Our Leadership

Jae Goodman is Founder and CEO of Superconnector Studios, a Management Consultancy, Brand Entertainment Producer, and Talent-Led-Consumer-Product Accelerator. Prior to Superconnector Studios, Jae was Founder of Observatory, one of Fast Company’s “World’s Most Innovative Companies” in 2020, 2021 and 2022; initially formed in 2006 when Goodman joined Creative Artists Agency as first-ever Chief Creative Officer and Co-Head of CAA Marketing. Goodman has earned four Cannes Lions Grand Prix in four different categories (Film, Cyber, PR, Entertainment), thirty-three Cannes Lions in total, seventeen Webby awards, four Emmys from twelve Emmy nominations, and four Gold Effies including the coveted David vs. Goliath. Jae is also responsible for the first and second brand films ever accepted to the Sundance Film Festival, 2018 YouTube Ad of the Year “That Rewrites the Rules” and AdWeek Media Plan of the Year 2020. Goodman has been named to Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business 1000, AdWeek’s Creative 100, Ad Age’s Creativity 50, Campaign’s 40 over 40, and PR Week’s Hot List. Goodman is a two-time Cannes Lions Jury President, and is currently serving a three year term as Board Chair of Effie Worldwide.

Philip Thomas is currently Executive Chairman of Informa Festivals, leading the development of a portfolio of global brands, including Cannes Lions, Game Developers Conference, Money20/20, Black Hat, and the Tech Week portfolio, including London Tech Week. He is also the current Chairman of the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, which he led as Chief Executive between 2006 and 2016. Until January 2025, he was Chief Executive of Ascential, a FTSE 250 company, and led the sale of the company to Informa PLC for £1.2 billion in 2024 — achieving a 55% premium and one of the highest multiples ever seen in the sector. He is Chair of Comic Relief’s Board of Trustees, sits on the BBC Future of AI in Media advisory board, and is ex-Chair and a current trustee of Media Trust. Previously, he has served as Trustee of Malaria No More and on the World Economic Forum Council on the Future of Media, and has been recognized as an Agent of Change by Management Today for his work on gender equality. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising. He began his career as a journalist, working on national and international magazines and newspapers, including as Editor of Empire, the UK’s biggest-selling movie magazine.

Traci Alford has built a global career on delivering results and growth. First as a client-side brand steward and now as Global CEO of Effie Worldwide, Traci is driven by producing results that matter. A firm believer that bravery leads to marketing success, Traci is expanding the reach and impact of the organization she joined in 2017 with new awards and educational programs fostering marketing effectiveness in regions across the globe. Having lived and worked in her native Australia, Japan, USA, France, UK, Singapore, and currently, New York, Traci has become skilled at developing and managing culturally diverse teams across complex matrix structures directly and virtually. Traci is a mother, wife, and daughter – who understands how to prioritize, lead and develop highly diverse teams. A continuous learner who remains as curious today as ever about the worlds of art and culture and their impact on the world around us.

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Lara Balazs joined Adobe in 2024 and currently serves as our Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President, Global Marketing. She is responsible for Adobe’s renowned brand, Adobe.com, the company’s industry-leading events, campaigns, communications, social media and its best-in-class media operations and marketing insights. Prior to joining Adobe, she served as Chief Marketing Officer and General Manager, Strategic Partner Group of Intuit, Inc., the leading AI-driven global financial technology platform. She was responsible for driving company growth, building the company’s brands and reputation and leading Intuit’s ProTax group. During her time at Intuit, Lara was named to Forbes’ World’s Most Influential CMOs list. She was recognized as one of Forbes’ Entrepreneurial CMO 50 and received AdWeek’s CMO Vanguard Award. Lara has a proven track record of building world-class businesses and brands at companies such as Amazon, Visa and Nike where she held marketing leadership positions before joining Intuit. At Amazon, she led Worldwide Prime and Amazon North America Consumer Marketing, driving growth of the Prime membership program globally as well as the North America consumer business. Before Amazon, she held a variety of executive roles at Visa including Senior Vice President, Visa North America Marketing where she was responsible for all aspects of marketing for Visa’s largest revenue-driving region. At Visa, she helped lead the company into the era of digital payments, launching ecommerce and mobile-first payments including Visa Checkout and Apple Pay. Lara holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Pre-Law from the University of Washington and a Master of Business Administration from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Dr. Marcus Collins is an award-winning marketer and cultural translator. He is the former chief strategy officer at Wieden+Kennedy, New York, a marketing professor at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan, and the author of the best-selling book, For The Culture: The Power Behind What We Buy, What We Do, and Who We Want To Be. Marcus is an inductee into the American Advertising Federation’s Advertising Hall of Achievement and a recipient of the Thinkers50 Radar Distinguished Achievement Award for the idea most likely to shape the future of business management. His strategies and creative contributions have led to the launch and success of McDonald’s cultural resurgence, Google’s “Real Tone” technology, the “Made In America” music festival, and the Brooklyn Nets move from New Jersey to New York, among others. Before his advertising tenure, Marcus worked on iTunes + Nike sports music initiatives at Apple and ran digital strategy for Beyoncé. He writes a column for Forbes’ CMO Network, and contributes to business scholarship.

