31st annual FCS Portfolio Awards
Trust & Will scores top prize for “Make It Count” TV Campaign
Bank of America dominates the competition with 3 Best in Show Awards for work on its 2024 Boston Marathon Sponsorship
American Express, Invesco QQQ, and PNC Bank each take home a Best in Show
On May 1, an audience of nearly 600 financial marketing, communications and media professionals from 130 companies gathered at the Ziegfeld Ballroom for the 31st Annual Financial Communications Society (FCS) Portfolio Awards. At the black tie gala, the FCS also celebrated the six newest graduates of its new Marketing Scholars program, and announced total charitable donations to 20+ children’s charities over the past 12 months of $150,000.



Winners are invited to download these branded digital badges for use on social media, website, email signatures, etc. Just right click on each image.
From among the 285 award winning entries, the top prize, the Judges’ Choice Award, was won by Trust & Will for its “Make It Count” television campaign, created with agency partner Marketing Architects. The campaign was selected by consensus from among the judging panel of 51 industry experts who each nominated their favorite from nearly 700 entries – a new record for the 31-year old competition.

The other “Best in Show” trophies* were won by:
BEST IN SHOW CONSUMER
- Invesco QQQ
- Crossmedia and Episode Four
- Investopedia and Food & Wine
- Branded Content with Media Partner: Partnered Events
- “Celebrating Innovation in Food and Wine in partnership with Invesco QQQ”
BEST IN SHOW BUSINESS TO BUSINESS
- American Express
- Taylor Made Agency and OnBrand
- Integrated Marketing
- “15 Stories”
BEST IN SHOW CORPORATE IMAGE
- Bank of America
- GroupeConnect
- Organic Social
- “2024 Boston Marathon presented by Bank of America”
BEST IN SHOW CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
- Bank of America
- GroupeConnect
- Organic Social
- “2024 Boston Marathon presented by Bank of America”
BEST IN SHOW DIVERSITY, EQUITY & INCLUSION
- Bank of America
- GroupeConnect and SpringHill
- Branded Content with Media Partner: Partnered Video
- “2024 Boston Marathon presented by Bank of America”
BEST IN SHOW EMPLOYEE COMMUNICATIONS
- PNC Bank
- Arnold Worldwide
- Internal Presentation
- “Brilliantly Boring”
Bank of America also won an additional 15 Gold trophies among a total haul of 57 (a new record). Other big winners were Prudential (13 trophies, 7 Gold), as well as Invesco QQQ, Mizuho, and UBS, who scored 9 trophies each. Notably, BNY Wealth had 5 wins – all Gold. Another 39 firms were winners of multiple trophies, while 50 others received one each.
View the list of clients and creative teams for each winning trophy here.
At the Awards Gala, Patty Sachs of Publicis and the FCS Board of Directors served as emcee, and our six Award Presenters were:
- Pinki Mehta, SVP/MD, Head of Global Marketing and Digital Experience, AllianceBernstein
- Branden Jones, Chief Marketing Officer, BlackRock Aladdin
- Toni Clayton-Hine, Chief Marketing Officer, EY Americas
- Dara Marshall, MD, Head of Brand Management, JPMorganChase
- Andrea Saporito, MD, Wealth Management Digital Marketing, Morgan Stanley
- Tara Giuliano, Chief Marketing Officer, Nuveen
Bringing the “Jazz Age” theme of this year’s Gala to life, guests were invited to participate in an AI experience called “Art Deco Me!” which was powered by COFFEE Labs, and sponsored by Goldcast. The custom-made AI-driven app turned guests’ selfies into illustrated portraits reminiscent of the Roaring Twenties!
For more information regarding any aspect of Portfolio, please email Kevin Windorf.
Judges
Fifty-one senior marketing and creative executives from financial services firms and agencies served on this year’s judging panel, organized and led by FCS Vice Chair Tom Jago. In addition to evaluating entries by Group [Corporate Image, B2B, Consumer, Employee Communications] and by category [for Gold, Silver, Bronze trophies], the judging panel honors their top overall favorite with our Judges’ Choice Award.
- Kapil Arora, SVP, Head of Digital, AllianceBernstein
- Caitlin Schillig, Vice President, Brand, Advertising & Paid Media, Ameriprise Financial
- Adam Bell, Chief Marketing Officer, Arbor Realty Trust
- Lisa Busenburg, Head of Retirement Marketing, Digital, Marketing & Analytics, Ascensus
- Jeremy Cohn, SVP, Global Markets Marketing, Bank of America
- Briana Hovington, Senior Manager, Growth Acquisition, Better
- Maura Crehan, Vice President, Aladdin Marketing, BlackRock
- Jim Kotulka, Head of Brand & Creative, BNY
- Lisa Parkin, Vice President, Enterprise Marketing & Events, Broadridge Financial Solutions
- Kira Sandmann, Chief Marketing Officer, Brown Gibbons Lang & Co.
