October 7 - 8, 2015, Allen Center, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL

Sally Blount was named dean of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in 2010. An internationally recognized thought leader in management, negotiation and behavioral decision making, Blount brings more than 25 years of experience in business education.

Since taking the helm at Kellogg, she launched a bold seven-year plan for the school that focuses on strengthening the school’s innovative degree portfolio, investing in path-breaking thought leadership, deepening global connectivity, and leveraging Kellogg’s distinctive culture and brand.

Dean Blount has made significant progress in advancing the plan, now past its midpoint, setting repeated fundraising records with the school’s $350 million Transforming Together campaign, starting construction on a 410,000-square-foot lakefront global education center, and expanding Kellogg’s premier Executive MBA Network with the 2014 addition of a joint program with Peking University in Beijing.

Dean Blount is a director at Abbott Laboratories. She serves on the advisory boards for the Aspen Institute’s Business and Society Program, Indian School of Business, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Business School, and Fundação Dom Cabral in Brazil. She was also the co-chair for the World Economic Forum on Latin America in 2012. She has been featured in top news outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Forbes, The Economist, Bloomberg Businessweek, Fortune and MSNBC.

Previously, she was dean at New York University’s Stern School of Business. She was also on the faculty of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business for nearly a decade; earlier in her career, she was a consultant with the Boston Consulting Group. She is a proud alumna of Kellogg, where she received her PhD in management and organizations in 1992.

Gregory Carpenter focuses on understanding how firms create competitive advantage through marketing strategy. Based on award-winning research, his recent book, Resurgence: The Four Stages of Market-Focused Reinvention (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014), examines how firms become more customer focused, regaining advantage and renewed success. He previously co-edited the Handbook of Marketing Strategy (Edward Elgar, 2012).

As Faculty Director of the Kellogg Markets & Customers Initiative, he fosters research, teaching, and engagement on topics that cross traditional academic boundaries, including customers and corporate culture, data analytics, and trust. He co-chairs the Marketing Leadership Summit, bringing thought leaders together each fall to explore the future of marketing, and as Academic Director of Kellogg’s Chief Marketing Officer Program he helps prepare executives for the challenging role of CMO.

Appearing in leading academic journals, such as Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Consumer Research, Management Science, Marketing Science, and Psychometrika, his research on marketing strategy has been recognized by The American Marketing Association with the William F. O’Dell Award, the Paul E. Green Award, the Donald R. Lehmann Award, and the Sheth Foundation/Journal of Marketing Award.

Harvard Business Review, Financial Times, Forbes, BusinessWeek, and National Public Radio have featured his research, and it has been cited in arguments before the United States Supreme Court. Recognized by BusinessWeek as one of a small group of outstanding faculty in its Guide to the Best Business Schools, he was voted Outstanding Professor of the Year by the Kellogg Managers’ Program, and he received the Sidney J. Levy Teaching Award.

He often speaks and advises firms on marketing strategy. Past and current clients include Bacardi, Carnival Corporation, Coca-Cola, Cunard Lines, Diageo, Dow Chemical, Federal Reserve Bank, Government of Mexico, General Electric, Harley-Davidson, Health Management Academy, Novartis, PepsiCo, Pfizer, SC Johnson, Target, Unilever, and Visa.

A former Academic Trustee of the Marketing Science Institute, he served as a member of the board of advisors of Hamilton Consultants, and a member of the advisory board of Terlato Wine Group. He was named a Chevalier in the Ordre des Coteaux de Champagne for his contribution to champagne.

He previously served on the faculty of UCLA, Columbia University, and the Yale School of Management. He received his BA from Ohio Wesleyan University, and MBA, MPhil and PhD degrees from Columbia University.

Rory Finlay is based in the Chicago office of Egon Zehnder and leads the firm’s Consumer Products Practice Group in the U.S. and is a member of the Chief Marketing Officer Practice Group. He has over 25 years of experience in marketing well-known and iconic consumer brands around the world.

Prior to joining Egon Zehnder, Mr. Finlay was Senior Vice President and Global Chief Marketing Officer at Beam Global Spirits & Wine Inc., where he led the company’s marketing function globally. He previously spent eighteen years with the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, where he held various global positions, including two years based in Munich, Germany, leading Wrigley’s European marketing operations across 30+ countries and as Vice President and General Manager of Wrigley’s Confectionary Brands. He started his marketing career in the textile industry at Celanese Corporation in New York.

