Debra Kaye

Debra Kaye is an international innovation expert specializing in culture and brand strategy for consumer businesses. She encourages her clients to become change-makers, and has helped set agendas for companies such as L'Oreal, Mars Petcare, Colgate, McDonald's, American Express, Dove Chocolate, Kimberly-Clark, Johnson & Johnson, Reckitt Benckiser, Sony, and many more.

BDDP/Mancebo-Kaye, the marketing company she founded in Spain, became No. 1 in the country for strategic thinking and No. 3 for creativity in under three years, according to Ballester research. It's the kind of success that comes from inspiring people to be great thinkers and creating a culture of solving critical business issues. Debra was also a frequently featured marketing and communications writer for top Spanish business publications, appeared prominently in five books about marketing, and named Female Entrepreneur of the Year by Spain's Tribuna Economica.

As CEO of TBWAItaly, she was named the country's top marketer, and oversaw the business for clients such as Wind (mobile phones), Apple, Group Pernod Ricard, Bieirsdorf, and Nissan. In the U.S., she introduced her own skin care line, which was distributed nationwide in Nordstrom, Sephora, and in Saks Fifth Avenue New York. Three months into distribution, Iconoculture named it the best-positioned cosmeceutical on the market.

Today, Debra is partner at innovation consultancy Lucule (www.luculeconsulting.com). A frequent commentator on American Public Radio's "Marketplace" and contributor to Fast Company, she is a sought-after speaker and has been featured at such venues as South by Southwest, among other engagements. She is a board member of Count Me In, an organization dedicated to helping women-owned businesses grow and prosper.