“Marketing Financial Services to Women”

Allison Engel leads Women’s Market Strategy at Northwestern Mutual.  She brings over 15 years of work experience to the table including almost a decade in media sales and strategy and operations experience for various startups, including a Fintech company out of Austin.  Prior to Northwestern Mutual, Allison was in a Global Marketing and Communications role at Dell where she helped to build and lead the Dell for Entrepreneurs initiative which she worked with high growth startups and the entrepreneur community in the US and Europe.  She has a BS in Marketing and a BS in Management from Arizona State University.  Currently, she is a mentor for the Cherie Blair Foundation and mentors women around the global on sustainable and growth business practices and is an active member of GAMA, WIFS, LIMRA and locally TEMPO Milwaukee and the Women’s Affinity Alliance.  Alison is a Los Angeles native and relocated to Milwaukee, Wisconsin with her husband and daughter from Austin, Texas.

Jessica Titlebaum Darmoni has over 15 years of experience building relationships, networking and connecting the dots. She is currently the founder of The Title Connection LLC, a boutique firm that provides business development and marketing strategies to firms in the financial industry.  Previously, she spent time in similar roles at Itiviti, the National Futures Association and John J. Lothian & Company.  She also co-founded Women In Listed Derivatives (WILD) and served as President of the organization from 2009-2014. Jessica is a financial journalist and a frequent contributor to TheGlassHammer.com.  Her work has also appeared in Automated Trader and Markets Media.  She is a re-occurring presenter at the Chicago Board Options Exchange’s Options Institute and a Member of the Futures Industry Association’s Operations Americas Board.  She has a Bachelor’s of Arts in English from the University of Maryland in College Park and a Master’s of Science in Journalism from Roosevelt University.

As the Global Head of Qualitative for Kantar, Anita is accountable for all elements of qualitative research across Kantar operating brands worldwide. At Kantar, we seek to inspire our clients, our people and society to create and flourish in an extraordinary world and we do so by drawing on the expertise of our research consultants that sit across 60 countries. Prior to being appointed Global Head of Qualitative, Anita successfully grew qualitative over 900% for Kantar TNS in North America, and transformed businesses in Latin America by building effective relationships with external and internal corporate clients.  A seasoned researcher, Anita focuses on providing insight into connecting consumers emotionally to brands to drive growth for Fortune 500 clients. She has extensive experience in new product development, brand strategy, communications, retail, and satisfaction research. Throughout her career, Anita has moderated hundreds of focus groups and one-on-one interviews for many Fortune 100 firms across CPG, Financial Services, Travel/Tourism, B2B and B2C audiences. Anita is a strategic thinker with a big heart and thrives on uncovering significant opportunities in the small details of everyday life. Anita currently serves on Unilever’s Expert Panel for its highly regarded qualitative accreditation program, and is recognized as an Accredited Professional Development Specialist for the Market Research Society in London.  She also serves on the Advisory Board for Michigan State University’s Master of Science in Marketing Research Program. Anita has a BS in Marketing, graduating magna cum laude, from the University of Dayton.

Jennifer Burns's career spans 15+ years of agency and client side experience across fin-tech, mobile, healthcare, transportation and packaged goods. Her passion lies in connecting the needs of consumers with a brand’s underutilized potential, to drive engagement and conversion. Jen currently oversees Marketing Strategy and Communications for the Personal Loans business at Discover Financial. In her role, she is responsible for acquisition of new accounts and retention and solicitation efforts for existing customers. She leads communication strategy, campaign development, product positioning and e-commerce helping the business achieve profitable growth to become the fastest growing business at Discover.  Prior to Discover, Jen has held various global brand strategy roles and led agency business for Motorola Mobility, TD Ameritrade, FedEx, E*TRADE, Pfizer, Bayer, and Merck. She is a regular speaker and honored Brand Innovator 40 under 40 alum, as well as, a member of Digital Ascendant. Jen received her BS in Human and Organizational Development, Economics and Business Administration from Vanderbilt University.  Follow her @jenbenburns

Caroline Gillard is a Public Relations Specialist for the Options Clearing Corporation (OCC), the world’s largest equity derivatives clearing organization. In her current role, Caroline manages the social media accounts for OCC, the Options Industry Council (OIC) and the Options Industry Conference, and assists with developing communication and thought leadership pieces for OCC’s other platforms, including the OCC blog and YouTube channel. Prior to joining OCC, Caroline worked as a Marketing Executive for Stratosphere Networks, an IT company based in Evanston, IL. In her spare time, Caroline manages the Women in Listed Derivatives (WILD) social media, is an active Committee Member for the Financial Communications Society (FCS) and volunteers as a Child Advocate with the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights. She started her Bachelor’s degree in Halifax, Nova Scotia at Mount Saint Vincent University, and ultimately graduated from Loyola University Chicago with a Bachelor’s degree in Public Relations and Advertising.