Brand Experience takes a look back at winners of The Brand Leaders & Rising Stars competition, which spotlights some of the brightest and most creative minds and teams as well as the appreciative and generous nature of the branding, marketing and design communities. For the past three years, members of these communities have nominated their peers and customers at consumer-facing brands for the many different award categories, including marketing and branding, design, innovation and business leader.
Winners from the competition are recognized at the annual BXPLive! conference. The event, which has been held in southwestern coastal Florida, has served as a place for attendees to not only escape winter to warm their bodies but also an opportunity to warm hearts. Some of the conference’s most heartfelt moments came when nominees, surrounded by their peers, would listen to the winning nomination. I don’t think anyone who was in the room for the contest’s very first award ceremony will forget Amanda Bach’s sweet reaction when excerpts from the nomination of Bach by Stanley Church of Wallace Church were read. The judges won’t soon forget Maureen Hubbs and how she submitted a video and multi-page presentation along with the nomination of Charlie DiGregorio at Barilla Group. While some submitters chose to remain anonymous, their generous nominations delivered professional recognition for their peers and elevate our communities.
Here are the past winners, who clearly have their very own “brand fans”:
First year winners
Design
Rising Star
Amanda Bach, design team lead at Nestlé
Brand Leader
Mauro Porcini, senior vice president and chief design officer at PepsiCo
Business Leader
Rising Star
Jennifer Bacon, co-founder and chief brand officer at FlapJacked
Marketing and Branding
Rising Star
Lauren Fleischer, former brand manager of global eCommerce at Mondele–z International (now in eCommerce marketing at PepsiCo)
Brand Leader
Christopher Gavigan, founder and chief purpose officer at The Honest Company
Business Leader
Brand Leader
Andrew Libman, president of Libman
Innovation
Rising Star
Gina Bazigian, senior packaging innovations manager at Anheuser-Busch InBev
Brand Leader
Tracie Wilson, senior principal scientist – packaging innovation at McCormick and Company
Collaborative Team
Brand Leader
L’Oréal
Brand Leader
Fuseneo and The Wonderful Company
Second year winners
Design
Rising Star
Ria Reodica, senior graphic designer at Sobel Westex
Brand Leader
Jennifer Giannotti-Genes, global senior design manager at Colgate-Palmolive / Hills Pet Nutrition (now associate design director, personal care category and Hill’s Pet Nutrition, at Colgate-Palmolive)
Marketing and Branding
Brand Leader
Michael Ganey, vice president of marketing, House-Autry Mills (now senior advisor, growth strategies via new product creation at GaneyNPD)
Brand Leader
Walter Pelaez, CEO at Sobel Westex
Innovation
Rising Star
Charlie DiGregorio, packaging engineer at Barilla
Brand Leader
Todd Carmichael, CEO at La Colombe Coffee Roasters
Business Leaders
Rising Star
Danielle Stangler, founder and CEO at NeatCheeks
Brand Leader
Todd Carmichael, CEO at La Colombe Coffee Roasters
Best Collaborative Teams
Rising Star
Young Living Essential Oils, sales and creative services department
Brand Leader
P&G, Bounty cross-functional team and Interbrand team
Third year winners
Design
Rising Star
Ian Desberg, vice president of design and development at Razor USA
Brand Leader
Javier Verdura, director of product design at Tesla Motors
Marketing
Rising Star
Vita Raykhman, creative director at Amika and Heat Makes Sense Inc.
Brand Leader
Alex Tosolini, senior vice president of new business development at Kroger
Innovation
Rising Star
Tanya Blasko, design director, global all-category innovation, at SC Johnson
Brand Leader
Saskia Foley, CEO at Radius Corp.
Business Leaders
Rising Star
Sonat Birnecker, president of Koval Distillery
Brand Leader
Paul Chibe, president and CEO of Ferrero North America
Best Collaborative Team
Brand Leader
Corona and Interbrand
Nominations for the 2019 winners are being accepted now. To nominate your peers at consumer-facing brands, visit www.bxpmagazine.com/brandleaders-risingstars2019