THE EXCHANGE Talk Series, Vol. 2

As chief marketing officer, Denise Karkos is responsible for the overall management of TD Ameritrade’s marketing and advertising to the long-term investor, trader and advisor segments. In this role, she leads segment strategy, brand and advertising, social media and content marketing, marketing analytics, and marketing technology and operations. Denise has also served as managing director of brand and advertising and managing director of retail segment strategy within the firm.
Denise is a digital native and long-time marketing industry veteran. Prior to joining TD Ameritrade in 2010, Denise spent four years with TD Bank as the senior vice president of marketing planning. In this role, she managed the retail marketing strategy and helped grow the business organically and through acquisitions.
Her early experience at Initiative Media, Hill Holliday and Digitas gave her a strong foundation in media planning and buying with a focus on digital. Later, at L.L.Bean, Outside Television and VIA she drove broader marketing strategies, focusing on advertising, CRM, branding and partnership marketing.
Throughout her extensive career, Denise has received multiple marketing honors, including a Clio, numerous Webby, ADDY, and Financial Communications Society (FCS) awards. Her more recent accolades include an Advertising Women of New York Changing the Game – Paradigm Shift award in 2015 and a 2016 Cojone’s award, presented to her at South by Southwest.
Denise received a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Notre Dame, where she was a four-year varsity letter winner and captain of the women’s soccer team.

Colin McConnell is Senior Vice President and Chief Brand Officer for Prudential Financial, responsible for global communications, brand marketing and advertising. In this role, he oversees the company’s communications group, fully-integrated in-house advertising agency, and external agency partnerships.
Colin began his career at Prudential in 1991. He entered the marketing and communications field as an executive speechwriter, then copywriter and creative director prior to becoming head of Advertising in 2009. In his 24 years with Prudential, he has played an integral role in shaping brand communications through critical events, including the company’s initial public offering in 2001, the 2008 financial crisis, and the award-winning Bring Your Challenges campaign.
Colin is also a board member of the Ad Council and a member of the Financial Communications Society Marketing Leadership Roundtable.
Colin holds a BA in Political Science from Bucknell University.