MEDIA NOW

Summer Season 2022

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“As a marketer, it’s really important to stay true to your brand, to stay true to your audience so that you are talking to them in a way that resonates with them and it also honors the brand.”

Lara Richardson

CMO of Crown Media (Hallmark)

“Leadership is not a role function. It has nothing to do with where you are in the organization. It’s a set of behaviors that compel others to do their best on behalf of the cause or the organization.”

Carole Robin

Founder of Leaders in Tech

“When change is engulfing us, we need to realize that change is the only possible response to change. If you remain static, you’re not really staying in the same place because the world is moving so you’re actually going backward.”

Mauro Guillen

Dean of Cambridge Business School

“There’s always tomorrow. You always have a tomorrow, so it’s very redemptive. If you strive for perfect in the morning, get as close as you can by the evening and you come back again.”

Sharon Hoffman

Executive Producer of Tonal,

Jimmy Kimmel, CBS

Session 1: Becoming Known

Session 2: Knowing Another

Session 3: The Power of Feedback

Carole Robin

Founder of Leaders in Tech

The Future of Money

Mauro Guillen

Dean of Cambridge Business School

LARA RICHARDSON

Lara Richardson is Chief Marketing Officer of Crown Media Family Networks, home of three linear networks, Hallmark Channel, Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, and Hallmark Drama; subscription video-on-demand streaming service, Hallmark Movies Now; and publishing division, Hallmark Publishing. Richardson reports to President & CEO, Wonya Lucas, and is based in Los Angeles. In this role, Richardson oversees the Crown Global Brand Group, which encompasses brand and ad sales marketing; brand production and operations; brand creative; and brand design. She spearheads the conceptualization, development, and execution of marketing strategies, tactics, and campaigns aimed at both evolving and differentiating the Crown Media brand and refining the brand identity of each of the company’s individual channels. She is also tasked with leading her team to elevate the consumer experience across all linear and digital platforms. Previously, Richardson served as the group executive vice president of marketing for Discovery and Science Channel, where she was responsible for the global marketing vision across the brands, including all marketing campaigns, strategy, operations, partnerships, and domestic distribution of creative content. Prior to joining Discovery, Richardson was vice-president of creative for TLC. Outside of the office, Richardson is a passionate and dedicated volunteer. She spearheaded and founded Operation Puerto Rico Care Lift, a pop-up relief organization that delivered emergency funds and life-sustaining supplies to thousands of people following 2017’s Hurricane Maria. Richardson worked with the Red Cross in the rescue and relief efforts following the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katrina, as well. Richardson earned both a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Theater Arts from Washington State University.

CAROLE ROBIN

Carole Robin, Ph.D. who taught the legendary Interpersonal Dynamics (aka Touchy Feely) course at the Stanford Graduate School of Business was the Dorothy J. King Lecturer in Leadership, Director of Arbuckle Leadership Fellows Program, and Director of the Stanford Interpersonal Dynamics Programs for High Performing Executives (Executive Program) before co-founding Leaders in Tech (https://leadersintech.org) which brings the principles and process of "Touchy Feely" to start-up executives in Silicon Valley. She won the Distinguished Teaching Award, the highest award granted to a Professor by the students, and the Silver Apple Award, the highest award presented to a Professor by the Alumni Office. Prior to coming to Stanford, she had careers as an executive in sales and marketing management for the world's largest industrial automation company where she was the first woman hired into the non-clerical job and was a partner in an international consulting firm. Her past clients include Starbucks, Genentech, Facebook, LinkedIn, Stanford Medical Center, Columbia School of Journalism, Southwest Independent School District, YPO, Intermountain Health, Telstra, Lean In, BHP, Bloomberg Beta, Lightspeed Venture Partners, Signet Jewelers, Ak Bars Bank (Russia), Telstar and BHP (Australia), Alfa (Mexico/International), Five9, Finix, Rotten Tomatoes, Cruise and dozens of start-ups.  She is the co-author of Penguin Random Houses Connect: Building Exceptional Relationships with Family, Friends, and Colleagues. She was raised in Mexico City, speaks fluent Spanish, has been a board member for several nonprofits, and lives in San Francisco, California, with her husband of 36 years. They have two grown children and a 7-month old grandchild.

MEGAN CROKOS

Megan is Senior Vice President of Product & Fragrance Development for Bath and Body Works (BBW). In this role, she leads ideation and defines big picture strategies for all personal care & home products; leading the creation of more than 1,000 new skus, with more than $6 billion in annual sales. 

She joined BBW in 2007 as Director of Creative Product Innovations. In 2009, she was promoted to AVP and in 2012, her role expanded adding Creative Fragrance and Innovations to Product Development. In 2013, she was promoted to Vice President and later to Senior Vice President in 2019. Also, in 2019, Megan was given the Cosmetic Executive Women (CEW) Top Talent Award and joined Chief, a private network connecting and supporting women leaders.

SHARON HOFFMAN

Sharon Hoffman is currently the Executive Producer for Tonal, overseeing the fitness tech company’s new creative content production team. She has served as executive producer and show runner for Jimmy Kimmel Live, Entertainment Tonight, and the Saturday and Sunday editions of the CBS Evening News and weekend live special events coverage. Hoffman has also held senior production roles at ABC News, NBC News, and NPR, and her work has been recognized with numerous awards, including seven Emmys (16 nominations), four DuPont silver batons, and a Peabody. She has two sons and lives in Los Angeles.

MAURO GUILLEN

Mauro F. Guillen is one of the most original thinkers at the Wharton School, where he holds the Zandman Professorship in International Management and teaches in its flagship Advanced Management Program and many other courses for executives, MBAs, and undergraduates. An expert on global market trends, he is a sought-after speaker and consultant. He combines his training as a sociologist at Yale and as a business economist in his native Spain to methodically identify and quantify the most promising opportunities at the intersection of demographic, economic, and technological developments. His online classes in Coursera and edX have attracted over 100,000 participants from around the world. He has won multiple teaching awards from Wharton, where his presentation on the global market trends has become a permanent feature of over fifty executive education programs annually. His research has earned him many distinctions, including Fulgright, Rockefeller, and Guggenheim fellowships, a member of the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton, and prizes from the Academy of Management, the American Sociological Association, the Social Science History Association, and the Gustavus Myers Center for the Study of Bigotry and Human Rights. He is an elected member of the Sociological Research Association and the Macro Organizational Behavior Society. His research, ep-eds, and commentary have been featured in numerous outlets, from the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal to The Economist, and the Financial Times. He has appeared on radio and TV shows such as NPR's Marketplace, and Radio Times, CNBC's Mad Money, and Squawk Box, and CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS. He is a seasoned public speaker at conferences, conventions, forums, and corporate events organized by industry associations and Fortune 500 companies. He serves or has served on several advisory groups, the board of directors, and the nonprofit board of trustees. His book on 2030: How Today's Biggest Trends Will Collide and Reshape the Future of Everything has been  published by St. Martin's in 2020.