- Janet Sawires, AVP, Global Brand and Creative, Chubb
- Tanya Fraser, SVP, Head of US Cards Advertising, Citi
- Lisa Whitman, Marketing Director, Columbia Threadneedle
- Stephanie Gay, Managing Director, Strategy, Crossmedia
- Chris Donahoe, Executive Vice President & Head of AI Strategy, Edelman Smithfield
- Andrew Miller, Executive Creative Director, Episode Four
- Leeor Sillman, Managing Director, Marketing, Epoch Investment Partners
- Andrew DeCaro, Director, Marketing, Grayscale
- Jeff Coghan, Head of Digital Marketing, Hartford Funds
- Stephanie Fiset, Associate Director, QQQ Brand and Content, Invesco
- Matthew Pisciotta, Executive Director, Digital Acquisition & Engagement Strategy, J.P. Morgan Wealth Management
- Katherine Boylan, SVP, Director of Integrated Marketing, Jennison Associates
- Paul Leibowitz, President & Chief Creative, Leibowitz Branding & Design
- Pat VanGorder, President & Head of Growth, Level
- Jessica Huban, SVP, Social Media Manager, M&T Bank
- Katie Cronen, Partner, Maslansky
- Christa Perry, Head of Advertising and Sponsorships, MassMutual
- Hope Kennedy, Assistant Vice President, Chief of Staff, Global Marketing and Communications, MetLife
- Max Alex, Executive Director, Head of Brand and Creative, Mizuho
- Andrea Saporito, Managing Director, Wealth Management Digital Marketing, Morgan Stanley
- Zack Menna, SVP, Group Creative Director, MullenLowe
- Kate Murphy, Digital Strategy & Project Manager, NeubergerBerman
- Sheryl Markov, EVP, Head of Demand Generation and Performance Marketing, Northern Trust
- Lauren Fryefield, Chief Marketing Officer, Pathstone
- Haley Cohen, Head of Social Media/PGIM, PGIM
- Merry Fish, Senior Vice President, Brand Strategist, PIMCO
- Anne Swan, Chief Creative Officer, Prophecy, Prosek Partners
- Paul Wilhelm, Strategy Director, Leo NY, Publicis Groupe
- Paula Brennan, Director, Integrated Marketing, Sands Capital
- Patrice Bedard, Global Head of Brand and Creative, State Street Global Advisors
- Berta Aldrich, Global Head of Marketing, Stepstone Group
- Nick Miller, Principal, Strategy, Sullivan
- Kelly Nowlan, Global Product Marketing Director, Target Dates, T. Rowe Price
- Reed Handley, EVP, Head of Growth and Financial Services Co-Lead, The Bliss Group
- Renee Baker, Founder & CEO, The RBI Group
- Jennifer Ogden, CSO, Head of Brand and Communication Strategy, The Ricciardi Group
- Ondina Purcell, SVP, Chief Marketing Officer Wealth Management, TIAA
- Deb Breines, VP, Enterprise Integrated Marketing, Travelers
- Andy Srygley, Director, Sr Writer, UBS Global Wealth Management
- Scott Wentworth, CEO, Wentworth Financial Communications
- Kristin Gower, Global Client President, WPP/Group M
SPONSORS
In addition to the top sponsors listed below, more than 40 companies were Branded Table Sponsors: Alliance Bernstein; American Express; Ameriprise Financial & Columbia Threadneedle; Arnold & PNC; Bank of America ECS; Barclays; BBC; BlackRock; The Bliss Group; Bloomberg Media; BNY; Business Insider; Cambridge Investment Research; Captivate; Code and Theory; Episode Four & Invesco; Forbes; FOX Business; FS Investments; GroupeConnect & Bank of America; Havas Chicago; LinkedIn; Living Group; M&T Bank; MassMutual; McCann & Prudential; Moody’s; Morgan Stanley; MullenLowe; The New York Times; Ptarmigan Media; Puck News; Publicis One Team; The Ricciardi Group; Sullivan; TBWA & Travelers; TIAA; Uber; UBS; Wall Street Journal | Barron’s Group; WBD’s Courageous Studios & NerdWallet; The Washington Post
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Gold Sponsor
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Silver Sponsor
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Bronze Sponsor
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Judging Day Sponsor
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Best in Show Sponsor: Corporate Image
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Best in Show Sponsor: CSR
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Dinner Sponsor
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Coat Check Sponsor
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Creative Agency of Record
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Communications Agency of Record
Portfolio 31 Awards / Event Committee
- Kevin Windorf Committee Chair
- Tom Jago The Ward Group, Judging Chair
- Maggie DeCapua FCS Portfolio Coordinator
- Siobhan Brunton 2112 Communications
- Felicity Moore 2112 Communications
- Katy Brady Invesco
- Rebecca Schmidt Water & Wall
- Sonia Wong Water & Wall
- Juliet McAlee FCS Admin/Comms Coordinator
- Kirti Naik Neuberger Berman
- Patty Sachs Publicis
- Rob Pfeiffer FOX Business
- Hailey Brent BNY Wealth
- Karen List List Connects
- Tim Hart Ptarmigan Media