He was recognized by Advertising Age as a Top 50 Marketer of the Year for his attention-getting work on Jim Beam. He has also won several prominent marketing and advertising awards, including Cannes Lions for Orbit chewing gum, Canadian Club whiskey and Altoids Sours.

Mr. Finlay is a Scot and native of Great Britain.

Betsy D. Holden is a Senior Advisor to McKinsey & Company, working with clients across industries on strategy, marketing, innovation, and board effectiveness initiatives. She was formerly Co-CEO of Kraft Foods and CEO of Kraft Foods North America. At the time, Kraft Foods was the largest food company in North America and the second largest in the world.

She has over 30 years of experience in consumer goods with expertise in general management, marketing, innovation, acquisitions, and global expansion. In addition to her CEO role at Kraft, Ms. Holden also held the positions of President, Global Marketing and Category Development; Executive Vice President with responsibility for Operations, IT, Procurement, R&D, and Consumer Insights and Communications; President of the Kraft Cheese Division; President of the Pizza Division; plus multiple line brand management assignments. She developed and launched new products generating over $2 billion in revenue. Under her leadership Kraft received numerous marketing and new product accolades and multiple best places to work awards.

Ms. Holden graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa with a BA from Duke University. She received a Masters of Management in Marketing and Finance from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.

She serves on the boards of Diageo PLC, Western Union, Catamaran Corp., Time, Inc., Duke University’s Board of Trustees and the Kellogg School of Management Executive Committee and Global Advisory Board. She also is a Senior Fellow of the Kellogg Innovation Network, President of the Board of the Off the Street Club, serves on the Board of the Chicago High School for the Arts, the Board of Trustees of the Museum of Science and Industry, and the Board of Trustees of Ravinia.

Eric Leininger joined the Kellogg School faculty full time in September 2010, coming from McDonald’s Corporation, where he was corporate senior vice president since 2004. He has been an affiliated faculty member since 1997.

With Professor Gregory Carpenter, he leads The Kellogg Chief Marketing Officer Program. This by-invitation-only program was the first university-based development experience for newly appointed and rising Chief Marketing Officers. The program has attracted attendees from leading organizations, including Cisco, FedEx, General Motors, Hyatt, IBM, John Deere, Kimberly-Clark, Mattel, SAP, and The Cleveland Clinic. Professor Leininger and Professor Carpenter also lead Kellogg’s annual Marketing Leadership Summit in partnership with McKinsey & Company and Egon Zehnder.

His MBA teaching has included Global Marketing, Marketing of New Products and Services, and Global Initiatives in Management-China. Professor Leininger is a regular contributor to Kellogg’s executive programs, such as “Kellogg on Branding.” He also leads custom executive education programs for a diverse group of companies, including Abbott Labs, AbbVie, and U.S. Cellular.

He was a member of McDonald’s Senior Leadership Team, comprised of the business unit leaders and the global, C-suite functional leaders. His primary responsibility was consumer and business insights; additionally, he was the executive sponsor for McDonald’s marketing training.

He joined McDonald’s from Kraft Foods, where he held a variety of marketing services and information positions for 11 years, including senior vice-president of marketing services. Prior to Kraft, Professor Leininger held leadership positions at ACNielsen and Quaker Oats. Leading companies draw on his expertise in building leading-edge consumer insights and marketing capabilities. Recent consulting assignments include AbbVie, Kimberly-Clark, Mattel, Merck Consumer Care, ULTA, U.S. Cellular, and Cisco.

He received his MBA from the University of Michigan, where he was elected to Beta Gamma Sigma. He also holds an MA from the University of Virginia and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, cum laude.

Dick Patton leads Egon Zehnder’s Global Marketing Practice Group and co-leads the firm’s Global Marketing Officer Practice. Mr. Patton partners with clients in board consulting, talent assessment, and the recruitment of senior level executives among a spectrum of industries, including technology, digital media, consumer goods, services, consumer financial services, hospitality and retail.

Prior to joining Egon Zehnder, Mr. Patton held GM, Marketing and Business Development roles with The Coca-Cola Company and Frito-Lay. He also has professional experience launching, leading, and advising start-ups in the consumer and technology sectors. Mr. Patton earned a BA from Brown University and an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He serves as a director for the non-profit, Generations Incorporated, and in various volunteer capacities for Groton School, including Vice President of the Annual Fund.

