The Ad Podcast

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⁠Sherí Barros⁠ - Marketing and Communications Officer - ⁠ZERO Prostate Cancer⁠ May 29, 2026

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Sherí Barros, a seasoned marketing and brand executive who currently serves as the Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at ZERO Prostate Cancer.She joined the executive team in October 2024, bringing an extensive background in "purpose-driven" marketing and sports brand partnerships.Professional BackgroundSherí has over 20 years of experience across the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, with a particular specialty in engaging male audiences through high-visibility sports and community brands.ZERO Prostate Cancer (2024–Present): As CMCO, she leads the organization’s national marketing, communications, and brand-amplification strategies. Her focus is on the "mission-first" strategy to reduce late-stage diagnoses and address health disparities in the prostate cancer community.American Cancer Society: Before joining ZERO, she was the VP of Sports Brand Partnerships.

Melissa Levy - President - Sparks May 29, 2026

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Melissa Levy (Advertising & Experiential Marketing Executive)

Current Role: President of Sparks (a leading global brand experience and live events agency)
Former Role: President and Chief Client Officer at Digitas North America

Bio: Melissa Levy is a powerhouse executive in the advertising, digital, and experiential marketing industries. She began her career in finance and transitioned into e-commerce marketing during the dot-com era before finding her true calling in the agency world.

Levy spent 15 years at the Publicis-owned digital agency Digitas, rising through the ranks to become the President and Chief Client Officer. During her tenure, she oversaw a team of hundreds across multiple U.S. offices, managing high-stakes accounts for Fortune 10 giants and major consumer brands like Microsoft, HP, and PayPal. In early 2026, she made a high-profile move to become the President of Sparks (a subsidiary of Freeman), where she now steers the agency's creative, strategy, and live-event production operations.

A fierce advocate for diversity and leadership development, Levy is a founding member of the Boston chapter of Chief (a network for executive women) and serves on the board of directors for the AdClub. Her work has earned top industry accolades, including Cannes Lions, Effies, and the Ad Club's Women We Admire award.

Sam Lewis - Senior Vice President (SVP), Creative & Media (Americas) - DEPT® May 26, 2026

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Executive Profile: Sam Lewis

Current Role: Senior Vice President (SVP), Creative & Media (Americas) at DEPT®
Industry Focus: Brand Strategy, Integrated Marketing, AI & Digital Transformation

Sam Lewis is a seasoned marketing transformation specialist and executive with over 20 years of experience building integrated agency models that merge creative storytelling, media, and technology. The son of an entrepreneur, Lewis inherited a restless curiosity for business, which eventually led him into the fast-paced world of global advertising.

Before joining DEPT®, Lewis spent nearly two decades navigating major industry shifts. He famously served as Partner and US CEO of T&Pm (formerly CHI&Partners / The&Partnership, a prominent WPP-backed network), where he helped scale the independent creative shop into a global network spanning more than 30 offices worldwide. Throughout his career, he has driven nearly $1 billion in net new revenue, spearheading massive, headline-making pitch wins for global juggernauts like Toyota (including the London 2012 Olympics campaign) and The Coca-Cola Company.

Lewis joined DEPT®'s Americas leadership team, stepping into his role as SVP of Creative & Media. At DEPT®, he oversees a massive portfolio that accounts for roughly half of the agency’s regional revenue.

Known for his "newsroom mentality"—moving brands away from static campaigns and toward always-on, social-first cultural platforms—Lewis has guided major brands like Google, Snap, eBay, Coach, Mazda, SiriusXM, and The Washington Post through complex digital evolutions. He is a major proponent of fusing human creativity with AI, frequently speaking at industry events (like CES) on how modern, future-fit agencies must leverage technology to scale growth without losing their creative edge.

Michael "Mike" Pratt - Founder, President, and Host - Digital Fight Club May 23, 2026

Show notes

Michael "Mike" Pratt is an entrepreneur, technology executive, and the Founder, President, and Host of Digital Fight Club (DFC).

Digital Fight Club: Founded by Pratt in 2015, Digital Fight Club is a highly popular, fast-paced live event series designed to replace boring, dry corporate panels. It pits top technology gurus, CEOs, and cybersecurity experts against each other in a metaphorical "ring" to debate contentious, cutting-edge tech topics in front of a live audience and a panel of expert referees. What started as a local event in Dallas, Texas, has expanded to other major tech hubs like Houston, Atlanta, and Boston, and is currently being developed for a broader television audience format.
Digital Dallas: Before DFC took off, Pratt founded Digital Dallas, an organization aimed at fostering, showcasing, and connecting the entrepreneurial and digital technology community in North Texas.
Panamplify: In addition to his event ventures, Pratt serves as the CEO of Panamplify, a technology company that uses automation and artificial intelligence to streamline data collection and report generation for marketing agencies and brands.

