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As the founding partner of I&CO, a global innovation firm with offices in NY and Tokyo, Rei leads the vision of the firm. I&CO has been named one of the Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company.
A designer by trade, a minimalist at heart, Rei’s superpower is to help clients simplify the complex and break new ground.
Prior to I&CO, he spent over a decade at AKQA as Chief Creative Officer and five years at R/GA, both prominent digital marketing agencies. He worked with clients such as Nike, Microsoft, Audi, Google, and JP Morgan Chase.
As a frequent speaker at conferences and a contributor to publications, he has been recognized in “Creativity 50,” and “The 25 Most Creative People in Advertising,” making him one of the most influential leaders in the marketing and creative industry today.
Joel is the co-founder of And Breathe, an advisory firm for leading-edge companies eager to scale and succeed while making a positive impact.
Joel has been one of the top influencers in the marketing and technology space for almost 25 years. He is an entrepreneur and free-thinker who understands culture, technology, and people. With an extensive career in building brands across media, entertainment, and technology, he has used his degree in anthropology to understand culture and societal trends.
Joel was previously the Vice President of Global Brand Strategy at Twitter, responsible for Twitter’s brand and marketing, revenue strategy, and partnerships across entertainment, brands, and media. He was there pre-revenue to post-IPO, leading a Global Strategy team spanning 30 countries. Joel was responsible for growing the business from zero to $2.4B in revenue in just a handful of years.
Prior to Twitter, Joel was the CEO of Moxie, recognized as a top ten digital agency, and acquired by Publicis, the world’s largest holding company. Joel has led engagements with world-class brands such as Verizon Wireless, L’Oreal, Twentieth Century Fox,Coca-Cola, HP, and many others.
As a recognition of his career achievements and impact on the industry, Joel was inducted into the AAF’s Advertising Hall of Achievement in 2015. He’s won almost every award in the advertising industry, including a Grand Prix Cannes Lion.
Josh McManus is a Chief Strategy Officer and the founder of the For-Purpose movement which helps companies work at the intersection of moral imperative and market imperative. A student of and practitioner in conscious capitalism throughout a multi-disciplinary career, Josh is known for being able to diagnose and positively disrupt the trajectory of companies, communities, and institutions.
His past projects range from reorganizing a $7 billion family of more than 100 companies in service to market and moral outcomes, to problem-solving in challenged post-industrial places like Akron, OH, to founding an entrepreneurial ecosystem that helped Chattanooga, TN become a magnet for talent and commerce. He’s worked in and with the C-Suites of multiple of the country’s most significant businesses and nonprofits, including Ford Motor Company, Rocket Mortgage, and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Josh previously served as Rocket Mortgage founder and Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert’s Chief Operating Officer to create and trademark “for more-than-profit” approach to organizing and accelerating his portfolio of businesses, real estate, and sports holdings.
Prior to his work in Detroit, Josh co-founded CreateHere, an entrepreneurship and cultural change organization that sparked many new entrepreneurial ideas, championed the world’s largest community visioning process, with over 26,000 surveys collected, and graduated over 50 fellows trained to make positive change in their community.
Josh began his career by problem-solving with private foundations and public institutions in post-industrial cities first in Atlanta and eventually in Chattanooga. Along the way, he earned business degrees from Georgia Tech and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Linda Ong is the CEO of CULTIQUE, a cultural insights and strategy consultancy founded in 2020 with Sarah Unger, the company’s President. The female-led firm helps media, entertainment, tech and consumer businesses navigate fast-moving times with clarity and confidence, leveraging the changes in external culture as a competitive advantage and creating bespoke strategies to claim and own impact in the larger conversation. CULTIQUE unites thought leaders, industry disruptors, academics, creatives and experts to maximize the impact of brands, content, and products in a world of constant change.
Previously, Linda was Chief Culture Officer of CIVIC Entertainment Group, now an investor in CULTIQUE. Her groundbreaking work on cultural insights related to women, Latinx biculturals, Millennials and other drivers of the rapidly changing landscape has positioned her as a sought-after cultural advisor and industry voice. Named one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business (2014), she sits on the publication’s Impact Council, and was featured in its “New Rules of Business” (2020). She has been featured in several books including The Sonic Boom: How Sound Transforms the Way We Think, Feel, and Buy; Design for People; and Latino Boom II.
Ong has been a guest lecturer at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, the Marshall School of Business at USC, the School of Visual Arts’ Masters in Branding program, and The University of Texas’ LA-based program for broadcast, marketing, and communications. She sits on the board of Southern California Public Radio and the advisory boards of Storytap, Frontier Communications, and Women in Entertainment. Ong has been at the center of some of the most high-profile brand transformations in the media and entertainment industry over the past 25 years, most notably BRAVO. She was a founding member of the Creative Alliance for Civic Nation, a non-profit, non-partisan organization started by the former President and First Lady, Barack and Michelle Obama. She served as a delegate to the 2016 United Nations Media for Social Impact Summit and as “Innovation Ambassador” to the 2014 United Nations World Summit on Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
Previously, Ong was the founder of her shop TruthCo., SVP of marketing for the launch of Oxygen Media, managing director of strategy and creative director for Lee Hunt Associates, a segment producer for Videofashion! Inc., and an art director for McCann-Erickson USA. She is a graduate of the University of Texas, Austin. Ong is based in Los Angeles. Follow her @lindaong100 and @cultique.co, and on CULTIQUE’s newsletter, CULTURE PORN.
