Great Minds

Jon Steinlauf serves as Chief U.S. Advertising Sales Officer for Warner Bros. Discovery. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing sales, research, marketing, branded entertainment, pricing and inventory control, as well as developing advanced advertising and convergent revenue streams for the company’s portfolio.

Steinlauf most recently served as Chief U.S. Advertising Sales Officer, Discovery, Inc. He was instrumental in the creation and monetization of integrated marketing strategies that delivered both incremental revenues for Discovery and additional value for its advertisers.

Prior to joining Discovery in 2018, Steinlauf served as President of Advertising Sales at Scripps Networks, successfully elevating its reputation with advertisers as the most upscale group of cable brands with the most engaged viewers in all of TV. Steinlauf first joined Scripps in 2000 as VP of Advertising Sales, with direction of HGTV and the DIY Network, before being elevated to run the entire TV ad sales division in 2003.

Among his many accolades, Steinlauf has been named seven times to Adweek’s “Adweek 50” as well as to Cablefax’s “Cablefax 100.” He also earned the Myers Report’s National Television Ad Sales Executive of the Year Award in 2007.

Steinlauf is a graduate of Duke University.

As Chief Marketing Officer for UnitedMasters, Inc., Chaucer works across UnitedMasters and Translation teams to provide diverse solutions designed to bridge partners across the enterprise. Chaucer has spent over 15 years in the media and advertising landscape and, prior to, several years as an independent musician in search of the ideal toolkit to segment, mature, and monetize his own unique fan base.

Jerry Shereshewsky has been in the advertising industry since 1969 and worked in general advertising, direct marketing, and public relations. He has been a brand/product marketer, the marketing arm of a major publisher’s sales organization, the CEO of an internet publishing company and a consultant combining all of the above specialties.

Dr Karen Nelson-Field is a globally acclaimed researcher in media science, with over 17 years spent researching and redefining how people deliver successful marketing and media outcomes through the guise of human attention.

Regularly called upon to speak at major industry events across the globe including AdWeek, Cannes and SXSW, Karen’s work has also been recognised and noted in leading publications such as The NY Times, Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg Business. Making her the thought leader and subject matter expert in all things attention metrics which saw her named as a 2022 Honoree in the Ad Monsters + Ad Exchanger Top Women in Media & Ad Tech, as a Game Changer.

In addition to regular speaking on the global stage, Karen is also a well renowned author with two published titles under her belt. Her first book, Viral Marketing: the science of sharing, set the record straight on hunting for ‘viral success’. While her second book, The Attention Economy and How Media Works, explains the stark reality of human attention to advertising.

Chef Frank Brigtsen and his wife Marna are the owners of Brigtsen’s Restaurant, in the Riverbend neighborhood of Uptown New Orleans. Frank began his culinary career in 1973 while attending Louisiana State University. In 1979, he apprenticed at Commander’s Palace Restaurant under the guidance of Chef Paul Prudhomme and became the first Night Chef at K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen in 1980. During his seven-year tenure with Chef Prudhomme at K-Paul’s, Frank attained the position of Executive Chef. Paul and K Prudhomme were instrumental in helping Frank and Marna open Brigtsen’s in 1986.

Chef Frank has been named one of the Top Ten New Chefs in America by FOOD&WINE magazine (1988) and America’s Best Chef: Southeast by the James Beard Foundation Awards (1998). He has also been named Chef of the Year by New Orleans magazine and Restaurateur of the Year by the Louisiana Restaurant Association – N.O. Chapter.

In 2022, Chef Frank received the Ella Brennan Lifetime Achievement Award in Hospitality, presented by the New Orleans Food & Wine Experience.

Chef Frank’s passion is teaching and sharing through food. For 15 years, he taught Contemporary Creole/Acadian cuisine as Adjunct Professor at the John Folse Culinary Institute at Nicholls State University and serves as Chef-in-Residence for the Culinary Arts program at the New Orleans Center for the Creative Arts (NOCCA).

For the past 27 years, Jon has poured his heart and soul into VML — now VMLY&R. In 2018, he led the launch of the unified agency as global CEO. Today, VMLY&R is a global marketing force with more than 13,000 employees in 44 countries.

In 2023, the agency was named to Ad Age’s A-List. VMLY&R was also recognized as 2023 Network of the Year by the New York Festivals, the ANDYs, and the ADC Awards.

VMLY&R is proud to serve some of the world’s most recognized and respected brands, including AstraZeneca Colgate-Palmolive, Dell, Ford, General Mills, Intel, Microsoft, Mondelez, Pfizer, SC Johnson, Sherwin-Williams, The Coca-Cola Company, and Wendy’s.

Michael Sugar is the CEO and Founder of Sugar23 – a management, production and private equity company with a multi-year deal with Netflix – after a long stint at Anonymous Content where he was a partner for many years. He was awarded the Oscar® for Best Picture for “Spotlight,” starring Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, and Rachel McAdams. 

Sugar’s recent Executive Producer credits include MSNBC’s docuseries “The Turning Point” and the Apple TV+ series “Dickinson,” starring Hailee Steinfeld and Jane Krakowski. Over the course of the latter’s three seasons, the series garnered a Peabody Award, a Golden Tomato Award, and numerous nominations. Upcoming, Sugar produced “Knox Goes Away,” a feature film starring and directed by Michael Keaton.

Sugar is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the Producer’s Guild of America, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, and lectures regularly at USC, NYU, Columbia, and the American Film Institute.  He has been nominated for multiple Emmys and Golden Globes, and has received two Television Academy Honors, two AFI awards, and two Peabody Awards. 

In her current role as CEO of Digitas North America, Amy will focus on delivering new solutions for Digitas clients, tapping into the agency’s Creative, Media, Data and Technology expertise. Her ability to connect products and services; infused with a commerce lens will lead the agency forward in the next generation of growth.

Prior to joining Digitas, she was Chief Operating Officer of Publicis Commerce, a full-stack, purpose-built unit comprised of 10,000+ commerce experts worldwide. During her tenure, she played an instrumental role in notable acquisitions such as Profitero and CitrusAd; contributed to some of the holding company’s biggest new business wins; was key driver behind some of Publicis Groupe’s most important commerce-focused partnerships with platforms such as TikTok and Snap; developed unique Power of One commerce solutions for the holding company’s largest clients; and launched a dedicated Commerce Advisory Board, comprised of client members from over 20 brands.

Amy is widely respected in the industry and has been recognized across honors such as Adweek 50; She Runs It “Working Mother of the Year”; Path to Purchase Institute’s “Executive of the Year” and “Industry Impact” winner; and Campaign US’s “Female Frontier” and “Digital 40 Over 40” Awards. She is also a 2023 Creative Commerce Lions juror for the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity.

Prior to joining Publicis, Amy spent 20+ years at Omnicom’s TPN, where she helped grow the company from a team of 30 to 350 and expanded its presence to include offices in Chicago, San Francisco, Bentonville, and London.

This week on Great Minds we speak with Daniel McCarthy, CEO of FM. FM is a family of brands that exist to empower and inspire the global community of creatives.

A charismatic and invested Owner and CEO that constantly drives the FM brands to build the global creative community and participate in local and international philanthropic efforts.

From commercials to television series to film, legendary actress and star of television’s hit show Get Smart, Barbara Feldon, discusses her extraordinary career.