Speakers
Aaron Kwittken
Founder
PRophet
Alex Halbur
Managing Partner
Prosper Group
Dan Hestbaek
Founder
Lift Relations
J. Mark Riggs
Founder
Pemberton
Michael Lasky
Partner/co-chair
Davis+Gilbert
Rishad Tobaccowala
Futurist
Founder
PRophet
Managing Partner
Prosper Group
Founder
Lift Relations
Founder
Pemberton
Partner/co-chair
Davis+Gilbert
Futurist
Aaron brings deep expertise in AI and its benefits and challenges for the PR industry. He founded. PRophet (prprophet.ai), the first-ever generative and predictive AI SaaS platform designed by and for the PR community, which uses AI to help modern PR professionals become more performative, productive and predictive by generating, analyzing and testing content that predicts earned media interest and sentiment. Aaron is also CEO of the Comms Tech Unit for the Stagwell Marketing Cloud, a suite of AI SaaS solutions for PR, social media, and content creators.
Aaron founded KWT Global in late 2005 (f/k/a Kwittken), a highly acclaimed global PR and brand strategy consultancy where he currently serves as Chairman. Stagwell Global acquired KWT Global in 2010. A highly acclaimed industry leader, serial entrepreneur and seasoned corporate affairs and integrated communications strategist for more than 30 years, Aaron began his career in Washington, D.C. in public affairs and crisis management and held numerous senior agency leadership roles before starting his own firm in late 2005. He’s counseled hundreds of organizations, from F100 listed companies to private and high growth brands alike, spanning multiple sectors.
Alex is a former owner of award-winning firms including Healthcare Firm of the Year (Holmes) and Creative Agency of the Year (PR Week). After starting his career at various Omnicom agencies with the role of helping them grow, Alex eventually co-founded and built two independent agencies that were successfully sold to Omnicom. After completing a highly successful earn-out and integration, Alex has devoted his career to helping independent agency owners achieve success with their agencies. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside with a BS in Business Management.
Dan Hestbaek is a globally recognized expert on agency-client relationships, having spent over a decade as a pitch consultant and conducted more than 180 pitches/selection processes for top-tier global advertisers seeking new communication partners. He has gained a deep understanding of the rational and emotional factors that drive these decisions, and he is passionate about sharing his insights to help agencies and clients build stronger, more sustainable relationships.
In 2015, Dan leveraged his expertise to found Lift Relations, a SaaS platform that empowers agencies to improve client retention and growth. By providing client leaders with the tools they need to identify and address relationship issues before they escalate, LIFT has helped its customers reduce client churn by an average of 30% YoY and improve organic growth by 6% YoY. Dan’s thought leadership and innovation have earned him numerous accolades and recognition as a leading voice in the industry.
Mark is the founder and CEO of Pemberton which is management consultancy that exists to be the go-to resource for marketing/communications agencies to discover and reveal pathways to organic growth while changing the mindset of an RFP-obsessed industry.
Before starting Pemberton, Mark spent 20 years in the agency world working for IPG’s Mullen Lowe, an Ad Age A-List Agency, Taylor, the Holmes Report’s Consumer Agency of the Decade, MWWPR and French/West/Vaughan, the Southeast’s largest independent agency where on six different occasions he grew small accounts into multi-million-dollar accounts.
Leaders facing complex business disputes and companies at inflection points call on Michael Lasky for his astute judgment and experienced counsel. Michael is co-chair of the firm’s Litigation + Dispute Resolution Group and founder and chair of the firm’s Public Relations Law Practice. He is best known for advising fast growing companies whose key assets are people and ideas. These include social media, digital, public relations and integrated marketing communication firms. He also regularly advises financial services, transportation and e-commerce companies.
Rishad most recently was the ****Global Strategist and Chief Growth Officer of the 100,000-person marketing and business transformation Publicis Groupe **and has been named by BusinessWeek as one of the top business leaders for his pioneering innovation, and TIME magazine dubbed him one of five “Marketing Innovators.” Rishad is the author of **Restoring the Soul of Business: Staying Human in the Age of Data published by Harper Collins. Rishad is working on his second book, “Re-Thinking Work,” which will be published by McGraw-Hill in 2024. Additional writings can be found in the “The Future Does Not Fit in the Containers of the Past”, read by 25,000 leaders every week around the world.
Rishad’s key skill is getting people to see, think and feel differently about how to grow themselves, their teams and their company. He does this by distilling 40 years of global learning and wisdom in ways that are provocative, pragmatic and inspirational. Discover why dozens of companies leverage Rishad to generate significant and ongoing ROI by unleashing the full potential of their talent and strategies.