Dean’s Advisory Board

The Board provides counsel and advice to the Dean in setting and achieving the strategic goals of the School, serves as a sounding board for the School’s initiatives, and works to connect the School to its Alumni and the broader stakeholders in the field of Communication. Its members are academicians and policy and industry experts in the field of Communication and areas relevant to the School’s activities.

Current Dean's Advisory Board members include Amy Jo Smith,  Sofia Chang, Emerson Coleman, Brooke Duffy,  Karin Gilford, Jeffrey Gottfried, Amie Hadden, Shawnika Hull, Christina Lee, Michael Persaud, and Dannagal Young.

Amy Jo Smith, M.A.C. '88

Dean's Advisory Board Chair
President & CEO
DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group

Amy Jo Smith serves as president & CEO of DEG: The Digital Entertainment Group, the leading trade group for digital media focusing on bringing content to consumers. DEG representing the interests of the world’s largest media and entertainment companies, consumer electronics manufacturers and platform providers. A former White House communications advisor, Smith, since 1997, has led the industry-funded group’s efforts to enhance and promote home entertainment during its wholesale evolution from videocassettes to DVDs, Blu-ray Discs, and today’s digital age. Today, DEG is firmly established as the industry’s leading authority on home entertainment trends, including both transaction entertainment to consumers as well as the burgeoning direct-to-consumer subscription offerings.

Sofia Chang, C’91

Sofia Chang is a global operating executive with extensive experience leading large-scale strategic, operational, and cultural transformations across the corporate and nonprofit sectors.

Known for her consumer-centered approach and a record of growing revenue and market share, she is transitioning her three decades of operational leadership into board governance and strategic advisory roles, focusing on digital transformation, consumer growth, and organizational turnarounds. Her deep expertise spans media and entertainment, consumer products, digital subscriptions, and retail distribution.

Previously, Ms. Chang served as Chief Distribution Officer at Starz, where she led strategy, business development, and partnerships with major digital distributors including Amazon, Google, Apple, and Comcast. As CEO of Girl Scouts of the USA, she spearheaded a comprehensive organizational turnaround—reversing a 12-year membership decline, strengthening financial performance, securing an unprecedented $100M in major gifts, and modernizing the culture of the 110-year-old institution.

Before GSUSA, Ms. Chang spent 21 years at WarnerMedia (HBO/Time Warner), ultimately serving as President of Distribution. In this role, she led domestic subscription revenue, content sales, and global transactional distribution across 150 markets throughout the world, driving exponential growth in subscribers and over $5B in revenue.

With a strong foundation in governance and leadership, she has served on the boards of the Time Warner Foundation and the University of Pennsylvania Professional Women’s Alliance, and was recognized by Forbes 50 Over 50 and Gold House A100 for her industry impact.

Ms. Chang holds a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and resides in New York City.

Emerson Coleman, M.A.C. '78

Former Senior Vice President of Programming
Hearst Television Inc.

Emerson Coleman was the Senior Vice President, Programming for Hearst Television. Among the industry’s most highly regarded programming executives, Coleman was responsible for overseeing the company’s wide-ranging program development and national syndication acquisitions as well as guiding Hearst’s production businesses, including Litton Entertainment. He has created multiple highly honored national and international specials and series including The Remarkable Journey Project and Matter of Fact with Soledad O’Brien. Coleman serves on the Boards of the Peabody Awards, the NAB Leadership Foundation, and the National Association of Television Program Executives. He holds an A.B. from Brown University and an M.A. from the University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication.

Brooke Duffy, Ph.D. '11

Associate Professor, Department of Communication 
Cornell University

Brooke Erin Duffy, Ph.D., is an associate professor in the Department of Communication at Cornell University, where she also holds a faculty appointment in Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Her areas of interest include digital and social media industries; gender, identity, and inequality; and the impact of new technologies on work and labor. She's the author of (Not) Getting Paid to Do What You Love: Gender, Social Media, and Aspirational Work (Yale University Press, 2017) — which Wired named among its “Top Tech Books of 2017” — and Remake, Remodel: Women’s Magazines in the Digital Age (University of Illinois Press, 2013). Currently, she is working on a book for Polity on Platforms, Power, and Cultural Production with collaborators David Nieborg and Thomas Poell. Her research has been published in such journals as Journal of Communication, New Media & Society, International Journal of Communication, Critical Studies in Media Communication, Communication, Culture & Critique, International Journal of Cultural Studies, Feminist Media Studies, and Social Media + Society, among others. In addition to her academic publications, Duffy has disseminated her research to a broader audience through popular writing in The Atlantic, Times Higher Education, Wired, and Quartz. Her commentary has been featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, and USA Today, among others. 

Karin Gilford

SVP, Digital Media & GM, Movies Anywhere

The Walt Disney Company

Karin Gilford is Senior Vice President, Digital Media and General Manager of Movies Anywhere at The Walt Disney Company, where she leads an organization spanning digital content strategy and distribution, FAST channels, social media, eCommerce, advertising, and the Movies Anywhere multi-studio platform. She serves as Disney’s senior digital executive embedded within ABC News, with direct relationships across Good Morning America, The View, World News Tonight, and ABC News Live.

Over a 25-year career in digital media, streaming, and entertainment distribution, Gilford has built a reputation for translating market shifts into business results—identifying where the industry is headed and shepherding complex, cross-functional initiatives from concept through operational excellence. At Disney, she has led the expansion of ABC News into new formats and platforms, including social media and vertical video strategy, pushing a legendary news brand forward while honoring its editorial standards and legacy. She also originated Disney’s FAST channel offering, now scaled across both entertainment and news. Prior to Disney, she held senior roles at Yahoo! and Comcast.