Frederique “Freddie” Covington Corbett is chief of global brand & marketing (PFP) at UNICEF.  Prior to joining UNICEF, Freddie was the senior vice president, chief global brand strategy and integrated marketing officer at Visa. In this role, she was responsible for future-proofing Visa’s brand health and ensuring Visa continued to be one of the most valuable brands in the world. This included overseeing Visa’s global branding efforts for both businesses and consumers, physical and digital branding strategies, brand identity, and global sponsorship brand activation, among other key facets of global brand- building. Covington also led company-wide efforts to evolve Visa’s focus on corporate purpose. Previously, Covington was the senior vice president, head of marketing and cross border for Visa in Asia Pacific, based in Singapore. In this role, Covington managed all aspects of Visa’s regional brand efforts in over 17 countries across Asia and sat on the Asia Pacific Executive Leadership team. Among many highlights in this role, Covington led the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Korea, created a Shanghai-Melbourne-New York cross border fashion platform, created a purpose-led Small Business campaign called #WhereYouShopMatters across 10 regional territories, and scaled up Visa’s ecommerce efforts with key partners and digital marketplaces. Covington’s work and leadership has been globally recognized through numerous accolades. In 2020 and 2018, she was named on the list of Asia- Pacific’s 50 most influential Chief Marketing Officers, as chosen by the editorial team at Campaign Asia. Prior to Visa, Covington was the International Marketing Director at Twitter for all territories outside of the United States (including Canada, South America, Africa, Russia and Asia) and was responsible for global business marketing for the platform, its partners and users. Before Twitter, Covington was the Chief Marketing Officer for Microsoft in Asia Pacific, overseeing all enterprise, small business and consumer marketing programs. Earlier in her career, Covington held several leadership roles in advertising and strategy consulting, including as a Managing Partner at Ogilvy & Mather and a global strategist at Y&R in the United States (New York and Los Angeles). Covington holds a doctoral degree in global leadership and change from Pepperdine University in Los Angeles, California, as well as a BA and MBA from La Sorbonne University (CELSA) in Paris, France. Furthermore, she is a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School for the Women and Public Policy Program.

Vineet Mehra is a true global citizen and business leader. Born in India and raised in Canada, he has led diverse teams across Asia, Europe, North America, and South America at some of the world’s most respected brand building companies including P&G, General Mills, Novartis, and J&J. He has driven businesses and brands to growth in categories as diverse as Skin Care, Hair Care, Cosmetics, Food, Consumer Health, and Baby Care, while living in some of the world’s most innovative and creative cities including Toronto, New York, Singapore, Bombay and Geneva. His consistent track record of building iconic brands and driving marketing organization transformational initiatives has led him to become a frequent speaker and panelist on the topic of re-shaping marketing organizations, balancing the art and science of marketing, and building the modern, data-driven, precision marketing organization needed to win today. Vineet has been an invited Judge & Speaker at Cannes, Chair of the Jury for the M&M Global Media Awards, an invited Speaker at the ANA’s Social and Digital Conference, and a multiple time Global Effie’s Finalist Judge. Most recently, Vineet was recognized as one of the 100 most Influential Marketing Leaders in the world by the Internationalist. Vineet is currently the Chief Marketing Officer at Chime. Prior to joining Chime, Vineet most recently served as the Chief Growth, Product and Customer Experience Officer at Good Eggs and Global CMO & Chief Customer Officer at Walgreens Boots Alliance. Prior to that, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer of Ancestry.com, the world’s largest consumer genomics company, uniquely capable of providing consumers with a better sense of their identity, a deeper and empowering understanding of who they are, how they connect to society today, and how they and their families have been shaped by human history over time. In his role, Vineet focused on transforming his organization into a “Modern Marketing Machine” by blending the deep cultural purpose of the Ancestry brand with data science to drive precision marketing at scale, resulting in the building of a truly global and culturally iconic brand. As Chief Marketing Officer, Vineet had responsibility for worldwide marketing, member services, marketing technology, consumer insights, PR, and the international markets. Prior to this role, Vineet was with J&J Consumer holding the roles of Global President for J&J’s flagship $3Billion USD Baby Care business unit, and Global President – Marketing Services where he oversaw more than $2Billion USD of J&J’s media spend around the world. Outside of work, Vineet sits on the Board Members of Directors for America Needs You – New Jersey (ANY-NJ), a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting for the economic mobility of ambitious, low-income, first generation college students by providing intensive career development, mentorship, and professional networks to enable students to realize their full academic and career potential. He and his family of 3 are also avid and intrepid travelers that can often be found scouring the planet in search of some of the world’s most delicious places to eat.

