Champions for Good
Champion for Good: Mike Durham
Peachjar is a platform that is revolutionizing the way students access community resources and important initiatives. Through their partnership with the Ad Council, Peachjar has extended the reach and impact of campaigns, providing parents and students with valuable information on a variety of topics. We had the opportunity to chat with Peachjar’s CEO and Founder Mike Durham to learn about the importance of accessible student resources, his focus on students’ mental health and emotional-wellbeing, and insights on how to beat a chess master.
April 15, 2024
Champion for Good: Kiron Chakraborty
Meet Kiron Chakraborty: the creative lead and director behind the latest round of videos produced in partnership with Upworthy, for our Belonging Begins With Us campaign. His passion for inclusivity and ensuring that diverse voices are heard has helped us produce creative that promotes a deeper sense of belonging throughout our nation.
July 18, 2023
Champion for Good: Denise Lee
Denise Lee is a volunteer spokesperson for the American Lung Association (ALA) and a lung cancer survivor. Denise recently worked with us as a spokesperson on our Lung Cancer Screening campaign. Ahead of World Cancer Day, we had the opportunity to chat with Denise about her experience as a survivor and advocate. She also shared her advice for those looking to spread awareness about issues they care about.
February 3, 2023
Champion for Good: Adama Kamara
Creative Theory Agency’s Adama Kamara served as the lead strategist for the latest round of creative from our Emergency Preparedness campaign, which is designed to reach Black communities that are often disproportionately impacted by natural disasters.
December 9, 2022
Champion for Good: Bradley Hunter
During his nearly fifteen years in the advertising industry, TikTok’s Bradley Hunter has worked in a myriad of roles from partnerships to sales to project management, and he has done so in roles at publishers, ad networks, ad tech companies and platforms. While at Google, he led industry partnerships with leading organizations, focused on driving impact in brand safety, measurement, DEI and advertising for social impact. He says it was his passion for engaging in these critical industry topics that led him to his current role as TikTok’s global head of brand safety and industry relations.
November 18, 2022
Champions for Good: Raphael and Dawn Rigaud
Raphael and Dawn Rigaud are co-founders of Rigaud Global Company (RGC), an innovative and comprehensive marketing communications firm specializing in government, social good and public health work. Raphael currently serves as CEO and Dawn as the president of RGC—and they are building a powerful team of graphic designers and content strategists.
September 22, 2022
Champion for Good: Lee Singletary
As the senior manager of brand and industry relations at Comcast Advertising, Lee Singletary has been a valuable partner on our Seize the Awkward campaign, and he played a key role in bringing our first attribution study to life. We talked to him about what inspires him, why talking about mental health is more important than ever, and the best advice he’s ever received.
July 11, 2022
Champions for Good: Stephanie Battaglino and Dr. Gennifer Herley
Dr. Gennifer Herley and Stephanie Battaglino are the founder and president of TransNewYork, an impactful, culture-shifting organization that aims to empower and enhance the lives of transgender, gender nonconforming and nonbinary individuals. TransNewYork directly supports the LGBTQ+ community through counseling and workforce readiness services, and they also advance workplace inclusion through corporate training programs around the country.
May 26, 2022
Champion for Good: Dr. Alfiee
Dr. Alfiee M. Breland-Noble (known professionally as Dr. Alfiee) is a pioneering psychologist, scientist, author and media contributor. As founder of The AAKOMA Project 501c3, she envisioned and built The AAKOMA Project into a thriving Woman of Color led, million-dollar mental health nonprofit.
April 28, 2022
Champion for Good: Fahad Khawaja
Fahad Khawaja is the founder of Hue, a community-centered 501c3 nonprofit organization built to amplify voices, increase visibility and pave career paths for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) talent—both by directly supporting that talent and by nurturing talent pipelines for employers. Hue’s recent report, Unsafe, Unheard, Unvalued: A State of Inequity, followed up on last year’s inaugural data to show that during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, BIPOC employees suffered job loss and financial hardship three times the rate of their white counterparts. We talked to Fahad about how and why he founded Hue, how its mission has evolved, and the best advice he has ever received.
