Speaker Profiles

Jamie Moldafsky
Chief Marketing Officer
Wells Fargo

Moldafsky leads the development and implementation of marketing strategies for the Wells Fargo brand, considered one of the world's 25 most valuable.

Moldafsky has more than 20 years of marketing and executive general management experience. Prior to her current role, Moldafsky was executive vice president of Home Equity Acquisition and Customer Management for more than six years. Before joining Wells Fargo in 2005, Moldafsky was general manager with Whirlpool Corp.'s KitchenAid brand, responsible for the brand's profitability. She also was senior vice president for Retail Marketing at Charles Schwab, the national brokerage company, and held leadership marketing roles at American Express.

Gary Judd
Practice Leader
Franklin Covey’s Global Speed of Trust Practice

With experience as a CEO, president, COO and executive strategy advisor to several leading enterprises, Mr. Judd’s engaging presentation style makes him a requested presenter, workshop leader and executive advisor. He’ll be speaking on using Franklin Covey’s research-based Speed of Trust model to create a high trust, highly engaged culture for the ultimate long-term competitive advantage.
 

Melissa Koenig
Professor, Institute on Childhood Development and Director of the Early Language and Experience Lab
University of Minnesota

A noted expert in areas including trust, learning and memory, Professor Koening has been recognized in scholarly circles and mainstream media for her research focusing on the intersection of cognitive development and social understanding. In an era when critical thinking and trust are more important than ever, her work on understanding how kids respond to and can be protected from false information carries important lessons for us all.
 

Leslie Gaines-Ross
Chief Reputation Strategist
Weber Shandwick

Weber Shandwick, part of the Interpublic Group, is a leading global public relations firm with offices in 81 countries. Ms. Gaines-Ross leads Weber Shandwick’s global reputation management and thought leadership, as well as serving as an advisor to clients on reputation issues. She is the architect of groundbreaking, award-winning research into CEO and corporate reputation.
 

Akshay Rao
Professor, General Mills Chair in Marketing at the Carlson School of Management
University of Minnesota

Professor Rao’s current research focuses on consumer choice, communicating quality to uninformed consumers, and developing the brand-centric organization. His areas of expertise include cultural issues in marketing, branding, pricing, judgment and decision making. A frequent consultant to major corporations, he has often been quoted in national print, radio and television media.
 

Michael Ahearn
Head of Strategic Client Growth
3Cinteractive

Michael applies his extensive mobile experience to guide brands, marketing agencies, and media companies through formulating and executing breakthrough mobile messaging strategies and programs that deliver revenue-impacting results. As a pioneer in mobile marketing with 14 years of experience in mobile customer engagement, Michael has advised Fortune 500 companies across every industry and helped shape their strategic marketing and business operations in the mobile channel. At 3C, he is helping lead the next step in consumer interaction and communications with RCS messaging, the evolution of the text message.

Michael Becker
Managing Partner
Identity Praxis

Michael Becker is an internationally recognized speaker, author, and thought-leader in the fields of mobile marketing and identity & personal information management solutions, market, and business development. He is currently a strategic advisor to Assurant, a global insurance firm, and many financial institutions, brands, and technology solution providers. He is on the faculty of marketing of the Association of National Advertisers and National University. Michael is the co-author of Mobile Marketing for Dummies, Mobile Marketing Essentials, and a number of other books and articles.

Kathleen Vohs
Distinguished McKnight University Professor and Land O'Lakes Chair in Marketing at the Carlson School of Management
University of Minnesota

Professor Vohs studies how people think, feel and behave in order to make sense of marketplace and organizational outcomes. Her research specialties include self-control, the hidden costs of decision making, the psychology of money, the difference between a meaningful and happy life, and heterosexual sexual negotiations. She has authored more than 250 scholarly publications and edited nine books.