Peggy Conlon

President & CEO

The Ad Council

As President & CEO of the Ad Council, Ms. Conlon heads an organization that annually mobilizes more than $1.5 billion of advertising time and space, the creative services of over 50 major advertising agencies and financial support from hundreds of corporations.

Since joining in 1999, Peggy has seen the organization triple the work done on behalf of premier government and nonprofit organizations such as the American Red Cross, Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, United Way of America, The American Heart Association, The Department of Homeland Security and many more. She has worked closely with President Obama on critical issues like high school dropout prevention, civic engagement and fatherhood, and the First Lady’s “Let’s Move” campaign to end childhood obesity.

Peggy headed up the important task of organizing the U.S. ad industry as it addressed the critical issues resulting from the events of September 11th, helping Americans respond to the crisis. She also spearheaded the production of PSAs featuring former Presidents Bush and Clinton in support of the Tsunami Relief Effort, Hurricane Katrina and the Earthquake in Haiti.

Peggy earned her B.A. in Communications from the California State University at Fullerton, and her M.A. from the Annenberg School of Communications at USC. She served as a public affairs officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve for seven years, and was awarded the New York Women in Communications Matrix Award for Advertising in 2002. Ms.Conlon was named “2005 Advertising Woman of the Year” by Advertising Women of New York.