DAVID BERNE – HEAD JUROR
EVP, Chief Strategy Officer, ​RPA

David Berne is Executive Vice-President, Chief Strategy Officer at RPA in Santa Monica, California. In this capacity. Berne oversees Strategic Planning. Analytics & Insights and Behavioral Science in addition to RPA’s Integrated Strategy Teams. Berne has played a leading role in development of RPA’s most successful campaigns for Honda, Farmers Insurance, Apartments.com and more. In 2018, he oversaw the team winning a Gold Jay Chiat Award for Nonprofit with a campaign for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. The campaign was rooted in kidspeak as opposed to hospital speak. Berne is a winner of multiple Jay Chiat and Effie awards throughout his career.

Berne began in advertising working in the mailroom of W.B. Doner in Southfield Michigan. Yes, literally in the mailroom! He also produced tv/radio commercials for four years before turning to account planning. Currently, he is a member of the ANA DEIB Ethics Code Steering Committee. He has taught and judged AAAA Institute of Advanced Advertising Studies for over 10 years and has participated in various outreach programs to HBCUs and other educational institutions. Berne is a graduate of Boston University where he won the Philosophy Prize as outstanding undergraduate student.

NICK CHILDS – HEAD JUROR
Co-Founder, DIRT

Nick Childs is a co-founder and head of growth at DIRT, a consumer analytics company whose technology measures the critical changes in our bodies and brains that drive attention, relevance, and behavior to help clients place their most significant investments for growth.

Previously, as a creative leader seeking to bridge marketing silos -- advertising (Grey), PR (FleishmanHillard), and media (Initiative, Reprise) -- Childs made everything from Super Bowl spots to micro-campaigns across digital, experiential, mobile, search and more, and worked with some of the most notable brands in the world.

Beyond the ad world, Childs is an award-winning director, writer & producer of narrative and documentary films. And he has launched ground-breaking interactive, AR, and AI projects at Tribeca, Sundance and NYFF.

JON CUNNINGHAM – JURY CHAIR
EVP, Head of Strategic Planning, New York, Weber Shandwick

Jon Cunningham wanted to be a pilot, until his sister said he’d just watched Top Gun too many times. Instead, his first PR gig was handling paparazzi for a Princess Dianna appearance. He’s been flying by the seat of his pants ever since.

He now leads strategic planning at Weber Shandwick New York, having worked with some of the world’s best-known companies and brands, including AB InBev, Microsoft, Nike, P&G, Unilever, and Xbox.

Previously he was with MSL and Edelman in New York, and The Red Consultancy in London, which sent him across the Atlantic in 2007. He flew economy, not in the cockpit.

MELISSA HOCHMAN – HEAD JUROR
Group Director, Experience Strategy, DDB Corporate

Melissa Hochman is Group Director of Experience Strategy & Innovation at DDB, where she takes a multi-disciplinary approach to create audience-first, brand-building experiences. Prior, Hochman was VP, Digital Director at Saatchi, digital strategist at Ogilvy and communications planner/buyer at Optimedia. With 13 years of experience, she has helped create award-winning work for Goldfish, IBM, Pizza Hut, Women in Film, Invisalign and National Down syndrome Society. She’s passionate about finding overlap insights across brand, cultural and audience truths and using advertising to change perceptions.

KUMAR KANAGASABAPATHY – HEAD JUROR
Global Chief Strategy Officer, Rufus

Kumar Kanagasabapathy is the Global Chief Strategy Officer at Rufus, the team dedicated to the Amazon account at Initiative over 1000+ people strong.

At Rufus, Kumar has been vital in helping establish Strategy as an indispensable craft. He crafts tailor-made strategic solutions for over 10+ Amazon lines of business, ensuring their unique needs are met while pushing the boundaries of creative output.

Beyond Amazon, Kumar's experience spans a wide range of categories and renowned brands such as Adidas, Disney Channels Worldwide, NBC Universal, Target and EA Sports. His strategic work has not only had a business impact but has also won several awards such as Festival of Media, Creative Media Awards, Effies, Digiday and Webby awards.

Adjacent to his day job, Kumar is also deeply passionate about mentoring up-and-coming strategists, so as to diversify and strengthen the craft. He's also an active participant across several programs such as ARF and 4As and is always open to an exchange.

TIM MALEENY – HEAD JUROR
President & Chief Strategy Officer, Havas

Tim Maleeny is the Chief Strategy Officer for Havas North America and President of Havas New York, a global marketing and communications company.

The former Head of Strategy for Ogilvy North America, Tim is a true hybrid, having worked as a creative, account lead and strategist over the course of his agency career. He has worked at R/GA, Publicis, and held a variety of leadership roles at independent agencies, in addition to launching a new agency practice for Deloitte. And with a degree in computer science, he has a longstanding obsession with emerging technology and innovation.

