Brand Response Council
Forging the future of performance marketing.
The PDMI's Brand Response Council brings together media outlets, media agencies, and the clients both serve to build more powerful consensus and relationships across various mediums. The council serves as a visionary group, looking ahead to find the brightest marketers and marketing ideas working in the evolving media marketplace.
Council Members
Chairperson
Chris Foster
Modern Postcard
Vice President, New Business
760-535-8904
Chris Foster is vice president, new business at Modern Postcard, a national direct marketing company that services business of all sizes and in all markets. As a marketing and branding executive, he understands how to help any-sized business better position and brand themselves and tell their most authentic story to engage their audience. In addition to leading the creation and execution of new business strategies at Modern, he has taught brand strategy at UCSD Extension since 2009. Chris is a contributing author for TargetMarketing Magazine and NonProfitPro and has presented at numerous professional conferences nationally.
Doug Bognar
Apex Media Partners
Vice President, Sales and New Business
317-627-4191
Doug Bognar is vice president of sales and new business for Apex Media Partners Inc. He has spent virtually his entire 30-year career in the direct-to-consumer industry. He has been a media director/senior manager with a top-40 media buying agency as well as having held director-level sales positions at both rep firms and networks, responsible for eight-figure budgets. A seasoned, data-driven professional, Bognar has extensive experience developing direct-to-consumer networks and worked for several years building aggregated programmatic platforms. As vice president, he takes on growing the Apex Media portfolio of client-focused services, including short-form media buying, station representation, ad sales, and navigating the rapidly expanding and complex world of over-the-top (OTT) platforms.
Michaela Giovengo
Hulu
Vice President of Performance Marketing
847-924-0072
Michaela Giovengo is the vice president of performance marketing at Hulu, where she is responsible for leading the team focused on driving Hulu’s direct-to-consumer brand advertising revenue. Since joining Hulu in 2012, Giovengo has been instrumental in the development and growth of the Hulu performance marketing unit, which has tripled in size and has resulted in expansive revenue growth year-over-year. Prior to joining Hulu, she spent more than six years at NBCUniversal as an account executive across a number of the network properties, including USA, Oxygen, Bravo, and SyFy.
Ron Hadler
Red Door Interactive
Vice President, Data & Innovation
619-894-8283
Ron Hadler is vice president of data & innovation at Red Door Interactive, a fiercely independent marketing agency. As a marketing technologist, he brings software development, dev ops, data engineering, and data science to marketing disciplines ranging from business intelligence and web development to paid media and marketing analytics. Hadler also leads research and development at Red Door through organizational innovation contests focused on emerging technologies and thought leadership. In his offline life, he is a home chef, ceramicist, organic gardener, cheesemaker, and lives by the saying, “Wine is the nectar of the Gods.”
Kevin Hayes
American Target Network
Senior Vice President of Media Sales
646-794-4345
Kevin Hayes has headed up sales for American Target Network for the past 10 years, generating more than $100 million in sales. ATN provides advertisers and agencies with the opportunity to insert on premium cable, streaming, and broadcast properties for peak media and efficiency. Before joining ATN, Hayes sold sponsorships and advertising for the YES Network (Yankees Entertainment & Sports). Prior to YES, he worked at CBS in New York where he specialized in client partnerships. Hayes started his career in media selling “The Howard Stern Show.” When not working with ATN’s great clients, he can be seen working on his golf and tennis games and hitting the slopes in the winter.
Sean R. Kalub
Havas Edge
Vice President of Media
Sean R. Kalub is the vice president of media at Havas Edge where he leads a team of integrated performance marketers focused on driving efficient outcomes at scale. Havas Edge is part of the Edge Performance Network, which serves as the largest global performance marketing agency, with offerings in Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, and the Netherlands. Since joining Edge in 2009, Kalub has managed more than $1 billion in agency billings, working with brands such as DraftKings, Citibank, Casper, Tripadvisor, Monster Energy, and Bethesda Softworks. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business marketing from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. He lives in Orange County, Calif., with his wife, three kids, and an English lab.
Dan Kelly
DISH Media
Director
310-765-5221
Dan Kelly oversees general market and direct response sales efforts for our Central and West Coast based sales teams. He is charged with leveraging DISH Media’s entire suite of advertising offerings across DISH’s satellite and Sling TV properties. His teams are dedicated to elevating the brands’ presence at a market level, while simultaneously providing the latest advanced ad solutions to their clients. In his spare time, Kelly is an avid skier and youth sports coach. He earned a B.S. in marketing from Pennsylvania State University, and lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Penny, and their three children.
Maria Kennedy
Family Entertainment TV
Senior Vice President, National DR Sales
917-561-3190
Maria Kennedy is senior vice president of DR ad sales for Family Entertainment TV (FETV). A pioneer in the DRTV space, Kennedy ran the DR group at Discovery for nearly 16 years. She was a leader in rebrands and launches of TLC, Animal Planet, BBC America, Travel Channel, Investigation Discovery, OWN, AHC, and Destination America, among others. Under her leadership, Discovery was one of the first network groups to offer key sponsorship opportunities, syndicated series, cause marketing, and both quarterly and yearly packages to DR clients across all platforms. Kennedy was inducted into the Direct Response Hall of Fame in 2015, and, in 2017, received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the ERA.
Ella Leung
The Walt Disney Co.
