AMA Leadership

Executive Team

Bennie F. Johnson – Chief Executive Officer

Bennie F. Johnson is the Chief Executive Officer of the American Marketing Association. AMA is the largest community-based marketing association in the world, trusted by marketing and sales professionals to help them discover industry trends. AMA’s community of local chapters spans more than 70 cities and 320 college campuses throughout North America. AMA is home to award-winning content, PCM® professional certification, five premiere academic journals, and industry-leading live and virtual training events.

He most recently served as the Executive Director of AIGA, the largest professional association for design. AIGA grows the power of design as a professional craft, strategic advantage, business driver and catalyst for positive impact. While at AIGA, Bennie hosted the acclaimed Design Adjacent podcast and the design leadership fireside chat series from 2020 to 2022.

Currently, he serves on the Board of Overseers for Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies, as a Trustee of the Smithsonian Archives of American Art and is a former Board Chair of the Smithsonian’s Anacostia Community Museum. Bennie is also a special advisor to the People’s Graphic Design Archive.

Bennie thrives on the connections between marketing, technology, education and innovation. With experience in strategic and consumer marketing, brand management and innovation management, he is drawn to opportunities that allow him to lead and create new modes for business engagement. He has broad experience growing brands, businesses and organizations with a special focus on venture launch and brand relaunch business environments.

Bennie graduated from Yale University with a B.A. and from Columbia University’s School of Professional Studies with a M.S., Strategic Communications.

Jeremy Van Ek – Chief Operating Officer

Jeremy came to the AMA as Chief Operating Officer in 2016.

Jeremy has spent his 20+ year career in the marketing industry in roles that drive strategy, financial performance, digital transformation, people development and operational efficiency. His experience spans many different types of organizations: B2B and B2C; regional, national, and global; public, private, and non-profit. He’s had the pleasure of successfully managing the good, the bad and the ugly: high-growth and severe retrenchment business cycles, mergers and acquisitions, digital transformation, exit strategies, change leadership, global process evolution, and being cash-strapped to cash-flush and everything in between.

As COO of the AMA, Jeremy has primary responsibility for the execution, enablement and development of all finance, operations and technology within the organization, including but not limited to:

Optimizing performance
Delivering significant cost efficiencies
Executing transformational or change management projects
Discovering and supporting growth opportunities for the business
Ensuring effective governance and risk management
Developing and implementing financing and M&A strategies
Accountability to the Board of Directors for the integrity of all finance and business operations
Managing functional departments, including Accounting and Finance, Human Resources, Business and Information Technology, Project Management and Office Administration.

Adara Bowen – Executive Vice President, Growth and Strategy

Prior to her current role, Adara was a champion for the launch and rollout of the AMA brand across its global support center, 70+ professional chapters and 350+ collegiate chapters. She also played a strategic role in the association’s recent technology transformation.

Adara is no stranger to brand transformation. Prior to the AMA, she worked across account management, brand strategy, business development and marketing at well-known branding firms Landor and Kaleidoscope. She has contributed to delivering and winning work for companies like Procter & Gamble, Kraft Heinz, Kohler, Dow, ConAgra, Newell Brands, Elmer’s, Bell’s Brewery, Fairlife, Hospira, Delhaize America and others.

Matt Weingarden – Senior Vice President, Communities and Journals

A fan of AMA and Marketing history, Matt Weingarden appreciates the tradition, passion and innovative spirit that are hallmarks of the AMA’s three broad communities and four journals. As Vice President, Communities & Journals, Matt is grateful to support the AMA’s network of community leaders and get-it-done volunteers. Since joining the AMA, Matt helped reenergize the academic community and led a journal production transformation in partnership with SAGE Publishing.

Matt has worked in volunteer management and marketing roles at internationally recognized universities, traditional membership associations and municipal government. If you know any AMA trivia, please share it by emailing mweingarden@ama.org.

