Debra L. Lee, chairman & CEO of BET Networks, has been elected to serve a one-year term as the new chair of the Ad Council’s board of directors. The nonprofit Ad Council is the United States’ largest producer of public service advertising
Ms. Lee joined the Ad Council Board in February 2008. She became vice chair of media and joined the executive and nominating committees in July 2011. She succeeds Marc Pritchard, global brand building officer of Procter & Gamble (P&G), as Ad Council board chair.
Media outlets donate approximately $1.5 billion in time and space to Ad Council PSA campaigns annually. The Ad Council’s current partnerships with BET include two campaigns targeting young adults (ages 18 – 24): GED achievement and unplanned pregnancy prevention. Since 2007, BET’s parent company, Viacom, has supported the Ad Council with more than $40 billion in donated media.
“The Ad Council does such important work across so many critical issues, and I have been proud to work with them over the past four years. I am so honored to be elected as the new chair of the Ad Council board of directors and look forward to continuing the Council’s legacy of creative, ground breaking and impactful work,” said Lee.
As chairman and CEO of BET Networks, Lee is one of the highest ranking leaders at Viacom Inc. Prior to her appointment as CEO of BET, Lee served as the network’s executive VP of strategic business development and played a key role in taking BET public in 1991. In 2003, Lee received the Distinguished Vanguard Award for Leadership from the National Cable Television Association. She was inducted into the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame in 2010.
With Lee’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. In 2014, Lee will be succeeded by Laura Desmond, global CEO, Starcom MediaVest Group, who currently serves as vice chair of agencies.
David Christopher, CMO, AT&T Mobility, has been elected to serve as the Ad Council’s vice chair of advertising, and Steve Lacy, chairman and CEO of Meredith Corporation, has assumed the position of finance committee chair.
Additionally, the Ad Council has elected 24 new Board members, each of whom will serve a three-year term. Among those they will work closely with is Peggy Conlon, president and CEO of the Ad Council.
The Ad Council’s new Board members are:
* Joseph Abruzzese, president, advertising sales, Discovery Communications
* Maryam Banikarim, SVP & CMO, Gannett Co., Inc.
* Dermot Boden, chief brand officer, Citigroup, Inc.
* Linda Boff, global executive director, digital, advertising & design, GE
* Monique Bonner, VP, Americas Marketing, Dell Inc.
* Lee Brown, head of global sales, Tumblr
* Toby Byrne, president, advertising sales, Fox Broadcasting Company
* Paul Chibe, VP, U.S. marketing, Anheuser-Busch
* Harris Diamond, chairman & CEO, McCann Worldgroup
* Paul Edwards, executive director, global marketing strategy, General Motors
* Michele Fabrizi, president & CEO, MARC USA
* Rob Frederick, VP & director, corporate responsibility, Brown-Forman
* Betsy Frost Webb, general manager, media and agency, management, Microsoft
* Todd Goldstein, chief revenue officer, AEG
* Julie Hamp, chief communications officer, Toyota Motor North America
* Tim Jones, CEO, Zenith Optimedia NA
* Michael Kassan, chairman & CEO, MediaLink
* Lesya Lysyj, CMO, Heineken USA
* Tom Noland, SVP, corporate communications, Humana, Inc.
* Steve Pacheco, director, advertising, FedEx
* Jo Ann Ross, president, network sales, CBS Television Network
* Michael Senackerib, CMO, Campbell Soup Company
* Paul Sturman, president & general manager, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare
* Deborah Van Valkenburgh, SVP, strategic brand management, PNC Financial Services
“Overnight Success” Has Been More Than A Decade In The Making For Meghann Fahy and Eve Hewson
Meghann Fahy and Eve Hewson, two of the stars of Netflix's whodunit "The Perfect Couple," have news for you if you want to call them breakouts: They've been working in this business for more than a decade.
Fahy made her TV debut in 2009 in an episode of "Gossip Girl." Hewson's first big film role was in 2011's "This Must Be the Place." They do concede, however, that it's recent TV roles — "The White Lotus" for Fahy and "Bad Sisters" for Hewson — that have led to new frontiers of opportunity.
Susanne Bier, who directed "The Perfect Couple," says both Fahy and Hewson are "going to be big stars."
"They certainly have proper, profound star quality, Both of them in very different ways," Bier says. "Both are incredibly creative, incredibly smart, and also have a impressive insight as to who they are. You can be a great actor or actress and not necessarily really know who you are yourself. And they do."
Hewson, 33, whose dad is U2 front man Bono, may have grown up in a famous family but she's now in demand in her own right. She will next be seen in a second season of "Bad Sisters, " out in November. She's in Noah Baumbach's next film, alongside Adam Sandler, George Clooney and Riley Keough. She's also been cast in Steven Spielberg's next production and is set to star opposite Murray Bartlett in a racing series for Hulu.
Fahy, 34, is in production on a limited series with Julianne Moore and Milly Alcock called "Sirens," written by Molly Smith Metzler ("Maid") for Netflix. She also has two films in the can with Josh O'Connor ("The Crown," "Challengers") and Brandon Sklenar ("It Ends With Us").
The two actors spoke candidly about this phase of their careers. This interview has been condensed for clarity and... Read More