Keynote Speakers
Su Mathews Hale
CEO and Chief Creative Officer
Su Mathews Hale Design
Topic: The Refresh. The Evolution. The Revolution.
Thriving at the intersection of graphic design and brand strategy for over two decades, Su Mathews Hale effectively harnesses the power of design to solve even the most enigmatic business challenges. With her warm personality, unwavering composure and highly intuitive leadership style, she is lauded for being an inspiration to work with. Her thoughtfulness combined with her talents have attracted a breadth of notable clients, including eBay, Samsung, Citibank, Walmart, Disney, Hawaiian Airlines, Hyatt, Taco Bell and Hersey’s.
A former senior partner and creative director in design at Lippincott, Su spearheaded multiple global projects pushing the boundaries of brand creation and identity development. She served as creative director on the famed Walmart rebranding—a large-scale repositioning and revitalization engagement that contemporized the retail giant while maintaining its rich heritage. She also led her team to a refreshed brand identity of eBay that signaled strategic changes throughout eBay Marketplaces and a cleaner, more contemporary experience.
A frequent speaker and design judge, Su was featured as a “Symbol Master” by AIGA and was selected by Graphic Design USA as one of the 2013 “People to Watch.” Her work has been published in numerous publications and award programs. She is currently serving on the ArtCenter board of trustees and is past President Emeritus of AIGA, one of five women to hold the position in the organization’s 100-year history.
A New York transplant, Su has designed her business so that her beloved NYC requires her presence every few weeks. Not surprisingly, design is an enduring theme in her life and spills over to her living space where she keeps her son Chace’s stuffed animals artfully arranged by hue. A foodie and lover of fashion, Su combined the two to create a set of coffee mugs honoring her favorite shoe designers. A little moo with your Jimmy Choo? Thankfully her husband Brooks heartily embraces her endless design obsessions.
Stefan Mumaw
Director of Narrative Strategy
First Person
Topic: Chasing the Monster Idea
Stefan Mumaw is the Director of Narrative Strategy at First Person, a San Francisco headquartered story and experience design shop. He has authored six books, the most recent being Creative Boot Camp, a 30-day crash course on creativity. Previously, he authored Chasing the Monster Idea, co-authored Caffeine for the Creative Team and Caffeine for the Creative Mind with Wendy Lee Oldfield, as well as Redesigning Websites and Simple Websites. He has spoken at numerous creative industry gatherings over the years and been known to embarrass himself and those around him if given the opportunity.
Michael Donnelly
Director, Business Development
Elevate
Topic: The Digital Evolution: Syncing Your Brand Experience From Clicks to Bricks & Back Again
Michael Donnelly has been building memorable experiences since her 7th birthday party at Leaps n’ Bounds. While consulting for clients nationally on marketing initiatives, sales, sponsorship, events, operational strategy, increasing revenue, or as Founder of the FWD (For Women & Diversity) Collective, a community dedicated to professional inclusion, she carries the same tenacity as her 7y/o self, leading with the idea that “business gets done when people have fun.” Most recently Michael has taken on the role of Director Of Business Development at Elevate, a digital agency that believes great design has the power to transform the world of commerce. Michael’s expertise is marrying marketing, business development, operations, and in real life experiences/events with digital strategy to create meaningful impact for a company’s brand and bottom line.
Breakout Sessions
Monique Farmer
Director of District Communications
Omaha Public Schools
Topic: How Omaha Public Schools Get Their Messages Across – Without Breaking the Bank
Monique is a national award-winning, accredited communication/PR strategist with 18 years of experience in internal and externalcommunication, leader communication, issues management, reputation management, crisis communication, mediatraining and media relations.
Greg Daake
Principal & Creative Director
Daake
Topic: Bringing 10,000 people together as one.
Greg Daake is a senior brand consultant who has spent his 23-year career helping institutions with their brands. He is considered a thought leader in the field of institutional branding. He’s a regular speaker at industry events and has authored many works on the subject of rebranding. His company, Daake, is a national design company on a mission to help brands transform what is — to what could be.
Heather Cross
Design Program Manager
Facebook
Topic: Intro to Design Thinking
A former designer from Nebraska, Heather Cross now runs operations for Facebook’s Entertainment design team. Often the first in her role, Heather has scaled multiple design teams—from small startups to companies as large as Google. Heather believes the best products are built with empathy and diversity. She has lived in San Francisco for 7 years.
Jen Landis
Vice President and Executive Creative Director at KidGlov
Founder of Pincurl Girls
Topic: Starting up a Socially Responsible Company
Jen Landis is the Vice President Executive Creative Director at KidGlov, a group of boutique advertising agencies and the founder of Pincurl Girls, a socially responsible company with the mission of supporting and inspiring girls to confidently and courageously go after their dreams.
Jen is the current president of the Lincoln American Advertising Federation and past chair of an Arts and STEM girls summer camp called Camp Summergold. She recently joined the Advisory Board for Girls, Inc.
Last year, Jen received Lincoln’s Inspire Award for Excellence in Entrepreneurship for her work with Pincurl Girls at Nelson Mandela Elementary in Omaha. The Inspire Awards celebrate women who have truly excelled, not only in their professional lives, but also as leaders and role models.
Chana Messer
Adobe
Topic: Building Your Online Brand: How to Stand Out in a Crowd
As a designer, you produce new concepts, sketches, comps, and final artwork every day. Wouldn’t it be nice if you had a simple, painless way to share that work with the rest of the world. Behance is the leading online platform for showcasing and discovering creative work. Learn how easy it is to share work directly from your favorite Creative Cloud apps, build your presence, create an online portfolio, find an audience and get noticed.