Julie Schnidman – Vice President, Alliances

Julie has always believed in the power of partnerships to create transformational change. As Vice President of the Alliances team, Julie leads the advertising and sponsorship efforts of the AMA, ensuring that our B2B partners find the right platform to share their unique solutions with our engaged audience of marketers. She is also grateful to oversee the AMA Foundation, which celebrates marketers who have made an impact in their community and supports the next generation of marketing leaders.

Prior to her work at the AMA, Julie served in business development, grants administration and client services roles within corporate and nonprofit organizations.

Molly Soat – Vice President, Professional Development

As the Vice President of Professional Development, Molly oversees a team of production and programming experts that strategize, curate and create experiences to drive employable skills and personal growth for our marketing community. In her eight-year tenure at the AMA, Molly has served in creative and leadership roles for the AMA’s practitioner publication, Marketing News.

Prior to her work at the AMA, Molly was the editor in charge of magazines spanning business and architectural design verticals. She’s always looking for good book recommendations, and can be reached at msoat@ama.org.

Charles Wiggins – Vice President, Technology

A technology transformation evangelist, Charles has continuously evolved how the AMA, its customers, communities and partners utilize and interact with digital experiences. By collaboratively working with AMA key stakeholders over his ten-year tenure, Charles and his teams have delivered updated and innovative technology that has and will continue to enable the AMA to drive its strategic goals and mission forward well into the future.

Prior to his time at the AMA, Charles held various technologist roles in the fields of marketing and advertising, data analytics, finance and health care.

2022-23 Board of Directors

The AMA Board of Directors is a group of volunteer leaders who are impactful visionaries in marketing. They provide insight and guidance as the AMA works to become the essential community for marketers.

Lisa Bowman – Chairperson

Term: 7/1/2021 – 6/30/2025

Lisa Bowman is the founder and Chief Mojo Officer (CMO) of Marketing Mojo. She most recently served as United Way Worldwide’s Chief Marketing Officer leading the organization’s efforts to create, develop and implement global marketing strategies highlighting the organization’s image and 130-year history of galvanizing donors, advocates, volunteers and workplace partners to fight for the health, education, and financial stability of every person in every community.

She joined United Way Worldwide from a 15-year career at UPS. Lisa began her career with UPS in 2000 as Vice President of Market Development for UPS e-Ventures, the company’s dot-com incubator. In subsequent senior-level marketing roles with the logistics company, she led several high-profile marketing initiatives designed to transform UPS from its historical position as a business-to-business entity into a business-to-business-to-consumer entity.

Following UPS’ 2001 acquisition of the former Mail Boxes, Etc. network of nearly 4,000 franchised locations, Lisa led the integration and re-branding to The UPS Store™. In 2009, she developed and launched UPS Direct-to-Door, a co-op media product intended to compete with direct mail. She then took a role in The UPS Foundation, where as part of her $80 million social investment portfolio she also oversaw the transportation company’s United Way campaign.

Target Marketing Magazine recognized Lisa as their Marketer of the Year in December 2019. She was also honored by the American Marketing Association as their 2017 Non-Profit Marketer of the Year. Her work has received numerous awards inclusive of the Harvey Communications Awards, multiple Gold Stevie® Awards, multiple PRNews Awards, and multiple Gold MarComm awards. The PSA campaign she launched on behalf of United Way in her inaugural year was recognized as PSA of the Year by PRNews. Under her leadership, United Way’s research team also received a DigitalEdge 50 Award for PerformanceLink; the organization’s first Business Intelligence tool.

Lisa holds a B.A. in Marketing from Columbia and has completed executive education at Emory University’s Goizueta School of Business.

Mike Brady – Chairperson-Elect

Term: 7/1/2022 – 6/30/2026

Michael (“Mike”) Brady is the Bob Sasser Professor and director of the Rockwood School of Marketing at Florida State University. He is also an affiliated faculty member or honorary professor at six universities around the world. Mike’s primary research interest lies at the intersection of customers and employees in frontline service transactions. He has published articles in many top scholarly journals, and his research articles have been cited over 30,000 times to date.

