Heide Gardner — Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer and Senior VP at Interpublic Group of Companies

Ms. Heide Gardner has been Senior Vice President of The Interpublic Group of Companies Inc. since 2007 and also serves as its Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer. In this position, Ms. Gardner is responsible for collaborating with senior management to develop new global inclusion management strategies and multicultural marketing programs for IPG and its worldwide family of leading agency brands which employ 44,000 employees. Ms. Gardner served as Director of Diversity of Interpublic Group of Companies since November of 2003 and served as its Vice President of Diversity Management since December 2004. Prior to joining Interpublic Group, Ms. Gardner served as a senior vice president of the American Advertising Federation (AAF) and the founding Executive Director of The AAF Mosaic Center on Multiculturalism. During her tenure, Ms. Gardner was responsible for the development and implementation of innovative programs to promote diversity and a more methodical, strategic approach to brand building among multicultural consumers. She also served to build bridges across industry segments, uniting many of advertising's most influential leaders to create a groundbreaking set of paradigms for leveraging diversity, The Mosaic Principles. Ms. Gardner also launched AAF's Most Promising Minority Students Program, which is an enduring major hiring pipeline for agencies, clients and media companies. She has been a Director of New York Urban League (Inc) since October 2012. She has been recognized as a facilitator of President Clinton's Executive Order that included a provision to encourage business opportunities for diverse companies and media in federal government advertising contracts. In her past life, Ms. Gardner's portfolio of experience spanned a variety of roles in marketing services, lobbying and community affairs for companies including Advo-System, Coca-Cola Enterprises -- the world's largest soft drink bottler, Colgate-Palmolive, Pepsi-Cola North America, Bank of America(formerly known as NationsBank) and others. She serves on the boards of the AAF Foundation, the Association of American Advertising Agencies Foundation and the New York Council of Girl Scouts. Ms. Gardner received many honors during her career and was one of the first inductees for the Ebony Outstanding Women in Marketing and Communications award in 2000. She was also recognized by Working Mother Magazine as a mother of the year, in Mothers We Love of 2000. She was recognized as a Woman of Distinction by the New York Council of Girl Scouts in 2006. She received great rewards from her contributions to the concept and launch for the nationally acclaimed non-for-profit athletic and educational organization, the Midnight Basketball League. Ms. Gardner has worked with the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and other organizations over the years.