Speakers

Named One of the 100 people who will change the way the world thinks by Fast Company, Joey Reiman is CEO & Founder of the global consultancy, BrightHouse, a company whose sole purpose is to bring soul to the world of business. 

As the Father of Ideation – a term he coined – Reiman has emerged as the subject matter expert in the area of purpose-inspired leadership, marketing and innovation.

His breakthrough purpose methodology and frameworks have been adopted by the likes of Procter & Gamble, The Coca Cola Company, McDonald’s and many other Fortune 500 companies across the globe.

As a professor at the Goizueta School of Business at Emory University, he teaches tomorrow’s executives his revolutionary theories and applications for purpose-inspired profit.

Reiman’s newest book, “The Story of Purpose: The Path to Creating a Brighter Brand, a Greater Company, and a Lasting Legacy,” promises to bring business back for good (Wiley & Sons, Inc). This groundbreaking book launches BrightHouse’s Global Purpose Summit, a gathering of purpose-leaders, occurring Spring 2013. It follows in the tradition of his wildly selling business book, “Thinking For A Living,” which spawned a movement celebrating the power of ideas.

In April, 2012, Joey was the recipient of the Graham Executive in Residence at Sewanee University, a distinctive honor that only a handful of individuals have received. These select individuals include: the Founder and CEO of Southwest Airlines, the President of LionsGate Entertainment Studio, and the President and CEO of Gulf Oil. In addition, he was the recipient of the Maynard Jackson Youth Foundation Ladder Award, demonstrating a consistent commitment to learning by helping others climb the educational ladder to achieve success.

A winner of hundreds of awards, including the Cannes Lion and Corporate Marketing Leader of the Year, Reiman says his greatest accolade is his self-proclaimed title of FAMILLIONAIRE, a person whose real wealth is in his family.

What makes ideas viral and products spread contagiously? Professor Jonah Berger studies social epidemics, or how products, ideas, and behaviors catch on and become popular. He examines how individual decision making and social dynamics (e.g., social influence) between people generate collective outcomes such as social contagion and trends. Most recently, Professor Berger has examined why certain products get more word-of-mouth than others and why certain online content goes viral.

Jonah Berger is the James G. Campbell Jr. Assistant Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He studies social influence and social epidemics, or how products, ideas, and behaviors catch on and become popular. His research has been published in top-tier academic journals, and popular accounts of his work have appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, Science, Harvard Business Review, Sloan Management Review, Wired, Business Week, The Atlantic, and The Economist. His research has also been featured in the New York Times Magazine’s “Year in Ideas.”

Berger has been recognized with a number of awards for both scholarship and teaching, including the Iron Professor Teaching Award and the MBA Curricular Innovation Award from the Wharton School. He lives in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Formerly a music industry marketer, national sales training manager and a College Professor, he ran his “UnAgency” for a nearly a decade before solely focusing on speaking at events for companies like PepsiCo, Adobe, Red Cross, Hard Rock Café, Cirque du Soleil, Saks Fifth Avenue and Fidelity Investments when they need help guiding their way through the viral/social media and relationship marketing landscape. 

He now has over 140,000 people follow his daily rantings on Twitter and was just named one of the top 5 social media influencers in the world on Forbes.com. It’s the only time he’s felt comfortable being compared to Ashton Kutcher, P Diddy and Justin Bieber. 

His book “UnMarketing: Stop Marketing. Start Engaging” became a national best-seller before it was released and was also named one of the top business books of the year by 1-800-CEO READ and a top 10 book by Under30CEO.com.

His new book entitled “The Book Of Business Awesome: How Engaging Your Customers and Employees Can Make Your Business Thrive” is also a best-seller, breaking the rules of how companies are truly marketed and grown through the current online/offline world

Jackie Huba is the author of the upcoming book, “Monster Loyalty: How Lady Gaga Turns Followers into Fanatics.” She is also the coauthor of two previous books on customer loyalty: “Creating Customer Evangelists: How Loyal Customers Become a Volunteer Sales Force” and “Citizen Marketers: When People are the Message.” Jackie coauthors the award-winning Church of the Customer blog, with more than 105,000 daily readers. A sought-after keynote speaker, her work has frequently been featured in the media, such as the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, BusinessWeek, and Advertising Age. She is an 11-year veteran of IBM, a Pittsburgh Steelers fanatic and resides in Austin, Texas.

Todd is the founder and CEO of Accidental Creative, a company that helps creative people and teams generate brilliant ideas. He regularly speaks and consults with companies, both large and small, about how to develop practices and systems that lead to everyday brilliance.