Mike has won numerous awards for research, teaching, and service, including the Christopher Lovelock Career Contributions to the Service Discipline Award. He is past president of the AMA Academic Council and a current member of the AMA Board of Directors. Mike is an editorial review board member for Journal of Marketing, area editor for Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science and just completed a four-year term as Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Service Research.

Robin Tooms – Secretary

Term: 7/1/2023 – 6/30/2027

Robin Tooms has spent her 20+-year professional career ascending from a variety of roles – from creative and design, to leading strategy for clients and serving as a virtual CMO, to an in-house CMO for a leading financial institution. As an innovative marketer, she has deep expertise in areas including B2B, corporate and product branding, digital marketing and marketing automation, and integrated brand and marketing strategies. Over the years, she has gained a reputation for driving initiatives that capture millions of dollars in brand value and new revenue opportunities.

Tooms firmly believes that everyone has a responsibility to support the community that helped their personal and professional success. Her mission has been twofold: create awareness and value for our design and marketing communities, and to support the organizations and students that will shape the next generation of professionals. To do this, she regularly volunteers for board and leadership positions with organizations, including the American Marketing Association (AMA).

She holds an MBA with a concentration in Marketing Management from Rice University, in addition to a BFA in Graphic Communications from the University of Houston.

Kevin Bradford – Immediate Past-Chairperson

Term: 7/1/2021 – 6/30/2024

Kevin D. Bradford is a teaching professor of marketing at the University of California, Irvine and has been at UCI for one and one-half years. Previous to UCI, Professor Bradford was a professor at the University of Notre Dame for 17 years.

He conducts research on developing an understanding of significant issues within the marketing system and its relationship to society. This system can be viewed as consisting of three sets of actors – marketers, customers, and public policymakers. To this point his work has centered on all three; the marketing domain (e.g., salespeople and the development of relationships), the customer domain (e.g., buyer-seller relationships), and public policy domain (e.g., firearm diversion). Thus, his research to date can be more specifically summarized in terms of three streams; the factors affecting salesperson performance in the development and maintenance of buyer seller relationships, the development of effective distribution channel relationships, and marketing’s impacts on society. Though the majority of his research is on the factors affecting the role of the salesperson in developing close buyer seller relationships, the stream of research mentioned last (marketing’s impact on society) is predicated, mostly, on the factors affecting the leakage of firearms into criminal markets in the United States.

Kevin received an “Excellence in Sales Scholarship Award” from the American Marketing Association’s special interest group supporting research in the selling and sales management. He also received the honorable mention award for the “Best Paper Contributing to Theory and Practice to Retail Marketing”.

Kevin teaches numerous different topics across the marketing spectrum at UCI; marketing research, sales management, digital marketing, advertising, and strategic marketing.

Kevin received his B.A. from the University of Northern Iowa, His M.B.A. from the University of Notre Dame, and his Ph.D. from the University of Florida.

Jeff Lupinacci – Treasurer

Term: 7/1/2023 – 6/30/2026

Jeff Lupinacci is a diverse and well-rounded financial executive. Jeff has extensive experience at Interpublic Group and Omnicom. And has held positions as the Global CFO of media, creative and public relations divisions with annual revenues exceeding $1.6 billion. He has led many M&A/Private Equity transactions in the US and in various international markets. In addition, Jeff has led many of the initiatives to dramatically improve profit margins while leading financial systems conversions and business transformation processes.

Jeff began his career at JP Morgan Chase & Co. and hold a Bachelor of Arts degree from Providence College.

Jeff currently lives in Manhattan, NY with his family.