Tim is known for pioneering a narrative approach to building brand platforms, which makes sense since he’s the bestselling author of six novels and multiple award-winning short stories. He’s very active across the marketing community, mentoring and connecting great people wherever he finds them. This is also his sixth year as a business mentor for Women inPower, the cross-sector fellowship sponsored by 92Y.

Tim lives in Tribeca with his wife, two daughters, and far too many books.

CHARLIE MCKITTRICK – HEAD JUROR
Chief Strategy Officer & Partner, Mother

Charlie is CSO and Managing Partner for Mother US, overseeing Mother’s strategy product across all offices, in addition to Mother Ventures and general big hairy client problem solving.

An accidental entrepreneur, Charlie ran his own design studio, produced independent feature films that competed at Sundance, and earned his MBA with summa cum laude honors in Finance and Marketing. Before Mother, Charlie worked at Ogilvy on brands like Motorola, UPS and Coke Zero (to name a few).

He has a wife, two kids, lives in Brooklyn and finds public radio pledge drives immensely calming.

MICHAEL MCNAMARA – HEAD JUROR
Managing Director, McKinney

Before it was called Havas, Michael McNamara started at Lally, McFarland & Pantello in 1998 and rose through the ranks of account services over 24 years at Havas. In 2015, McNamara was named Managing Director at Havas Life New York, overseeing roughly $30M in agency revenue. In 2017, McNamara led the launch of a new Havas agency, Havas Health Plus, focused on the digital experience for physicians and patients.

McNamara was then promoted to President in 2018 and led a renaissance for Havas Life Metro, launching new values and branding, returning the flagship agency to its original name, Havas Life New York, and overseeing sister agency Havas Life Chicago. In 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, McNamara partnered with Pfizer to launch the Pfizer COVID vaccine and Pfizer’s oral antiviral for COVID-19 Paxlovid one year later.

In February 2022, McNamara was hired as Managing Director to launch McKinney Health. The official launch of McKinney Health in June 2022 brought the agency’s culture, world-class creative, and social-first approach to the health and wellness category. McKinney Health drove over $12M in new business in its first six months as a practice and 45 new employees. In January 2023 McNamara was named a winner of the prestigious Medical, Marketing & Media (MM&M) Pinnacle Award. The Pinnacle Awards honor those who have made a significant impact on the health industry over their career and are still actively leading the industry. In March 2023 McNamara was one of the lead panelists at The Ad Age Wellness Revolution speaking about where wellness is going in a post-pandemic world.

LARA O'SHEA – HEAD JUROR
Chief Strategy Officer, Hudson Rouge

Lara O’Shea is chief strategy officer at Hudson Rouge, WPP’s integrated boutique luxury agency. Previously, she was Executive Strategy Director at VMLY&R; as part of their global strategic leadership team, she led thought leadership. She has led strategic engagements across wide-ranging clients across most verticals and types of strategy. For the past 12 years, she’s worked across a range of WPP agencies, including Ogilvy, Kantar, and Mindshare.

O’Shea also worked client-side - including brand management at Diageo, and as the first marketer at an award-winning startup. She holds a master’s degree in Geography from Cambridge University, and an MBA from London Business School & Haas, Berkeley.

KATE RUSH SHEEHY – HEAD JUROR
SVP, Strategy + Insights, GSD&M

Kate leads the strategy department at GSD&M — a group of thinkers, makers and “great question!”-askers who build First & Only brands like Southwest Airlines, Tyson, and Stanley. Kate joined GSD&M from Expedia Group where she led global brand strategy and advertising for Vrbo. Prior to that, she helped open R/GA Austin, where she led strategy and helped make Crocs cool again and launched Fossil into the wearables space. After college, Kate also spent time in Austin’s start-up world before getting back to using the Advertising degree she earned from the University of Texas at Austin.

TODD SUSSMAN – HEAD JUROR
Chief Strategy Officer, FCB NY

Todd steers the strategic vision at FCB New York for its full range of clients, including AB InBev, FDA Center for Tobacco Products, Haleon, MorningStar Farms and Spotify.

He began his career learning the value of 1:1 engagement by writing telemarketing scripts for brands like Sony and Xerox. He then “grew up” into digital strategy for brands like Intel and Diageo and eventually expanded into brand strategy with award-winning, creative-driven accounts like Canon and the NFL. All that is to say, Todd values the power of data to drive performance while simultaneously holding the strong belief that strategy is an outdoor sport – which means you have to get out into culture to truly understand why the world works the way it does. At the intersection of this evidence-based approach and empathetic cultural insights is the energy that unleashes the power of creativity.

Since taking on the role of CSO in 2018 — while he has played an integral role in FCB NY’s growth, helping the agency achieve an unprecedented YOY increase in revenue — Todd is most proud of the team he has built. A diverse group of smart, relentless, curious, lateral thinkers that bring unique perspectives and strategic solutions to their clients’ challenges.