2019 Annual Conference Full Three-Day Recap

Earlier this week, Page wrapped up the 2019 Annual Conference focused on our latest research report, The CCO as Pacesetter. Attendees explored the Progression Paths, which are, practical roadmaps in the four areas we view as critical opportunities for CCO leadership: CommTech, Corporate Brand Stewardship, Corporate Culture and Societal Value Creation. Here’s a recap of what you missed, with links to blogs and content including interviews with some of our speakers: 

Sunday, September 15, 2019

We kicked off with longtime WPP CEO and S4 Capital Founder Sir Martin Sorrell, who discussed what’s required for enterprise transformation. We then welcomed The New York Times’ SVP of Marketing, Amy Weisenbach, to talk about the legacy publisher’s groundbreaking “Truth is Hard” campaign. Next, deepfake and digital disinformation guru Danielle Citron educated us on how we can anticipate and prevent digital attacks. Titus Kaphar closed with his retelling of history’s forgotten through art. 

As always, we also held our Annual Business Meeting, reviewing the early progress on Page’s transformative journey. We elected new trustees and announced that Charlene Wheeless of Bechtel was elected as incoming Page chair beginning in 2020. Attendees spent the evening at Boston’s world-renowned Museum of Fine Arts. 

Monday, September 16, 2019

Congratulations to Bob Feldman of ICF Next and Maril MacDonald of Gagen MacDonald, who were honored with the Distinguished Service Award and Hall of Fame induction, respectively. 

Page president Roger Bolton presented the findings from The CCO as Pacesetter, followed by case studies. The first centered around Kelly McGrail's corporate brand journey with Mars Inc. We then heard from a series of influential enterprises about their societal value creation models: CVS, Novartis and Accenture. Craig Buchholz and Damon Jones of P&G dove into the 150+ year old consumer goods company’s culture transformation. 

Next, longtime General Electric CCO Gary Sheffer led a panel of non-CCO executives to discuss working effectively across the C-Suite. ServiceNow’s Alan Marks then described the platform’s purpose journey to, “We make the world of work, work better for people.” 

The day’s final session featured Glen Johnson, former aide to then-Secretary of State John Kerry, and his travels around the world with the foreign service. 

Tuesday, September 17, 2019

John Rossman, former Amazon executive and author of Think Like Amazon, led off with an exploration of the e-commerce giant’s “relentless” culture of customer obsession. Page Thought Leadership Chair Jon Iwata probed CommTech cases focused on Chevron and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. Dr. Vikram Mansharamani, global trend-watcher and Harvard University lecturer, headlined the conference finale, applying a generalists’ lens to current and potential macroeconomic and socio-political issues.