IAB Women Visionaries Town Hall

Kathleen Kayse is Chief Media Outreach & Strategic Partnerships Officer at the Ad Council, a national organization that uses the power of communications to take on the most pressing issues facing the nation. Through its vast network of partners across advertising and marketing, media and tech, government agencies and the non-profit world, the Ad Council leads campaigns that promote education, safety, health and community and leave a lasting impact on American life. Its pro-bono media model leverages the passion and goodwill of today’s brightest minds to identify, research, create and distribute world class creative to achieve exponential impact across issues ranging from gun safety to girls’ participation in STEM.

An accomplished media and advertising executive, Kathleen has strategically transformed businesses and brands at every step of her career. She joined the Ad Council from Yahoo, where she served as Vice President of Sales Strategy and Solutions. Prior to which, she spearheaded the launch of Oprah.com as Executive Vice President of Advertising Sales at Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN).

A committed advocate for female advancement in business, Kathleen serves on the Board of Directors for the New York Advertising Club and the Board of Trustee for the Women & Sports Foundation, in addition to her active participation in She Runs It (Advertising Women of New York). A graduate of University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Kathleen currently resides in New York City with her partner and two children.

Michelle Klein joined Facebook’s Global Business Marketing group in 2014, where she is holds the position of Vice President, Business Group Marketing. In this role, she is responsible for setting the global vision and strategy for marketing as it relates to advertisers and the advertising industry, agencies, small to medium businesses and Facebook Marketing Partners. Prior to joining Facebook, Michelle was Vice President of Global Marketing for Smirnoff, and in that capacity, spent eight years running the world’s original vodka brand through a complete reinvention. From the creation of a worldwide social media experiment uniting the party goers through a co-created global Nightlife Exchange in 50 countries to leading an entire packaging design overhaul to modernize Smirnoff’s product range, Michelle played an integral part in driving a 150-year-old brand into the future.

Michelle kick started her career in Public Relations in Australia. She wrote a weekly column for Australia’s leading broadsheet, The Sydney Morning Herald, and moved on to London where she was the Global Group Director of the British Airways account at Agency.com. Throughout her career, Michelle has been recognized as driving the marketing and advertising industry forward. She was one of Holmes Report’s “Top 25 Innovators” in 2015, an Ad Age “Women to Watch” in 2013 and an Ad Week “Brand Genius” in 2011.

Michelle sits on the Board of Directors for WIN (Women In Need) focused on providing shelter and housing to homeless families in the New York area. She resides in New York City with her family.