April 11, 2022
Champion for Good: Dr. Regina Miranda
Dr. Regina Miranda is a professor of psychology at Hunter College, where she directs the Laboratory for the Study of Youth Cognition and Suicide, and she is also a faculty member in the doctoral program in health psychology and clinical science at The Graduate Center of the City University of New York. She cofounded and directs the Youth Suicide Research Consortium, which seeks to increase diversity in youth suicide research. As an advisor for the Ad Council’s Sound It Out campaign, Dr. Miranda is an expert voice that helps parents and caregivers have meaningful conversations about emotional wellbeing with their middle schoolers.
March 28, 2022
Champion for Good: Ashley Willson
After holding sales roles at The Wall Street Journal, Ashley Willson moved to Amazon Ads, where she is now a senior account executive who recently secured a first-of-its-kind partnership with the Ad Council on our iconic Love Has No Labels campaign. Ask “Alexa, what is love?” and you’ll now hear a variety of answers that reflect the campaign’s efforts to champion love and diversity in all forms.
February 3, 2022
Champion for Good: Andrew Horwitz
Four years ago, after stints at Wayfair and Criteo, Andrew Horwitz became an account manager at Pinterest, where he has worked with us on nearly 20 campaigns, including our work this year to address the rise in bias and hate crimes against the AAPI community. We sat down with him to get his advice on driving impact and how social media can be a force for good.
December 1, 2021
Champion for Good: Rebecca Murga
Rebecca Murga is a writer-producer-director and U.S. Army veteran who recently directed veteran-focused spots for two current Ad Council campaigns, End Family Fire and Caregiver Assistance, all while advocating for women and veterans through her work with AFI, Heart and Armor, Veterans in Media and Entertainment other programs. (Since August, she has also worked in extraction efforts in Afghanistan.)
November 16, 2021
Champion for Good: Deborah Riley Draper
As part of our ongoing COVID-19 Vaccine Education Initiative, director and producer Deborah Riley Draper recently worked with the Ad Council and JOY Collective to create a short-form documentary that highlights stories from descendants of the U.S. Public Health Services Syphilis Study at Tuskegee. Her film provides the opportunity for audiences to hear directly from the families impacted by the study and explores what current generations can learn from the experience to build confidence in public health within Black communities, especially as it relates to the COVID-19 vaccines.
September 10, 2021
Champion For Good: Julie Garner
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the partnership between the Ad Council and Project Yellow Light, an organization that combats distracted driving through student-created advertising. Distracted driving is deadly; according to data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 26,004 people died in crashes involving a distracted driver between 2012-2019. Our latest Champion for Good, Project Yellow Light founder Julie Garner, talked to us about her very personal reason for founding the organization, what she’s learned along the way, and why this particular moment—when many are returning to daily commutes and road travel—is so important for illuminating the road ahead.
August 12, 2021
Champion for Good: Gabrielle Shirdan
Our latest Champion for Good is Gabrielle Shirdan, the SVP group creative director at McCann, who recently partnered with us to launch Sound It Out, a powerful new campaign that uses the power of music to help young people talk about their mental health. As part of the campaign, kids discussed what they were going through with some of today’s most exciting musicians, who then turned their feelings into songs.
July 20, 2021
Champion for Good: Noopur Agarwal
Noopur Agarwal is the vice president of social impact for the MTV Entertainment Group. As part of her ongoing work around mental health, the Ad Council recently partnered with Noopur and her team on #AloneTogether, which launched in the early days of COVID-19, and we are currently working with her on her cross-industry mental health storytelling initiative that includes a Mental Health Media Guide providing best practices and evidence-based recommendations to support storytellers at any phase in the production process. We are also proud to work closely with Noopur and her team to launch Mental Health Action Day on May 20.
May 18, 2021
Champion for Good: Steven HT Wong
Steven HT Wong is the cofounder and co-CEO of Ready State, the marketing and communications committee chair at the 1990 Institute, and a valued Ad Council partner, most notably for his work on our “Fight the Virus. Fight the Bias,” which directly addresses the rise in anti-Asian racism during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read on to learn more about Steven’s work, his thoughts on what brands should be doing to combat the rise in anti-Asian racism, and his advice for creating a meaningful life and career.
April 9, 2021
Champion for Good: Ramone Hulet
Over the last year, creative producer and friend of the Ad Council Ramone Hulet has kept busy on projects like the forthcoming film Candyman and developing engaging ads in partnership with Amazon, Kingsford and Nike.
