Gary Armstrong

Chief Marketing Officer

Wenner Media

Gary Armstrong is Chief Marketing Officer of Wenner Media LLC and oversees all advertising and marketing efforts for Rolling Stone, Us Weekly and Men's Journal magazines.  In addition, Gary oversees all of Wenner Media’s digital operations, including Usmagazine.com, RollingStone.com, Men’s Journal.com and mobile.

At Wenner Media since 1999, Gary was on the launch team to convert Us magazine to Us Weekly as Associate Publisher, Marketing.  Prior to Wenner, he spent 12 years at Conde Nast Publications in various design and marketing roles at Glamour, Details, Vanity Fair and Mademoiselle.  He has been Chief Marketing Officer of Wenner Media since June 2003.  A graduate of Marywood University, Gary resides in downtown Manhattan.

John L. Jacobs

Executive Vice President Worldwide Marketing & Financial Products

NASDAQ OMX Group

As chief marketing officer for NASDAQ OMX, Jacobs plays a key role in the strategic development and implementation of the company's branding and messaging. His group is responsible for the full spectrum of NASDAQ OMX’s brand marketing, including advertising, marketing communications, market research, public relations, and media relations targeting NASDAQ OMX customers and audiences in the U.S. and abroad.

As head of NASDAQ OMX Global Financial Products, Jacobs is responsible for all aspects of the financial products business strategy, including the development of new products and product licensing in the U.S. and abroad.

Under his direction, NASDAQ launched the NASDAQ-100 Index Tracking StockSM (QQQQ), one of the most successful financial products in stock market history. To date, NASDAQ Global Funds has launched over 400 products based on NASDAQ Indices in more than 25 countries around the world. 

Jacobs is also responsible for the PORTAL Market® which facilitates the negotiation and trading of unregistered 144A securities among qualified institutional buyers (QIBs). John led plans to launch the first and only centralized electronic system for trading 144A securities. The new PORTAL system, which began operating on August 15, 2007, is intended to improve the efficiency and transparency of the private placement market − thereby encouraging capital formation.

Among his former responsibilities at NASDAQ, Jacobs launched and led NASDAQ's first listed-company sales force, then went on to lead the company's customer service teams.

Also included in his broad range of experience is management of NASDAQ's listings and compliance group, which reviews and processes all SEC documents and financial filings. Additionally, Jacobs was part of the team that garnered a "yes" vote from more than 5,000 NASD member firms to spin off NASDAQ. Since then, he was part of the core group that successfully orchestrated the first two rounds of NASDAQ's private placements, paving the way for NASDAQ to become a publicly traded company.

Jacobs earned his BS in accounting from the University of Maryland, is a certified public accountant (CPA), and holds an MBA from Loyola. He has taught Investment Banking and other graduate courses in the MBA programs at both Johns Hopkins University and Georgetown University. For the past 10 years, he has served as a judge for both the Washington, DC and New York City regional Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of The Year Award Programs. Jacobs has also presided as a judge for the MBA competition at the University of Maryland. In addition to serving on the Boards of NASDAQ Gobal Funds, Inc., NASDAQ Financial Products Services Ireland Limited, and the NASDAQ Insurance Agency LLC, he serves on the Board of Advisors of CourtExpress, Inc. and the Editorial Board of the Journal of Indexes.

Tom O'Toole

Chief Marketing Officer

Global Hyatt Corporation

Thomas F. O'Toole serves as both the chief marketing officer and chief information officer for Global Hyatt Corporation.  Reporting to the CEO, his responsibilities span all of Hyatt's operating companies and brands worldwide.  As CMO, he is responsible for brand strategy, all brand marketing worldwide, all marketing communications worldwide, central reservations, distribution systems, electronic commerce, customer analytics, public relations, the Gold Passport loyalty program and related functions of the company.  As CIO, he is responsible for all of Hyatt's IT infrastructure and applications, including corporate systems, revenue systems, customer data systems and related IT functions.

O'Toole has been featured as a role model of the future CMO position in recent publications.  He was named the Conrad N. Hilton Distinguished Chair Guest Lecturer in 2008 at the University of Houston. 

Prior to his current role, O'Toole held the position of senior vice president of strategy and systems for Global Hyatt Corporation.  Before that, he was senior vice president of marketing and information technology for Hyatt Hotels Corporation.  O'Toole joined Hyatt as vice president of marketing for Hyatt Hotels Corporation in 1995.  Outside his work at Hyatt, he serves as a director of Pegasus Solutions, Inc. and a director of the Travel Industry.

Bev Thorne

Chief Marketing Officer

Century 21 Real Estate, LLC

In her role as Chief Marketing Officer for Century 21 Real Estate LLC, Bev Thorne leads the planning and execution of the domestic marketing strategies in support of market share growth for the largest real estate franchise organization in the world. She is responsible for leading the strategy development and program execution of all consumer, broker and agent marketing programs. These efforts include: brand strategy and execution, direct marketing, national advertising, localized marketing and coop advertising, interactive marketing and technology, agent and broker marketing, targeted market promotions and marketing, sales support, public relations, media relations, internal communications and all promotional activities. She oversees the optimization of a $65M National Advertising Fund on behalf of all CENTURY 21® System members to ensure that preference for the brand is increasing in the market, that qualified customer leads are being generated, and that market share growth is achieved.

Thorne earned her MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and has worked extensively in the areas of consumer marketing, strategic branding and event marketing management over her twenty-plus year career. She has a wealth of experience working with organizations modeled like the CENTURY 21 System. Most recently she was with JPMorgan Chase & Company where she served as senior vice president, customer marketing for the Home Finance business unit. Prior to that, Thorne worked at AT&T for nearly two decades in a series of increasingly senior roles, planning and executing marketing and communications strategies nationwide. She was instrumental in key telecommunications initiatives that spanned from the launch of cellular service to AT&T’s return to the local service market. Her experiences at AT&T included product management, sales management and targeted market management. She and her husband are raising three children on a tree farm in Central New Jersey.

David Wigfield
Managing Director, United States and Canada
Kodak’s Graphic Communications Group

David Wigfield is the Managing Director, United States and Canada (US&C), Kodak’s Graphic Communication’s Group (GCG).  Wigfield is responsible for the overall GCG business and financial performance in the US&C. He also leads all day to day operations, including sales and marketing of the full GCG portfolio, customer service, equipment service, product support and supply chain management.

Wigfield joined in 2005 with the company’s acquisition of Creo, where he was the Vice President, Sales, for the Europe, Africa, and the Middle East Region.  At Kodak, he headed the company’s sales in the same capacity before being named Managing Director, United Kingdom, in 2006.

A native of Pennsylvania, Wigfield earned his bachelor’s from the University of Colorado.