The Marriage Between Research and Creative Marketing

Matt Black is currently Senior Vice President at Bank of America, where he leads the Centers of Excellence for Advertising and Video, providing best-in-class creative strategy, execution and integration across the company. 

Matt began his career at Bank of America in 2007 in Brand Strategy and Management, where he led strategic planning for Global Marketing and Corporate Affairs and identified an opportunity to create a new target segment for the fast growing bicultural Hispanic population. He was then asked to create and lead a team that manages advertising strategy, research, and execution, providing strategic and creative leadership across the company.  He served as a leader on several company wide marketing programs, including the launch of the Bank of Opportunity, Life/Better Connected and What Would You Like The Power To Do?  He has also evolved the creative development model through the creation of the Video Center of Excellence, providing a lower cost model with increased speed to market on video development, reducing the reliance on the traditional agency model.  He is also led the evolution and modernization of the brand visual identity, which was updated for the first time in 20 years.

Prior to Bank of America, Matt was a Senior Director at Visa, where he led key strategic projects for various clients that included brand development and repositioning. Matt also has an extensive background in the Consumer Packaged Goods industry through his time at Frito-Lay.  Matt managed iconic brands such as Doritos, Ruffles and Fritos, where he launched new products, created groundbreaking digital strategies and consolidated advertising across PepsiCo.

A native of Philadelphia, Matt began his career in financial services marketing with Signet Bank and NationsBank. He holds a BA in Economics from Washington University in St. Louis, and an MBA in marketing/general management from the University of Michigan.

Matt currently lives with his wife Leslee and two sons in south Charlotte.  He enjoys running, rooting for Philadelphia sports teams and spending time with his family.

Kristine is a Marketing Director at Columbia Threadneedle Investments, where she oversees and manages strategic marketing initiatives. In her current role, she leads complex content development projects and multi-channel campaigns that support the firm’s investment capabilities, products and value-add programs.

Kristine’s career at Columbia Threadneedle spans more than 20 years. In that time, she has led marketing and communications efforts for several areas of the business. Most recently, she was responsible for content strategy and governance for the firm’s financial professional and investor websites, including leading a major redesign of its institutional website. Strategy and content for the redesign were based on extensive voice of the customer research and the site received a 2022 Financial Content Marketing Award for Best Website from the Gramercy Institute. Prior to her website strategy role, Kristine developed content for the firm’s value-add programs, providing financial advisors with the technical knowledge to master retirement and other financial planning topics. She’s also served as the primary marketing liaison between Columbia Threadneedle and the Offices of State Treasurer of three state-sponsored 529 college savings plans. She began her career in annuity marketing, developing product literature, sales tools and marketing campaigns for the firm’s suite of annuity products.

Kristine’s work has been recognized with numerous industry communications awards, including from the Investment Management Education Alliance, Gramercy Institute, APEX Awards for Publication Excellence, and New England Direct Marketing Association. She was also named a Rising Star in Financial Marketing by the Gramercy Institute.

Kristine holds a Masters in Communications Management from Simmons University and a Bachelor of Business Administration from Merrimack College. She lives in southern New Hampshire with her husband Michael, a Massachusetts firefighter, and their three children. Kristine is passionate about volunteering her time with various groups in her community and has been recognized with a Town Volunteer of the Year Award and Hidden Jewel award from her local Chamber of Commerce.

Nicole is a Group Creative Director at Publicis Sapient and leads the Experience Design practice for Financial Services East. She joined Sapient in 2022 to help build out the strategy for the Experience Design craft and provide mentorship for the design team.

She is responsible for planning and building out the  Experience Design CoE, staffing, and onboarding design talent. Expertise in leading the facilitation and co-creation of design thinking sprints to gain valuable insights into the product design process, creation of playbooks focused on design ops, design sprints, research, and design systems. She advises partners in creating CoEs, design team structure, job families, and designer competencies. In addition, she oversees the delivery of experience design initiatives, the institution of design best practices, and UX accelerators.

Before joining Sapient, Nicole led the Experience Design practice at Prudential Financial and established the experience design practice at MetLife.

Lacy Garcia is the Founder & CEO of Willow (trustwillow.com). Willow is a financial technology and guidance platform that helps financial institutions and advisors better serve the New Majority of investors: women, the next generation, and underrepresented groups. Lacy and Willow are frequently featured in the media and podcasts, including: The TODAY Show, Cheddar News, Financial Planning, Business Insider, WealthManagement.com, Yahoo Finance!, and GoBankingRates. Lacy has spent her two-decade career at the intersection of financial services, marketing, and entrepreneurship. She brings deep experience in wealth management to Willow, having served as Vice President, Head of Marketing & Communications and a Relationship Manager at Deltec Bank. Prior to Deltec, Lacy was a Vice President at Weber Shandwick where she led the local market reputation work for a Fortune 50 global bank on the heels of the 2008 financial crisis. Lacy also helped launch the Center for Women and Business at Bentley University, and the Massachusetts Conference for Women. Prior to that, she was the Director of Marketing & Communications for WHERE (acquired by PayPal). Lacy also led Babson College’s Centennial as the Managing Director of the Centennial Office and served as a member of the President’s Cabinet. Lacy holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from Davidson College, a master’s in education, magna cum laude, from Hunter College, and a Master of Business Administration from Simmons School of Management, where she received a merit scholarship. Lacy was named an Emerging Leader by The Boston Foundation. She serves as a Mentor for the Tory Burch Foundation and is actively involved with several nonprofits that focus on empowering women and underrepresented youth and communities.