Ad Council CEO Peggy Conlon To Retire

Peggy Conlon, president and CEO of The Advertising Council, is retiring after serving 15 years in the post. A search is being conducted by executive recruiter Spencer Stuart for a successor, who it is hoped will be in place by early 2015. Conlon’s retirement will take effect at that time. She joined the Ad Council in 1999. 

During Conlon’s tenure, the Ad Council addressed significant social issues on behalf of prominent nonprofit and federal government organizations, such as United Way, Big Brothers Big Sisters, the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, Autism Speaks and the U.S. Departments of Health and Human Services and Homeland Security. 

“Peggy took over the Ad Council at a critical point in history,” said Debra Lee, chair of the Ad Council’s board of directors and chairman and CEO of BET Networks. “She quickly organized the advertising industry’s response following the September 11th attacks, which changed the way the Ad Council did business, and established the organization as the 'go to' source for messages on other crises moving forward, including Hurricane Katrina, the Indian Ocean Tsunami and the Haiti earthquake.” 

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Under Conlon’s leadership, the Ad Council also began addressing bullying prevention, texting and driving and child hunger, among other issues. Conlon worked closely with Presidents Bush, Clinton and Obama on emergency preparedness, high school dropout prevention and raising awareness about the Affordable Care Act, respectively. The organization also led the development of a childhood obesity campaigns as part of the First Lady’s "Let’s Move" initiative. 

“It has been a tremendous privilege to be a steward of the Ad Council’s mission, representing the extraordinary pro bono efforts of our advertising, media and other agency partners, to stimulate action on key issues and make a measurable impact on our society,” said Conlon. “I look forward to doing all I can to support a seamless transition for the next president and CEO of this wonderful organization.”

The Ad Council is a nonprofit and the largest producer of public service communications programs in the U.S. The organization received over $1.6 billion in donated media support on behalf of its 50 national public service campaigns in 2013.

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