Annual Conference

30 Years of Impact: Endless Possibilities

The Executive Forum’s Leadership Conference 2025 “30 Years of Impact: Endless Possibilities” brought its members and guests the opportunity to listen to, engage with, and learn from leaders who are shaping tomorrow, today. Keynote speakers (featured below) provided leadership lessons that were both highly personal and evidence-based.

The event, held at the Greenwich Hyatt on November 1, 2025, provided rich networking opportunities as well as an update from board chairs on organizational progress for the year.  

AI-powered creative intelligence is reshaping modern marketing

Keynote speaker, Alex Collmer, Founder and CEO of VidMob, The Creative Data Company and former co-founder and CEO of Autumn Games sat down with Allan Grafman, a longtime EF member, investment banker with Oberon Securities and CEO of All Media Ventures, to discuss how AI-powered creative intelligence enhances brand performance.

Alex, a lifelong entrepreneur and former co-founder and CEO of Autumn Games, described how VidMob helps the world’s largest marketers understand what truly drives performance in advertising. Most marketers focus on the ads. They should focus on consumer behavior. VidMob’s platform analyzes every piece of creative and links those creative choices to audience behaviors. The result is a new form of data-driven insight that helps brands optimize both media efficiency and creative effectiveness.

Alex explained that foundational AI models are powerful, but generic. The real differentiation comes from data – especially creative data that reflects how real people respond in specific markets and contexts. “If you improve creative, you improve your business,” he said simply.

Reflecting on his entrepreneurial path—from supplying campus events at Cornell University in his college days to building software and applying financial rigor to gaming –Alex emphasized the power of connecting data rather than just showing it. In an increasingly AI-driven world, that connection may be what separates the best brands from the rest.

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Owning Your Career

Keynote speaker Gail Mandel, Managing Director of Focused Point Ventures, LLC, Chair of the Board at Sabre Corporation, Board member of Hilton Grand Vacations, former President and CEO of Wyndham Destination Network, LLC sat down with longtime EF member Doron Grosman, a serial private equity portfolio company CEO and Board member, to discuss her professional journey and the importance of owning your career.

Gail began with a story from 1993, when she was promoted to manager at a Big Four accounting firm and told she’d be assigned to one client indefinitely. “That wasn’t what I wanted,” she recalled. So, she left – setting the tone for a career defined by intentional choices. “Be intentional in what you take on,” she advised.

By 1995, she joined Hospitality Franchise Systems (HFS), later part of Wyndham. They were looking to take over the Century 21 business. Noticing issues with franchise payments, she developed and executed a plan to fix them. Gail saw a void and filled it. Career growth comes from taking initiative.

Fast forward to 2014, when Gail was serving as CFO of Wyndham Destination Network. When her CEO was promoted to lead another division, she was named to succeed him – and had to replace herself as CFO. Success is found in the team you can trust. For Gail, integrity, vision, and culture are non-negotiables in a leader. Trust your gut and be diligent. Even those with the best intentions can make bad decisions – you have to probe for integrity.

Her message to EF members was clear: success doesn’t just happen — you have to own it, shape it, and lead with integrity every step of the way.

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Favor Bank Networking

Guest speakers, John Lawler, Managing Partner at PrimeGenesis and George Bradt, Founder of PrimeGenesis discussed the importance of having a favor bank mentality when networking and led a networking exercise with the attendees.

Effective networkers approach every conversation with clear objectives for what they want out of those conversations. But the most effective networkers over time approach those same conversations with the objective of helping others. EF members’ “helping gene” enable them to do just that. Others think of networking as a tool to get something for themselves, but at the EF, members think about how they can help others first, then enrich themselves. EF members understand how a favor bank mentality improves networking.

Successful networking starts with preparation. Know your story, polish your elevator pitch, and show genuine curiosity about others. Ask thoughtful questions, listen with intent, and care about the answers. Be persistent. Consistent follow-up matters more than fleeting effort – send the email, make the call, show up again. Don’t do 20 things once; do one thing 20 times.

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Developing Resilience in Challenging Times

Guest speaker, Leo Flanagan, an EF member and a leading expert in helping people develop resilience, shared practical strategies for building resilience and strengthening your capacity for change.

Leo self-describes himself as having had the same passion for more than 40 years – to enable people to thrive amidst adversity. That passion has driven him to serve people as a teacher, clinician, scientist, executive coach and consultant. His clinical practice focuses on healing clients challenged by burnout, anxiety, depression, and trauma. Leo is a leading expert in helping people develop resilience. His new book, Choosing to Flourish: Five Proven Practices to Rekindle Your Energy and Purpose, is a result of a three-year study Leo conducted.

Leo shared five practices that can help reduce burnout over 70 days by rewiring the brain for long-term resilience and replacing unhelpful habits. Start with pragmatic optimism, believe the future can be better and that you have a role in shaping it. Cultivate focus by staying present in the moment. Practice compassion, since resilience grows through connection; empathy reduces cynicism and builds trust. Use fact-based decision making to counter stress-driven perceptions—slow down to make calmer, smarter choices. Finally, embrace agility by staying mentally flexible; reflection and reframing allow you to pivot without losing your center. Don’t accept that burnout is inevitable.

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Executive Forum Presents the Robert C. Sloan Award

 The Executive Forum presented Jessica Perry with the Robert C. Sloane Award on November 1, 2025, at the 2025 Leadership Conference “30 Years of Impact: Endless Possibilities” in Greenwich, CT in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the EF.

Jessica joined the EF in 2020. She joined the Board in 2021, and holds two seats, Vice President and Head of SIGS. She has spearheaded important initiatives including leading the search process for an organization-wide administrative function and managing the planning surveys with an objective to uncover ways to improve and increase value to EF Members.

She brings vast experience as a marketing strategist to her EF roles. Jessica has more than 25 years of experience leading digital transformation and revenue growth strategies for media, non-profit and SaaS operations, and is an accomplished and groundbreaking leader in digital marketing, digital user experience, membership and annuity revenue models. 

The Robert C. Sloane Award is presented to an individual who has taken the EF to “a new level” and contributed significantly to the overall value of being an EF member.  

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Scenes from the Conference