Todd’s work has been featured by Fast Company, Fortune, Forbes, HBR.org, US News & World Report, and many other major media outlets. 

Todd’s book, “The Accidental Creative: How To Be Brilliant at a Moment’s Notice” (published July 2011) offers strategies for how to thrive in the creative marketplace and has been called “one of the best books to date on how to structure your ideas, and manage the creative process and work that comes out of it” by Jack Covert, author of The 100 Best Business Books of All Time and founder of 800-CEO-READ.

David Meerman Scott is a marketing strategist, bestselling author of eight books including three international bestsellers, advisor to emerging companies, and a professional speaker on topics including marketing, leadership, and social media. He's an internationalist, having delivered presentations in 36 countries on six continents. 

David’s book “The New Rules of Marketing & PR” opened people’s eyes to the new realities of marketing and public relations on the Web. An international bestseller published in 26 languages from Bulgarian to Vietnamese, New Rules, now in its third edition, is a modern business classic. His newest book “Newsjacking” is getting tremendous buzz around the world. 

He is a recovering marketing VP for two U.S. publicly traded companies and was Asia marketing director for Knight-Ridder, at the time one of the world’s largest information companies. David serves as an advisor to emerging companies including HubSpot, Eloqua, VisibleGains, Speakerfile, GutCheck, and Newstex, as well as nonprofits including the Grateful Dead Archive at UC Santa Cruz and HeadCount. 

Check out David’s blog at www.WebInkNow.com and download his book "World Wide Rave: Creating Triggers that Get Millions of People to Spread Your Ideas and Share Your Stories," now completely free as a PDF (with no registration required) and on Kindle, iPad, Nook, and Kobo ebook readers. www.WorldWideRave.com

David Taylor is founder and Managing Partner of the brandgym, a network of senior brand coaches that help teams create a clear brand vision and the action plans to turn this into growth. Clients include Mars, Kraft, Unilever, T-Mobile, SAB Miller. 

David has been named one of the world’s 50 leading marketing thinkers. He is the author of six successful books on branding published by John Wiley: “Grow the Core,” “the brandgym” (1st and 2nd Edition), “Brand Vision,” “Brand Stretch” and “Where’s the Sausage” were all number 1 on Amazon’s branding books ranking.  He also writes brandgymblog.com, one of world’s top 60 marketing blogs.

David started his career in brand management with P&G before doing an MBA at INSEAD. He then started the Paris office of Added Value in 1993 and grew it to 50 people, leaving to create the brandgym in 2001, to spend more time on brand strategy, and less time bored in board meetings.

During his career in advertising, publishing, software, and the internet Michael Tchong has repeatedly demonstrated a unique ability to ride the latest waves.

As founder of four start-ups, Michael Tchong helped pioneer such sweeping changes as desktop publishing, personal information management, Internet research and online marketing.  His ability to identify emerging trends was refined during a career that began at some of Madison Avenue’s most creative ad agencies, including DDB and Chiat/Day, while his start-ups include MacWEEK and ICONOCAST.

Mr. Tchong leverages his expertise in marketing, media and technology to help audiences better grasp how massive waves, dubbed “ubertrends,” are reshaping society.  He does this by taking audiences on a spellbinding, roller-coaster tour through the “landscape of now,” revealing a host of opportunities these ubertrends offer.

A change management consultant, Michael Tchong motivates and inspires audiences by exploring innovative cross-disciplinary products and services that leverage market trends.  His transformational talks also show how brands are adapting to fast-moving changes in the consumer culture, with special emphasis on the world of social and mobile media. 

Mr. Tchong’s ability to decode the future, lead the U.K.’s The Daily Telegraph to label Michael “America’s most influential trendspotter.”  He has appeared in numerous publications and TV shows, including Access Hollywood, Advertising Age, Bloomberg TV, BusinessWeek, CNET, CNN, The Independent (U.K.), The New York Times, PBS, San Francisco Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal and Wired.

He is the author of “Trendscape 2004” and recently released the definitive social media resource, entitled “Social Engagement Marketing,” which provides an easy-to-navigate “user interface” to the rapidly changing world of social media, including marketing solutions and techniques offered.

Robbin Phillips gets out of bed each morning inspired by a single-minded focus: to make a positive, meaningful change in the world. 