Sarah Unger is the President of CULTIQUE, a cultural insights and strategy consultancy she founded in 2020 with Linda Ong, the company’s CEO. The female-led firm helps media, entertainment, tech and consumer businesses navigate fast-moving times with clarity and confidence, leveraging the changes in external culture as a competitive advantage and creating bespoke strategies to claim and own impact in the larger conversation.
An award-winning cultural expert with over fifteen years of experience, Unger and her team of analysts are devoted to working with businesses such as AMEX GBT, Airbnb, YouTube, Apple, WarnerMedia, Disney/ABC, and NBCU navigate fast-changing times, recalibrate for new audiences, and cultivate growth in an uncertain world. Unger has been a frequent commentator in media such as Forbes, Fortune, The Atlantic, and The Daily Beast.
Previously, Sarah was SVP, Cultural Insights & Strategy at CIVIC Entertainment Group, now an investor in CULTIQUE. Unger also led brand strategy as Vice President of Marketing Strategy, Trends & Insights at Paramount Global (then known as Viacom) across its portfolio of Paramount Pictures, Paramount Network, MTV, Comedy Central, BET, Nickelodeon, and more. She was named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30 in 2015 during her tenure at Ketchum as Vice President, Insights & Strategic Planning where she launched the Millennial and Gen Z division.
Unger is a graduate of the University of Virginia and completed the prestigious Harvard Business School 2018 Program for the Business of Entertainment, Media, & Sports. Follow her adventures on Instagram at @sarahjaneunger and on CULTIQUE’s newsletter, CULTURE PORN.
Cornell Verdeja-Woodson is the Founder and CEO of Brave Trainings LLC and the Director of Equity & Belonging at Zillow. He earned his B.S. in communication management and design from Ithaca College in 2009. After teaching high school English in Atlanta, Cornell went on to earn his masters in higher education and student affairs administration with an emphasis on social justice from the University of Vermont in 2013. He has spent his career, spanning 15 years, engaging people in difficult conversations that have led to a deeper understanding of the world around them.
Cornell has traveled around the country working with higher education institutions, non-profits, and corporate organizations on their inclusion efforts. He has led diversity teams at various technology companies, such as Looker, Google, Headspace, Cornell University, and New York University. Cornell was named one of the 101 LGBTQ Trailblazers for 2023 by the UK’s Attitude Magazine.
He is finishing up his doctorate degree in organizational change and leadership at the University of Southern California this May. He believes that authentic dialogue, an understanding of our history, as well as direct and consistent action are key to creating a more inclusive environment.
Cornell lives in California with his husband and their two dogs, London and Rome.
Faris Yakob is the co-founder (with his wife Rosie) of the nomadic creative consultancy Genius Steals and the online learning community The School of Stolen Genius. They have been working with brands, agencies of all disciplines and sizes, media companies and conferences around the world for the last decade, delivering keynotes, workshops, training, and brand or business consulting for creative companies or ones that would like to be.
Their newsletter, Strands of [Stolen] Genius, was named one of the ‘7 Essential Reads for the Curious Creative’ by Hubspot and one of the top community resources for strategists in the world by the Planning Survey.
Previously, Faris was Chief Innovation Officer of MDC Partners, Chief Digital Officer of McCann Erickson (NYC) and spent many years at pioneering agency Naked Communications, in London, Sydney and NYC. While in agencies, he won (as both a strategist and a creative director) and judged numerous awards, including the Effies, One Show, ADC, Clios and LIAs, and worked on clients including Nokia, Verizon, Orange Mobile and Broadband – and many others that weren’t telecoms companies. Before advertising, Faris was a management consultant during the first dotcom boom, working with large corporations and start-ups that wanted to grow with digital thinking.
Faris Yakob is the author Paid Attention: Innovative Advertising for a Digital World which was published in an updated second edition by Kogan Page in 2021. He is also a contributing author to Creative Superpowers: Equip Yourself For The Age of Creativity, & Eat Your Greens: Fact Based Thinking to Improve Your Brand’s Health. He write a monthly column on effective brand communication for WARC – World Advertising Research Council, the premier global brand and communications insight resource. You can usually get his attention on Twitter @FARIS or find the rest of his career highlights over on LinkedIn.
