Pete Blackshaw EVP of Strategic Services, Nielsen Online Pete Blackshaw, whose professional background encompasses public policy, interactive marketing, and brand management, is Executive Vice President of Strategic Services for Nielsen Online, a new entity combining Nielsen BuzzMetrics, a firm Pete helped co-found, and Nielsen NetRatings. A key focus for Pete revolves around how to help brands interpret, manage, act on consumer-generated media (CGM). A former interactive marketing leader at P&G and founder of consumer feedback portal PlanetFeedback.com, Pete co-founded the Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA). A popular speaker with Nielsen clients and at interactive marketing industry events, Pete serves as an Ad-Tech advisory board member, and authors several blogs including ConsumerGeneratedMedia.com. He is author of an upcoming book by Random House entitled "Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3000: Running a Business in Today's Consumer-Driven World."
Karen E. Watson SVP Communications, The Nielsen Company Karen Watson is based in New York City and oversees press relations, external communications, marketing support and communication to clients. She also holds responsibility for the Company's corporate communications strategy and brand image, while working in partnership with senior management on major strategic initiatives involving both the media and marketing businesses. Karen has more than 25 years of experience in media relations, marketing, public affairs and government relations. In 2005, she served on The Independent Task Force on Television Measurement, which recommended to Nielsen a number of improvements in our measurement services, including recruitment, fault rates, and diversity initiatives. Prior to Nielsen, Karen served as Vice President, Government Relations, for EchoStar Satellite Corporation, from 1996-2005. In that role, she opened EchoStar’s Washington, D.C. office and was responsible for the development and implementation of legislative and regulatory strategy. Karen also represented EchoStar in the Congress, the Executive Branch and regulatory agencies. She directed the company’s grassroots campaigns, media and public relations activities. Before EchoStar, Karen was Director of the Office of Public Affairs for the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) from 1994-1996. She also served as Deputy Project Director at WGBH, from 1992-1994, for the production of the primetime PBS series Africans in America. Prior to that, she was Press Secretary for the Select Committee on Narcotics Abuse and Control of the U.S. House of Representatives, and also held various roles in news and public affairs for Public Broadcasting Service, National Public Radio, and The MacNeil/Lehrer Report. Karen holds a B.A. in American Studies from Bard College in New York. She also serves as a Board Member for the Southern Center for International Studies in Atlanta.
Karen Benezra Executive Director, Nielsen Connect Karen Benezra is executive director at NielsenTrend, a unit of NielsenConnect and a thought leadership consultancy focused on understanding consumer attitudes and behavior backed by the company’s extensive information assets. It combines trend-watching with analytics to create predictive market intelligence. Ms. Benezra was previously editor of Brandweek magazine, where she led coverage of the marketing industry in both print and online formats. Under her guidance, Brandweek earned a 2005 Jesse H. Neal Award from American Business Media for outstanding business journalism, among other editorial and design accolades. Formerly the executive editor of news operations and national news editor at Adweek, Ms. Benezra has a deep understanding of the forces shaping the media information business today. She earned a BA in Political Science and Journalism at Brooklyn College and a master's degree from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. She frequently comments on advertising, brand identity, marketing and media topics for a host of news outlets.
Paul Donato Chief Research Officer, The Nielsen Company Paul Donato's responsibilities include integrating all research functions within The Nielsen Company, overseeing the development and evaluation of all research, and serving as Nielsen’s research liaison to clients and industry associations. Partnering with the product leaders and client service leaders of The Nielsen Company, Paul is primarily responsible for exploring new ways to measure media audiences and consumer behavior in the changing, converging media environment. During his career, Paul has launched several Latin American and global research products and is now responsible for the development of a global network of Nielsen Measurement Scientists. Paul joined the company as Senior Vice President and Chief Research Officer of Nielsen Media Research in 2000. Prior to joining Nielsen, Paul served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Kantar Media Research beginning in 1998. From 1993 to 1998, he was Senior Vice President in charge of media at Audits & Surveys Worldwide. Before that, he served as President of the Syndicated Group of Simmons Market Research Bureau for four years and held positions in research at RD Percy & Co. and Arbitron Ratings Company. Paul has also served as a consultant to McGraw-Hill and Whittle Communications. His areas of expertise include research development for television, print and the Internet. Paul has served on the boards of several television ratings services in Latin America and globally. He is currently a board member and a past Chairman of the U.S. Advertising Research Foundation (ARF). He is also the Director for Research, on the North American Board of AfriAfya, a Kenyan-based community health agency. Paul received a BA in Psychology and Sociology from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Stony Brook, and an MA in Applied Sociology with a minor in Statistics from SUNY.