His thought leadership about talent development, functional evolution, and recruitment has been published in Bloomberg Businessweek, Harvard Business Review, Forbes, Brandweek, AdWeek and AdAge.

Jamie Rosman is a seasoned marketing expert with more than two decades of experience shaping global brands and developing strategies that lead to organizational growth and renewal.

As executive director of the Markets & Customers Initiative at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, she leads the development of this pillar of Kellogg’s educational and research strategy. Focused on creating markets through greater customer insight, this initiative equips students and business leaders with the tools to understand people, insights, and data to excel in today’s economy. In this role, she partners with faculty to advance Kellogg’s positioning as a thought leader, and has played a key role in shaping the school’s new program on data analytics, launching cutting-edge faculty research, and creating opportunities for collaboration with business leaders across sectors and geographies. In addition, she sits on the University’s change management committee and was a member of a University-wide branding taskforce.

Ms. Rosman’s previous experience in higher education as Kellogg’s Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Director of Communications at the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Public Policy uniquely prepared her for her current role. In addition, she spent over a decade in industry working at Leo Burnett Company in the strategy and planning group developing campaigns for Fortune 500 brands including Nintendo, Hallmark, and Kellogg Cereal.

Ms. Rosman holds a master’s degree from the University of Chicago and a bachelor’s degree from Oberlin College.

Eric T. Anderson is the Hartmarx Professor of Marketing and former Chair of the Marketing Department at Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management and Director of the Center for Global Marketing Practice. He holds a PhD in Management Science from MIT Sloan School of Management and previously held appointments at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and the W.E. Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester.Professor Anderson’s research interests include innovation, pricing strategy, new products, retailing and channel management. His recent research has been conducted with various companies around the world and has impacted both management practice and academic theory. His articles have appeared in scholarly journals such as Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, Management Science, Journal of Economic Theory, and Quarterly Journal of Economics. He has also published three articles in Harvard Business Review and an article in Sloan Management Review. His 2004 paper on the long run impact of pricing and promotions was recently recognized for its enduring impact on the field of marketing. His 2014 paper on deceptive product reviews won the Paul E. Green award for the best paper in Journal of Marketing Research. Professor Anderson is currently department editor of Management Science and associate editor for Operations Research. At Kellogg, Professor Anderson teaches Retail Analytics in both the MBA and EMBA programs.

Professor Anderson’s research interests include innovation, pricing strategy, new products, retailing and channel management. His recent research has been conducted with various companies around the world and has impacted both management practice and academic theory. His articles have appeared in scholarly journals such as Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, Management Science, Journal of Economic Theory, and Quarterly Journal of Economics. He has also published three articles in Harvard Business Review and an article in Sloan Management Review. His 2004 paper on the long run impact of pricing and promotions was recently recognized for its enduring impact on the field of marketing. His 2014 paper on deceptive product reviews won the Paul E. Green award for the best paper in Journal of Marketing Research.

Professor Anderson is currently department editor of Management Science and associate editor for Operations Research. At Kellogg, Professor Anderson teaches Retail Analytics in both the MBA and EMBA programs.

Michelle Buck is clinical professor of Management and Organizations at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. She has previously served as the School’s first Director of Leadership Initiatives from 2006 to 2013, designing and coordinating opportunities for personal leadership development to complement the School’s academic curriculum. She has also served as academic director of numerous Kellogg executive programs, including partnership programs with Fundação Dom Cabral in Brazil and programs for Latin American executives with Seminarium.

Professor Buck teaches graduate and executive courses on topics such as leadership communication, the use of story or personal narrative to lead with vision and purpose, the dynamics of leading and following, courageous conversations and overcoming organizational silence, and the roles of vitality, well being and engagement as critical elements of effective leadership. Current projects include the use of arts-based learning in leadership education, and projects on transformational leadership emerging from her journeys to Rwanda. She has worked with private, public, family business, and nonprofit organizations including Banco de Mexico, Baxter International, Chicago Public Schools, Ernst & Young, the FBI, HP, Mitsui, Odebrecht, YPO Latin America, and Zurich Insurance.