“DAE is thrilled to be chosen as Frontier’s next Broadband for Good recipient and receive free high-speed fiber internet. With so many students using computers for learning at our facility, we use up a lot of bandwidth, and it’s important for us to have fast, reliable connectivity to carry out our courses. This donation will not only also allow us to focus more resources on enhancing our programming, but also consider new programming that wouldn’t have been possible without access to the bandwidth that fiber offers.”
“WVU Jackson’s Mill has been a center for improving the lives and livelihoods of West Virginians for over 100 years. This partnership with Frontier will allow us to provide unique educational programs and services at WVU Jackson’s Mill that will help bridge the digital divide in rural West Virginia, including expanding virtual learning opportunities.”
The Learning Alliance Corporation is a long-standing talent partner of Frontier. To support the organization’s mission of providing U.S. veterans with the structured training and resources they need to start a career in telecommunications, Frontier has donated high-speed fiber internet, equipment and training.
"We are incredibly excited to be a recipient of Frontier’s Broadband for Good program. Frontier is invested in readying its workforce and adding more veterans to their roster, and they are proving that yet again with the generous donation they made today. The donation will make a real difference and help us advance our purpose of providing the best technology, training and resources available to prepare veterans for a future in telecommunications."
Frontier has donated high-speed fiber internet, new laptop computers and digital mentoring to the mothers of local Connecticut women’s transitional housing program, Malta House. Frontier’s donation will help unhoused mothers find permanent housing, apply for jobs, attain an education, arrange medical care and access government programs like ACP that provide people with affordable connectivity.
"It is an honor to be chosen as a recipient of Frontier's Broadband for Good program. Frontier is helping to offset operating costs by providing free internet connectivity to our agency and our moms, as well as helping provide the technology needed by our agency to help our moms access the technology and resources available to assist them in their journey towards self-sufficiency and independence."
"We are incredibly excited to be a recipient of Frontier’s Broadband for Good program. Girl Scouts is excited for this new relationship with Frontier. The donation will make a real difference and help Girl Scouts advance our STEM programming by providing the best technology, faster speed and larger bandwidth to serve more girls at one time with this up-to-date broadband."
The 30+ year of devotion and support of its community made the Elk Grove Teen Center USA a great candidate for Broadband for Good. The Center has been serving teens since 1990, providing core development building blocks for their mental, physical, social and spiritual well-being. The donation of high-speed fiber broadband will help make the Center’s programs more effective, engaging and empowering.
"It’s always been a dream of mine to serve my community and the next generation coming up, and it’s such a blessing to do that in a place where I grew up. Having fiber-optic tech from Frontier will help us in so many ways. Frontier’s investment in the teen center and our kids means the world to me."
The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Brazos Valley in Bryan, Texas was the first community location to benefit from Broadband for Good. Frontier donated high-speed broadband connectivity and computer equipment to support the organization’s mission to connect today’s youth to tomorrow’s opportunities.
"A lack of access to technology can have a negative impact on academic performance. Boys & Girls Clubs of the Brazos Valley is thrilled to be the first recipient of Frontier’s Broadband for Good program. Frontier’s technology offers our members high-speed internet for online tutoring and help with homework. Broadband for Good helps us meet our mission of building prepared future leaders."
The Boys & Girls Clubs of the Brazos Valley in Bryan, Texas was the first community location to benefit from Broadband for Good. Frontier donated high-speed broadband connectivity and computer equipment to support the organization’s mission to connect today’s youth to tomorrow’s opportunities.
"A lack of access to technology can have a negative impact on academic performance. Boys & Girls Clubs of the Brazos Valley is thrilled to be the first recipient of Frontier’s Broadband for Good program. Frontier’s technology offers our members high-speed internet for online tutoring and help with homework. Broadband for Good helps us meet our mission of building prepared future leaders."
Ettienne is Executive Vice President, Commercial. He has over 20 years of experience in the telecommunications industry across cable, fiber, and wireless providers. He served as Managing Director, Commercial for the Consumer Division of BT Group plc. as a key member of the leadership team getting the BT brand back to growth.
Previously, he served in a variety of roles at EE Ltd prior to BT Group’s acquisition, including leading the Enterprise P&L as Marketing and Commercial Director. He began his telecommunications career at NTL Incorporated (now Virgin Media), the largest UK cable provider, and also worked in South Africa and the USA.
Ettienne holds a BA in Commerce from Stellenbosch University and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants.
Vishal is Executive Vice President, Strategy & Wholesale. He has over 20 years of international experience leading strategy and commercial execution in telecommunications and technology. He oversees all aspects of corporate strategy, M&A, and the operation of Frontier’s wholesale business. Most recently, he was a member of Vodafone UK’s executive committee where he developed the company’s successful challenger growth strategy, transformed its wholesale business, and created industry-leading fiber partnerships.
Prior to this, as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, he served global companies in technology and telecommunications. He began his career with Intel Corporation in New Zealand developing software switches.
Vishal holds an MBA from the London Business School, U.K., and a BE in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from the University of Auckland, New Zealand.