AdvancingDiversity.org, a collective of more than 40 advertising and media companies and organizations, today announced the 2022 inductees into the AdvancingDiversity.org Hall of Honors. Joining 25 prior inductees, stories of diverse leaders from 11 new companies and organizations will be featured throughout Advancing Diversity Week, October 17-20, an annual industry-wide outreach event that this year will focus on attracting Black talent to media and advertising professions. Unlike other traditionally underserved communities, the industry’s Black population has remained under 5%.
The four-day free virtual program will feature storytelling, interviews and panels to be streamed at MediaVillage.com, AdvancingDiversity.org, Ask-GenZ.com, BlackLeadersMatter.info, LGBTQAdvancing.com, MulticulturalInSites.com, TheAgeofAging.com, LegendsLeaders.org, WomenAdvancing.org, ThePool.biz, YouTube, Facebook and partner websites reaching predominantly Black communities.
The 2022 AdvancingDiversity.org Hall of Honors inductees are:
- Comcast Advertising: James Rooke, President; Barbara Cowan, Vice President, Talent & Inclusion; Loren Hudson, Chief Diversity Officer, Comcast Cable (on behalf of the DE&I employee board members of FreeWheel and Effectv)
- GroupM: Kirk McDonald, Chief Executive Officer, North America; Serena Anthony, Chief People Officer, North America; Lukeisha Paul, Head of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion, U.S.
- IPG Mediabrands: Eileen Kiernan, Global Chief Executive Officer; Hermon Ghermay,
- Global Chief Culture Officer
- IRTS Foundation (International Radio & Television Society): Joyce M. Tudryn, President and Chief Executive Officer
- Mastercard: Cheryl Guerin, Executive Vice President, Global Brand Strategy & Innovation
- NBCU: Gina LaRussa, Senior Vice President, Human Resources;Peter Blacker, Executive Vice President, Peacock Sales & Agency Partnerships, and Head of Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, Global Ad Sales; Kimberly King, Vice President, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
- R/GA: Angie Hannam, Executive Vice President, Global Chief Talent Officer; AJ Davies, Management Consultant, Culture and Operations
- Savannah State University: David Marshall, Ph.D., APR, Dean, College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, and Professor of Journalism and Mass Communications
- The One Club for Creativity: Kevin Swanepoel, Chief Executive Officer
- The Writers Lab: Elizabeth Kaiden and Nitza Wilon, Co-Founders
- UWG (UniWorld Group): Monique Nelson, Chair & Chief Executive Officer
The industry will acknowledge the 11 new inductees and prior inductees at an invitation-only event on October 19. The Advancing Diversity Hall of Honors was created in 2018 to recognize companies, organizations and individuals whose dedicated commitment to diversity has resulted in measurable success, proven to be good for their businesses, and been amplified as best practices for the industry.
Prior Advancing Diversity Hall of Honors inductees include P&G (Marc Pritchard), Unilever (Aline Santos), Budweiser (Ricardo Marquez), American Family Insurance (Sherina Smith), Verizon (Diego Scotti), Hershey Company (Jill Baskin), CITI (Tina Davis), Interpublic Group (Michael Roth), dentsu (Jacki Kelley), Publicis Media (Tim Jones), Association of National Advertisers (Bob Liodice and Elliot Lum), 4A’s (Marla Kaplowitz), Advertising Council (Lisa Sherman), Allen Media Group (Byron Allen), Walt Disney Television (Tim McNeal), Howard University School of Communications (Dean Gracie Lawson-Borders), The CW (Mark Pedowitz), Institute for Veteran and Military Families at Syracuse University (Dr. J. Michael Haynie), The Female Quotient (Shelley Zalis), Muslim Public Affairs Council (Sue Obeidi), Springboard Enterprises (Kay Koplovitz), 3% Solution (Kat Gordon) and MOBE (Yvette Moyo).
Jack Myers, who chairs AdvancingDiversity.org and has been a leading industry diversity activist for more than four decades, announced this year's Advancing Diversity Week focus on creating greater awareness of career opportunities in advertising-supported media among HBCU students, graduates and career placement offices. This year’s content is intended to reach, inform and generate job interest among Black communities.
"We need to recognize and be proactive in responding to the continued dramatic underrepresentation of Black employees in media and advertising professions, while representation of other traditionally underserved groups has increased and approached national averages," Myers commented. "While there are thousands of open jobs across a wide spectrum of roles and responsibilities, we’ve failed to effectively communicate these opportunities, especially to the Black community. It’s ironic that the communications business needs to be better at communicating. We’re taking on that mission through collaboration with HBCU organizations and media to amplify the voices of our diverse leaders."
The industry has established a Resume Submission Portal at MediaVillage.com and AdvancingDiversity.org where all interested individuals can share their interests and have the option to submit a resume for consideration by specific companies: https://week.advancingdiversity.org/registration.
Funds raised through sponsorship for Black Talent Outreach Week will support the organization’s 501c3 College Loan Relief Fund and Continuing Education Scholarships. For partnership opportunities, contact Robin Wallace at Robin@MediaVillage.com.
To learn more about Advancing Diversity Week and the year-round AdvancingDiversity.org programs, visit https://week.advancingdiversity.org/.
For press inquiries, contact Diane Stefani at Diane@MediaVillage.com. Follow @MediaVillageCom and @JackMyersBiz. Hashtags: #AdvancingDiversityHonors #AdvancingDiversityWeek