Bob Leone

Term: 7/1/23 – 6/30/24

Professor Leone received a B. A. in Mathematics and an MBA from the University of Texas at Arlington and a Ph.D. in Marketing from Purdue University. Prior to joining TCU in 2008, Professor Leone was a Chaired Professor at The Ohio State University (1992 – 2008) and The University of Texas at Austin (1978 – 1992).

Professor Leone served as the Co-Editor of the Journal of Marketing, the premier broad-based academic journal in Marketing, from 2009-2011. Professor Leone is also the recipient of the 2010 Churchill Award given by the American Marketing Association for “Lifetime Achievement in the area of Marketing Research”. Professor Leone’s primary research interests involve investigating the effects of advertising, price and promotion on market performance, branding and brand equity, and developing marketing metrics to help guide strategic decisions. He has written extensively in this area and has published in such journals as the Harvard Business Review, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, Journal of the American Statistical Association, Management Science, Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Retailing, and Operations Research.

Professor Leone’s teaching interests are in the areas of Marketing Management and Strategy, Marketing Research, and Customer Relationship Management. He has taught courses at the undergraduate, MBA, and Ph.D. levels, as well as various modules in Executive Education programs. Professor Leone has won a number of teaching awards including the 2014 Outstanding Elective Professor Award from the Neeley School of Business, the 2005 Outstanding Elective Professor award from the MBA students at Ohio State University, the 2006 Fisher College of Business Pace Setters Graduate Teaching Award, and the 2004, 2005 and 2006 Outstanding Marketing Elective award given by the MBA students at Ohio State. Professor Leone has done extensive teaching in Executive Education Programs for universities as well as companies. Professor Leone is also an active consultant and has worked for a wide range of domestic and global companies including Alliance Data Systems, Eli Lilly, Limited, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Procter and Gamble, Samsung, and Sears.

Professor Leone is involved in a number of professional activities. He is a frequent invited speaker at conferences sponsored by the American Marketing Association and the Marketing Science Institute. Professor Leone has served on the American Marketing Association’s Educator’s Council, he chaired the Second TIMS Marketing Science Conference, he has cochaired the American Marketing Association Summer Educator’s Conference, and he cochaired the 2011 American Marketing Association Doctoral Consortium. Professor Leone was also named the 1997 Central Ohio Educational Marketer of the Year by the Columbus Chapter of the American Marketing Association.

Peter Barber

Term: 7/1/2021 – 6/30/2024

Peter Barber is a transformative marketing and branding executive recognized for success in leading innovative and comprehensive marketing, communications and branding strategies. He has worked extensively in the higher education, nonprofit, franchising and retail marketing sectors. Peter is a past co-chair of the AMA Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education, where he led the volunteer planning committee in revamping the Symposium’s programming for greater appeal to senior decision-makers and incorporation of a stronger DEI focus. He is also a past chair of the AMA Nonprofit Marketing Conference, where he and the volunteer team organized the most highly attended event in the conference’s history.

Peter has worked for a number of prestigious marketing and advertising companies, including Lipman Hearne, DDB, Campbell Mithun, Budget Car & Truck Rental, and the Leo Burnett Company. His experience includes work with some of the most well-known brands in the country, including Procter & Gamble, Ace Hardware, Rutgers University, Weber Grills, Black & Decker and McDonald’s.

Peter currently serves as the Vice President of Marketing and Communications for Trout Unlimited, a conservation nonprofit working to protect and restore America’s coldwater streams and rivers. He is a graduate of Drake University and a resident of Durham, North Carolina.

Jessica Perry

Term: 7/1/2021 – 6/30/2024

An accomplished and groundbreaking leader in digital products, membership and subscription models, Jessica Perry has more than 25 years of experience directing online initiatives for major media operations and non-profits, bridging technology, content and change management to grow revenue and transform business operations.

As principal of Six Doors Media, Jessica is a consultant and advisor to organizations looking to reorganize legacy operations, set new cultural norms, strategies, customer engagement models and partnerships.

