Keynotes and sessions will offer insight into how macro-level forces—particularly technological advances—are transforming the marketing landscape. We’ll spotlight real-world examples of disruption across the marketing mix—showcasing how brands are thinking differently about strategy, execution, and customer connection. Attendees will gain a clear view of how the field is evolving—and how today’s most forward-thinking companies are staying ahead of the curve by embracing disruption.
Agenda Overview
Thursday, October 23, 2025
12:30-4:00 pm
Challenge Check-in & Preliminary Round
4:00-5:30 pm
Conference Registration
4:30-5:30 pm
Welcome & Keynote #1: Karl Isaac, Chief Brand & Marketing Officer, Hi It’s Us
“You Are Disruption. Inspiring the disruptive marketer within you.”
In this opening keynote, Karl Isaac will inspire you to become a disruptive thinker and marketer. Drawing from brand transformations at Adobe, Microsoft, Apple, eBay, and with startups, Karl strips away the AI theater to get at what actually drives breakthrough work— and it isn’t technology, it isn’t even marketing. It’s you. Your willingness to live and thrive in the space between comfort and vulnerability. Between culture and corporations. Through real campaign examples that make people squirm and brands soar, he’ll show why spending millions on forgettable work is the real risk, and why teams that break convention are often the most open, optimistic, and opportunistic.
5:30-7:30 pm
Reception
Friday, October 24, 2025
7:00 am – 3:00 pm
Challenge Check-in & Conference Registration
8:00-10:00 am
Challenge Final Round
10:30 am – 12:05 pm
Mini Sessions:
1. Carrie Palin, CMO, Cisco
“Leading With Courage”
Join Carrie Palin, Chief Marketing Officer at Cisco, for an unfiltered conversation on how to lead with courage in the B2B landscape. A veteran of some of the world’s most innovativetechnology companies, including Splunk, Box, and IBM, Carrie will share the lessons learned from spearheading disruptive marketing initiatives that have challenged the status quo and transformed iconic brands.
In a world where B2B buyers now demand a consumer-grade experience, she will discuss why bravery is a marketer’s greatest asset and how to build a data-driven case for change. Beyond the enterprise, Carrie will also offer invaluable insights on the importance of cultivating a strong professional and personal brand—the one that exists outside of your company’s logo.
2. Ben O’Meara, Chief Brand Officer, Huckberry
“Huckberry “Dirt” – how inspired storytelling has built an adored brand and successful business.”
Founded in 2010 on the vision of being “equal parts store, magazine, and inspiration to help guys suck the marrow out of life”, Huckberry, a DTC men’s retailer, has created one of the most popular travel shows on the internet. Huckberry’s content strategy strikes a balance between aspiration and relatability, developing content around its own employees and ambassadors. In this talk, CMO Ben O’Meara will share how “Dirt” is building the Huckberry brand by both acquiring new customers and building customer loyalty through full-funnel storytelling.
3. Andrew Springate, CMO, Keurig Dr Pepper
“How Dr. Pepper disrupted Cola dominance to surpass Pepsi and challenge Coke in the US CSD Market.”
After years as a one-of-a-kind, but third place soft drink, Dr Pepper uniquely connected with consumers and roared past iconic cola brands to become the consumer preferred soft drink in America. Hear from Keurig Dr Pepper executive Andrew Springate about how they changed the game through disruptive innovation, highly impactful sports sponsorship and breakthrough advertising.
4. Charles Coristine, CEO, LesserEvil
“Disrupting snacks through authenticity, playfulness and uncompromising quality.”
Rooted in authenticity, playfulness, and uncompromising quality, LesserEvil has grown into one of the most disruptive brands in the natural food industry. For re-founder and CEO Charles Coristine, that disruption wasn’t about chasing gimmicks — it came from speaking to consumers in a way that was spiritually curious and authentic, while offering an unbeatable value proposition in a crowded market. Building LesserEvil became not only a business transformation but also a personal one, as Charles used the brand as a vehicle to align his work with his deeper values. By staying true to this vision, LesserEvil has built a loyal following and accelerated from a niche challenger to a national platform for conscious snacking. In his talk, Charles will share how authenticity, creative marketing, and product integrity fueled that growth — and why staying grounded in your core values is the ultimate disruptive strategy.
12:05-1:00 pm
Keynote #2: Tressie Lieberman, Global Chief Brand Officer, Starbucks
“How a Disruption Mindset is Charting new Growth at Starbucks.”
Newly appointed Starbucks Chief Brand Officer Tressie Lieberman will share how she is bringing her legendary “disruption mindset” to Starbucks as she and her team are shaping the future of this iconic brand and reclaiming its undisputed position as a premium lifestyle brand. She will share the disruptive leadership, cultural and marketing strategies and tactics behind this transformation. She will share real examples how they balance staying true to the core brand equity, but unlocking community engagement, innovation and cultural connections with speed and creativity.
1:00-2:00 pm
Awards Ceremony & Networking Lunch
Marketing Challenge
The McCombs Marketing Challenge allows teams of four 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 Zoom event on 10/15/25. Case presentations are due at 5pm on 10/22/25.
