TEXAS McCOMBS MARKETING CONFERENCE 2022

Christine Barton
Managing Director and Sr Partner, BCG

Christine's industry expertise is in consumer, beauty, retail, health and wellness, consumer services, and Private Equity. Her topic expertise is growth, transformation and pre-bankruptcy turnaround.

Christine has twenty-two years experience serving consumer, retail and services CEOs and executive teams. She is an expert in Private Equity and M&A with 100+ due diligences and vendor due diligences, multiple in beauty brands and retailers. She has spent six years in BCG's CEO Advisory practice serving CEOs and their direct reports, and researching CEO development topics.

Christine joined Boston Consulting Group fulltime after earning a law degree from Yale. She holds a Masters from Oxford University where she was a Rhodes Scholar, after she graduated from the University of Texas at Austin.

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Becky Bui
Sr Director, NA Small Business Sales, Meta

Becky Bui leads the North America Small Business Sales team at Meta. Her team helps millions of small businesses connect with their customers and grow through personalized advertising on Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger. Becky has a passion for using technology to help small businesses innovate. She spent the last 12 years building and leading organizations at both Amazon and Meta, across North America, Europe and the Middle East - all focused on guiding customers through digital transformation and growth. Becky has an MBA from the McCombs School of Business, a BS in Advertising from UT, and spent her early career consulting brands on advertising and marketing strategies.

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Ann Hand
Chairman & CEO, Super League Gaming

Ann Hand serves as CEO and Chairman of Super League Gaming. She brings to her current role over 25 years of experience as a market-facing executive across several industries, including consumer retail and sustainability.

Prior to joining Super League, Ann served as CEO of Project Frog, a venture-backed firm whose mission is to democratize healthy, inspired buildings that are better, faster, greener, and more affordable than traditional alternatives. Previously, she held a variety of senior executive positions with BP plc, including most notably Senior Vice President, Global Brand Marketing & Innovation where she oversaw the entire brand portfolio of B2C and B2B brands including BP, Arco, am/pm and Aral. Prior to that, she ran BP’s Global Liquefied Gas Business Unit that had $3B in annual revenue and over 3,000 employees worldwide.

Prior to BP plc, Ann worked at McDonald’s and Mobil Oil Corporations in retail development and operations.  Ms. Hand has received various recognitions including Goldman Sachs 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs, Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People, Fortune’s Top 10 Most Powerful Female Entrepreneurs and Ad Age’s Leading Women. 

Ms. Hand earned a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from DePauw University, an MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management, and completed executive education at Cambridge, Harvard and Stanford Universities. Having spent a significant part of her career abroad in China and the UK, she holds a dual US/UK citizenship, but is a proud Midwesterner at heart.

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Janet Lee
SVP & CMO, Mobile Experiences, Samsung

Currently heading up Marketing for the Mobile Experience Division at Samsung Electronics America, Janet Lee is an all-around marketer and brand strategist with demonstrated success in CPG, Beauty, and Consumer Electronics industries with roles in Global Marketing, NA Marketing, Brand Strategy, Business Development, Licensing and Product Planning.

With her diverse marketing experience from renowned  global companies including Mattel, Inc., Johnson & Johnson, L’Oreal USA and Elizabeth Arden, Janet has strong expertise in brand & product marketing, consumer research, content development, and advertising & media.

Janet is a seasoned people manager with a deep understanding of organizational behavior and passion for developing, coaching and mentoring talents. She has a proven track record in building from ground up top- notch marketing teams across functions including product marketing, creative services, media, influencer marketing and PR.

Janet holds an MBA from Kellogg School of Management and a BA in Philosophy from University of California, Los Angeles

Janet is married to Harmit Singh, her classmate from Kellogg School of Management and has two beautiful daughters, Saloni and Jia. 

In her down time, Janet enjoys running, and she is passionate about coffee and K-pop.

