Peggy Conlon

Peggy Conlon served The Advertising Council as President and CEO from 1999 until her retirement in December of 2014. Conlon played an integral role in The Advertising Council’s efforts to mobilize more than $1.6 billion of advertising time and space, creative services of over 50 major advertising agencies and related financial support from hundreds of corporations. In addition to her work with The Advertising Council, Conlon worked jointly with the last three presidential administrations on various initiatives.

During her tenure at the Ad Council, the organization tripled the work done on behalf of premier government and non-profit organizations such as the American Red Cross, Big Brothers Big Sisters, United Way of America, the American Heart Association, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and many more. She has worked closely with Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama on issues ranging from homeland security, obesity prevention, and high school dropout prevention.

Conlon organized the entire advertising industry to address the critical issues resulting from the events of September 11th and helped Americans respond to the crisis. She also led the organization’s production and distribution of PSAs featuring former Presidents Bush and Clinton in support of the Tsunami Relief Effort, Hurricane Katrina and the Earthquake in Haiti.

Conlon serves on the Board of Trustees of the United Way Worldwide and served for six years on the United Way of America board. She also serves on the board of directors for the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. Conlon was appointed by former President George Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush to lead the national media initiative for C-Change, formerly the National Dialogue on Cancer and served on its Board of Directors for six years. She was also a member of the World Economic Forum’s Media, Entertainment and Information Global Agenda Council for six years.

Prior to joining the Ad Council, Conlon was Vice President, Group Publisher of the Broadcasting & Cable Group for Cahners Business Information. She was Group Publisher for the Electronics Division of CMP publications. Her advertising experience has also included work on the agency and corporate sides of the business.

Conlon earned her B.A. in communications from the California State University at Fullerton and her M.A. from the Annenberg School of Communications at the University of Southern California. She was awarded the New York Women in Communications Matrix Award for Advertising in 2002, and she was named “2005 Advertising Woman of the Year” by Advertising Women of New York (AWNY).