Peggy Conlon, president of The Ad Council, is retiring next year, the council said Tuesday. No successor has been named.
Conlon has headed the Ad Council since 1999. Conlon is the former publisher of B&C and the TV Fax.
“Peggy took over the Ad Council at a critical point in history,” said Ad Council chair Debra Lee in a statement. “She quickly organized the advertising industry’s response following the September 11th attacks, which changed the way the Ad Council did business and established the organization as the ‘go to’ source for messages on other crises moving forward, including Hurricane Katrina, the Indian Ocean Tsunami and the Haiti earthquake.”
The council is a nonprofit organization that puts advertising creative together with donated media ad time to create public service announcements on a range of topics, including the iconic Smokey the Bear fire prevention campaign but ranging from bullying and texting while driving to child hunger, and obesity, all issues addressed under Conlon's watch.
Conlon also expanded the council's relationships with the marketing community to include public relations, digital, media and media buying agencies.
“It has been a tremendous privilege to be a steward of the Ad Council’s mission, representing the extraordinary pro bono efforts of our advertising, media and other agency partners, to stimulate action on key issues and make a measurable impact on our society,” said Conlon in a statement. “I look forward to doing all I can to support a seamless transition for the next president and CEO of this wonderful organization.”
