Cannes Lions 2011: A summit on Women in Advertising, Marketing & Media

Lynn de Souza to represent India and share her views at the summit hosted by Interpublic's Women's Leadership Network.

BestMediaInfo Burea | Delhi | June 15, 2011

To address the need for gender balance in the industry, IPG's Women's Leadership Network (WLN) will be hosting a panel of experts from the media, advertising and marketing industries, on June 21-22, 2011 at the Cannes Lions 2011.

A panel discussion titled Beyond Mad Men: Toward Gender Diversity in Creative Roles will be hosted on June 21 by IPG Chairman and CEO, Michael I. Roth and moderated by Soledad O'Brien, CNN News Anchor and Special Correspondent.  Panelists will include eminent personalities from various backgrounds including American business magnate and media personality, Martha Stewart, journalist Lisa Ling, Carol Lam, Managing Director, Chief Creative Officer, McCann-Shanghai, Kitty Lun, Chairman, CEO of Lowe China and Gail Heimann, Vice Chair of Weber Shandwick and President of Weber Shandwick New York.

To further continue the dialogue and to propagate deeper exploration of issues and implications for the industry, IPG & WLN will host an Inclusion Summit on Women in Advertising, Marketing and Media over breakfast on June 22. Sponsored by IPG WLN, the breakfast will include a research presentation by economist Sylvia Ann Hewlett on global trends on women in leadership.  A panel, moderated by Eleanor Mills, will provide reaction and commentary from women leaders in the industry.  Speakers will include the following industry leaders:

Agencies: Lynn de Souza, Chairman & CEO, Lintas Media Group, Vita Harris, Chief Strategy Officer, Draftfcb New York, Dawn Winchester, EVP, Chief Marketing Services Officer, R/GA.

And Chief Marketing Officers: Kimberly Kadlec , Chief Media Officer,  Johnson & Johnson, Wendy Clark, Senior Vice President, Integrated Marketing Communications and Capabilities, The Coca-Cola, Susan Jurevics, Senior Vice President, Global Retail CRM and Brand Marketing, Sony Corporation of America and Marni Walden, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Verizon.

A part of this prestigious panel, Lynn de Souza will be representing the Indian chapter of WLN and as one of the finest women leaders will be sharing her views on the importance of gender balance at workplace and how to work towards achieving the same.

Lynn de Souza, Chairman, WLN India and Chairman & CEO, Lintas Media Group said, “Sylvia is expected to share important pointers to help women develop given unique cultural differences across the world based on a recent global survey, and will also touch upon the importance of sponsorship as a key contributing factor”

Kavita Lakhani, Mumbai co-chair, WLN India and President, LinOpinion Public Relations said, “Lynn de Souza, Chairman, WLN India is one of India's finest women leaders and a widely quoted authority on the subject of gender balance.  I am delighted that she will be sharing her expertise and insights at this historic Cannes Lions Panel discussion.  Unlike most other professions, women already form a very large part of the workforce in communications and other creative professions. 34%, compared to a national average of 14%. However, the challenge before this industry is the high dropout rate. The ratio drops to just 11% at senior management positions.  Lynn will share her views on cultivating, engaging and retaining this critically important (women) talent in the workplace.”

In November last year, at a power packed event in Mumbai, attended by the top 150 leaders across IPG Agencies in India, IPG-WLN had announced the launch of its India Chapter and introduced 'Equal & Opposite', a WLN India initiative that aims to improve gender balance at leadership levels in IPG companies.  Eminent speakers presiding at the event included Dr. Kiran Bedi, Social Activist, IPS Officer (retd.), Ramon Magsaysay Award winner and Leena Nair, Executive Director, HR, Hindustan Unilever Limited.

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