From 2014-2019, Jessica was Chief Digital Officer and head of publishing for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), the leading expert, convener and thought leader on issues impacting HR and today’s evolving workplaces. As CDO, Perry was responsible for advancing digital services transformation at SHRM, overseeing a 53-person staff and its award-winning news, content and creative services operations, while significantly enhancing digital revenue through innovative advertising and reseller relationships. During this time, she more than doubled online media revenues and website traffic and engagement, helping establish SHRM as a voice at large for workplace issues and the future of work. As acting CIO, she helped with transitional technology leadership, overseeing significant infrastructure upgrades.

From 2015-2019, Jessica served on the executive committee and as chairperson of the Software and Information Industry Association, the principal trade group and public policy representative for B2B content and data providers.

Earlier experience included senior management roles advancing the digital footprint for many leading B2C brands, including Atlantic Media’s National Journal, Conde Nast properties and The Wall Street Journal Online. Perry began her career laying the interactive future for Dow Jones, in positions spanning marketing, business development, product development and editorial.

Jessica has been on the advisory boards of early-stage SaaS and media companies. She has been a frequent speaker on the subject of digital media transformation and the future of work.

She is a trustee of the Princeton-Blairstown Center, which provides adventure-based social-emotional learning to low-income students, and has also been active on a volunteer basis in organizations that provide career training and counseling to the low-income unemployed. She was also a founding member of the New Jersey Coalition for Medical Marijuana.

Jessica holds Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in journalism from Northwestern University.

Tiffany White

Term: 7/1/2021 – 6/30/2024

Tiffany Barnett White is Associate Professor of Business Administration and Advertising and Bruce and Anne Strohm Faculty Fellow in the Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois. She serves as Academic Director of the Master of Science in Management program at Gies and Faculty Athletics Representative for the University of Illinois. She received a Ph.D. in marketing from Duke University and BS and MS degrees in Advertising from the University of Illinois.

Her research addresses affective and behavioral aspects of consumer-brand relationships with a particular emphasis on the drivers and outcomes of consumer (dis)trust. White has presented on the topic of branding and brand strategy to national and international audiences. Her research on the “Brand Connected Consumer” is a featured TEDx presentation. She is an award-winning teacher and is consistently featured on the University-wide list of faculty rated as excellent by their students.

White served as Secretary-Treasurer for the Society for Consumer Psychology, At-Large Director for the Association for Consumer Research and as ACR Co-Chair. She is a member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Consumer Psychology, the Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, and the Journal of Service Research.

Brian Fergemann

Term: 7/1/2022 – 6/30/2025

Brian Fergemann is Senior Counsel, Marketing and Intellectual Property, at McDonald’s Corporation, where he counsels the business on a wide range of legal issues related to advertising, marketing, social media engagement and intellectual property. Prior to joining McDonald’s in 2016, Brian was a Partner in the Advertising and Marketing practice group at the law firm of Winston & Strawn in Chicago, where his clients included both national advertisers and agencies. While at Winston & Strawn he was recognized by Chambers USA as an “Up and Coming” attorney in Illinois in the Media & Entertainment category and as a “Leading Lawyer” in the advertising and marketing category by Leading Lawyers magazine from 2014 to 2016.

Brian previously served as legal counsel to the Board of Directors of the Chicago Advertising Federation and in various roles on the Board of Directors for nonprofit organizations based in Chicago.

He holds a B.A. in International Relations and Political Theory from Michigan State.

Anders Gustafsson

Term: 7/1/2022 – 6/30/2025

Anders Gustafsson is a professor of marketing at BI The Norwegian Business School. Anders is also Distinguished Professorial Fellow at the University of Manchester’s Alliance Manchester Business School (AMBS). He is conducting research on customer satisfaction and loyalty, management of customer relationships, and consumer behavior. Anders has published articles in journals such as Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, and Journal of Consumer Research.