Professor Buck previously taught at Washington University in St. Louis and at McGill University in Montreal, where she won “Professor of the Year” awards at both schools. She has a PhD in Social Psychology from Princeton University, and a bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Michigan.

Professor Buck’s commitment in all of her work is to inspire and empower others to unleash new possibilities for themselves, for others, and the communities in which they find themselves. Her work focuses on designing innovative, inspiring, and important learning experiences that transform lives by providing purpose, passion, and possibility. In addition to her professional activities, she enjoys dance, music, photography, and travel, with strong interests in Latin America and Africa

Katherine Button Bell is responsible for global marketing and corporate branding for Emerson (NYSE: EMR), a $24.7 billion diversified global technology and engineering leader, and oversees all corporate communications, development of digital strategies, market research programs, and management of professional development for the company’s marketing teams worldwide.

She has steadily been recognized among the best business marketers and served as chairman of the Business Marketing Association (BMA) board from 2013-2014. Ms. Button Bell is on the board of directors of Johnson Outdoors, Inc.; Sally Beauty Holdings, Inc.; the Foundation Board of St. Louis Children’s Hospital; and is a member of the board of trustees of the St. Louis Art Museum. She previously ran her own marketing consulting firm and before that held senior marketing positions at Converse Inc. and Wilson Sporting Goods. Ms. Button Bell is a graduate of Princeton University.

As a leader of McKinsey’s Digital Quotient™ (DQ) initiative, Tanguy Catlin helps companies build out their digital capabilities to deliver rapid results and sustained growth. DQ is an assessment that allows organizations to clearly identify their digital strengths and weaknesses across different parts of the organization and compare them against hundreds of organizations around the world.

Mr. Catlin is also a leader in McKinsey’s North American Financial Services and Marketing & Sales Practices, where he has worked with leading institutions in North America, Europe, and Asia to meet the challenges of a rapidly changing industry.

His recent client engagements include assisting a top-10 P&C and life insurer in building an internal digital agency; helping a U.S. multi-line carrier accelerate, test, and learn capabilities and a personalization engine for its online channel; and working with a number of major multi-line players to optimize their marketing spend across media, channels, and products. Mr. Catlin is a frequent contributor to industry publications and the author of several McKinsey white papers on issues confronting the insurance industry. He is based in Boston.

Jeff Childs was named Chief Human Resource Officer in October 2013. Prior to joining ULTA Beauty, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resource Officer at U.S. Cellular after joining as Senior Vice President of Human Resources in 2004.

From 2001 to 2004, he was President and Owner of Childs Consulting Services. Previously, he served from 1979 to 2001 in a variety of human resources, marketing, sales, and operations roles at AT&T, including Vice President, Human Resources, and Corporate Services.

Mr. Childs serves on the Board of Directors of Skills for Chicagoland’s Future.

Mukul Deoras is Chief Marketing Officer for the Colgate-Palmolive Company.

Mr. Deoras joined Colgate in 2004 as Director, Special Projects for the Asia Pacific Division. Later that year he became Marketing Director Colgate Thailand and in 2006 he became General Manager.

In 2008 he was promoted to Vice President, Personal Care in Global Marketing responsible for managing and driving growth for Personal Care Worldwide.

In 2010 he became Vice President/General Manager of Colgate India.

In 2012 Mr. Deoras became President, Colgate Asia Division where his business insights and focus on building leading brands have contributed significantly to strong volume and sales performance.

In 2015 he was promoted to his current role as Chief Marketing Officer. Mr. Deoras is responsible for all the Global Categories and brands as well as Global Insights, Global Advertising and Shopper Marketing on a worldwide basis.

Mary N. Dillon is Chief Executive Officer of ULTA Beauty, a position she has held since July 2013. With Ms. Dillon’s strategic direction, ULTA Beauty has continued to see excellent sales growth and momentum in its e-commerce business and has completed the most ambitious, annual store opening program in company history, bringing the total to more than 800 stores in 48 states.

Prior to joining ULTA Beauty, Ms. Dillon served as President and CEO of U.S. Cellular. She previously served as global Chief Marketing Officer and Executive Vice President for McDonald’s Corporation, where she led the company’s worldwide marketing efforts and global brand strategy, including a focus on children’s well-being initiatives. She also served as President of PepsiCo Corporation’s Quaker Foods division, as well as several positions of increasing responsibility at PepsiCo, including Vice President of Marketing for Gatorade.

