2022 Communicator of the Year Bios

Ken Bracht, Global Director of Brand Marketing, Small Business and Enterprise, Indeed

Ken Bracht is the head of the Brand Marketing for Small Business and Enterprise at Indeed. Ken began his career at BMW in various marketing roles. He likes to say he “grew up” on a marketing team that thrived on breaking the norm including the launch of BMW Films. He then joined Jaguar Land Rover as the lead for Land Rover Marketing Communications in the US where he helped Land Rover re-establish itself as one of the most desirable luxury automotive brands. However, it was his time at Audi as the US brand marketing lead where he discovered that brands could serve a higher purpose and led the “equal work for equal pay” campaign “Daughter” in Super Bowl 51. Ken is now proud to work for a purpose driven brand at Indeed, where “We help people get jobs”.

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John Brockelman, Chief Marketing Officer, State Street Global Advisors

John Brockelman Chief Marketing Officer for State Street Global Advisors, the fourth largest asset manager in the world. He is responsible for all aspects of marketing for the firm, including data and analytics, institutional and advisor channel marketing, brand and advertising, investment content, digital, communications, and social media. John is also a member of the Executive Management Group, the company’s most senior strategy and policy-making team. He joined State Street in 2015 and previously served as Global Head of Brand Marketing & Communications.   

Under his leadership, his team successfully rebranded the firm and has been recognized for marketing excellence, including multiple Cannes Lions Grand Prix, Clio, and Effie awards. In 2020 he was named Marketer of the Year by the Financial Communications Society. 

Prior to State Street, John held several marketing and communications roles at Fidelity Investments where he most recently led corporate affairs, executive communications, and corporate marketing communications teams. 

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Alex Donics, Global Director of Enterprise Marketing, Spotify

Alex is the Global Director of Enterprise Marketing at Spotify, where he leads a team of over 35 marketers globally to grow demand for Spotify Advertising with the world’s leading marketers. He previously served as the Head of Category Development – an industry strategy and development group within the Revenue Innovation Group. 

Prior to joining Spotify in 2018, Alex spent over five years at PepsiCo, where he held several marketing roles covering new product innovation, channel marketing, and brand communications. Before his time at PepsiCo, Alex spent over six years on the agency-side, working in communications planning at Starcom Worldwide.

Kristin Fallon, Head of Global Brand, GE HealthCare

Kristin Fallon is Head of Global Brand at GE HealthCare, an $18B medtech company, where she leads a dream team of marketers and communicators focused on delivering a brand experience as innovative and impactful as GE’s 100+ year legacy in life-changing technology. A creative storyteller known for putting people and purpose at the center of her work, she recently led the company’s rebrand as part of its historic separation from GE in January 2023.

In early 2020, she boldly sent a filmmaker into the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in a mobile home to cover stories of courage, kindness, and innovation in the healthcare industry—delivering GE HealthCare’s best-performing brand campaign ever and winning industry recognition. Prior to GE she founded and led a marketing consulting company based in Southeast Asia, with some of her earliest impactful storytelling stemming from the Indonesian tsunami reconstruction.

Throughout her career, Kristin has helped non-profits and the private sector meaningfully engage with stakeholders and grow—working with innovative technology companies from start-ups to GE and international development organizations from NGOs to the World Bank. She is on the Board of Directors at the International Advertising Association (IAA) and the University of Maryland’s Center for Social Value Creation. Kristin began her career in the US Peace Corps and brings that same sense of purpose and adventure to her career—and life—today.

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Erik Petersen, Senior Director, Brand and Advertising, Workday

Erik Petersen is the Senior Director, Brand and Advertising at Workday, a leading provider of enterprise cloud applications for finance, HR, and planning. Erik leads global brand and advertising which includes developing brand assets and guidelines as well as omni channel, transcreated ad campaigns featuring flagship media content, brand ambassadors and global sports sponsorships such as Formula 1, BVB Dortmund, Live From the Masters and The Memorial Tournament.

Erik, his team, Workmates and ad agency partners Ogilvy recently launched the company’s first ever Big Game ad campaign, generating over 4 billion PR impressions, landing in the USA Today Ad Meter Top 10, AdWeek’s #2, Campaign US #1 spot and many other first-time accolades.

Erik joined Workday in 2021 after spending most of his career at ad agencies leading accounts such as Audi, Intel, Sprint, Jeep and HP. The campaigns have won numerous awards including Cannes Lions, Clios, and Addy’s. He has led the development and production of 7x Big Game campaigns. Erik earned a BA in Communications from Michigan State University.