He is the current editor-in-chief for Journal of Business Research. Anders was the first international president for the American Marketing Association Academic Council and he is also a recipient of the Christopher Lovelock Career Contributions to the Services Discipline Award. Recently, he has joined The Sheth Foundation as a member of the board.

Rebecca Slotegraaf

Term: 7/1/2022 – 6/30/2025

Rebecca J. Slotegraaf is Professor of Marketing and Neal Gilliatt Chair in Marketing at the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University. Rebecca’s research focuses broadly on new product introduction and design, brand strength, and marketing assets and capabilities. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Product Innovation Management, and other top marketing and management journals.

Rebecca serves as an Area Editor for the Journal of Marketing and the Journal of Product Innovation Management and on the editorial review boards of JAMS, IJRM, and Journal of International Marketing. She has received several awards, including the Jagdish N. Sheth Award for best paper published in JAMS, the IU Trustees Teaching Award, and a Kelley School of Business Innovative Teaching Award.

She teaches new product development at the undergraduate, MBA, and Ph.D. levels.

Angela Brutsche

Term: 7/1/2023 – 6/30/2026

Angela Brutsché is Vice President of Marketing and Communications at Texas REALTORS®, an association representing more than 150,000 members. With extensive experience in the field of association management, Angela has consistently led initiatives that positively influence the communities she serves through education, advocacy and innovation. Prior to her current role, Angela worked to expand the reach of benefits to military veterans as Deputy Director of the Texas Veterans Land Board.

Her contributions to the marketing profession encompass a broad range of activities, including mentorship, public speaking and committee service. She is a past president of AMA Austin and the AMA Professional Chapters Council. In 2020, Angela was named AMA Chapter Volunteer of the Year.

She is a member of the McCoy College of Business Marketing Department Advisory Board at Texas State University and regularly volunteers for the Texas Society of Association Executives. Angela holds an MBA and is a Certified Association Executive (CAE).

Christine Mathers

Term: 7/1/2023 – 6/30/2026

Christine Mathers is Head of Marketing for Worldwide Oilfield Machine, a premium flow and pressure containment technology company in the energy sector. As part of the company’s leadership team, she provides strategic direction for WOM’s evolving global organization.

Prior to joining WOM, Christine was Vice President of Marketing and Communications for AFGlobal Corporation, an OEM and technology specialist for the oil and gas industry. In this role, Christine was responsible for positioning the company for growth and building a brand presence for the enterprise across multiple markets.

Christine joined AFGlobal from Baker Hughes where she served as Director of External Communications, leading all investor, crisis and media communications efforts. Prior to this role, she held escalating marketing and communication leadership positions for 20 years with Weatherford International.

Christine maintains strong professional affiliations. As a long-time member of the American Marketing Association, Christine currently serves as an honorary board member for AMA Houston. She previously served as director of the chapter’s CMO forums. At a national level, she previously led the AMA Professional Chapters Council, supporting more than 40 chapters. She began her AMA journey at a local level, ultimately serving as Chapter President for AMA Houston in 2005-06, for which Houston was named AMA’s Chapter of the Year.

Christine holds a master’s degree in marketing from the University of St. Thomas in Houston, Texas.

Eli Jones

Term: 7/1/2023 – 6/30/2026

Dr. Eli Jones is a Professor of Marketing, Lowry and Peggy Mays Eminent Scholar, and the former Dean of Mays Business School at his alma mater, Texas A&M University. He served as the Dean of three flagship business schools over 13 years. Dean of Mays Business School (2015-2021), Dean of the Sam M. Walton College of Business and holder of the Sam M. Walton Leadership Chair at the University of Arkansas (2012-2015), and as Dean of the E. J. Ourso College of Business and the E. J. Ourso Distinguished Professor of Business at Louisiana State University (2008-2012). Prior to becoming a dean, he was on the faculty at the University of Houston as an Assistant Professor, Associate Professor with tenure, Full Professor, Associate Dean for Executive Education Programs, Director of the Program for Excellence in Selling, and founding Executive Director of the Sales Excellence Institute at the University of Houston in the Bauer College of Business.