Shubhranshu currently serves as global Chief Marketing Officer – Tata Motors Commercial Vehicles With over two decades of global brand and category building experience, he has played a key role in building some of the most admired brands in and outside of India. He has held Marketing leadership positions at renowned organizations including Royal Enfield, Unilever, Diageo, Visa, and Star India. A passionate marketer and thought leader, Shubhranshu is known for his innovative thinking, sharp brand acumen, and ability to build and inspire high-performing teams. His work spans market development, brand strategy, demand generation, and customer experience across diverse industries and geographies. He has received more than 50 national and international honors, including Automotive CMO of the Year at the News9 Global Summit 2024 and the Pitch CMO Award 2024. He was recognized among the CNBC Storyboard18 Visionaries and named one of BusinessWorld’s Top 100 Marketers for four consecutive years (2021–2024). He was also acknowledged as a Trailblazer at the 2023 DMA Awards for driving significant impact in marketing. Shubhranshu is an active contributor to the global marketing community, having served as Jury Head and Member for several prestigious platforms including the Effies Global, Effies APAC, MMA Global Awards, and the 40 Under 40 Asia Pacific Apex Jury on multiple occasions. In 2024, he also served on the Managing Committee of The Ad Club, Mumbai. His marketing campaigns have garnered widespread acclaim, earning accolades from the National Dadasaheb Phalke Award, D&AD, Effies, E4M, IAMAI, Emvies, Adobe, and more. A passionate follower of sports, Shubhranshu played a key role in the creation and promotion of major sporting initiatives such as the Pro Kabaddi League, Indian Super League, Pro Badminton League, and Khelo India, in addition to marketing BCCI and ICC cricket. He served as a pro bono advisor to the Government of India, Ministry of Sports & Youth Affairs, during 2018–2019. As Chairman of the Marketing Committee of the Lawn Bowls Federation, he helped lead the Indian team to gold medals at the Commonwealth and Asian Games. He is also a prolific writer, having authored over 800 articles on brand design, consumer sociology, technology, brand history, politics and emerging trends. A celebrated keynote speaker, he has delivered thought-provoking sessions on business and brand building at leading industry forums hosted by organizations including Google, Meta, and Salesforce. He serves on the Advisory Board of CEQUIN – Centre for Equity and Inclusion – dedicated to advancing gender equity by transforming the culture that allows violence and discrimination. It supports girls from marginalized communities, those at the threshold of adulthood, with the resources and support they need to overcome the barriers that hold them back and help unlock their potential to lead full lives. Shubhranshu remains as passionate about marketing today as he was when he stepped out of business school—committed to building brands that truly make a difference.

Amina Taher is a business leader and innovator with over two decades of experience spanning fintech, travel, and sport. She is currently the Chief Marketing Officer at Wio Bank, where she drives strategies shaping the future of digital finance through customer-centric innovation. Amina serves on the boards of the Effie LIONS Foundation, The Marketing Society, and Bloom Holdings, and is widely recognized for her leadership and brand-building expertise. She has held senior roles at Etihad Airways, where she led global partnerships with Manchester City FC and Formula 1, and at Mubadala Investment Company, where she championed youth and community development. Amina is passionate about female empowerment and advancing women in fintech and sport, and is a sought-after speaker on inclusion, leadership, and transformation. She holds master’s degrees from Harvard University and London Business School, an undergraduate degree from the Higher Colleges of Technology, where she graduated with honours, and has been named among Forbes Middle East’s “Top 100 Power Businesswomen” and the “Top 50 Impactful Marketing and Communications Professionals in the Middle East.

