Madeline Di Nonno

CEO, Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media

Madeline Di Nonno is the Chief Executive Officer of the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, the only research based non-profit working with the entertainment and media community to improve unconscious gender bias in media and entertainment through evidence-based research, education and advocacy. Madeline leads the Institute’s strategic direction, financial and operational activities. Madeline brings over thirty years of executive leadership experience in the entertainment, non-profit, digital media and consumer packaged goods industries.

Previously, Madeline served as President and CEO of On The Scene Productions, and drove the company’s new business development and content distribution platforms for the entertainment, healthcare, and consumer products clients such as Nike, Gatorade, Iconix, and PepsiCo.

Prior to On The Scene, Di Nonno served in executive marketing positions for Anchor Bay Entertainment/Starz Media and Echo Bridge Home Entertainment where she led global brand marketing, for home entertainment and limited theatrical releases in North America, United Kingdom and Australia. As Executive Vice President and GM for Nielsen EDI, Madeline drove innovations in product development, new business development and client management.

Previously, Di Nonno served as Senior Vice President, Marketing Alliances and Digital media at the Hallmark Channel, and nearly eight years at Universal Studios Home Video as Vice President, Strategic Marketing. Madeline began her career at ABC Television Network in corporate publicity. Madeline holds a bachelor’s degree from Boston University.

Madeline serves on the Board of Directors for the Television Academy Foundation; Board of Advisors for the LA Press Club; Co-Chair, Digital Hollywood’s “Hollywood for Social Change”: Board Advisor GameChanger Films and Rutgers University Institute for Women’s Leadership.

Kate Fagan

Columnist & Feature Writer

Kate Fagan is a columnist and feature writer for espnW, ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine. She is also a regular panelist on ESPN’s Around the Horn and can also be seen onFirst Take and His & Hers, which airs on ESPN2. Previously, Fagan spent three seasons covering the 76ers for the Philadelphia Inquirer. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Mary Lambert

Director

A graduate of the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design where she studied fine art, Mary Lambert’s stylized sensibilities led to groundbreaking work in music videos, helping fuel the MTV revolution. Today, she continues to blaze a trail both in short format and feature length work. Beginning in the 80s with a music video for a Tom Tom Club hit, Lambert’s work rapidly gained attention. Her list of projects grew to include a “Who’s Who" of superstar performers, including Madonna’s most talk-about videos ("Borderline," "Like a Virgin," "Material Girl," "La Isla Bonita" and "Like a Prayer"). Other projects that confirmed Lambert’s status as one of music video’s most respected directors included projects for Janet Jackson("Control" and "Nasty"), Sting ("We’ll Be Together "), Eurythmics ("Would I Lie To You"), The Pretenders("Sense of Purpose"), Chris Isaak("Dancin"), Whitney Houston& Mariah Carey(“When You Believe”), Motley Crue, and Mick Jagger. “Higher and Higher”, her commercial for “Arrow Shirts” won a Clio.

In the feature world, Lambert is best known for directing Pet Sematary, based on Stephen King’s novel. It was a huge #1 Box Office success which led to a sequel, Pet II, also directed by Mary. Her first film, Siesta, is a cult classic, starring Ellen Barkin, Gabriel Byrne, Jodie Foster and Martin Sheen. Siesta earned Lambert a nomination from the Independent Spirit Awards for Best First Feature. Grand Isle (starring Kelly McGillis and Ellen Burstyn) received a Critics Choice Award Nomination at the Deauville Film Festival. Clubland, an indie feature about the music scene in LA, The In Crowd, a sexy teen thriller for Warner Bros, and the SONY feature Urban Legends: Bloody Mary were all made for the teenage audience that adored her music videos.

In television, Lambert has worked with CBS, HBO, Disney, Showtime, NBC, TNT, USA, Sundance, Saturday Night Love and VH-1. She has directed many movies for television including: Hallowteentown 2 (starring Debbie Reynolds), Dragstrip Live, Strange Frequencies (starring Danny Masterson and Eric Paladino), Face of Evil(starring Tracy Gold and Shawnee Smith), and Love Murder & Deceit (starring Rachel Ward). In addition she directed ACE nominated episodes for HBO’s Tales from the Crypt and episodes for On the Road in America, a critically acclaimed documentary series on Sundance Channel.

