Stagwell Global Team Members

Certainly! Here's the rephrased text: In the words of Agent Mulder, I am convinced that life exists beyond the confines of our daily routines. It's not just a concept in the night sky, but a vibrant reality waiting for us in the vast world outside. This belief has fueled my passion for exploring diverse cultures and commercial landscapes as a strategist. I am endlessly curious, driven by an insatiable creative wanderlust, and I find immense joy in continuous learning. My career has taken me across the globe, allowing me to lead distinctive agencies in different countries and languages. Currently, I am channeling my enthusiasm for global experiences by leading 72andSunny in Europe. Throughout my journey, I've had the privilege of transforming strategy departments, enhancing creative brilliance, and fostering innovation in various agencies. I played a role in rebuilding Wieden+Kennedy London's strategy department, adding a commercial edge to W+K Global's creativity, revitalizing 180 Amsterdam's creative spirit and global presence, and transforming a traditional WPP agency in Spain into a Cannes-winning springboard for startups. Prior to these experiences, I contributed to the success of London’s Digital Agency of the Decade and the world's most effective agency. At every stage, my goal has remained simple: to create meaningful work with a team of passionate individuals I admire. I find myself in a place where my ambitions align perfectly with my journey, surrounded by people I deeply respect and love working with.

Carl Johnson is the former COO of TBWA\Worldwide and CEO of its New York office - TBWA\Chiat\Day.;Whilst there he more than doubled the agency's size but more importantly introduced the practice of "Connections Planning," arguably the first new industry discipline since the advent of planning.;As significantly, Carl created an innovative climate that attracted talented professionals and inspired and facilitated their ability to flourish.;Prior to coming to the US Carl founded Simons Palmer Clemmow Johnson in the UK, one of the most awarded and respected agencies of the 90's, with clients including Nike, Sony PlayStation, Virgin, British Telecom, and News Corporation. His success as the company's CEO led to him being named one of the UK's top young business executives in Business Age Magazines' "40 under 40" issue.;He is now also The Chairman of Effie Worldwide helping to drive effectiveness in marketing communications across the industry.

As a marketer I have over 15 years'​ experience working in CRM, integrated and digital agencies and have led strategic programmes for brands such as Baileys, Dove, Emirates Airlines, Virgin Atlantic, comparethemarket.com and Goodyear Dunlop. I'm passionate about the opportunity to combine stand out creativity with data smarts and technology in a way which adds value to the brands and businesses that we work with. I believe that we do our best work when we’re ambitious but not set in our ways. When we aim for the stars, but are accepting of and excited by each other’s idiosyncrasies. In an environment where being professional doesn’t mean being stuffy and corporate. I love to mentor junior people in our industry to build their skills, but most importantly help them build the confidence to achieve their goals and to do all of this while being true to their own style. To this end, I’m a member of Bloom (a network for women in the communications industry) and am a Bloom mentor. I'm also Bloom's Head of Marketing & Innovation, taking responsibility for helping us build our profile in the industry.

Marketing and sales executive. Publisher, startup, and agency background with a variety of client experience ranging from financial services to hospitality to FMCG. Entrepreneurial at heart and a rabid consumer of media. Angel investor.

Jason DeLand is the former Partner and Director of Development for G2 Worldwide. While at G2, Jason directed the Diet Coke business and worked at the Grey Global Group level to integrate service offerings. Before joining G2, Jason spent two years as Senior VP, Sales & Marketing for PCCW/Hong Kong Telecom, the largest marketer in Hong Kong and one of the Top 50 marketers in Asia. While at PCCW, Jason helped lead a marketing restructuring of the company's Business to Consumer group, worked on M&A marketing strategy, developed new product/content initiatives for Greater China and managed several agency relationships. Jason began his career at the New York office of TBWA/Chiat/Day - where he became the New Business Director at 22 years of age. At TBWA/Chiat/Day Jason established a winning mentality & track-record amongst the new business team and put in place a sustained and integrated agency marketing program.

