Peggy Conlon
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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 $1.5 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 tripled the work done on behalf of premier government and non-profit organizations such as the American Red Cross, Big Brothers Big Sisters, United Way of America, the American Heart Association, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and many more. She has worked closely with President Obama on critical issues such as high school dropout prevention, civic engagement and fatherhood involvement, as well as the First Lady’s “Let’s Move” campaign to end childhood obesity.

Ms. Conlon organized 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, Hurricane Katrina and the Earthquake in Haiti.

Ms. Conlon serves on the Board of Trustees of the United Way Worldwide and served for six years on the United Way of America board. Ms. Conlon has 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 served on its Board of Directors for six years. Ms. Conlon is also a member of the World Economic Forum's Media, Entertainment and Information Global Agenda Council.

Ms. Conlon comes to The Advertising Council from Cahners Business Information where she served as Vice President, Group Publisher of the Broadcasting & Cable Group. 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, and she was named “2005 Advertising Woman of the Year” by Advertising Women of New York (AWNY).

Blog Entries by Peggy Conlon

Happy Birthday Ad Council! Celebrating 70 Years of Public Service Advertising

Posted February 13, 2012 | 02/13/12 04:12 PM ET

"Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires." "Friends Don't Let Friends Drive Drunk." "Loose Lips Sink Ships." "Take a Bite Out of Crime. "A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Waste." You've heard these slogans, right? Whether you're old enough to remember them or they're familiar because they've seeped through our...

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Sneaking the Spinach in with the Popcorn

Posted October 7, 2011 | 10/07/11 02:53 PM ET

How many of you saw Steven Soderbergh's latest movie Contagion and told a friend about the realities of a pandemic and started washing your hands? Or after watching an episode of Grey's Anatomy, urged a loved one to talk to their doctor about some undiagnosed health issue?

That's the power...

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10 Years Later: Ads That Help and Heal

Posted September 9, 2011 | 09/09/11 06:19 PM ET

Everyone remembers with great clarity where they were when they learned of the terror attacks of 9/11. I was in a meeting in the basement of a hotel in Washington D.C., having taken the 7:30 a.m. shuttle from New York that morning. What followed the shock and overwhelming sadness was...

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Going Hungry in an Obese Nation

Posted March 23, 2011 | 03/23/11 09:48 AM ET

How is it that 17 million children in the U.S. live on the brink of hunger while, at the same time, 9 million American children are obese?

It's certainly a troubling paradox. And it's one of several reasons why many Americans don't quite believe or understand the urgency and...

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Devastating Spill, Devastating Feelings

Posted January 28, 2011 | 01/28/11 02:58 PM ET

"I didn't know what to do with myself"
"I have to make house payments and boat payments"
"I worry about myself and my wife. I don't know how we can make it."
"What can I do to survive?...I have a thousand questions and no answers...this problem is...

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Getting the Public to Care About K-12 Public Education (VIDEO)

Posted November 12, 2010 | 11/12/10 05:38 PM ET

Whatever you think about Waiting for 'Superman' -- whether you saw the documentary or read some of the buzz -- you can't deny that it's absolutely thought-provoking.

When first approached to make the film, Director Davis Guggenheim declined. And that's not hard to understand -- public education, he...

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What Can We Learn From Tyler Clementi's Tragedy?

Posted October 1, 2010 | 10/01/10 02:10 PM ET

By now we've all read the headlines about Tyler Clementi. Tyler, a freshman at Rutgers, told his RA he was being bullied by his fellow students. He then posted a cry for help on Facebook, telling his friends that he planned to kill himself. And then Tyler, a shy, brilliant...

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Transparency in Global Giving: See Where the Good Goes

Posted August 4, 2010 | 08/04/10 04:07 PM ET

Global disasters like the earthquake in Haiti, Hurricane Katrina and the Tsunami are moments in time when Americans respond immediately, emotionally and generously. But fundraising to end global poverty over the decades has encountered many hurdles.

Global NGOs working to end poverty and disease have learned some important marketing lessons...

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