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NEIL CONTESS, CEO of Contess Marketing & Communications, is a 20-year marketing veteran. He began his career with Southern Bell Phone Centers, and then progressed through AT&T’s post-divestiture management structure to lead various marketing, advertising, promotion and direct marketing functions with the Consumer Products division. Neil later became the managing director of J. Brown & Associates (a subsidiary of the Grey Global Group), before moving to Dugan Valva Contess (DVC Group) as a partner, and then to Wunderman Cato Johnson Promotions Worldwide, as president. Neil is also the President Elect of the Association of Promotion Marketing Agencies Worldwide.

JOHN HOPPER is CEO of RealTime Media, a digital marketing company. Formerly managing partner of Einson Freeman, as well as EinsonHealth, a joint-venture of CommonHealth and Einson Freeman, both of which belong to the Specialist Communications division of WPP Group. As managing partner/global client services for Einson, John oversaw the agency's global clientele such as IBM's global promotion account via Einson Freeman Promotional Campaigns. He also led the establishment of regional offices, including Einson Latin America in Mexico City, Einson West. John's background includes category management for Unilever in the Detergents group; sales management and retail marketing in Procter & Gamble's Paper Products division; strategic consulting at Clarion Marketing & Communications, a Bcom3 company.

DREW SHEINMAN, president of Simon Brand Ventures, has more than 20 years of branding and programming expertise in the entertainment, lifestyle and sports sectors. He currently oversees ShopSimon.com, MallPerks and the Simon Live Media Network, a multi-channel customer-centric network that integrates community, content and commerce. Previously, Drew was senior vice president of marketing and business development at Simon Property Group. Prior to joining Simon, Drew was president of BrandStyle Marketing International, sports marketing director for the Coca-Cola Company and vice president of business development for Madison Square Garden. A frequent speaker at industry conferences, Drew previously served as chairman of the event marketing committee for the Association of National Advertisers.

KERRY E. SMITH, as co-founder, editor and publisher of PROMO Magazine, pioneered the now-universal recognition of promotion as a marketing discipline by calling attention to the power and creative impact of using behavior-inducing incentives to generate sales and increase market share for goods and services sold in free-market economies. Prior to the launch of PROMO Kerry owned Smith Communications Inc., a business-to-business advertising and marketing services company. He has worked over the years as a reporter, editor, promoter, publicist, speechwriter, account executive and marketing manager for companies as diverse as Chrysler, Abbott Laboratories, Chicago Public Television, ABC Entertainment, the American Dental Association and the predecessor of AOL/Time-Warner. Since the sale of PROMO in 1998, Kerry has served as a corporate communications and marketing consultant and has been a speaker at marketing conferences in the U.S. and overseas. He is currently at work on a book on integrated marketing campaigns and is active with the Association of Promotion Marketing Agencies Worldwide.