WHO I AM:
Energetic, charismatic and effective professional with a proven track record of delivering growth through a combination of marketing, business consulting, and business development.

WHAT I DO:
I work with brands and agencies to help better deliver opportunity, value and business results.

EXPERIENCE & VALUE:
20 years of experience on the agency and marketing consultant side working with Fortune 100 and 500 clients. Key verticals include: CPG, technology, hospitality, retail, B2B, and financial.

Proven track record of client success, business results and growth. Recognized for strong work ethic and creativity, fostering collaborative working relationships with brands, agencies, and colleagues.

MISSION & VALUE:
Connection. Across everything. I believe in smart, respectful, and wickedly clever humans who invite curiosity, ignite passion and drive action.

SPECIAL SKILLS:
Doing business on Southwest Airlines. Solving the Rubik’s cube in 7 steps.

ON A PERSONAL NOTE:
Dynamic, charismatic presenter. (Loves public speaking.) Incorrigible and excited traveler. Loyal. Always curious. Sense of humor. A genuine love of the world and an open mind. I play well with others and want to do the best work I can for my team and the company I work for. 

Dan Gardner is Co-Founder and Executive Creative Director at Code and Theory. With more than a decade of experience designing cross-platform products and brand experiences for clients in North America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, he and Co-Founder Brandon Ralph have led Code and Theory to become one of the largest independent creative agencies in the United States. Since founding the company with Ralph in 2001, it has grown to ~350 employees, with offices in New York City, San Francisco, London, Manila, and Atlanta. From pioneering the modern digital landscape with fifty-eight major media launches for publishers such as Bloomberg, Vogue, and the Los Angeles Times, to defining a new standard for how brands like Maybelline New York and Burger King communicate their stories, to reimagining the digital space between government and citizenry through sites like NY.gov, Gardner and Ralph have radically redrawn the map of challenges a creative agency can confront in today’s digital world. His efforts in growing Code and Theory have been widely recognized. Code and Theory was named one of the “World’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies in Design” by Fast Company in 2015, an “Agency to Watch” and “Hot Digital Indie” by Advertising Agency in 2014, one of the “Hottest Agencies for Publisher Redesigns” by Digiday, a “Top 50 Design Agency” by .net magazine, and one of the “10 Best Agencies in NYC” by Awwwards.com. Gardner received a BFA from the University of Buffalo in 2001.ᐧ

As Global Chief Marketing Officer, and member of the MDC executive team, Ryan Linder is a key driver of strategic growth and a respected advocate and partner to clients and MDC agencies alike, navigating the MDC portfolio of 50+ world-class agencies in an effort align the right partnerships and architect best-in-class purpose-built solutions. With more than 20 years of industry experience, Ryan has partnered with some of the world’s most respected brands, including Apple, BMW, Diageo, General Mills, Google, Molson Coors, Nike, PepsiCo, Target, Uber, Verizon, Walmart and many more. A trusted marketing leader and ally, Ryan is a member of the Association of National Advertiser’s CMO Growth Council, an otherwise client-only body.

Connected Solutions across Creative X Media X Commerce. Supporting the growth of our 6500+ global talent in over 60 locations around the world. Including world class agencies GALE, Forsman & Bodenfors, Crispin Porter Borgusky, Assembly, MMI, Brand New Galaxy and more.

As President of Code and Theory, Mike Treff oversees the agency’s output and client roster, across 6 offices and 500 employees. Residing in the company's New York office, Treff has been with the company since 2011, holding positions of Director of Creative Strategy and Managing Partner prior to his current role. Over that span, the agency has grown significantly in both size, as well as the scale of its work. During his tenure, he as establishing practices within Code and Theory focused on Data, Analytics and Research (DAR), Creative Technology, Branding and Identity, Experiential Marketing, Industrial Design, and Business Consulting. Over that span, the company has garnered dozens of awards including being named to Fast Company’s list of Most Innovative Companies.

