TRACK SPEAKERS

How It Started v. How It’s Going: 7 Key Takeaways From Large Scale Transformations

Lauren Beckstedt, Chief Marketing Officer, Brunswick Corporation
Jamie Evans, Division CMO, Mercury Marine

With modern technology, an explosion of productivity tools, and broadening work/life versatility, marketing leaders find it easier than ever to embrace change and inspire high performance teams. Right? Brunswick Corporation CMO Lauren Beckstedt provides a candid perspective on driving organizational & digital transformation at a multi-billion dollar global company rooted in 175 years of heritage. Beckstedt is joined by change catalyst Jamie Evans, business unit CMO for Wisconsin’s Mercury Marine, a division of Brunswick.

Lauren Beckstedt

Chief Marketing Officer, Brunswick Corporation

Lauren Beckstedt is the Chief Marketing Officer for Brunswick Corporation, the global leader in recreational marine products, with a portfolio of the industry’s most recognized brands including Mercury, Boston Whaler, Sea Ray, Lund, Lowrance, and Freedom Boat Club. With experience in B2B, B2C consumer durables, and dual-distribution models, Lauren is most notably recognized for her leadership in digital marketing & digital product management transformation across a portfolio of more than 60 brands. She also led the Company’s marketing operating model advancements across its 4 business units to deliver significant gains in revenue attributable to marketing, stronger brand discipline and portfolio strategy and establish new capabilities in multi-channel marketing attribution, and consumer insights.

Jamie Evans

Division CMO, Mercury Marine

Jamie Evans is the Division CMO for Mercury Marine, the world’s leading manufacturer of recreational marine propulsion engines. A division of Brunswick Corporation, Mercury provides engines, boats, services and parts for recreational, commercial and government marine applications. With over 20 years of proven ability to effectively manage complex global brands, Jamie has built, developed, and managed cross-functional teams in brand marketing, performance media, analytics, content/creative & UX, at top tier global brands such as Bang & Olufsen, Dyson, Kohler, and Harley-Davidson Motor Company. Not only does she bring a deep knowledge in analytics and digital marketing strategies, but creative thinking for business solutions and future planning as well.

Scoring BIG with Sports Data to Create Unique Brand-buyer Connections

Nancy Hensley, Founding Member, Mercury/13

Get ready to score big with the captivating world of sports and the untapped potential of data-driven insights! With a global audience of 3.5 billion for soccer and eye-popping viewership numbers for major events, the global stage is set for your brand to shine in the spotlight. Sports offers a unique opportunity to forge deep and emotional connections that marketers crave. Imagine the possibilities when sports data can transform a dandruff shampoo into a champion of a new market or inspire a young girl to dream big and be the next Serena Williams or Sam Kerr. Join us as we dive into the remarkable influence of sports data, and discover the limitless ways it can elevate your brand to new heights. It's time to unleash the power of sports data and create a lasting impact that resonates with your audience.

Key session takeaways:

• Understand how sports data can help elevate your brand and connect with consumers
• See how sports data is leveraged by teams and brands
• Get the behind-the-scenes story on how sports data is collected and monetized in the sports world
• Hear case studies of brands and companies leveraging sports data (and yes there really was a dandruff shampoo that tapped into a new market using sports data!) 
• Find out what the new growth stock of sport is for your brand to invest in

Nancy Hensley

Founding Member, Mercury/13

Nancy Hensley is a seasoned technology executive with a wealth of experience in the data analytics tech space. Currently, Nancy is a founding member of Mercury 13, a new multi-club ownership group focused exclusively on women’s soccer and fueling it's growth and commercialization. After recently serving as the Chief Product and Marketing Officer at Stats Perform, a global sports analytics company, Nancy became an active and passionate voice for women’s sport with a keen understanding of the importance of data and innovation to the growth of the women’s game. Her twenty-five plus years of experience have always been rooted in the data and analytics space and working with clients leveraging data to transform their businesses.

Prior to her role at Stats Perform, Nancy served as the Chief Digital Officer at IBM Data & AI. Her leadership led to a substantial growth in digital and SaaS revenue. Nancy was an early pioneer of Product Led Growth Initiatives at IBM leveraging new experimentation and growth techniques to transform products.

Nancy has always been an avid advocate for diversity and empowerment of women in the tech industry, and more recently within the sportstech sector. Through her collaboration with organizations like WIST (Women in Sports Tech), she continues to champion inclusivity and driving positive change.

But First, A Story: How B2B Companies Can Use the Power of Brand Storytelling to Accelerate Change

Heidi Waldusky, Vice President of Brand Marketing, Quad

Storytelling isn’t just a powerful way to sway consumers—it’s a strategic tool that any B2B marketer can use to accelerate change for their business. Part of the team leading the transformation of a $3 billion company that markets to marketers, Quad VP of Brand Marketing Heidi Waldusky shares an insider’s view on how to use storytelling to up-level a brand, why it’s important to respect the past while looking to the future, and how internal pitfalls can be opportunities in disguise.

Heidi Waldusky

Vice President of Brand Marketing, Quad

Heidi Waldusky, vice president of Brand Marketing for Quad, thrives on helping companies deliver on their brand promise, win over audiences, and create ownable business ideas. Ever curious and collaborative to the core, Heidi is a driving force behind the transformation of Quad’s brand. She leads the team developing the architecture, position, and visuals for Quad as a singular source for reimagining the marketing experience.

Heidi began her career in agencies, working her way up from copywriter to executive creative director. Her experience has been amassed by working with brands of all shapes and sizes, from prescription pharmaceuticals to auto insurance to chocolate bars. Heidi has earned accolades for her work on Hewlett-Packard, Claritin, VESIcare, and The Atlantic Monthly, which was a Cannes Titanium Award Finalist. On the brand side, Heidi was most recently the Associate Publisher and General Manager of Marketing for Ad Age, the industry’s most trusted media brand. There she led the business transformation and extensive rebrand of the nearly 100-year-old company.