Sales Manager, Performance Advertising
646-547-5527
Ella Leung is the sales manager of the performance advertising sales team at the Walt Disney Co. Leung joined ESPN in 2005. She negotiated pricing, advertising placement, content, and event concepts for ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNews, ESPN Classic, ESPNU, SEC, ACC, and ESPN Deportes. In her current role, she is responsible for the day-to-day management of the performance advertising sales team on ESPN, ABC, Disney, Freeform, FX, and National Geographic networks. Prior to joining Disney, she spent three years at WorldLink.
Brian Norris
NBCUniversal
Senior Vice President,
Direct to Scale
212-664-2655
Brian Norris is senior vice president, direct to scale, at NBCUniversal and leads the direct to scale and direct response sales team. Norris brings almost 20 years of management and leadership experience driving television revenue in linear, addressable, and digital media. Before joining NBCUniversal, he served as vice president of DISH Media Sales. He’s also held sales roles at Viacom and Lifetime Entertainment Services. Norris volunteers with Big Brothers/ Big Sisters of NYC and currently serves on the board of the nonprofit International Radio and Television Society (IRTS). He also serves as an undergraduate volunteer interviewer for Brown University’s Alumni Association.
Sean Robertson
DISH Media
Director, Partnerships
917-305-4436
Sean Robertson is director, partnerships for DISH Media. He oversees sales partnerships in his role focusing on connecting new/non-traditional agencies and media technology to the DISH and Sling platforms to drive demand and reduce friction in the planning/buying process. Robertson joined DISH Media Sales in 2011 and has served on various teams across the organization including performance media, digital advertising, programmatic media, and addressable advertising. He earned his M.B.A. at Brown University and IE Business School. He also holds a B.S. in journalism with a focus in advertising from West Virginia University. Robertson lives in New Jersey with his wife Candice and sons Rafael and Brendan.
Mark Sullivan
ViacomCBS
Vice President, Convergent
Ad Sales
212-846-8235
Mark Sullivan has been with ViacomCBS for 15 years. He is responsible for co-managing a convergent sales team of 11 sales executives across 19 networks and digital platforms. Top networks and digital platforms include Nickelodeon, MTV, Paramount Network, and Comedy Central. Sullivan has helped lead the team into the digital video side of the direct response business, and it has delivered significant growth during the past couple of years. He lives in Hoboken, N.J. with his wife and three sons.
Shira Witelson
Founder
315-992-7801
Shira Witelson founded RSLT.IO to help marketers and media buyers make the most out of their advertising budgets. Leveraging machine learning, the platform provides attribution metrics for TV and digital advertising. RSLT monitors advertisement fatigue and recommends where to invest next. Witelson worked in the analytics space with top brands and agencies in New York. She earned a master’s in statistics from Columbia University, a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and management from the Technion, and a bachelor’s in statistics from the Hebrew University. She has spoken at numerous conferences on big data and analytics. Witelson resides in New York with her husband and three kids.
Created by the PDMI’s Brand Response Council, Take 20 is a new series of quick-hitting, 20-minute live conversations featuring leaders in the performance marketing world speaking about the hottest topics in the industry.
Coming to you twice monthly, your opportunity to attend a live online Take 20 episode and ask questions of our speakers will kick off in September. Keep an eye out for an announcement of the next episode and your opportunity to register. Click the button below to check out recent episodes of Take 20 now!
Members of the Brand Response Council are regular contributors to PDMI publications and at PDMI events.
The Future Is the Past Is the Future
By Thomas Haire
The buzzwords and evolving media options have changed, but targeting, attribution, and sales are still the name of the game. Yep, the future of media looks an awful lot like the past.
"Best Experience, Best Results"
By Thomas Haire
From upper-funnel awareness to lower-funnel results, Michaela Giovengo and Asaf Davidov say that Hulu’s broad array of advertising opportunities are helping DTC brands cross the digital-to-TV bridge.
Ad Outlet Directory
Contact and demographic information from more than 120 TV channels, streaming outlets, podcast networks, and more.
Ella Leung served as a panelist during the "What's Next for Linear TV?" discussion at PDMI West 2019 in San Diego. PDMI members can listen to audio of this educational session (and many others) through the PDMI Member Portal.
Michaela Giovengo and Teddy Pritkin joined an in-depth conversation titled "Staying a Step Ahead" at PDMI East 2019 in Miami Beach. PDMI members can listen to audio of this educational session (and many others) through the PDMI Member Portal.
The Brand Response Council discussed 2020's mangled marketing playbook at September's PDMI West Virtual event. Brands, agencies, media, and supply chain companies all had to rewrite their plans, answering questions they never even thought they had to ask. What’s changing — and how can you prepare for more? PDMI members can watch video of this educational session (and many others) through the PDMI Member Portal.
Michaela Giovengo and Dan Kelly took part in a powerful panel discussion entitled "The Future Is the Past Is the Future" at PDMI West 2019 in San Diego. PDMI members can listen to audio of this educational session (and many others) through the PDMI Member Portal.
Dan Kelly was part of the "Not Your Father's Linear" session at PDMI East 2019 in Miami Beach. PDMI members can listen to audio of this educational session (and many others) through the PDMI Member Portal.
Attendees at June 2020's PDMI Virtual Summit heard from a group of ad sales executives from across spectrum about what’s working — and what’s not — as more intriguing ad opportunities come available to performance and direct-to-consumer marketers. PDMI members can watch video of this educational session (and many others) through the PDMI Member Portal.