Attend our 2018 kickoff luncheon to find out what some of DFW’s marketing leaders consider to be the biggest challenges and opportunities facing marketers and their organizations over the coming year and beyond.
• What marketing activities will make the biggest impact on business in 2018?
• What marketing activities will decline or disappear?
• How will organizations be leveraging big data, AI and machine learning in marketing?
• Is the growing demand for voice assistants and wearables an opportunity or a challenge for marketers and how will they address it?
• How will companies address the Customer Experience (CX) gap and take their CX programs to the next level?
• How are companies managing media fragmentation and loss of trust in traditional media?
James Meredith is the SVP of Marketing and Communications for Cinemark, one of the world’s leading companies with locations in 41 US states and a $4B Fortune 1000 Company. James has 20+ years of global business experience in the retail and entertainment/leisure industries.. He has a proven track record of creating and executing strategies, initiatives and programs that drive revenue, profit and growth. James is a graduate of Baylor and SMU.
Chris is the head of Marketing and eCommerce for Sally Beauty which has over 2900 stores and is the world’s largest distributor of professional beauty supplies. He leads a team of 60+ marketing professionals responsible for brand planning, traditional and digital marketing strategy, creative, loyalty, CRM programs, social media, campaign projection, advanced customer analytics, digital UI/UX, content strategy and eCommerce operations.
Chris is a results-oriented marketing leader with a breadth of experience—from strategic planning through implementation—in marketing strategy, omni-channel integration, and communication that has proven to drive sales, build stronger brands, increase awareness, maximize the customer’s buying experience, and improve company and departmental efficiencies.
Ossa Fisher is the CMO & Deputy COO of Istation, an award-winning education technology (EdTech) company that serves over four million students across the world. Her extensive expertise in technology, marketing, and media enables her to provide a wealth of strategic thinking and operational experience to the organization.
Ossa joined Istation from Match Group, the global leader in online dating for such brands as Tinder and match.com, where she served as SVP of Strategy & Analytics. Earlier in her career, Ossa was a Partner in the Technology, Media & Telecom practice at Bain & Company. Over the course of nine years she worked in Bain’s San Francisco, Singapore and Dallas offices. She began her career as an Investment Banking Analyst at Goldman Sachs & Co.
She is active in her community, serving on the Board of Directors of Uplift Education, one of the largest not-for-profit charter school networks in Texas. She also serves as the President of the Yale Club of Dallas and as an advisor to Raise Your Hand Texas, an organization that focuses on identifying breakthrough ideas to improve education. She is a frequent contributor to both HuffPost and Forbes.
Ossa holds a BA in Economics from Yale University, an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, and an MA in Education from Stanford Graduate School of Education. She holds both Swedish and American citizenship and is fluent in both Swedish and English. Ossa is married with two daughters, ages nine and seven.
Nicki Purcell is serving as Chief Digital Officer and Senior Vice President of Consumer Sales. In her role, she leads the digital transformation for The Dallas Morning News to meet the challenges of a mobile-first world, delivering against the consumer product experience, growth in audience market share, including print and digital subscription sales.
Purcell is also responsible for leading the strategy to gain new forms of revenue across the digital landscape, including but not limited to affiliates programs, sponsorship of digital products, eCommerce platforms and member based recurring revenue. Based on years of experience in business management, Purcell develops 3rd party content partnerships and stewards investment decisions to compete with new forms of competition.
Prior to joining The Dallas Morning News in 2013, Purcell reported directly to the President of Nokia, Inc., leading the customer care organization and reverse logistics operations for North America. In this role, she drove programs that improved Nokia’s market position through cost, quality and customer satisfaction.
As part of the North American Leadership Team and an officer in the company, she provided direction to the strategy, including product ranging and distribution channels. Other leadership roles at Nokia included serving as Online Sales Director in which her team grew online revenue 121% year-over-year and Marketing Director when the company transitioned ecosystem brands.
Prior to Nokia, Purcell worked at marketing agencies as well as on the telecom network side. She received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Austin and completed graduate certificates from Columbia University, Harvard Business School and Southern Methodist University. She serves as a board member for Digital Content Next and Matter. She is married with 3 sons and lives in Dallas, Texas.
Professor of Practice, Southern Methodist University
Steve boasts a varied (and checkered) background in strategic business planning, marketing, communications and technology over the last 30 years. Steve is a Professor at Southern Methodist University (SMU), teaching digital communication and social media to both undergraduates and communication professionals and is an integral faculty member of the Digital Marketing Certificate www.smu.edu/digitalmarketing.
Steve is also Chairman and Chief Pathfinder of QuickSilver Interactive Group (QSIGroup.com), a 19-year-old interactive and web development firm based in Dallas, Texas. The company does everything from typical web development, SEO, content marketing, email and social media management to news and social media monitoring and analytics. QSI advises its clients on how best to utilize social and other digital media.