14 Women, about the 14 female US Senators in the 109th congress, marked Lambert’s Feature documentary debut. The Film, which she also produced, was narrated by 4x Academy Award Nominee Annette Bening & featured Hilary Clinton. Mary became the 1st female to direct a SYFY Channel original movie, “M.P.V.G”, starring 80s Pop Icons Tiffany and Debbie Gibson. Rolling Stone ranked the film Top 20 Best TV Moment of 2011! Later that year, Mary’s documentary Miss South Pacific won the Festival Prize in Hawaii. Presumed Dead in Paradise premiered on Lifetime in the Summer of 2014, with fantastic ratings placing #1 in Cable and #3 Overall TV!

Fishing Pono, her PBS Doc on Native Hawaiians efforts to restore fisheries depleted by commercial fishing, aired in 2014.

Last season Mary directed the Season 3b Premiere of NBC’s Hit Series The Blacklist, which has been called "the best episode of the season"! This season she directed an action filled episode of the CW’s Hit series Arrow, produced by Greg Berlanti.

Thalia Mavros

Founder, The Front

Thalia Mavros is the founder of rapidly ascending digital platform The Front, a new media proposition showcasing cutting-edge female voices in documentary film and entertainment around the world, centered around the message “By women, for the world.”
Thalia began her career with VICE 10 years ago when the founders decided to expand beyond publishing into online video and branded content. Her role extended across disciplines and all VICE properties. She also led the award-winning joint venture with Intel, The Creators Project, in its first years of its life.

Thalia is famed for her disciplinary, multi-channel approach to developing media and creating experiences. Alongside The Front, she is also a sought after creative consultant for brands.

Shinique Smith

Artist

Shinique Smith is a New York based painter and sculptor known for her monumental creations of fabric, clothing and calligraphy that are inspired by the vast nature of ‘things’ that we consume and discard, which resonate on a personal and social scale.

Smith has been featured in numerous exhibitions at institutions such as The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, Denver Art Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, MOCA North Miami, The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Deutsche Guggenheim, New Museum, and The Frist Center for the Visual Arts (Nashville) and The Studio Museum in Harlem among others.

In 2016, Smith’s was presented site-specific projects for the international stages of the 10th Busan Biennale in Korea and the 12th Bienal de Cuenca in Ecuador. In addition to exhibiting internationally, Smith has produced large-scale public art commissions for The New York Metro Arts in Transit, The Rose F. Kennedy Greenway (Boston), UCSF Medical Center in San Francisco and Mural Arts in Philadelphia. Smith is currently in the process of completing a mosaic mural for the Los Angeles Metro Transit Authority’s new Expo subway line and an iconic outdoor sculptural work for the city of Chicago.

Smith has had the honor of receiving several awards and recognitions including The Anonymous Was a Woman award (2016), a Louis Comfort Tiffany Award (2013) and a Joan Mitchell Foundation Award (2008). Her BFA (1992) & her MFA (2003) were both earned from Maryland Institute College of Art, where she also served on the Board of Trustees (2013-2016). Smith also earned her MAT (2000) from Tufts University and attended the prestigious Baltimore High School for the Arts, which inspired her to work with youth in education and art programs across the country. Smith is developing and spearheading a new camp for youth creativity that will open the summer of 2018.

Vanderbilt Press recently released a comprehensive publication of Smith’s work titled, Shinique Smith: Wonder and Rainbows with The Frist Center for the Visual Arts (Nashville). The artist is represented by David Castillo Gallery in Miami David Castillo Gallery in Miami, and Brand New Gallery in Milan, Italy.

Lynn Power

CEO, J. Walter Thompson New York

Lynn Power is the Chief Executive Officer of J. Walter Thompson New York. After more than 25 years in advertising, Lynn can genuinely say she is just as passionate about the business today as the day she started. Lynn has had the privileged to work on some of the world’s most iconic brands including Listerine, Wild Turkey, American Express, Clinique and Hershey’s.
As CEO she is responsible for driving pioneering creative work and thinking, and the overall strategic direction and growth of the New York office. She believes that agency success relies on building a talent-centric culture that respects and nurtures ideas as well as the people who create them.