Transform Live North America 2024

Pedro Alves has 18 years of experience in Communication and Marketing, specializing in B2B companies. Currently, he leads Global Communication for the Technology organization at Mastercard based in New York. Since 2017, he began as Director of Communication for Brazil and the Southern Cone, where he integrated Communication with Marketing. During his tenure in Brazil, he founded the Pride BRG, a business resource group dedicated to LGBTQ+ inclusion.

Previously, he was responsible for digital marketing and advertising at GE in Latin America. In 2016, Pedro led GE's activation sponsorship for the Rio 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Pedro started his corporate communication career in 2006 at companies such as Cadbury Adams, Suzano Holding, Duke Energy, LVBA, and Ateliê de Eventos. He holds a degree in Public Relations from Faculdade Cásper Líbero and an Executive MBA from Fundação Dom Cabral from Brazil. Pedro has been recognized as a top communication professional in Brazil by PR SCOPE, Mega Brasil, Conrerp, and globally Pride in PR by PRWeek and Transform Awards. He was also a TEDx speaker.

Leon Imas is Vice President of Design at PepsiCo. Leon leads new brands and develops design strategies, systems and experiences across PepsiCo’s beverage portfolio, with a focus on North American Beverage Portfolio. Including Pepsi, Gatorade, Mountain Dew, Starry, Bubly, Lifewtr, Starbucks (RTD), Mug, and many others. His work has included restaging Pepsi, Gatorade, Starry, and sustainability and innovation projects across PepsiCo.

Before joining PepsiCo, Leon served as the Global Head of Identity and the Senior Director of Advanced Brand Expression at adidas. During his twenty-plus year career, Leon has developed industry-leading brands, experiences, and innovations for global, culture-defining companies.

Jordan Bell is a letterer and type designer at Monotype. He is fascinated by handwriting and its effect on modern type design as well as early American typefounding. Originally from Texas, Jordan received a BFA from Abilene Christian University and then worked as a graphic designer in Santa Fe, NM before attending the MATD program at University of Reading in the UK to further his knowledge in design history, graphic communication, and typeface design.

Prior to joining Monotype, Jordan worked on a variety of projects at Hoefler&Co. including Operator, Inkwell, and Decimal, which was featured in the Netflix series “Abstract” and used throughout President Biden’s campaign. Other projects he has enjoyed contributing to include Archer, Ringside, and Sentinel Pro.

Jordan currently resides in Brooklyn where you can find him riding his bike, eating tacos, or walking his dog in the park.

With two MAs in Graphic and Type Design (Esad Type 2011), Damien has devoted most of his education to exploring the science of reading, aesthetics and the history of visual arts. He has spent the last decade directing type projects and working with leading agencies such as Interbrand, FutureBrand, Leo Burnett, Jones Knowles Ritchie and Red Bee on some of the world’s most iconic brands and rebrands. Prior to joining Monotype as Creative Type Director, Damien worked at font foundry Dalton Maag in London, where his role progressed from Type Designer to Head of Font Development, leading a team of thirty type designers and font engineers.

Since a young age, Rachel’s favorite question has been “why.” Her second favorite question is “what’s for dessert?” But really, Rachel just likes questions. Driven by this curiosity, her career has spanned categories and strategic disciplines, but she’s always returned to what she loves most: getting to ask the big questions that define brand positioning, purpose and identity. Helping tech innovators, CPGs, and non-profits uncover who they are and what they stand for. Working at the intersection of brand and business to crystallize the true value clients offer to those they serve – and bring it to life.

She brings her passion for sustainability to every project, finding opportunities to open minds through conversation and helping brands of all backgrounds be a force for good in the world.

Lucy's bio to be confirmed...

As the Head of Marketing at Oleria, a company reimagining identity security, Shana Glenzer is responsible for developing and accelerating the company’s marketing strategy – including creating problem awareness and establishing brand trust.

Previously, Shana was VP of Marketing at Diligent, a modern governance company and served as the CMO of several startups in emerging industries. A technology community leader, Shana founded DCFemTech and led DC Tech Meetup, while also serving as a go-to technology commentator for broadcast networks including Fox Business, Cheddar, and Yahoo Finance.

