David Christopher, chief marketing officer of AT&T Mobility, has been named chair of the board of directors of the Ad Council. He succeeds Laura Desmond, global CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group. Christopher will be board chair through June 2016 when he will be succeeded by David Kenny, chairman and CEO of The Weather Company.
“David Christopher is a thought leader in the communications industry, particularly in marketing and the ever-changing digital world,” said Lisa Sherman, president and CEO of the Ad Council.
Christopher joined the Ad Council board in 2010 and became a member of the executive committee in July 2011. Among his many contributions to the Ad Council, Christopher helped spearhead the 2012 New York anti-truancy PSA campaign, created in partnership with the Bloomberg administration. Targeting chronic absenteeism, the campaign was the largest ever city-wide effort to inform parents that students who routinely miss school are more likely to drop out and offered a wide range of resources to help parents keep their kids on track. The campaign received donated media through New York City and more than 40 percent of parents reported seeing the PSAs.
“Serving the Ad Council means a great deal to me because of the power it has to affect change on our most pressing social issues,” said Christopher. “With such a strong board and management team, I am confident we will continue the Ad Council’s tradition of outstanding work.”
Christopher has served as CMO for AT&T Mobility since 2004, and leads all marketing for AT&T’s 120M-plus customer wireless business. He is responsible for the company’s extensive portfolio of wireless products and services, including voice and data plans, smartphones, tablets, wearables and cloud products, as well as marketing and advertising for AT&T’s connected home platform, AT&T Digital Life, and the company’s prepaid brands, Cricket Wireless and GoPhone. Christopher also oversees the AT&T Developer Program and its more than 55,000 members, leading the team that determines and delivers the APIs, tools and training developers need to build new and innovative platforms. He is on the Facebook and Twitter client councils and is a member of the Marketing 50. In 2014, he was named to Forbes’ 50 Most Influential CMOs list.
With Christopher’s election, the Ad Council will continue its ongoing tradition of rotating board chairs every year between the organization’s founding sectors: media companies, advertising agencies and corporate advertisers.
“Heretic” and “Maria” Set As Red Carpet Premieres At AFI Fest
The American Film Institute (AFI) has announced that Heretic, the psychological thriller starring Hugh Grant, and Maria, based on the life of opera singer Maria Callas starring Angelina Jolie, will round out the Red Carpet Premieres section at this year’s AFI Fest. The Heretic Gala Screening will take place on Thursday, October 24, and the Maria Gala Screening will be held on Saturday, October 26. The complete Red Carpet Premieres section includes the world premieres of Music By John Williams, Robert Zemeckis’ Here, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl and Clint Eastwood’s Juror #2. All Red Carpet Premieres will take place at the historic TCL Chinese Theatre. The full lineup for AFI Fest 2024 will be unveiled on October 1.
“At the heart of AFI Fest is an unwavering dedication to celebrating the best in global cinema--together,” said Bob Gazzale, AFI president and CEO. “We look forward to uniting artists and audiences once again to be inspired by the art form in a powerful sense of community.”
Heretic follows two young missionaries (Sophie Thatcher and Chloe East) who are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed (portrayed by Grant), becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse. The film is directed by Scott Beck and Bryan Woods and produced by Stacey Sher, Beck, Woods, Julia Glausi and Jeanette Volturno. The film will be released nationwide by A24 on November 8.
Directed by Pablo Larraín, Maria presents a tumultuous and beautiful depiction of one of the world’s most renowned artists and reimagines the legendary soprano in her final days in Paris, as Callas (Jolie)... Read More