ON Brand Diversity Panel
Lindsay Decker
Avenue Scholars Foundation
Lindsay Decker’s passion is centered around using empathy as a tool to relate with those around her. This is evident in her current position working in Business Outreach at Avenue Scholars Foundation, where she connects low-income students to internship opportunities that help them become career-ready. At one point in life, Lindsay thought empathy was her greatest weakness, but she discovered it was her greatest strength in the Marketing world. Before working at Avenue Scholars Foundation, Lindsay connected with campaign target audiences while working in Advertising, and managing digital campaigns at WoodmenLife.
Lindsay’s prior community leadership includes serving on the Urban League of Nebraska Young Professionals Leadership team, as well as an alumna of the Empowerment Network’s Redefine the Game Institute. She has a Bachelor’s in Communications with a major in Journalism and a concentration in Public Relations and Advertising from the University of Nebraska Omaha.
Outside of the office, Lindsay enjoys teaching yoga at the Lotus House of Yoga and at the Highlander.
Daryl Anderson
Creative Director
Clark Creative Group
Daryl Anderson is an award winning multidisciplinary creative director with over 20 years experience in art, design, branding and strategy. He graduated from Northwest Missouri State University and received a Bachelor of Fine Arts with emphasis in illustration and Graphic Design with a minor in advertising. Daryl’s career has included working in such industries as fashion and beauty, food and grocery, and health care. After honing skills in critical thinking, brand development and management from the inside out, he was nabbed by Clark Creative Group to serve as Creative Director. When he’s not collaborating with his creative team in stand-out award-winning marketing, he spends his time immersing himself in art and travel, or sometimes just outside playing in the dirt.
Quote to live by: “When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.” ― Paulo Coelho
Nannette Rodriguez
Associate Vice President for Marketing,
Brand and Communication
Metropolitan Community College
Nannette Rodríguez joined Metropolitan Community College in 2016, as the youngest member of the President’s Cabinet in the institution’s 45-year history. A veteran entrepreneur, advertising agency executive (Integer Midwest, VIVAMEDIA, Innova) and former Fortune 500 brand manager (Nationwide, Mutual of Omaha Bank), Rodríguez oversees the Office of Marketing, Brand and Communication, a group of 14 professionals responsible for all marketing and communications activities for the College. Together with her team, Rodríguez has modernized MCC marketing, resulting in increased brand awareness and enrollment, bucking the national attrition trend.
Rodríguez was born and raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, holds a BA in advertising from Bradley University, a MA in integrated marketing from Drake University and was selected as a 2019 National Community College Hispanic Council Fellow – a leadership incubator, producing top Hispanic leaders in community colleges nationwide. Rodríguez is an avid age group triathlete and Crossfit junkie. She is married to Tena Hahn-Rodríguez, is a parent to daughter Josephine and dog mom to Roxie and Chewie.
ON Brand Influencer Panel
Kim Reiner
Author and Marketing & Public Relations Director at the Omaha Children’s Museum
Oh My! Omaha & Omaha Children’s Museum
Since 2013, Kim Reiner has written Oh My! Omaha, a blog specializing in things to do in Omaha and family travel. She’s the Marketing & Public Relations Director at Omaha Children’s Museum and the author of one book, Lost Restaurants of Omaha.
Dennis Doerfl
Co-Founder
Fourstarzz Media
Dennis Doerfl is co-founder and CEO of Fourstarzz Media – a Lincoln, Nebraska based Marketing Tech company. From 2013 to 2016 Dennis served as Operations Director EMEA at Groupon (NASDAQ: GRPN) – a worldwide operating e-commerce marketplace with 50 million active users. Dennis created, lead and optimized a team of operations experts across 23 countries. Dennis pioneered business process outsourcing, a first for Groupon. Prior to that and for more than a decade, Dennis has worked for Accenture (NYSE: ACN) – a global consulting, technology and outsourcing company. As a member of the executive team, he successfully sold and delivered projects in Management Consulting, IT Integration, and Outsourcing throughout Europe, Asia and the North America. Dennis earned his MBA from Bayreuth University in Germany. At the University of Nebraska – Lincoln (USA) he was focusing on Organizational Behavior, Leadership, Strategy, Entrepreneurship, and General Management.
Greg Andersen
CEO
Bailey Lauerman
While Greg made his advertising career directing strategy at top agencies on the coasts, the Nebraska native is most at home helping brands connect with customers between the coasts as CEO at Bailey Lauerman. Greg challenges the agency to dig deeper and get to the core of what drives today’s consumer decision-making habits within the “Everything In-Between” (EIB). He led the charge in developing a social influencer network for the agency that helps us connect and better understand the culture of the EIB through the lens of those who live there.
Prior to BL, he served as both President of RAPP U.S. and Managing Director of RAPP Los Angeles, leading the U.S. office to network-leading growth. In 2015, RAPP Los Angeles was recognized for winning the most creative awards in its history, a reflection of Greg’s leadership in transforming the agency from a direct and CRM specialist to a creative company with deep data and technology capabilities. Prior to joining RAPP, Greg was CEO of BBH U.S., earning 4A’s Midsize Agency of the Year five out of the seven years of his tenure there. Greg also has served on the global board of Effie worldwide for 11 years. Greg spent his early career in account management and strategic planning at EURO RSCG, Merkley + Partners, and Lowe Worldwide.
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