The first round of presentations takes place 10/23, followed by a final round is 10/24, 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
Registration Information
This event is for McCombs students, Marketing faculty, corporate sponsors and invited guests.
Accommodations
A block of hotel rooms has been reserved for Oct 22nd, 23rd & 24th, 2025 at the AT&T Executive Education and Conference Center.
Reservations can also be made using the contact information listed below. Please request the “McCombs Marketing Conference” group rate.
AT&T Hotel & Conference Center
(512) 404-3600
1900 University Avenue, Austin, TX 78705
Read Charles' Bio
Charles Coristine, CEO, Lesser Evil
Charles Coristine is the CEO of LesserEvil, a leader in clean, conscious snacking. Under his leadership, the company has become a national brand known for quality, authenticity, and purpose. A former Wall Street trader turned mindful entrepreneur, Charles believes building a business can also be a path to building yourself.
Read Andrew's Bio
Andrew Springate, CMO, Keurig Dr Pepper
Andrew Springate currently leads Strategic Initiatives for Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP). For the last eight years, he served as Chief Marketing Officer leading brand strategy, innovation, advertising, media, and sponsorships for a portfolio filled with 125+ iconic brands. He was the Company’s CMO since the formation of KDP in 2018, having previously led marketing at Dr Pepper Snapple Group. During his more than 20 years with the brands within the KDP portfolio, he has held both sales and marketing leadership roles. He led Dr Pepper sales as Senior Vice President and General Manager from 2013 to 2017, and, prior to that, had been Senior Vice President of Marketing, Innovation and Strategic Planning after progressing through various marketing roles. He began his career in sales at Frito-Lay and worked at the Coca-Cola Company as Brand Manager for Sprite. Andrew is Vice Chair of the Board of Directors at the American Beverage Association. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School
Read Tressie's Bio
Tressie Lieberman, Chief Global Brand Officer, Starbucks
Tressie Lieberman is an executive with over 20 years of experience reimagining the 20,000 ft. view of marketing strategy, brand transformation and product innovation on a national scale. She builds the muscle for businesses to move at the speed of culture and stay customer obsessed. She leverages a disruptor mindset to rethink and ignite brand engagement, define personalized experiences, and unlock unexpected new growth. Tressie creates unique, integrated strategies and campaigns that modernize brands and drive immediate sales. She architects high-performing teams of curious learners to identify future trends and launch bold initiatives that push industry standards and outperform expectations. Previous to Starbucks, Tressie has transformed marketing for brands such as Yahoo!, Chipotle, Snap Kitchen, and Taco Bell. She also attended the University of Texas at Austin.
Read Ben's Bio
Ben O’Meara, Chief Brand Officer, Huckberry
Ben O’Meara is the Chief Brand Offiicer at Huckberry, where he oversees the company’s creative, media, and brand marketing. As one of Huckberry’s early employees, he’s worn many hats driving product and marketing strategy over the last decade of the company’ growth. He has built a reputation for turning community and storytelling into a powerful brand-building tool for both new and existing customers. Most recently he and his team have spearheaded Huckberry’s strategy and investment into the brand’s explosive YouTube growth. Their award-winning episodic content has built a powerful ecosystem where content meets commerce.
Read Karl's Bio
Karl Isaac, Chief Brand & Marketing Officer, Hi, It’s Us
For over 25 years, Karl has been giving brands chiropractic adjustments while client-side at Microsoft, Adobe, Ebay, and Apple and agency-side at Razorfish and Landor. Now, as Founder of Hi It’s Us agency and as a Fractional Chief Brand and Marketing O icer he’s helping companies, from startups to iconic, define, grow and accelerate brands by better connecting to culture, embracing digital, and uniting through a common vision on a global scale. Karl has worked extensively with and in the world’s top advertising, brand, and design agencies and has built in-house agency teams and brand innovation labs. As a leading brand spokesperson, he has presented at SXSW (2x), DMEXCO, AIGA National Conference, Digiday, and Interbrand events and has been interviewed and published in Wall Street Journal, AdWeek, AdAge, Inc., Forrester, CMO.com and beyond. Karl holds an MBA from Duke University with focus on Marketing and Technology, Master of Architecture from UCLA with focus on Design, and BA from Hampshire College.
Read Carrie's Bio
Carrie Palin, CMO, Cisco
As the Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Cisco, Carrie leads the company’s multifaceted marketing practice focused on strengthening Cisco’s global brand and expanding worldwide demand for our technology solutions. Her career began at Dell where she spent more than sixteen years honing her craft in global go-to-market strategy, and leading various marketing organizations across the data center portfolio. She then served as Vice President of Marketing for IBM’s Cloud Data Services/Analytics Division before making a career pivot to high-growth SaaS companies in Silicon Valley. She became the first CMO at Box, and then the CMO at SendGrid (acquired soon after by Twilio). Most recently, she served as the CMO of Splunk where they endeavored into an entire corporate rebrand during a massive growth phase. She is passionate about Cisco’s mission of powering an inclusive future for all and takes pride in being an executive sponsor for women in technology. In addition to her role at Cisco, she serves on the Boards of NetApp and EDB. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in communications from Texas Christian University.
