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
Utah Leaders and Locals Rally To Keep Sundance Film Festival In The State
With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — one that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.
Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read "Keep Sundance in Utah" in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.
Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.
It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.
"Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can't really separate those two," Cox said. "This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever."
Last year's festival generated about $132 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2024 economic impact report.
Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.
Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring... Read More