Eric excels in crafting brand names and naming systems that work hard. At Lexicon, he conducted linguistic research and developed names for major clients like Facebook, Coca-Cola, P&G, Clorox, and Abbott. As Strategy Director at Salt Branding, he created naming solutions for Lumen, SurveyMonkey, JLL, HCA Healthcare, and Western Union. Now, at Northbound, he leads creative naming projects and develops naming systems for complex portfolio brands like Microsoft and Cisco. Eric holds an M.A. in linguistics from Boston College and a B.A. in philosophy and theology. In his free time, he enjoys his church community, birdwatching, and playing tabletop games.

Emily is a Partner and the Chief Marketing Officer for HLK, an independent brand agency based in St. Louis, Missouri. In the last seven years with the agency Emily has built up the brand strategy and research disciplines for the agency, leading to multiple brand development projects across clients such as Bayer, Envu, Centene, &Partners and more. She served as the executive lead for Envu as the team went through brand positioning, identity development and launch, leading to three Transform Awards last year. 

Co-founder of Rebelles Strategy & Research, Gayle channels her client and agency experience to transform insights into new and useful ideas. Gayle has influenced national brand and program development as a VP of Qualitative Research at Ipsos, and through strategic roles at digital and creative agencies including Cossette, Dashboard and Rethink. As a trained musician, Gayle has contributed as a teaching assistant with Berklee Online and held several board positions with local arts organizations. She will happily engage in a spontaneous round of Name that Tune… any time, any place.

With 20+ years of experience in marketing and brand development, Bekah is a brand leader who brings a passion for people, collaboration and purposeful work to her role as Head of Brand Strategy at Envu. She is a proven leader in branding, corporate and executive communications, digital communications, and change management, including divestment & acquisitions. Most recently she led the global corporate brand identity, positioning and marketing strategy for Envu as the company navigated divestment and was launched as a stand alone company. 

Brand building is art and science, a process that requires a curator like Sam, who will ask the difficult questions, spark the creative turn of phrase, and add that human touch that assures longevity and resonance. From East Coast big agency to West Coast boutique, Sam has honed her craft to a laser focus. For more than 28 years she has contributed to Enterprises such as Amazon, Microsoft, P&G, Microsoft, Optum, Pfizer, Tylenol, Cisco, J&J, and Kaiser Permanente, as well as start-ups looking to carve out a unique voice, purpose, and place in the market. Sam is a traveler, committed patron of the performing arts, and proud single mother.

Marco Vitali's journey to the forefront of audio branding began as a child prodigy violinist at Juilliard, complimented by an analytical detour on Wall Street earning dual MBAs, then returning to music where he was mentored by super-producer Nile Rodgers and collaborated with Grammy artists like Wu-Tang and Quincy Jones. After running several music agencies, he launched Sonic Lens to introduce a fresh approach to sonic branding guided by “music intelligence.” This mix of science and creative processes earned him back-to-back “Brand Strategist of the Year” and “Creative Director of the Year” Transform Awards in addition to consistent gold industry awards since launching Sonic Lens.

Alexander Wodrich is managing director of why do birds, a Berlin-based agency for audio and motion branding. Their clients include companies from 17 countries such as Siemens, Hyundai, GORE-TEX, Ferrari and DHL. Having won the most prestigious creative awards, the agency belongs to the most renowned studios in Europe. Alexander regularly appears as a speaker at universities and congresses on the subject of brands, sound and motion. In his spare time, he is a passionate musician: He has played more than 100 concerts with his bands and recorded several records.

Jesse Yuen is the Managing Director of Culture to Brand—the team responsible for aligning cultural building initiatives with brand goals at ATB, an Alberta based regional financial institution. Beginning his marketing career in telecommunications in 1994, Jesse joined ATB in 2010. Since 2015, he’s led a variety of brand teams and initiatives, most notably co-leading the development of ATB’s differentiated experience (brand) model. He has completed 11 marathon races and is the proud guardian of @K9Kasper. A coffee enthusiast, Jesse dreams of retiring to run a dog-friendly coffee shop, offering tasty treats for both humans and canines.