Ad Council Announces Verizon’s Diego Scotti as Board Chair

Diego Scotti, CMO of Verizon, has been named chair of the Ad Council’s board of directors. He succeeds Jacki Kelley, EVP, chief client officer and chief business officer, IPG. Tara Walpert Levy, VP, Americas YouTube, currently serves as vice chair of the Ad Council’s board of directors and will succeed Diego as chair in 2024.

For more than 80 years, the Ad Council has been at the forefront of driving the communications industry’s social impact efforts. Its board of directors is comprised of a prestigious group of senior marketing, media and business executives who provide expertise, insights and financial support to ensure the Ad Council’s social impact campaigns are effective and drive measurable change. Focused on some of the most pressing issues facing the country, the Ad Council’s board of directors is now working closely with the organisation’s leadership to spearhead the communications industry’s efforts to address gun violence, mental health, the drug overdose epidemic, racial justice, and more.

As chair, Diego will work in collaboration with the executive committee, the governing body of the Ad Council’s Board, and Ad Council leadership to further the organisation’s mission of using the power of communications to address the country’s critical social issues. Additionally, Diego will chair the Ad Council’s 2023 Annual Public Service Award Dinner, the organisation’s largest annual fundraising event, on November 30, 2023.

“Diego’s unrelenting commitment to DEI and social impact has been an invaluable asset to the Ad Council and is one of the many reasons he is going to be extraordinary in his role as board chair,” said Lisa Sherman, president and CEO of the Ad Council. “With Diego’s leadership, we will continue to convene the brightest minds and develop ground breaking work to drive measurable change on the country’s most critical causes.”

Diego joined the Ad Council board of directors in 2016, became a member of the executive committee in 2017, and was elected as vice chair of the Ad Council’s board of directors in 2020, leading the Ad Council Board’s Diversity Task Force from 2018-2021.

Diego has been a respected leader in the advertising and media industries for over 25 years. He joined Verizon in 2014 as executive vice president and chief marketing officer, overseeing all aspects of Verizon’s marketing, experience design, and brand communications across business units. Diego is a known advocate for change and has taken action to impact both responsible business practices and diversity, equity, and inclusion within the marketing industry. In addition to the development of the Responsible Marketing Action Plan, he founded ad fellows, a breakthrough marketing fellowship offering diverse, entry-level talent an integrated experience within Verizon and various brand and agency partners, with the goal of placing the fellows in full-time positions. His leadership and contributions have been consistently recognised with honours including Insider’s Most Innovative CMOs, Adweek’s Brand Genius, ADCOLOR’s Catalyst Award and the Forbes CMO Hall of Fame.

With the election of Scotti, the Ad Council will continue its ongoing tradition of rotating Board Chairs between the organisations’ four sectors: media companies, technology platforms, agencies and advertisers.

For a complete list of the Ad Council Board of Directors, see here.