Pratt is widely recognized in the southern tech ecosystem for his high-energy hosting style and his knack for turning dense industry topics into entertaining, digestible spectacles.

⁠Stevan Popovich⁠ - President & Chief Retail Officer - ⁠Cycle Gear Inc.⁠ May 21, 2026

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Stevan Popovich is a prominent retail and corporate leader in the powersports industry. He serves as the President and Chief Retail Officer of Cycle Gear, America's largest retailer of motorcycle aftermarket parts, apparel, and accessories, operating nearly 180 stores across the United States.Career Trajectory: With over 20 years of experience in brand growth and product development, he spent years scaling major e-commerce platforms. He previously served as the Vice President of Merchandising and VP of Business Development for @RevZilla.com and Comoto Family of Brands, where he drove massive digital acquisition and national brick-and-mortar retail footprint expansion.

Brandon Lentino - Chief Creative Officer (CCO) - Viral Nation May 21, 2026

Show notes

Brandon Lentino is a prominent creative executive in the social media and creator economy space, currently serving as the Chief Creative Officer (CCO) at Viral Nation, one of the world’s leading social media marketing transformation agencies.

His work focuses on bridging the gap between traditional brand marketing and the fast-moving "social-first" world of creators and influencers.

Chief Creative Officer: Lentino oversees the creative direction for global brands, ensuring that their social presence isn't just "ads," but content that resonates with modern audiences (especially Gen Z and Gen Alpha).
VN Studio: Following Viral Nation’s acquisition of Eight Seven Media (a production agency Lentino co-owned), he helped spearhead the creation of "VN Studio." This internal hub focuses on high-speed content production, distribution, and monetization for athletes, celebrities, and brands.
Strategy: He is a vocal advocate for "engineering UGC" (User Generated Content). His philosophy is that brand activations should be designed as "social engines" where the physical experience is built specifically to prompt sharing and digital engagement.

Zillow & "Demure" Marketing: He led a viral 2025 campaign for Zillow featuring creator Jools Lebron, leveraging the "very demure, very mindful" trend to reach first-time homebuyers on social media.
Super Bowl Coverage: In February 2026, he was a featured expert for ADWEEK’s "Big Game Live Show," providing real-time analysis of Super Bowl ads, social sentiment, and creator-led marketing strategies.
7-Eleven "Summer of Sev": He oversaw the award-winning creative for 7-Eleven Canada, which used a digital-first approach to position the brand as a convenience leader for a younger, social-savvy demographic.

Lentino often speaks about the "Hybrid of Tech and Humanity." He argues that while a strong tech stack (social listening, AI, and analytics) is necessary, it must be combined with human expertise to know when a brand should enter a cultural conversation without looking like an "outsider."

⁠Josh Gross⁠ - Chief Creative Officer - ⁠BBDO Chicago⁠ May 20, 2026

Show notes

Josh Gross is an elite, award-winning creative executive known for building viral, culture-shaping campaigns that merge massive scale with genuine human soul. Having established himself as a powerhouse creative leader during a highly successful decade at Energy BBDO, he was appointed to oversee the newly integrated FCB Global / BBDO Chicago creative team following the major Omnicom network merger.In this role, Josh is tasked with unifying two of Chicago’s most historic and distinct agency cultures, focusing on real-time, high-speed creative experimentation to keep major global brands culturally relevant.Key Career Highlights & Creative Philosophy:Scale with Soul: Josh operates under a unified creative vision to "do big things by scale, with soul." He rejects the idea that a campaign must choose between data-driven, massive reach and emotional depth, pushing his teams to find the golden intersection of both.

⁠Pam Piligian⁠ - Chief Marketing Officer - ⁠Navy Federal Credit Union May 20, 2026

Show notes

Pam Piligian is the Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President at Navy Federal Credit Union, a member-owned, not-for-profit financial institution dedicated exclusively to serving active-duty military personnel, veterans, and their families. At Navy Federal, Pam oversees all global marketing and advertising strategy, digital property engagement, corporate social responsibility, and data analytics—powering the credit union's famous brand ethos, "Our Members Are the Mission." Before making the leap client-side to Navy Federal, Pam spent 30 years building an illustrious career in account leadership at top-tier ad agencies, including BBDO Worldwide, DDB, and Fitzgerald & Co. Notably, while at Fitzgerald & Co., she actually helped win the Navy Federal account in 2009 and orchestrated the massive branding transition when the credit union opened its doors to all branches of the military.

