Anita Cooney is the dean of the School of Design at Pratt Institute. In previous administrative appointments at Pratt, she served as chair of the Interior Design department and Assistant Chair of Undergraduate Architecture. She is also a professor, having taught in interior design and architecture. She is a regular participant of and serves on the board of the educational organization, DesignInquiry, a transdisciplinary educational organization devoted to researching design issues in intensive team-based gatherings. A designer and artist, her work in commercial and residential interiors and products explores the quotidian in materials and details.

Brooke Hammerling is the founder of The New New Thing, a strategic communications advisory firm she launched in 2020. She has spent more than twenty years helping some of the most successful tech entrepreneurs shape their communications strategies. In 2005, Brooke started Brew PR, a pioneering media relations agency that represented some of the most renowned and disruptive tech companies. Brew was sold to London-based PR firm Freuds in 2016. Brooke divides her time between New York and Los Angeles. 

Erik Flannigan is a veteran music executive and artist manager of Raphael Saadiq and The National. He is also a producer, filmmaker, writer and music archivist. Recent producing projects include Play On: Celebrating the Power of Music to Make Change (CBS), John Legend and Family: A Bigger Love Father’s Day (ABC), The National’s live album Juicy Sonic Magic and accompanying documentary short, Juicy Sonic Magic: The Mike Millard Method and the NBC holiday special A Legendary Christmas with John and Chrissy. Erik also serves as a strategic consultant to NUGS.net on their live music distribution platform. Prior to coming to FAW, Erik was EVP of Music/Events Strategy and Development at MTV where he oversaw the network’s music series, specials and annual tentpole events including the Video Music Awards, as well as leading the network’s Music and Talent division, emerging artist platforms, strategic partnerships and MTV Live. 
 

Evelyn McGee Colbert is a founder of Montclair Film, an arts non-profit in Montclair NJ, and currently serves as the President of the Board of Trustees. Ms. Colbert is also a board member of the International African American Museum in Charleston South Carolina. In April of 2020, Ms. Colbert was appointed to NJ Governor Phil Murphy’s Restart and Recovery Commission and continues to serve as an arts advocate in that capacity. She is an independent film producer and the Vice President of Spartina Productions, a production company that she co-owns with her husband, Stephen Colbert. Evelyn and Stephen are executive producers of the film “Derek DelGaudio’s In & Of Itself,” which premiered on Hulu in January of 2021.
 

Liza Landsman joined NEA in 2018, and is currently a General Partner focused on investments in the consumer, ecommerce, and fintech sectors. Prior to joining NEA, Liza was President of Jet.com where she was a founding member of the executive team and later, following Jet’s acquisition, of Walmart’s US Ecommerce leadership team. Prior to joining Jet, she was Chief Marketing Officer and a member of the Executive Committee at E*TRADE Financial, Global Head of Digital for BlackRock and held various leadership roles at both Citigroup and IBM earlier in her career.

In addition to her involvement with NEA portfolio companies, Liza is an independent Board Director for Choice Hotels (CHH), Squarespace and Applause App Quality as well as the NYC based non-profit organization The GO Project. Liza graduated magna cum laude from Cornell University.
 

Mark Thompson became Chairman of Ancestry.com in December 2020.  He is also co-Chair of the International Fund for Public Interest Media, Deputy Chair of the Royal Shakespeare Company and an advisor to the Supervisory Board of Axel Springer SE.

Mr. Thompson stepped down as President & CEO at The New York Times Company in the summer of 2020 after an eight-year tenure in which the 170-year-old news brand was transformed into a digital powerhouse. Digital subscribers jumped to nearly 6 million, up from half a million when he joined, while digital revenues topped $450 million at the end of 2019.

Mr. Thompson's appointment at The New York Times Company followed an eight-year term as Director General of the BBC. He is widely credited with expanding the BBC’s digital reach and overseeing development of the BBC iPlayer. He joined the BBC from Channel 4 where he was Chief Executive from 2002 to 2004. Before Channel 4 he held a series of senior posts at the BBC including Editor of The Nine O’clock News and Panorama, Controller of BBC Two and Director of Television. 
 
His book, “Enough Said: What’s Gone Wrong with the Language of Politics?” was published in the UK and US in September 2016.
 
He was educated at Stonyhurst College and Merton College Oxford.
 

Tara DeVeaux is Chief Marketing Officer of Wild Card Creative Group, Managing Director of the company’s content studio 3AM and strategy division Insights@Wild Card, and an award-winning brand and entertainment marketer. DeVeaux joined Wild Card as Chief Marketing Officer in 2018, bringing brand marketing principles into the entertainment marketing process, and added Managing Director of the company’s creative content studio 3AM and the audience-focused strategy arm Insights@Wild Card to her responsibilities in 2020.
 
Tara joined Wild Card Creative Group from BBDO New York where she led the marketing team, focusing on business development, partnerships and agency branding. Her leadership on campaigns for such brands as PepsiCo, HBO, Electronic Arts, J&J, TNT, National Geographic Channel and Kraft earned her teams over 200 creative awards. With a career spanning brands, entertainment and tech, Tara’s experience and expertise has uniquely positioned her to continuously innovate in an ever-evolving marketing landscape. Although Brooklyn, NY is her first love, she now happily calls LA her home.
 

Jason Harris is the co-founder & CEO of award-winning creative advertising agency Mekanism, co-founder of the Creative Alliance and author of national bestseller, The Soulful Art of Persuasion. Harris works closely with brands through a blend of creativity and performance. We call this approach Soul + Science. Iconic brands include Peloton, Ben & Jerry’s, Jose Cuervo, Alaska Airlines, Charles Schwab and OkCupid, among others.
 
Under his leadership, Mekanism was most recently named Independent Agency of the Year by The Drum, and ranked by the Effie Index as a top 10 Most Effective Independent Agency in the United States. Mekanism has also been named to Ad Age's Agency A-list and twice to their Best Places to Work.
 
Harris was named 2021 CEO of the Year by The Drum, a recipient of the 4A's 100 People Who Make Advertising Great, and a 2020 Campaign US 40 Over 40 honoree for his noteworthy contributions to the advertising & marketing industry. His methods are studied in cases at Harvard Business School.
 

Christina Norman is an accomplished media and entertainment executive. She served as President of MTV, VH1 and OWN, distinguished by her talent as a successful brand builder. Currently, she is Head of Content for THINK450, the innovation engine of The National Basketball Players Association, creating opportunities for the world’s most influential athletes to deepen their connections to audiences through storytelling. Christina is on the boards of BRIC Arts Media Brooklyn, and Village Roadshow Entertainment Group, one of the leading independent entertainment production companies in the world.