Ms. Dillon serves on the board of trustees for Loyola Academy, the board of directors for Northshore University Health System, the board of directors for World Business Chicago, the board of directors for the Executive’s Club of Chicago and the Economic Club of Chicago and on the Civic Committee of The Commercial Club of Chicago. She is also a member of The Chicago Network and previously served on the board of directors for Target Corporation.

The Chicago native earned her bachelor’s degree in marketing and Asian Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Ms. Dillon and her husband reside in Evanston and are the parents to four children.

Farhad Manjoo is a New York Times Business Day “State of the Art” columnist, a position he assumed in February 2014.

Before joining The Times, Mr. Manjoo was a technology columnist at The Wall Street Journal. Previously, he was a technology columnist at Slate magazine, from 2008 to 2013. He was also a contributing writer at Fast Company, from 2009 to 2013.

Mr. Manjoo is the author of True Enough: Learning to Live in a Post- Fact Society, which was published by Wiley in 2008. He lives in Palo Alto, California, with his wife, son, and daughter.

As Chief Marketing and Brand Officer at Chobani, Peter McGuinness oversees all global marketing and communication efforts for America’s No. 1–selling Greek Yogurt brand, including advertising, brand strategy, innovation, pricing, experiential, retail and digital marketing, and PR.

Prior to Chobani, Mr. McGuinness served as President and CEO of DDB Chicago and Gotham. He brings more than 20 years of global marketing experience to the company, with a successful track record of shaping and growing some of the world’s most iconic brands including MasterCard, J+J, Unilever, McDonald’s, Microsoft, and Sony. He is an active industry leader, serving on influential boards including the Ad Council, AAAA and the Advertising Education Foundation. He is a member of the AAF Advertising Hall of Achievement and a David Rockefeller Fellow for the Partnership of New York City.

As Chief Marketing Officer, Matt Simpson leads the Museum of Science and Industry’s (MSI) strategic growth and brand planning, working to position MSI as an innovative and inspirational thought leader in today’s consumer landscape while ensuring continued increases in attendance and revenue. Mr. Simpson joined MSI in March of 2015 and oversees the Museum’s marketing and digital efforts, working to ensure that the institution’s products, programming, and customer experience enhance MSI’s position and resonate with guests in the hospitality, entertainment and attractions category.

A digital marketing leader, Mr. Simpson most recently served as Principal, Senior Vice President of Strategy and Integration for the Chicago and San Francisco offices of Blast Radius — formerly Designkitchen (DK). From 2005-2014, he led business development, product marketing, and strategy for DK, during which time the agency grew into one of the leading digital marketing groups in Chicago. Along with three other partners, he spearheaded an acquisition by WPP in 2008 and led global integration efforts as the agency transformed its client roster and continued to grow on a national scale.

Mr. Simpson earned an MBA from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and holds a BA from DePaul University

Jim Stengel is President/CEO of The Jim Stengel Company, a think tank and consultancy conducting proprietary research, generating thought leadership, and applying a new ideals-driven framework to drive business growth in today’s global economy.

A prolific writer, speaker and advisor, Mr. Stengel is the author of Grow: How Ideals Power Growth and Profit at the World’s Greatest Companies. He serves as an advisor for MarketShare, an industryleading marketing analytics firm, and for Myrian Capital, a private equity firm. He is also Chairman of the International Advisory Board for in/PACT, an interactive cause-marketing firm. Mr. Stengel is the former Global Marketing Officer of Procter & Gamble.

Letha Steffey is Vice President, Studio Partnerships, Film Programming at AMC Theatres. As a growth-leader, Ms. Steffey is focused on delivering attendance-driving, innovative, and differentiating initiatives that will engage guests with AMC Theatres through collaboration and negotiations with major Hollywood studios.

During her tenure at AMC, Ms. Steffey led the brand architecture for AMC, consumer segmentation, and the launch of AMC Amazing. She also led the team to develop and launch the first in the industry content management system to support the delivery of a centralized trailer and pre show program that plays prior to the movie.

Prior to AMC, Ms. Steffey held leadership positions across industries in brand development, product development, sales finance, and P&L responsibilities for Hallmark Cards’ gift presentation business unit with WalMart.

Ms. Steffey earned her undergraduate from William Jewell College and her MBA and Masters in Finance from Webster University.