January 28, 2021
Champions for Good: Nate Nichols and Steffi Behringer
Nate Nichols, founder and creative director of Palette Group, and Steffi Behringer, partner and executive producer at the agency, recently co-founded Allyship and Action, which hosted a virtual two-day summit in October that was focused on dismantling systemic racism in the advertising industry. That summit was only the first step. We talked to Nate and Steffi about the industry changes they saw (and didn’t see) in 2020, and what the next steps are for 2021.
December 18, 2020
Champion for Good: PJ Pereira
As Co-Founder and Creative Chairman of Pereira O’Dell, PJ Pereira is committed to using his skills and relationships to make a positive impact on the world. In his five years as an Ad Council Board member, PJ and Pereira O’Dell have created work for a range of Ad Council campaigns including Texting and Driving Prevention, Recycling and Coronavirus Response.
December 3, 2020
Champion for Good: Abby Hamilton
As Senior Vice President of People Development at LiveIntent, Abby Hamilton works to create cutting-edge talent programs with a digital-first mindset. Her critical HR work helps to fuel LiveIntent’s lasting partnership on numerous Ad Council campaigns, including Coronavirus Response, Love Has No Labels and Autism Awareness. A leader in the email marketing space, the organization works to place Ad Council campaigns alongside trusted content within email newsletters from thousands of publishers.
November 16, 2020
Champion for Good: Elliot Lum
As the senior vice president of talent strategy and program development at the ANA Educational Foundation, which aims to educate and inspire the next generation of advertising talent, Elliot Lum draws on a 20-year marketing background that includes working as a brand manager for Colgate and as head of partnerships for Columbia Records. This summer, Elliot was a critical partner on our “Fight the Virus, Fight the Bias” campaign, which addresses the rise in anti-Asian racism during the COVID-19 pandemic. We talked to Elliot about what he’s learned from his career—and from 2020.
October 21, 2020
Champion for Good: Alex Levin, Founding Partner and Director of Strategy at L+R
Alex Levin is a founding partner and Director of Strategy at L+R, an international digital design studio and brand strategy consulting firm based in Brooklyn. He has served on the Ad Council’s UX Committee since 2017, during which time he has guided discussions to fine-tune the websites of several of our campaigns, including Alzheimer’s Awareness, Love Has No Labels, Youth Vaping Prevention and Seize the Awkward.
September 16, 2020
Champion for Good: Kyle Wong, CEO of Pixlee
Kyle Wong is the CEO of the award-winning UGC and influencer marketing platform Pixlee, which has played an important role in our Love Has No Labels and She Can Stem campaigns by providing the technology that powers community submissions. Recently, Pixlee partnered on our #AloneTogether campaign, helping people stay connected while staying home to slow the spread of COVID-19. Kyle is also a member of the Ad Council’s Leadership Council.
August 13, 2020
She Runs It: Kathy Kayse Hosts In the Know VIP Fireside Chat with Donna Speciale
Earlier this month, She Runs It hosted a discussion between the Ad Council’s own Chief Media Partnerships Officer Kathy Kayse and TV ad exec Donna Speciale. In this illuminating talk, the two chatted about adapting to change, the impact of female leadership, and the lessons learned from two successful careers in media and advertising.
March 16, 2020
Interview: Gfycat’s John Dodini is a Champion for Good
John Dodini is Head of Business Development at Gfycat and our latest Champion for Good. Read on to learn about his favorite social good advertising campaigns, collaboration with the Ad Council and the advice he'd give to his younger self!
February 18, 2020
The State of the Direct-to-Consumer Revolution
This story, The State of the Direct-to-Consumer Revolution, was originally published by Ad Age for the Ad Council’s Purpose of Purpose Series.
January 28, 2020
Kahoot!'s Craig Narveson is Our Newest Champion for Good
Champion for Good, Craig Narveson of Kahoot! His passion for social good + advice for finding your own personal happiness will leave you inspired. Read on!
January 27, 2020
Champion for Good: FCB - Brandon Cooke
Brandon Cooke, of FCB, just wrapped helping us celebrate Smokey's 75th year, as a kid, he loved Smokey. Get to know this longtime Ad Council supporter!
January 14, 2020
Champion for Good: ViacomCBS's Adam Robinson
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January 3, 2020
Champion for Good: NGL Collective - David Chitel
David Chitel of NGL Collective our latest Champion for Good has been instrumental in aiding our High School Equivalency campaign. Get to know him!
December 18, 2019
Champion for Good: Hill Holliday's Rob Erskine
Champion for Good, Rob Erskine, at Hill Holliday worked on many Ad Council campaigns and is also a member of our UX Advisory committee. Get to know him!