He has published sales and sales management research in top academic journals and is a co-author of three professional books, Selling ASAP: Art, Science, Agility, and Performance; Strategic Sales Leadership: Breakthrough Thinking for Breakthrough Results; and a forthcoming book, Making Differences Work. His solo-authored book, Run Toward Your Goliaths, is about his and his wife’s faith journey and is meant to encourage a new generation of leaders to persevere in spite of major obstacles. His academic publications have been cited more than 9,000 times, according to Google Scholar. He is the recipient of Excellence in Teaching awards on the university, national, and international levels having taught strategic selling, advanced professional selling, key accounts selling, sales leadership, and marketing strategy at the undergraduate, MBA levels and in executive education programs. Before becoming a professor, Jones worked in sales and sales management for three Fortune 500 global companies. He is currently on the boards of Invesco Funds, Insperity, First Financial Bank, and the American Marketing Association (AMA).

In 2016, the AMA Sales Special Interest Group awarded Dr. Jones the Lifetime Achievement Award for sustained contributions to the sales and sales management discipline. In 2021, he was honored with recognition by Savoy magazine as a “Most Influential Black Corporate Director” in business today, and the Texas A&M University Black Former Students honored him with the Aggie Impact Award for making a global impact in his community and profession. In 2022, AMA awarded Dr. Jones the prestigious AMA-Irwin-McGraw-Hill Distinguished Marketing Educator Award for distinguished service and outstanding contributions in marketing education. In the same year, the Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) awarded Dr. Jones its prestigious Distinguished Marketing Educator Award. His mission is to bridge academia and business, and, as evidence, his alma mater recognized Jones as an outstanding doctoral student alumnus in 2009 and an outstanding business alumnus in April 2022. He also is one of 12 recipients in the TAMU System to be awarded the Chancellor’s Medal for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, which was presented in the Spring of 2022.

Matt Witt

Term: 7/1/2023 – 6/30/2026

Matthew is a marketing and digital innovation executive, who has built and scaled global teams to drive creative transformation across many industries and businesses. As an agency leader, he focuses on the fusion of creativity with technology innovation and business strategy, to deliver effective, award-winning customer experiences that generate future value and empower his clients to compete and win in a 21st century global marketplace.

Matthew currently serves as the national lead for the Digital Experience capability of Deloitte Digital, a global, creative consultancy, where he has the privilege of working with a talented group of designers, strategists, engineers, and storytellers. Before assuming this role with the firm, Matt was the General Manager of the Deloitte Digital Chicago studio, tripling the size of that office during his tenure.

Prior to joining Deloitte, Matthew held the role of VP, Director of Creative Innovation at VMLY&R, where he helped drive the evolution and growth of the agency, delivering transformative campaigns and customer experiences for a variety of clients, across sectors that included financial services, hospitality, retail and commerce, and food and beverage. Following VMLY&R, Matt was the EVP of Brand Experiences at Chicago-based independent agency Trisect, where he transformed the agency into a data-powered creative company, and ultimately helped drive the agency to a successful acquisition by a private equity firm.

Matthew is also a member of the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, where he serves as a judge for the Webby Awards, and has recently been a mentor on behalf of Deloitte, for the Blackstone Launchpad program, coaching young entrepreneurs. He has authored thought leadership articles with publications that include Wired.com, Adobe’s CMO.com, and Digiday, and has been fortunate to have worked on projects that have been recognized by the SXSW Interactive Festival, the Effies, the Clios, the One Show, and many other festivals and creative organizations.

He holds a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Southern California, and a Bachelor of Arts from the College of William & Mary. Matt lives in Chicago with his wife Suzanne and two daughters, Catherine and Elizabeth.