Peggy Conlon

Peggy Conlon joined The Advertising Council in June 1999. As President, Ms. Conlon serves as Chief Executive Officer of an organization that mobilizes yearly more than $1.7 billion of advertising time and space, the creative services of over 50 major advertising agencies, and related financial support from hundreds of corporations. Since Ms. Conlon joined the Ad Council, the organization has doubled the work produced on behalf of its public service advertising campaigns as well as its operating support. During this time, the Ad Council has secured contracts with many premier government and non profit organizations such as the American Red Cross, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, Girl Scouts of the USA, National Urban League, The American Cancer Society, The Department of Homeland Security, The United States Army and many more. During her tenure as President of the Ad Council, Ms. Conlon has championed the organization's important mission among various government agencies and has partnered with both the Clinton and Bush Administrations to use the power of public service advertising in order to improve some of the nation's most pressing issues. She has been invited to address the press and the Washington community on issues including Underage Drinking, Drug Abuse Prevention, Maternal Health, and a host of other critically important social issues. Ms. Conlon organized the Campaign for Freedom, created on behalf of the entire U.S. advertising industry, to address the critical issues resulting from the events of September 11th and to help Americans respond to the crisis. She also led the organization's production and distribution of the PSAs featuring former Presidents Bush and Clinton in support of the Tsunami Relief Effort. Ms. Conlon serves on the Board of Trustees of the Harvard School of Public Health' s Health and Social Behavior Advisory Committee and the Board of Directors of Partnership for Prevention. Ms. Conlon has also been appointed by former President George Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush to lead the national media initiative for C-Change, formerly the National Dialogue on Cancer and currently serves on its Board of Directors. Ms. Conlon comes to The Advertising Council from Cahners Business Information where she served as Vice President, Group Publisher of the Broadcasting & Cable Group. In this capacity, she directed the activities of eight publications including Broadcasting & Cable and TWICE (This Week In Consumer Electronics). Her experience has also included work at advertising agencies and as an advertising director for corporations. Ms. Conlon earned her B.A. in communications from the California State University at Fullerton and her M.A. from the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California. She also served as a public affairs officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve for seven years. She was awarded the New York Women in Communications Matrix Award for Advertising in 2002.