December 11, 2019
Champion for Good: NowThis's Jackie Padilla
Champion for Good Jackie Padilla, of NowThis News, shares how she brings social good to her daily work. Learn more about her!
November 25, 2019
Purpose of Purpose Series: The Ad Council's Lisa Sherman Leads a Conversation on Driving Voter Turnout
This story, Purpose of Purpose Series: The Ad Council's Lisa Sherman Leads a Conversation on Driving Voter Turnout, was originally published on Ad Age.
November 8, 2019
Ad Council CEO Lisa Sherman: How my coming out of the 'corporate closet' sparked cultural change
This story, Lisa Sherman: How my coming out of the 'corporate closet' sparked cultural change, was originally published on NBC News: Know Your Value for National Coming Out Day on October 11th.
October 29, 2019
Creators For Good: Remi Cruz On Her Health Journey And Staying “Pretty Basic”
This story, “Creators For Good: Remi Cruz on Her Health Journey and Staying “Pretty Basic,” was originally published on Tubefilter.
October 9, 2019
Takeaways on Gender Equality from Advertising Week 2019
Amid the hustle and bustle of Advertising Week in New York City, there were several panels about gender equality and creating space for women at the top. The collective consensus? Women are using the movement-inducing hashtags and talking about the strides we’ve made, but the ultimate outcomes we’ve been requesting seem to not be appearing as fast as we’d like. Events like IAB’s Women Visionaries Town Halls are on a mission to change just that.
September 26, 2019
4 Considerations Before Your Brand Leans Into a Social Cause
sparks & honey, a tech-led cultural consultancy, analyzes culture every day in order to identify emerging shifts and help organizations navigate these changes. In doing so, over the last year, never before have we witnessed so many brands lean into social causes. As exciting as this has been, and despite brands' well-intentions, unfortunately not all have hit the mark.
September 6, 2019
Champion for Good: ATTN:'s Jane Tucker
Jane is in Brand Partnerships at ATTN: her team has been an integral part of championing the Ad Council's causes. Learn more about how Jane works with us!
September 4, 2019
Staying Fashion-Forward and Thrift Shopping at Goodwill With Kristen McAtee
This story, Creators For Good: Staying Fashion-Forward and Thrift Shopping With Kristen McAtee, was originally published on Tubefilter.
August 23, 2019
Champion for Good: PTTOW!'s Samantha Rabstein
Champion for Good Samantha Rabstein of PTTOW! talks about crafting messages for an influential audience and how to tackle the thought leadership industry.
August 22, 2019
How Marketers Can Create More Comprehensively Inclusive Strategies
This story, "How Marketers Can Create More Comprehensively Inclusive Strategies," was originally published in AdWeek.
August 20, 2019
75 Years in the Making: The Evolution of Smokey Bear
Today, the icon of the longest-running PSA (public service announcement) campaign in American history turns 75. To celebrate Smokey Bear’s impact on wildfire prevention, we’re taking a walk down memory lane. Read on to see some of Smokey Bear’s greatest moments and how his message and presence has evolved throughout the years.
August 9, 2019
Champion for Good: Bustle's Jason Wagenheim
Get to know our latest Champion for Good: Jason Wagenheim of Bustle. He worked closely on Ad Council’s End Family Fire campaign. See what he had to say!
August 8, 2019
Champion for Good: Brat TV's Will Granberry
Get to know our latest Champion for Good: Will Granberry a Brand Partnerships Manager at Brat, he partnered with us on Because of You campaign. Learn more!
July 10, 2019
Champion for Good: Luvy Delgado of Leviathan
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June 10, 2019
Champion for Good: Firefly's Gregory Stock
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May 29, 2019
Champion for Good: Publicis Sapient's Samantha Gale
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May 17, 2019
Champion for Good: Paula Cohen & Susan Horn Toffler
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April 24, 2019
Champion for Good: GIPHY's Sabrina Pacheco
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April 9, 2019
Champion for Good: Talia Bender Small
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March 28, 2019
Champion for Good: Xandr's Munya Choga
Champion for Good, Munya Choga of Xand has collaborated with us on 15 ad campaigns. From Shelter Pet Adoption to Autism Awareness. Get to know him here!
March 12, 2019
Champion for Good: Alpha's Linda Gramsch
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February 27, 2019