As one of the founders and Courageous President of Brains on Fire, Robbin has recruited a highly talented team of kindred spirits committed to the belief that marketing has the power to truly touch lives. Having begun her career as a graphic designer, Robbin remains involved in the creative development of client identities, while tapping into her keen business sense to facilitate strategy.

Inspired by the power of purpose, passion and people, Robbin and her team rally daily to deliver innovative, impactful solutions that elevate and celebrate a diverse range of clients including Love146, Foundation Recovery Network, Bon Secours St. Francis Health System, BMW, DeVry University, GreenDot Public Schools, Fiskars Brands, Perception Kayaks, Ryobi Tools, Colonial Williamsburg, the National Center for Family Literacy and Best Buy.

During Robbin’s tenure, Brains on Fire has received numerous national awards including a GOLD EFFIE and the Word of Mouth Marketing Association’s WOMMIE Award. As co-author of the book “Brains on Fire; Igniting Powerful, Sustainable, World of Mouth Movements,” and a highly sought-after presenter, Robbin frequently hits the road to speak at conferences and private events around the country.  She has shared her insights on word of mouth marketing with groups big and small, including the Word of Mouth Marketing Association and the Association of National Advertisers.

Born in Israel and raised in El Paso, Texas, Ori Brafman has been a lifelong entrepreneur in business, government, and the nonprofit sector. His projects include launching healthy fast food restaurants, leading political and advocacy campaigns, and co-founding Courtroom Connect, a wireless network company. In 2001, Ori co-founded a network of more than 1000 CEOs working for peace and economic development projects. The network was supported by the likes of venture capitalist John Doerr and the Ford Foundation and has catalyzed projects in the Middle East, Africa, North America, Europe, and Asia. Most recently, Ori has facilitated a course at the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Ori’s latest book “The Chaos Imperative: How Chance and Disruption Increase Innovation, Effectiveness, and Success” (Crown Business, August 2013) shows how even the best and most efficient organizations, from Fortune 500 companies to today's US Army, benefit from allowing a little unstructured space and disruption into their planning and decision-making. 

Ori's first book, “The Starfish and the Spider: The Unstoppable Power of Leaderless Organizations” (Penguin Portfolio) was released in October 2006, and is currently in its 16th printing. Fast Company, Newsweek, and Kirkus Reports found the book to be rewarding, credible, and convincing. Klaus Schwab, founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, said, "as a result of reading “The Starfish and the Spider,” I proposed ten action points for my organization." Pierre Omidyar, founder and chairman of eBay, described the book as "compelling and important." And Jack Covert of 800CEO summed it up: "I love this book."

Ori wrote his second book, “Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior” (Doubleday, June 2008) with his brother, Rom. 

Ori has appeared on BBC, National Public Radio, Wall Street Journal/MarketWatch video, Fox News, CSPAN, AP Video, and National-Cable-Radio among others. He has presented before audiences at Microsoft, Amazon, Televisa, Stanford Business School, Harvard Business School, and many others.

Ori holds a BA in peace and conflict studies from UC Berkeley and an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Peter C. Skarzynski is Managing Partner and founder of ITC Business Group.  He advises large, global organizations on strategy, innovation and organizational change and is recognized as a leading expert in enabling organizational renewal and growth through innovation.  He has led and delivered client work in Asia, The Americas and Europe.

Before co-founding ITC, Peter was CEO, Chairman and a founding Director of Strategos, a firm initially Chaired and founded by Professor Gary Hamel.   A frequent corporate and conference speaker, he has also written thought pieces for The Wall Street Journal, CEO Magazine and The Drucker Foundation.  His best-selling book, “Innovation to the Core” (Harvard Business School Press, 2008) was the first to describe how large organizations can build and sustain a company-wide innovation capability.  

Peter holds a BA (with Special Honors) in Policy Studies and in Economics and an MBA in Finance and Marketing from The University of Chicago.

Tom Asacker has been teaching and inspiring organizations and entrepreneurs for over 20 years. World-class companies including Procter & Gamble, UPS, and G.E. have called on Tom to shake up their people, fill them with ideas and charge them with inspiration.

Often described as a catalyst and non-conformist and acclaimed for his no-nonsense style, Tom is the author of “Opportunity Screams,” A Little Less Conversation,” and “A Clear Eye for Branding,” groundbreaking books that redefine business for the new, customer-controlled economy. His first book, “Sandbox Wisdom,” a heartwarming story about a CEO’s search for meaning and success in the world of business and work, was a business bestseller in the U.S., and was published internationally to rave reviews.

