International Advertising

Jay Porter
President, Edelman

Jay Porter leads Edelman’s founding Chicago office, home to 650 staff delivering award-winning work for clients in the food and beverage, health, industrial, tech and financial sectors. From his professional experience in CPGs, consumer tech, travel and nonprofits to his current management of the Chicago office’s diverse client base, Jay is situated at the center of the rapid convergence of consumer brand, corporate reputation and digital marketing.

Previously, Jay served as global client relationship manager for Edelman’s Starbucks account, overseeing work in more than 20 Edelman offices around the world. He provided C-level counsel on market entries in India and Vietnam; multiple product launches; issues related to food safety, global taxation and gun control; and the acquisition and integration of Teavana. He also led in-depth strategic planning efforts around the company’s community outreach efforts in China, its wellness platform and its approach to in-store marketing.

Prior to his work on Starbucks, Jay led Edelman’s San Francisco office and its highly integrated PR and digital work for clients including Charles Schwab, Levi’s, eBay and Norton. Jay originally joined Edelman in 2005 as the head of the Edelman Seattle consumer team, where he co-led the launch of Windows Vista and led engagements with Expedia, Washington Tourism and Getty Images. During this time he also worked with Edelman Chicago as lead on the agency’s PR and social media work for Axe.

Prior to joining Edelman, Jay was West Coast head of planning for NY-based integrated marketing firm SS+K and a brand strategist at design consultancy Landor Associates, working for clients including Xbox, Nike, Isilon Systems and numerous startups. Jay’s communications career began in his hometown of Oklahoma City at the Oklahoma Foundation for Excellence and Planned Parenthood.

Jay holds a B.A. in English from Yale University. He serves on the boards of directors of the Chicago Architecture Foundation and the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. Jay is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago and the Chicago Club.

Keith Reinhard
Chairman Emeritus, DDB Worldwide

Keith Reinhard is Chairman Emeritus of the DDB Worldwide Communications Group, Inc., one of the world's largest and most awarded advertising agency networks. Keith is one of the few agency leaders to rise through the creative side of the business. He experienced being a writer, art director and creative group head before moving into agency management. As a working creative director, Keith and his team gave birth to McDonald's "You Deserve a Break Today," named the number one jingle of the 20th Century by Advertising Age magazine, as well as McDonald's famous tongue-twister, "Two-all-beef-patties-special-sauce-lettuce-cheese-pickles-onions on a sesame seed bun." He and his group also created State Farm's long-running theme, "Just Like a Good Neighbor, State Farm Is There." Over the years, his agency has been responsible for award-winning campaigns for Volkswagen, Audi, Anheuser-Busch, Michelin Tires, Philips Electronics, Diesel Jeans and many others.

In 1986, Keith was one of the architects of the advertising industry's first and only three-way merger, creating Omnicom, which ranks as one of the world's largest advertising and marketing services holding company. Concurrent with Omnicom's creation, Keith accomplished the successful merger of Doyle Dane Bernbach and Needham Harper Worldwide to create the present network, DDB Worldwide, which he led as Chairman and CEO for 16 years.

A member of the Advertising Hall of Fame, Keith has been referred to as the industry's "soft-spoken visionary" by Advertising Age, which in 1999 named him one of the 100 most influential figures in the history of advertising.

Keith is a past Chairman of the American Association of Advertising Agencies and past Chairman of the Board of Union Theological Seminary in New York. From 2002 to 2010 he was President of Business for Diplomatic Action, a not-for-profit effort he founded to enlist the U.S. business community in actions aimed at improving the perception of America in the world. Among many other civic and philanthropic activities, Keith has served on the boards of New York City Ballet, Sesame Workshop and Jazz at Lincoln Center. He was a founding director of the Berlin School of Creative Leadership and is currently a board member of the PowHERful Foundation which helps disadvantaged young women get to and through college. He is also the author of Any Wednesday, a collection of notes on advertising and life.

Keith is the father of seven children. He and his wife Rose-Lee, live in Manhattan.