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Carl Loredo
Chief Marketing Officer, The Wendy's Company

Carl Loredo has served as Wendy’s U.S. Chief Marketing Officer since April 2019.  He joined the Wendy’s organization in 2016 and served as Vice President of Brand Marketing with oversight across brand strategy, product and creative development, advertising, media buying and social media programming.

Carl combines his passion for marketing with a love of storytelling to fearlessly ensure the Wendy’s brand stays a step above - and a step ahead - of its competitors. Every day, Carl channels his love of a good story to help make Wendy’s the most talked about brand in the world.  Together with his talented team, Carl defines success as delivering fans unique, differentiated and special experiences - in ways only Wendy’s can.

This mindset fueled the success of Wendy’s new Hot & Crispy Fries, the launch of a new daypart nationally for the first time in Wendy’s 50-year history with breakfast and a renewed focus on staying at the forefront of culture – earning Wendy’s the number two spot in the Branding category for Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies 2022 and propelling the QSR Queen to the number two hamburger chain in the country.

Prior to Wendy’s, Carl was Vice President of Account Service and ran the multicultural practice for The Marketing Arm with a focus on digital and shopper marketing strategy. He also served as Chief Marketing Officer of Craftmade International and held many leadership roles at PepsiCo.

In 2020, he was named to “Adweek 50,” an annual list honoring fifty leaders in marketing, tech and media who are doing standout work for their brands, and PRovoke’s “Innovator 25 in the Americas,” a yearly recognition celebrating remarkable innovators who are addressing the industry’s challenges with ingenuity and insight to make meaningful change.

Carl holds an M.B.A. in Marketing and a B.A. in Fine Arts from The University of Texas at Austin, where he also serves as a member of McCombs M.B.A. Advisory Board. Born and raised in Texas, Carl and his wife Kelley currently reside in Dublin, Ohio with their two children.  On family outings to Wendy’s, you can catch Carl placing his go-to Wendy’s order: the Big Bacon Classic and medium Hot & Crispy Fries.

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Sonya Gafsi Oblisk
Chief Marketing Officer, Whole Foods

Sonya Gafsi Oblisk is a seasoned business leader with nearly 20 years of experience in retail & consumer goods marketing and brand management. As Chief Marketing Officer, Sonya leads marketing, merchandising, communications, e-commerce, enterprise analytics and strategy for the company as well as oversees product management at Whole Foods Market. Sonya is passionate about putting the company’s customers in the center of all decision making, and advancing Whole Foods Market’s mission as a company through its product quality standards. Prior to joining Whole Foods Market, she held an eight-year tenure at Walmart where she most recently served as Vice President of Marketing for Sam’s Club.

Sonya earned a Master of Business Administration degree from The Anderson School at UCLA and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Emory University in Atlanta. She is a yoga enthusiast and an avid scuba diver. Sonya and her husband, Dave, enjoy traveling, cooking and walking the trails in Austin.

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Kristen Riggs
Chief Growth Officer, Hershey

Kristen Riggs oversees the Hershey Company's growth strategy, including consumer intelligence and analytics, enterprise strategy, M&A, M&A integration of Dots & Pretzels, Inc., media, brand strategy and creative development, innovation, and research and development.  Her focus is to accelerate future growth for the company, creating more occasions for consumers to connect to its beloved brands.

Kristen is a dynamic Hershey veteran with marketing, sales and commercial operations experience leading billion-dollar businesses across brand marketing and sales. She has a proven track record of transforming operations and cultures to drive growth and profitability. Her deep experience across the business enables her to lead integrated systems planning and identify the capabilities needed to advance the business. 

Kristen joined The Hershey Company in 2005 and has held a range of commercial leadership roles in brand marketing, shopper marketing, global marketing, sales, the Reese’s brand and was VP/GM of Brand Commercialization. 

Before joining Hershey, Kristen worked as an engineer for Samsung Semiconductor in Austin, Texas.  Kristen holds an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Kenan-Flagler Business School and a Bachelor of Science degree from Purdue University.

