete founded PlanetFeedback.com (later acquired by Intelliseek) after a career in interactive marketing and brand management at Procter & Gamble. He also co-chaired and organized the P&G-sponsored Future of Advertising Stakeholders Summit (FAST-Summit), resulting in P&G being named Advertising Age Magazine's "Interactive Marketer of the Year." Before receiving his master's degree from Harvard Business School in 1995, Blackshaw served as a press secretary and legislative consultant to then-Sen. Art Torres in the California Legislature, where he guided several consumer-focused bills to passage and initiated the nation's first "interactive" legislative hearing.

He has a bachelor of arts degree in politics from the University of California at Santa Cruz.

WOMMA's Board of Directors

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Buyers Guide & RFP Service

Find your next WOM vendor & expert company, or submit an RFP to member companies specializing in: Digital WOM, Research, Consulting, Offline WOM, or Communities.

Downloads

Before you leave, make sure you see these.

	This 25-page eBook examines the valuable word of mouth marketing trends presented through case studies and Keynotes at WOMMA Summit 2011. Download eBook
	Best Practices Guidebook: WOM in the Customer Contact Center Read the Guidebook
	Webinar Library Download podcasts, presentation decks, and watch SlideShares of WOMMA Webinars and Brand Council Webinars. Visit the Library
	WOM 101 Learn the art and science of creating effective marketing programs that get customers talking. Download PDF
	Ethics Toolkit The WOMMA Ethics Toolkit defines best practices, baseline rules, and asks 20 questions to help you ethically comply. Download PDF

Case Studies

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