Scott Brown SVP, Media Product Leadership-Digital Platforms, The Nielsen Company Scott L. Brown is responsible for strategic relationships, marketing and technology for the media research side of the Company. Scott focuses much of his time on establishing and managing business relationships with advanced technology and new media companies. He is one of the Company’s key experts on evolving television technologies, advanced metering systems, and new technology development. Scott provides the Company’s vision and leadership for the new world of digital convergence, as well as directing related projects, such as the TiVo/Nielsen measurement service, the convergence panel, extended home measurement, DVR timeshifting, and development of on-demand services. Scott joined Nielsen Media Research in 1979 as a systems design specialist. In 1983, Scott managed the national names operation where he developed the Automated Measurement of Lineups (AMOL) system that facilitated the delivery of national overnight ratings. From 1985 through 1987, he served as vice president in charge of national and local production services. In 1992, he was named vice president of metered and diary data collection services. In 1995, Scott became vice president of marketing and began working closely with clients and technology companies. In 1999, Scott was promoted to senior vice president of Marketing & Technology. Mr. Brown is a 1975 graduate of Illinois State University with BS and MS degrees.
Tom Ziangas Senior Vice President, Nielsen Sports Tom Ziangas holds responsibility for overseeing sales, client service and strategy for Nielsen Sports, a unit of Nielsen based in New York City that provides information and best practices to buyers and sellers of sports sponsorships. Prior to this role, Tom served as SVP, National Television Client Services for Nielsen Media Research, from 2003-07, and held responsibility for all sales and marketing functions for national cable network clients. He began his career at Nielsen Media Research in 1986 joining the Nielsen Homevideo Index (NHI) sales department servicing cable network accounts. In 1993, he left Nielsen for the Ad Sales Research group at The Family Channel where he held responsibility for all ratings estimates for the network and gained greater insight into the needs of agencies and their advertisers. He then was named Manager of Sales Development Resources at The Family Channel before returning to Nielsen in 1997 as Vice President, Sales in NHI. Tom has presented and spoken at many industry events such as AdWeek’s Upfront Forum (2005), Nickelodeon Diversity Symposium (2005) and RTRC panel on Commercial Minute Ratings (2006).
Edward Franczek SVP Marketing, The Nielsen Company Ed Franczek is responsible for marketing and executing product offerings to U.S. retailer and manufacturer clients. He has more than 20 years of senior marketing and sales experience, most recently at GOLIATH Solutions, a leader in utilizing RFID to track performance of in-store marketing programs. Prior to GOLIATH, he served as Chief Marketing Officer and SVP for W.W. Grainger, a $5 billion distributor, where he led the multi-channel marketing effort across 400 retail stores, direct sales, catalog marketing and grainger.com. Earlier, Edward spent over 12 years with Kraft Foods in positions of growing responsibility, the last being VP, Marketing and General Manager where he had P&L responsibility for the $600 million Cultured Products Group. He holds a B.S in Psychology from Michigan State University and an MBA from Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University. He serves as president of the Board of Advisors for the Eli Broad College of Management at MSU and is on the board of the Glencoe Baseball Association. He holds two patents in the use of computer technology.
Tom Pirovano Director of Industry Insights, The Nielsen Company Tom supports Nielsen’s Client Service organization, driving thought leadership for U.S. retailer and manufacturer clients. His industry studies cover a broad range of topics including trade promotion, private label, Wal-Mart, health & wellness, retail pricing, consumer loyalty, and consumer dynamics. Tom also supports training of Nielsen’s client-facing associates. Previous positions at ACNielsen include managing retailer and manufacturer accounts such as Walgreens, Quaker Oats, and Kraft. Tom joined Nielsen in August 1997. Prior to joining the company, he managed marketing information for Dean Foods Vegetable Division. He also managed information technology for Mid-Central Food Sales, later becoming Advantage Sales and Marketing. He started his career in syndicated market research at Information Resources, Inc. Tom earned his MBA from DePaul University and has a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from the University of Illinois at Chicago. In his free time, Tom coaches soccer and basketball, and spends time with his wife and three children. He is also an accomplished pianist, playing professionally in the 1980’s.
Mónica Gil Vice President Communications and Public Affairs, The Nielsen Company Mónica Gil works extensively with news media, elected officials, community leaders and manages West Coast communications for Nielsen businesses including Nielsen Media Research, Nielsen Entertainment and Nielsen Business Media. Mónica also manages Nielsen’s national Hispanic/Latino Strategic Community Outreach and the company’s California government and community affairs programs.
Prior to joining Nielsen, Mónica served as a senior member of Antonio Villaraigosa’s 2001 Los Angeles mayoral campaign team, and in 2005 was part of his historic and victorious mayoral campaign. She has also served as press secretary for the Speaker of California State Assembly where she conducted media outreach efforts and organized citywide awareness events. Her communications expertise includes a role as Senior Vice President for Greer, Margolis, Mitchell & Burns (GMMB), a public policy, advertising and public relations firm where she developed comprehensive media plans and grassroots coalition building for a wide range of clients. Mónica was also Director of Public Affairs and Community Outreach for Los Angeles’ Telemundo stations KVEA and KWHY, where she managed philanthropic efforts for Telemundo and served as the principle liaison for community outreach in the Los Angeles area. Mónica is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley where she received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science and a minor in Spanish. She received her Masters Degree in Public Policy from the USC School of Administration and she serves on the board of Workplace Hollywood and the Asian Pacific American Legal Center.