A popular speaker, Tom has lectured on innovation, leadership, the customer experience, and marketplace trends to corporate, association, and university audiences around the world. As an independent business consultant, he's advised start-up ventures, NPOs, and Fortune 500 companies on leadership, emerging trends and strategic brand development.

Asacker brings a breadth of business development, marketing, management and operational expertise from prior management posts at G.E., as well as from his entrepreneurial experience as co-founder and President of a high-tech medical device company.

He is a recipient of the George Land Innovator of the Year Award; he holds medical patents and product design awards; and he is recognized by Inc. Magazine, MIT, and the Young Entrepreneurs' Organization as a past member of their "Birthing of Giants" entrepreneurial executive leadership program. Tom holds degrees in Economics and Business Management, and lives in the great Northeast. Visit acleareye.com to learn more.

Rolf Wulfsberg likes keeping it simple. As Global Director of Quantitative Research for Siegel+Gale, that means leading the charge in mining complex data for what’s insightful, powerful, and true. Whether constructing complex statistical models of how people make decisions or testing names, logos or brand strategies, Rolf takes pride in communicating methods and results in terms that non-statisticians can understand and appreciate.

Rolf is the author of Fact-Based Branding in the Real World: A Simple Survival Guide for CMOs and Brand Managers, which touts simplicity as the key to understanding and utilizing quantitative research. In the book, Rolf discusses predictive marketing, which enables businesses to figure out where to invest and then determine how to make viable gains on their competitors. He also provides strategies to acquire and retain customers—critical to any organization. 

With a career spanning more than 40 years, Rolf is a frequent speaker at professional conferences and has served as an expert witness before both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. He brings tremendous depth of experience to bear on each new client project, and has led engagements for Bank of America, CooperVision, Del Monte, Eaton Corporation, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, First Data Corporation, Florida State University, Halliburton, the Internal Revenue Service, LexisNexis, the Securities and Exchange Commission, Smurfit Stone, and many others in North America as well as many clients in Europe and Asia.

Before joining Siegel+Gale, Rolf served as executive vice president and managing director of Enterprise IG (now The Brand Union). Earlier, he was president of the Customer Research Division of Research International, where he oversaw clients in North America, Europe and Asia. He served as vice president of research for Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, and prior to that spent six years with Massachusetts consulting firm Abt Associates, Inc.

Rolf started his career in the Federal Government, first as a military officer at U.S. Coast Guard Headquarters in Washington, D.C., and later as assistant administrator of research and analysis at the National Center for Education Statistics, where he was a charter member of the U.S. government’s senior executive service.

He holds a PhD and an MA in statistics from American University in Washington, D.C. and a BA (summa cum laude) from Luther College in mathematics and economics. He is a former Rhodes candidate, Woodrow Wilson scholar and NCAA post-graduate scholar. 

David first learned the art of simplicity from a college history professor, who refused to read beyond the first three pages of any assignment his students turned in. "If you couldn't say it in three pages, it just wasn't worth saying," he recalls. David did more than just learn the lesson; he became a lifelong proponent of the power of a clear, credible, compelling story. "It's all about simplicity and surprise coming together. When you can distill an idea to its essence and then bring it to life in a new and unexpected way, that's strategic storytelling. And strategic storytelling is the starting point for helping organizations realize their full potential."

As Chief Strategy Officer, David applies that philosophy to his oversight of Siegel+Gale's strategic practice areas and activities. A noted authority in the corporate branding field, he has pioneered the notion of organizational purpose as an integral part of the brand development process. David believes that "giving employees an emotionally based reason to come to work every day, to make them feel part of something meaningful and larger than themselves, is the difference between good companies and great companies."

Under his leadership, Siegel+Gale recently expanded into China—the latest achievement in a career that includes terms as Co-Managing Director of the New York office and Group Director, Strategy. David continues to work on what he describes as "Big Think" engagements for clients including American Express, SAP, Motorola and HP. He writes and speaks regularly about organizational purpose, strategic differentiation and corporate values, and is regularly quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times and other major business publications.

Before coming to Siegel+Gale in 1998, David served as Executive Vice President, Global Account Director at BBDO in New York. Earlier, he worked at a number of prominent firms including Ogilvy & Mather, Dancer Fitzgerald Sample and Saatchi & Saatchi.

David received a BA with honors from Williams College. He lives in Summit, NJ, with his wife Sheila, three children, and one Goldendoodle. When he's not chasing after them, David spends his time training for marathons, and pursuing his real passion: "Playing piano in any club that's open after 2 a.m."