Workshop Council

Michael Battisto is a direct marketing veteran, experienced in helping direct response advertisers build successful lead-generation campaigns using various forms of audio advertising. In 1998, he joined Target + Response, a full-service agency specializing in bringing lead-generation campaigns to audio advertising channels including radio, satellite radio and various forms of streaming media. When secured cost effectively, traditional media channels like radio provide a solid base on which an effective lead-generation campaign can be built. During its 35 years in business, T+R has worked with some of the biggest brands in DR and formed deep relationships with top radio networks and stations across the country — providing its customers with premium, cost-effective placements.

Anat Freed joined Kingstar Media just after it was founded in 2003, as junior assistant and has worked her way up to senior vice president, media, and manages a team of 25. Skilled in media buying, customer service, analytics, and business development, Freed is committed to driving positive experiences and ROI for all clients — and demonstrating how lucrative and worthwhile it is to include Canada in your media and marketing plans. Kingstar Media is Canadian advertising agency based in Toronto, specializing in response-based, measurable media across multiple platforms including TV, radio, out-of-home, and — most recently — digital.

Christine Georgakakis is senior vice president of advertising sales for the Reelz Network. She is responsible for leading the entire sales efforts of the organization, encompassing national ad sales and performance advertising. Georgakakis began her career at Lifetime, Television for Women. Her expertise building teams that solve challenges and foster innovation have positioned multiple media organizations at the forefront of industry. In 2018, she was named one of the top women in media by Folio and in 2020 she was named an industry leader by Cynopsis. Georgakakis, who holds a bachelor’s degree in mass media and communications and has studied executive leadership at Cornell University, serves on the Workshop Council and Women’s Council of the Performance-Driven Marketing Institute (PDMI).

Joseph Gray founded television's largest cost-per-action advertising network, REVShare, in 1989. One of his companies, Global Media Productions, was acquired by TelAmerica Media, now Cadent Networks, where he briefly served as president in 1987-1988. In 2007, Gray raised an equity round from The Carlyle Group and HIG Capital, forming Media Property Holdings and Lead Generation Technologies, which operated a pay-per-call lead exchange in various verticals including legal tort, debt, and tax. Gray exited Media Property Holdings in 2012. Too young to retire, he created DRMetrix in 2012 to provide much needed insights and competitive data to the direct-to-consumer television industry.

Brian Judge helps lead one of the largest direct response teams in the industry at Discovery Inc. In his current role as director of integrated media sales, DR, he is responsible for managing a team of account executives selling linear networks in the portfolio, as well as spearheading all things digital, OTT, VOD, and programmatic. He started his career on the agency side and was a director on a media  buying team prior to joining Discovery. Judge resides in New Jersey with his wife, Sophia, and his three children: Liam, Ethan, and Kiera.

Jeff Nash is senior vice president, network ad sales, for Weigel Broadcasting’s MeTV Networks, the leader in the digital network space. He has been a key contributor in the launch and rollout of successful Weigel networks MeTV, Movies!, Heroes and Icons, Start TV, and Decades. Nash runs the Chicago-based sales group for MeTV Networks and oversees key hybrid DR, upfront, and scatter business for the group. Nash played a leading role in the creation of MeTV Unwired Networks. Nash has been with Weigel for more than 10 years, beginning in a local sales role with WCIU, Weigel’s Chicago independent station, and WWME, MeTV Network’s flagship affiliate.

As president of Lockard & Wechsler Direct (LWD), Asieya Pine is responsible for the agency's day-to-day operations. She also leads the planning and account services group, which optimizes media for the agency's 80-plus clients. Under her leadership, LWD has grown year after year for 20 years, becoming one of the largest privately held performance marketing agencies in the country. Pine’s experience covers a wide range of direct response disciplines, including advertising for consumer products, lead-generation, and e-commerce brands.

Douglas Plank is COO of Intelligent Handshake and a seasoned entrepreneur who founded and served as chairman and CEO of MobileCause, the premier mobile fundraising and communications platform serving the charitable, corporate, and individual philanthropy sectors. He co-founded Telesis MG, an early innovation for electronic submission of medical insurance claims and was a partner and co-founder of Scimitar, a corporate accelerator to Fortune 100 and early-stage seed companies. He co-founded two nonprofits and grew them to $20 million and $30 million respectively in annual revenue. He serves on various nonprofit and private company boards and has been a frequent speaker at industry conferences as well as on radio and television.

Patrick Raymond is a brand creative architect specializing in content creation strategies and execution — and is an award-winning TV director, filmmaker, CEO, executive creative director, executive producer, and writer. His footprint is seen in prestige beauty campaigns, including top-ranking TV beauty campaigns for the Luminess® Cosmetics and Conture® Skin Care brands, plus the recent Disney's The Lion King Limited Edition Collection campaign with famous makeup artist Sir John. In addition, Raymond has directed and overseen creative execution for hundreds of other projects with top celebrities, media personalities, and Fortune 50 brands — and continues to oversee creative for multiple brands and studios with his consulting firm Really Cool Ideas Inc.

Randal Shaheen is a partner in the Washington, D.C., office of BakerHostetler. With more than 30 years of experience, he has been fortunate to represent many of the leading consumer goods companies with respect to counseling and before the FTC, state attorneys general, CFPB, and NAD. Shaheen also has been involved in a number of groundbreaking matters, including several precedent-setting FTC safe-harbor provisions, the first NAD case involving CBD, and one of the earliest challenges to the constitutionality of the CFPB. He prides himself on being a thought leader, having published widely read journal articles on topics such as Made in USA, green and pricing claims, as well as on regulators’ recent focus on “dark patterns.”

Dan Thompson is a 20-plus year veteran in direct response, sales acquisition, customer experience, and BPO leadership. As executive vice president of PlusOne Company, he has led the charge in scaling high-performance sales and service operations across on-shore, near-shore, and “urbal” (urban + rural) teams — delivering measurable impact for some of the most respected brands in the industry. Thompson has a proven track record of increasing conversion rates, reducing cost-per-acquisition, and maximizing revenue per call. With a relentless focus on performance, innovation, and client success, he continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible in the world of customer experience, integrating cutting-edge AI solutions to unlock scale, speed, and smarter selling across every channel.