Great Minds

EP341: Jon O’Donnell, Founder & CEO, Viral Tribe Entertainment

Jon O’Donnell is Founder & CEO of Viral Tribe Entertainment, a next generation podcasting platform powered by talent and technology, triibe.fm
Viral Tribe is reshaping the podcast experience both for the those who create the content and those who consume it. Their mission is to bring talent and their fans closer together in what will be the most interactive next generation podcasting experience on the market.

EP340: Jess Ling, EVP of Global Brand Advertising, American Express

Jessica Ling is the Executive Vice President of Global Brand Advertising at American Express. She leads the company’s brand engagement and prospect consideration globally through innovative media, analytics and measurement, talent partnerships, and creative content. Her role also includes overseeing American Express’ in-house creative agency, OnBrand, and Shop Small brand platform.
Since joining American Express in 2019, Jess has held several senior marketing roles spanning both brand and performance marketing.
Prior to American Express, Jess was Head of B2B Marketing at Verizon Media, where she spent over six years leading a cross-functional B2B marketing organization focused on accelerating growth for Verizon Media’s commercial business.

EP339: Andrew Casale, Founder, President and CEO, Index Exchange

As president and CEO of Index Exchange, Andrew is responsible for providing strategic direction and market vision to the company and leading the brightest minds in advertising technology across North America, Europe, and APAC. With a sharp focus on delivering benefits to the world’s leading media owners and buyers as they tackle the world of automation, he’s built Index Exchange as one of the most efficient and transparent ad exchanges in the advertising ecosystem.
A respected industry thought leader, Andrew is a sought-after source for his expertise and opinions on programmatic and the media industry at large, as well as the imperative need to transact with transparency.

EP338: Malcolm Poynton, Global Chief Creative Officer, Cheil Worldwide Network

Malcolm joined Cheil Worldwide at the beginning of 2015 as the Network’s first ever Global Chief Creative Officer.
Having built and led teams responsible for award-winning firsts as diverse as Foot Locker’s Sneakerpedia, Dove’s Campaign For Real Beauty and Samsung’s #BeFearless VR experience, Malcolm is a recognised industry influencer and speaker. A two time Cannes Lions Jury President, Clio Awards and LIA Awards Jury president, Malcolm was recently named one of AdAge magazine’s “World’s Top 10 Digital minds” and named by TechCity Insider as one of the UK’s leading Digital Innovators. His international industry accolades number more than 500, including Cannes Lions for Film, Print, Media, Outdoor, Cyber, Glass and Mobile.
Prior to joining Cheil, Malcolm was European Chief Creative Officer and a member of Sapient’s global leadership team where he helped build the company to in excess of a billion dollars in annual revenue, putting Sapient amongst Fortune Magazine’s 40 fastest growing companies in the world. M&CSaatchi, Saatchi&Saatchi, Ogilvy and SapientNitro have all won Agency of the Year titles during his creative leadership. With Cheil Worldwide, Malcolm has steered the network into the industry’s Top 10 Creative Network rankings and has seen the Network win their first Glass Lion at Cannes, first Innovation award at AdFest, Gran Sol at El Sol Awards, Grand Prix at Dubai Lynx, Gold at the International ANDY awards, collect their first WEBBY awards, create the Most Viewed Ad in the World on YouTube and post record new business success with Samsung along with winning global accounts including Etihad Airways, adidas, PZ Cussons, Abbot and UN Women.
A Kiwi, Malcolm is a former member of the NZ Yachting Team, recognised by KEA as a ‘World Class New Zealander’, former board member of the UK’s Institute of Contemporary Art, Patron of the Royal Academy of Arts, C.A.L.M. and a member of the Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences. Malcolm lives in London with his Australian wife and English daughter.

EP337: Barkley OKRP

On this episode of Great Minds, we’re pleased to welcome Tom O’Keefe, Creative Chairman, and Jeff King, CEO, of the newly merged BarkleyOKRP.
BarkleyOKRP is a new advertising agency formed by the merger of two prominent agencies, Barkley and OKRP. The merger creates one of the largest independent agencies in the United States, with offices in Chicago, Denver, New York, Pittsburgh, and Kansas City. BarkleyOKRP aims to be independent enough to create bold work while having the capabilities to build whole brands.