With a client roster that represents diverse categories ranging from finance to sports to publishing to cpg and more, Code and Theory sits comfortably at the intersection of creativity and technology, with strategy and consumer insight at the center of the companies work.

Prior to joining Code and Theory, Treff was the Co-Founder and Creative Director of Soundscreen Design, a boutique product design company within Warner Music Group. Additionally, he spent eight years working in various creative and strategic account roles at traditional, digital, and integrated advertising agencies including JWT, Agency.com, and TBWA Chiat / Day, where he worked with brands like Snickers, Skittles, Rolex, Choice Hotels, and Maidenform. 

With a career spanning four decades, Mark Penn is a leader and sought-after expert in public relations, advertising, market research, and polling. He serves as managing partner and president of private equity fund The Stagwell Group, where he oversees a diverse portfolio of marketing services. Under the leadership of Mark Penn, The Stagwell Group has raised more than $500 million and completed over 20 acquisitions as it works to modernize the concept of the holdings company.

Concurrent to his role at The Stagwell Group, Mark Penn maintains a leadership role at its largest portfolio company, MDC Partners. As chairman and CEO, he manages the firm’s growing network of marketing and communications partners, working with a global client base of more than 1,700 entities.

Mark Penn previously served Microsoft as its chief strategy officer and executive vice president. In this capacity, he addressed the firm’s strategic challenges by utilizing a combination of data analytics and creative problem-solving to overcome these hurdles. During his tenure with Microsoft, Mark Penn also oversaw all of the company’s advertising initiatives, including the famous Scroogled campaign.

Earlier in his career, Mark Penn co-founded market research company Penn Schoen Berland. As CEO, he successfully built the firm from the ground up by developing revolutionary polling and advertising techniques. Mark Penn eventually sold the firm to WPP, where he assumed the role of CEO at Burson Marsteller. While at the helm of these two companies, he grew their profits to record levels.

Over the course of his career, Mark Penn has emerged as a thought leader in his field. He has penned columns for such publications as POLITICO, The Wall Street Journal, and The Huffington Post. He also wrote the 2007 bestseller “Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow’s Big Changes.” In 2018, his follow-up, “Microtrends Squared: The New Small Forces Driving Today’s Bit Disruptions,” was released.

Also renowned for his skill as a strategist, Mark Penn has served as an advisor on numerous political campaigns over the years and was a longtime White House Pollster for President Bill Clinton. Beyond that, he has advised several prominent corporate leaders and helped more than two dozen international heads of state win their elections. 

Jay Leveton is a partner at The Stagwell Group, a private equity fund focused on making investments in marketing communications agencies particularly in the digital space.

Most recently, Leveton served as the CEO at Penn Schoen Berland, a WPP market research firm. PSB is one of the most successful global political polling firm to transition into corporate market research. He was only the 2nd Global CEO of the 39 year old firm. In his three years as CEO he grew the firm’s revenue and profit by double digits annually and expanded its footprint to: Western Europe, the Middle East and SE Asia. Leveton was at the firm for 17 years.

He has experience in both high level political and corporate market research ranging from messaging, ad testing and tracking, crisis communications and measuring and managing corporate reputation. He has conducted research for Democratic Party political clients including: Former President Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton in her run for US Senate in New York, Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman, Indiana and Senator Evan Bayh. Additionally, he has led research projects for the DNC, DLC and NDN. He has conducted market research for numerous Fortune 500 companies including: Verizon, P&G, EY, Accenture, Nestle, Tyson Foods and others.

Mr. Leveton also served as Executive Vice President, Worldwide at Burson Marsteller where he sat on the global senior leadership team and was responsible for the marketing, communications, new business, senior staff acquisition and other key functions for the firm. In addition he worked with clients including: UHC, GSK and Telefonica. In 2012, he was recognized by PRWeek as one of the Top 40 Under 40 rising stars in public relations. In 2011, under his leadership, the firm was awarded The Holmes Report North American Agency of the Year.

He graduated cum laude from American University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His wife Amy works at PSB and they have two sons.