Last summer, during the height of the pandemic lockdown, the 2020 edition of The List—the group of 30-odd marketing, advertising and media leaders, assembled by Ad Age in partnership with Facebook—declared its core mission to confront unconscious bias by working to address the diverse talent crisis in the industry. To accomplish this goal, the List announced the upcoming launch of a pilot mentorship program aimed at the mid-career BIPOC professionals who are most in need of guidance to help them progress to the executive level.
The List is partnering with Elevate—Facebook’s DE&I initiative to support Black and Latinx and Hispanic communities by providing access to capital and resources for business development, as well as providing space for Black voices and stories, and internally, building a more diverse and inclusive workplace—to build the online platform for the mentorship platform.
To promote the partnership, The List’s mentorship program and Elevate’s core mission—and amplify the importance of coming up with concrete and actionable solutions to the diversity crisis—Ad Age and Facebook are launching Generation Next, a new event series. This premiere episode will focus on the challenges of creating a truly diverse workforce, one in which diversity is reflected not just within the total workforce but at all levels up to and including the C-suite.
Host Judy Toland, VP and Head of Scaled Solutions, Global Business Marketing, at Facebook, will be joined by List member Walter Frye, VP of Global Brand Engagement at American Express, for a wide-ranging conversation. Ad Age Studio 30 Editor John Dioso will moderate. RSVP now to tune in.
Walter Frye is the Vice President of Global Brand Engagement and Design at American Express. In this role, he oversees the brand’s long-running Small Business Saturday and Shop Small programs, celebrity talent partnerships, the design of the cards and lounges, and a newly formed multicultural marketing team. In the last year, Frye helped American Express achieve its most successful Small Business Saturday on record. He also forged new brand partnerships with Lizzo, Issa Rae, and Lupita Nyong’o, and celebrated the opening of The Centurion Lounge at LAX and JFK airports, which his team designed.
Judy Toland is a transformational marketing C-suite executive, with an engineering foundation. She joined Facebook in July 2019 as Vice President, Head of Scaled Solutions, Global Business Marketing based in the Chicago office. This global role is responsible for all digital marketing, marketing analytics and attribution, marketing governance & operations, marketing technology, and business education and certifications for the Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger B2B brands. Judy has 26 years of experience across five industries (Technology, Chemicals, Automotive, Financial Services, and Fitness) and five Fortune 500 companies (Facebook, Monsanto, Ford Motor Company, Visteon Corporation, General Electric, & Wells Fargo).
John Dioso has been the Editor of Ad Age Studio 30, the creative content arm of Ad Age, since August 2018. Built on the same bedrock of journalistic integrity, Ad Age Studio 30 specializes in multichannel membership content for Ad Age subscribers, as well as custom and sponsored content that resonates with its audience. During his career, Dioso has overseen some of the most popular and celebrated media brands in the world, including Cosmopolitan, Rolling Stone, Glamour, Martha Stewart Living and Us Weekly. He was also the Editor of Rolling Stone’s best-selling special-interest publication “The Beatles: 100 Greatest Songs.”
For more information, please email aaevents@adage.com.
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Ad Age in partnership with Facebook