Allison Knapp Womack is the CEO of the Effie LIONS Foundation, a bold new nonprofit on a mission to make the marketing industry more creative, more effective—and more open to everyone. A dynamic leader at the intersection of marketing and mission, Allison brings deep experience from both worlds. Before launching the Foundation, she served as COO of Effie Worldwide and was previously SVP and Chief Marketing Officer at Enterprise Community Partners, a national affordable housing nonprofit. Earlier in her career, Allison held multiple senior leadership roles in advertising agencies, including serving as President of the New York office of Doremus, Omnicom’s B2B agency Allison holds a BA in Politics and French from Mount Holyoke College and an MBA from NYU’s Stern School of Business. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, David, and is the proud mother of two adult daughters who have taught her more than any of her degrees. A lifelong explorer, Allison speaks French, is learning Spanish, and recently walked the Camino de Santiago.

Caitlin Moses Bowser is a nonprofit leader and partnership strategist with over 20 years of experience driving growth at the intersection of program design, community building, and revenue generation. She’s led initiatives that have scaled nationally and globally, creating lasting impact across education, healthcare, and storytelling. Her career has included developing mission-aligned programs, leading brand campaigns, and building cross-sector collaborations with Fortune 100 companies, foundations, and universities. At StoryCorps, she oversaw the launch of StoryCorps Studios, closed the organization’s largest earned revenue partnerships, and served as a senior producer on an Emmy-winning collaboration with Frontline. Known for connecting strategy with purpose, Caitlin builds programs that deliver, blending creativity, equity, and long-term sustainability. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two young sons, and spends her free time exploring city parks, trying new recipes, and making the most of the quiet moments in between.

As Head of Program Delivery for the Effie LIONS Foundation, Tiffani is dedicated to fostering the next generation of marketers. With ten years of experience at Effie Worldwide, she brings a deep understanding of the industry to her current role, where she leads the strategic execution of the Effie Collegiate U.S. program and the Foundation’s diverse portfolio of educational initiatives that accompany it. Tiffani’s passion lies in empowering rising talent with the tools needed to succeed in the marketing sector. She is committed to ensuring the Foundation’s programs are accessible, relevant, and continually evolving to meet the dynamic needs of first-generation college students and underrepresented communities in the global marketing landscape, ultimately cultivating a future where creativity, effectiveness, and access drive business success. Tiffani holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Hunter College.

Nneka Norville is the Head of Marketing and Communications at the Effie LIONS Foundation, a global nonprofit dedicated to building a more creative, effective, and open marketing industry—one built to thrive in a rapidly evolving world. In her role, she leads the Foundation’s campaigns, communications, digital platforms, events, marketing insights, media relations, and social media – elevating visibility, deepening stakeholder engagement, and amplifying the Foundation’s relevance across borders and sectors. A seasoned executive with leadership experience spanning the private and philanthropic sectors, Nneka has held leadership roles at Nike, Meta, Viacom, and the Kaiser Family Foundation. Throughout her career, she has led award-winning marketing and storytelling initiatives that move audiences, build trust, and align brands with purpose and performance. She brings a unique blend of strategic vision, cultural fluency, and operational rigor to brand leadership. Nneka holds a JD from Brooklyn Law School and a BS in Communications from Boston University and is a National Urban Fellow alum. Based in Westchester with her family, she spends weekends exploring the Hudson Valley and planning their next international adventure together.

Laura is a highly organized and resourceful Administrative Leader with a proven track record of supporting senior leadership. She joins the Effie LIONS Foundation from Effie Worldwide and has since taken on a pivotal role in launching the organization as its Global Head of Administration. Known for her proactive mindset and sharp attention to detail, Laura excels in managing complex schedules, facilitating high-level meetings, and optimizing day-to-day operations. Her strong foundation in corporate administration and commitment to operational excellence make her an invaluable asset in helping leadership stay focused on strategic goals.