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Marissa Solis
SVP, Global Brand & Consumer Marketing, NFL

Marissa Solis is a magnetic business leader with over 25 years of marketing management, communications and sales experience in both the U.S. and Latin American markets.  Currently, Marissa leads all global brand and marketing initiatives for the National Football League including both traditional and digital media, in-stadium marketing, and social justice initiatives.  

A graduate of Georgetown University with a B.S. in International Economics and the University of Texas at Austin with an M.A. in Public Policy, she began her career in brand management at Procter & Gamble Latin America where she led marketing for brands like Ariel, Downy, and Pampers in Central America and the Caribbean.

Marissa spent a few years at Deloitte Consulting as a management consultant leading  change initiatives and communication consulting for Public Sector clients and also spent time as a political consultant, contributing to the communication strategies of key  campaigns in Texas and Mexico before taking a role in marketing at Pepsico’s Frito Lay North America Division in 2003.  During her 18-year tenure at Pepsico, Marissa led numerous brand marketing initiatives and national campaigns and held roles in shopper marketing and sales for key PepsiCo retail customers like Walmart, Target, and Costco.  She led Culinary Innovation and Marketing for Pepsico’s Food Service division where she launched a new line of Frozen Snacks for the company that sold over $100MM.  Ad Age recognized Marissa as a trailblazer in the She Runs It! awards for creating the new line of branded frozen snacks.  In 2017, Marissa led the creation of a cross functional Hispanic Business Unit – the first of its kind - winning Industry Recognition for work to engage Latinos in key brand initiatives.  She went on to lead marketing for brands at Frito Lay North America, including the coveted relationship with the NFL, and won several Reggies, Sports Clios, and a Grand Prix Cannes Lion for her work on Cheetos, Doritos and Tostitos brands.  In 2021 Marissa was recognized by Adweek as one of the Most Powerful Women in Sports for elevating the football watching occasion with the NFL and Frito Lay partnership.

Marissa serves on the Board of Directors of Consolidated Communications, a leading broadband and business communications provider serving wireless and wireline customers across rural and metro communities.  She also serves as a board member on the North Texas Chapter of the Make a Wish Foundation and The Melville Family Foundation, an organization dedicated to improving the lives of minority children in Dallas.  She has a third degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and resides in McKinney, Texas with her husband Juan and 16-year-old daughter Gabriela.

The McCombs Marketing Challenge allows teams of four first-year MBA and MS Marketing students to prepare presentations based on their analysis of a business case distributed the week prior to the challenge. The case will be released at a live event Wednesday evening, October 19. Case presentations are due at 5:00 pm on Wednesday, October 26.

The first round of presentations takes place Thursday afternoon, October 27, followed by a final round Friday morning, October 28, in which four teams participate. Corporate representatives will judge presentations detailing case analysis and recommendations. The winning team will be announced Friday during the conference. Challenge participants are expected to attend the full conference.

• Students assemble teams of four prior to registering
• Space is limited and spots are first come, first served. All members of a team must be registered individually to be guaranteed a spot. 
• Over $7,000 in cash and prizes
• Judges represent a wide range of companies

REGISTER HERE

This event is for McCombs students, Marketing faculty, corporate sponsors and invited guests.

A block of hotel rooms has been reserved for October 26, 27 & 28, 2022 at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center.

Click here to make your reservation online. Reservations can also be made using the contact information listed below. Please request the "McCombs Marketing Conference" group rate.

AT&T Hotel and Conference Center
512-404-3600
1900 University Avenue, Austin, TX 78705

http://www.meetattexas.com/hotel

There are additional hotels near the UT campus. Please contact these hotels directly to check availability.

AC Hotel by Marriott Austin
1901 San Antonio Street
Austin, TX 78705
https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/ausaw-ac-hotel-austin-university/overview/

Hampton Inn & Suites Austin @ The University/Capitol
1701 Lavaca Street Austin
Austin, TX 78701
https://www.hilton.com/en/hotels/ausuahx-hampton-suites-austin-at-the-university-capitol/

Hilton Garden Inn
301 West 17th Street
Austin, TX 78701
hgi.com