Justin Inman - Founder & CEO, emberos & Dan Roberts Global Vice President for Search - Assembly May 20, 2026

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Justin Inman

Founder & CEO, emberos

Justin Inman is an enterprise growth and tech executive who spent over a decade operating at the intersection of global commerce, advertising, and technology. He is a former enterprise growth leader at Google, where he spent years helping major global conglomerates—including Amazon, Coca-Cola, Sony, and L’Oréal—navigate the massive operational shift of digital transformation.

In 2025, he founded emberos, a pioneering platform designed to bridge what he calls the "AI Visibility Gap."

The "Share of Prompt" Playbook: Justin is the architect of AI Brand Orchestration (AIBO). His core thesis is that traditional SEO is dying as organic traffic fragments. Instead of fighting for clicks on a search results page, Justin argues that a brand's survival now depends on controlling how it is cited and described inside AI-generated text answers across platforms like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.

Dan Roberts

Global Vice President for Search, Assembly

Dan Roberts is an elite, award-winning performance marketing executive and one of the UK’s most influential voices in digital advertising. After a highly successful run leading paid search transformation for global agency networks like Dentsu, GroupM, and Wavemaker, Dan joined the Stagwell-owned global media agency Assembly in October 2023. Following an incredible track record of driving client growth and scaling the agency’s technical capabilities, he was elevated to Global VP for Search in April 2025.

Key Highlights of His Expertise:

The Future of Search & AI: Dan operates at the absolute cutting edge of how artificial intelligence is changing consumer behavior. He specializes in reengineering search strategy for an AI-first world—helping major global brands transition away from legacy keyword strategies toward advanced automation, Google Performance Max, and Microsoft’s AI-driven ad ecosystems.
The "Human + Machine" Philosophy: While he is deeply embedded in tech, Dan is vocal that the future of search isn’t purely automated. His leadership philosophy centers on balancing machine learning with deep human insight and context to ensure brands don't lose their voice.
Industry Leadership & Education: Beyond his corporate role, Dan is a true champion for talent development. He launched Assembly’s Search Academy to train the next generation of digital media specialists. He is also the founder of Search Engine Hubbub, a prominent industry platform dedicated to demystifying complex search algorithms and fostering open knowledge-sharing among digital marketing professionals. Under his leadership, Assembly was named Microsoft Advertising’s EMEA Performance Partner of the Year.

Amanda DeVito - Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) - Butler/Till May 20, 2026

Show notes

Amanda DeVito is a seasoned marketing executive and thought leader who serves as the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) at Butler/Till, a prominent results-driven, women-owned, and employee-owned (ESOP) marketing agency. With over 25 years of industry experience, DeVito has spent the last 15 years as a pillar of Butler/Till’s leadership team, guiding the agency's business development, innovation, and strategic growth.

Holistic Marketing Strategy: DeVito is a strong proponent of collapsing traditional media silos (like separating TV, CTV, and digital video) in favor of an "outcomes-first" approach that prioritizes overarching business objectives over specific channels.
Vertical Experience: She has deep expertise across a broad range of highly regulated and complex industries, including healthcare, pharmaceuticals, financial services, automotive, and retail.
Advocate for DEIB & Culture: At Butler/Till, DeVito heavily champions Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB). She frequently speaks on the distinction between mere "empowerment" and providing actual "access" to leadership roles for underrepresented groups, viewing emotional intelligence and authenticity as non-negotiable leadership traits.
Employee Ownership: She is an active advocate for the positive corporate culture and accountability that comes with employee-owned business models.

DeVito is a frequent speaker at major industry events, including Cannes, Adweek NY, and the DTC Xpectives Health Summit. Beyond her agency role, she extends her leadership to several advisory boards and community organizations:

Advisory Board Member for Ownership America
Board of Directors for the Western New York Chapter of Planned Parenthood
Member of Chief, a private network dedicated to connecting and supporting women executive leaders.

DeVito graduated Magna Cum Laude with a bachelor's degree in Communications and Journalism from St. John Fisher University. She also holds an Executive MBA from the Saunders College of Business at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where she was awarded the peer-nominated Donna Scheid Leadership Award.

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