Great Minds

Dan Amos is chairman, chief executive officer and president of Aflac Incorporated and the second longest-serving CEO in the FORTUNE 250. Under his leadership as CEO, Aflac Incorporated’s total return to shareholders1 has exceeded 15,446%, compared with 3,075% for the Dow Jones Industrial Average, 2,812% for the S&P 500 Index and 1,471% for the S&P 500 Life & Health Insurance Index. In 2000, Dan launched the popular Aflac Duck advertising campaign, transforming Aflac from a successful supplemental insurance company to a top international brand.

Under Dan’s leadership, today, Aflac helps provide protection to millions of policyholders through subsidiaries in Japan and the U.S. by paying cash fast when policyholders get sick or injured. For nearly seven decades, insurance policies of Aflac Incorporated’s subsidiaries have given policyholders the opportunity to focus on recovery, not financial stress. In Japan, Aflac is the leading provider of medical and cancer insurance. In the U.S., Aflac is the number one provider of supplemental health insurance products.2

Sarah Mehler is a creative technology executive with more than 20 years of leadership in the experience design ecosystem.

After graduating from the Design and Media Arts program at UCLA, she began cultivating close partnerships with leading brands and accomplished decision makers to grow the bounds of what’s possible through human-centric technology.

As the Founder and CEO of Left Field Labs, Sarah has combined industry-leading vision with an empathetic approach to deliver experiences that achieve successful business objectives and meaningful human impact for companies like Google, Amazon, Meta, Verizon, and Sony.

Their areas of specialization include: experiential, immersive, and digital products and platforms.

Sarah strives to bring out the best in her teams while modeling a graceful commitment to the greatest possible good in every situation.

Ahead of Advertising Week New York 2024, taking place at THE PENN DISTRICT, Great Minds welcomes Skylight CEO Stephanie Blake back to the show. Skylight is a placemaking and venue development, management and consulting firm committed to creating bespoke venues in storied places.

Longtime Advertising Week friend Tim Armstrong joins Great Minds to discuss Flowcode, his latest endeavor.  Flowcode is the #1 trusted QR provider for instant conversions and real-time data.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.