BCMA NORTH AMERICA
EXECUTIVE
Kaaren Whitney-Vernon, President BCMA North America
Founder and CEO of shift2, a branded entertainment agency servicing Fortune 100 clients, Kaaren Whitney-Vernon is recognized for her visionary approach to reaching millennials and youth. With a focus on collaboration between agencies and brands, shift2 seeks to create engaged audiences and drive profitable brand experiences. Kaaren has been quoted in BNN, Adweek, The Wall Street Journal, Globe and Mail, on CBC and also sits on several North American marketing advisory boards and judging panels. She is part of the movement to bring a universally accepted measurement for branded content.
Rich Bruggeman, Executive Vice President BCMA North America
Rich Bruggeman is a senior partner and booking agent at Influentials, an agency with a comprehensive international work history in branded spaces, events, appearances, experiences, curated programming and custom content. Rich has garnered industry accolades and recognition for his work with ultra high net-worth individuals, leading brands, agencies, media outlets, celebrities, musicians, athletes, president’s, top business leaders and even royalty. With a mandate, vision and mission of providing brands ‘anything, anywhere, anytime’ he is always dreaming up new concepts, plans and revenue strategies to advance and elevate his work and our industry
Lesley Breeze, Director of Operations BCMA North America
Lesley provides administrative and organizational direction to the BCMA North America. After years of working in the non-profit sector, Lesley gained a strong sense of community which further developed into a greater understanding of people and teams. During the last 15 years, her work in project management in the for-profit world, has given her solid strengths in collaboration and organization of projects.
Natalie Klym, Director of Research, BCMA North America
For the last 14 years, Natalie was a Research Associate and the Executive Director of the Communications Futures Program (CFP) at MIT, a joint program between industry and academia including the Media Lab, the Sloan School of Management, and CSAIL (Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab). Her primary focus has been digital media. Most recently, she’s been exploring the role of social media as a new content production/ distribution/consumption platform. She is currently completing a study on the regulation of social media with Dr. David Clark (CSAIL), while developing a proposal to research the role of digital advertising in the Internet ecosystem.
Founder and CEO of shift2, a branded entertainment agency servicing Fortune 100 clients, Kaaren Whitney-Vernon is recognized for her visionary approach to reaching millennials and youth. With a focus on collaboration between agencies and brands, shift2 seeks to create engaged audiences and drive profitable brand experiences. Kaaren has been quoted in BNN, Adweek, The Wall Street Journal, Globe and Mail, on CBC and also sits on several North American marketing advisory boards and judging panels. She is part of the movement to bring a universally accepted measurement for branded content.
Rich Bruggeman, Executive Vice President BCMA North America
Rich Bruggeman is a senior partner and booking agent at Influentials, an agency with a comprehensive international work history in branded spaces, events, appearances, experiences, curated programming and custom content. Rich has garnered industry accolades and recognition for his work with ultra high net-worth individuals, leading brands, agencies, media outlets, celebrities, musicians, athletes, president’s, top business leaders and even royalty. With a mandate, vision and mission of providing brands ‘anything, anywhere, anytime’ he is always dreaming up new concepts, plans and revenue strategies to advance and elevate his work and our industry
Lesley Breeze, Director of Operations BCMA North America
Lesley provides administrative and organizational direction to the BCMA North America. After years of working in the non-profit sector, Lesley gained a strong sense of community which further developed into a greater understanding of people and teams. During the last 15 years, her work in project management in the for-profit world, has given her solid strengths in collaboration and organization of projects.
Natalie Klym, Director of Research, BCMA North America
For the last 14 years, Natalie was a Research Associate and the Executive Director of the Communications Futures Program (CFP) at MIT, a joint program between industry and academia including the Media Lab, the Sloan School of Management, and CSAIL (Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab). Her primary focus has been digital media. Most recently, she’s been exploring the role of social media as a new content production/ distribution/consumption platform. She is currently completing a study on the regulation of social media with Dr. David Clark (CSAIL), while developing a proposal to research the role of digital advertising in the Internet ecosystem.