EP336: Chuck Leavell, Musician

Chuck Leavell was a member of the Allman Brothers Band throughout their commercial zenith in the 1970s, he subsequently became a founding member of the band Sea Level. He has served as the principal touring keyboardist and musical director of the Rolling Stones since 1982. As a session musician, Leavell has performed on every Rolling Stones studio album released since 1983 with the exception of Bridges to Babylon (1997). He has also toured and recorded with Eric Clapton, George Harrison, David Gilmour, Gov’t Mule and John Mayer.

EP335: Jamila Wignot, Founder & Director, Trailer 9 LLC

Jamila Wignot is an award-winning documentary filmmaker. Her body of work includes, the Emmy-nominated MAKERS: WOMEN IN BUSINESS; THE AFRICAN AMERICANS: MANY RIVERS TO CROSS, hosted by Henry Louis Gates, which won a Peabody, Emmy, and NAACP awards; TOWN HALL a feature-length co-production with ITVS about the Tea Party movement; and for AMERICAN EXPERIENCE the Peabody Award-winning, “Triangle Fire” and Emmy-nominated “Walt Whitman”.
Wignot’s producing credits include “The Rehnquist Revolution,” the fourth episode of WNET’s series THE SUPREME COURT which was an IDA Best Limited Series winner and STREET FIGHTING MAN, character-driven documentary, currently in post-production, about the daily lives of three men surviving in the neighborhoods of post-industrial Detroit.

EP334: Alex Collmer, Founder and CEO, VidMob

Alex Collmer is the founder and CEO of VidMob, the leading creative data company. The AI-based software improves creative and media performance by helping brands and agencies derive their own custom creative best practices, and ensure that those learnings are applied across all flighted media. Vidmob counts many of the world’s leading brands and agencies as clients and helps them drive brand consistency, reduce creative and media waste, and increase overall business performance across the funnel. Since founding the company in 2015, Alex has raised more than $230M in venture funding and has received numerous awards including Ad Age’s Best Places to Work and Digiday’s Most Innovative Technology Award.

EP333: Jason Keehn, Founder, Accompany Creative

Jason Keehn is the founder of Accompany Creative, the award-winning, impact-driven creative agency recently named Ad Age’s Purpose Agency of the Year. With their motto of “We make good, work” Accompany Creative focuses on transforming brands into change agents through inspiring, mission-led storytelling and design. The company is a collective of socially conscious branding, marketing, PR, product design, merchandising, and sourcing leaders who work together to help brands authentically connect with values-driven consumers throughout the entire brand experience. Jason’s expertise in both aspirational campaigns and impact-minded products and programs can be seen in their work for a client roster that includes Nespresso, Neiman Marcus, Vestiaire Collective, ABC Carpet & Home, Levi’s, NBC Universal, God’s Love We Deliver, and the YMCA of Greater New York.
Jason’s entrepreneurial passion centers on harnessing the power of consumer-minded branding, design, and storytelling for brands and business models that are doing not just “less bad” but also “more good.” In 2022, he launched the first-ever mission-driven merchandising with Universal Pictures for the film “Jurassic World” – work that earned the agency its first Clio award.
Prior to launching Accompany Creative, Jason spent 20+ years in brand strategy, identity, and integrated advertising as Chief Growth Officer at independent creative agency Yard NYC.
With an MS degree in global bioethics from Columbia University, Jason has published his research in academic journals about the ethics of marketing and has spoken about his integrated branding/ethics perspective at prominent venues like the United Nations General Assembly, Columbia University Commencement, US Consulate General in China, SXSW Eco, and Fashion Forward.

EP332: Issa Jouneh, President, Connections, at Emerald

Issa Jouaneh is President, Connections, at Emerald, and is responsible for leading the strategic oversight and growth optimization of the company’s core business, comprised of 140+ leading events, trade shows, and conferences.
Issa joined Emerald in March 2021 as Executive Vice President of Emerald Xcelerator, leading the company’s market diversification strategy through new shows, partnerships, and sub-expo launches.
Issa has over 20 years of experience leading multidisciplinary, cross-functional teams across a wide range of industries.
His professional journey includes leading technology, application, and web development teams at Electronic Data Systems and a 14-year tenure at The American Express Company and American Express Global Business Travel. He ultimately served as Senior Vice President and General Manager, leading American Express Meetings & Events globally, where he successfully led the transformation of the business, tripling its size and reaching over 2,400 employees in 25+ proprietary countries.
Issa holds a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from McGill University and a Master of Business Administration from Schulich School of Business at York University.