Gilford is a member of the Dean’s Advisory Board at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.

Jeffrey Gottfried, Ph.D. '12

Associate Director, Internet & Technology Research
Pew Research Center

Jeffrey A. Gottfried received his Ph.D. from the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania in 2012. His graduate work focused on the role of election campaign communication on voters’ political attitudes and behaviors. Upon defending his dissertation, he was named the Howard Deshong Postdoctoral Fellow at the Annenberg Public Policy Center. Currently, he is the Associate Director of Internet and Technology Research at Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C.. Gottfried regularly discusses findings with the media and presents his research at conferences and to professional groups.

Amie Hadden, B.A. '89

Executive Creative Director

Amie Hadden is an Executive Creative Director who has worked at some of the world’s leading advertising agencies including Wieden & Kennedy, Fallon McElligott Berlin, J. Walter Thompson, BBDO and Publicis. Clients’ demand for creativity has taken Amie to agencies in the U.S. and Europe, developing campaigns for global brands such as Nike, Heineken, Coca-Cola, and BMW. Her iconic work transcends cultural and language differences while resonating with consumers in more than a dozen countries.  

Amie’s relentless pursuit to discover a brand’s truth informs her creative process and had led to award-winning work for iconic brands such as Nikon, Old Navy, Miller Genuine Draft, Coppertone, Yoplait, Zappos, Avon, and the NBA.

Most recently, as a creative & branding consultant, Amie’s ideas are guiding life-saving pharmaceutical and biotech companies. At ViroCell Biologics, a viral vector manufacturer that enables novel cell and gene therapies to enter clinical trials, she helped to create a distinctive voice and unique presence in the marketplace. 

Amie believes that advertising can do more than sell products, it can effect change in the world, which is why today she brings her thinking to brands and causes alike.

Shawnika Hull, Ph.D. '10

Assistant Professor, School of Communication and Information
Rutgers University

Shawnika Hull (B.A., University of Arizona, 2004) is an Assistant Professor at the Rutgers University School of Communication and Information. Her research focuses on reducing racial inequities in HIV incidence through community-engaged, applied communication science. In particular, she develops, implements and evaluates theoretically grounded communication interventions focused on impacting individual and social-structural barriers to HIV prevention. This research is informed by, and developed in close collaboration with community partners. Her expertise includes qualitative (i.e. focus groups) and quantitative (i.e. surveys, experiments) data collection and analytical methods. Her research has been funded through various institutional, non-profit (i.e., MAC AIDS Fund), and governmental mechanisms (i.e., NIH, CDC) and published in communication and public health journals. Her rigorous, theoretically grounded, collaborative approach to research informs health communication theorizing and practice.

Christina Lee, C’00 W’00

Vice President of Reputation & Content Strategy
Amazon

Christina Lee, C’00 W’00 serves as Vice President of Reputation & Content Strategy at Amazon, leading a team that includes research, paid marketing, owned content and channels, and internal communications. She has worked at Amazon for more than a decade, serving in communications leadership roles for Amazon’s global retail and devices businesses and corporate communications. Prior to joining Amazon, Christina was the marketing and communications partner at venture firm, Kleiner Perkins, from 2011 to 2016, where she managed all aspects of the brand and provided strategic marketing and communications counsel to early- and late-stage growth companies, across digital, life sciences, and sustainability sectors. Before joining Kleiner Perkins, Christina was the first head of communications at Hulu, where she joined as a founding member of the executive team following Hulu's acquisition of an online video annotation service she co-founded in Beijing, China. Christina began her career in product management and product marketing roles at Amazon, Microsoft, and Microsoft China. In 2000, Christina graduated with a B.S. degree in economics and a B.A. degree in international studies from the Huntsman Program in International Studies at the University of Pennsylvania, Wharton School of Business. 

Michael Persaud, W'90

Portfolio Manager and Financial Advisor
Morgan Stanley

Michael Persaud is a Portfolio Manager and Financial Advisor with Morgan Stanley in Beverly Hills, CA. Over the last decade, he has built a practice that focuses on providing strategic and investment solutions for foundations, institutions, non-profit organizations, endowments, as well as ultra-high net worth individuals and families. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley, Michael was President at MUSE Communications, a Hollywood based advertising agency. Additionally, Michael co-founded the brand marketing agency, Persaud Brothers, where he also served as President and advised c-suite executives of several Fortune 500 companies and brands. Michael earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS in Finance from the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School of Business. Michael is a co-founder and current Board Chair of the Council of Urban Professionals. He is a Board Member for the Harvard Business School African-American Alumni Association, as well as serving on the fundraising committee of the Polytechnic School in Pasadena. Michael resides in Sherman Oaks, CA, with his two daughters.

Dannagal Young, Ph.D. '07

Professor of Communication
University of Delaware

Dannagal G. Young is an Associate Professor of Communication at the University of Delaware where she studies the content, audience, and effects of political humor. Her research on the psychology and influence of political entertainment has been widely published including articles in The Columbia Journalism Review, Media Psychology, Political Communication, International Journal of Press/Politics, Journal of Broadcasting and Electronic Media, and Mass Media and Society. Her latest book, Irony and Outrage, examines satire and outrage as the logical extensions of the respective psychological profiles of liberals and conservatives (Oxford University Press, 2020).

Young is a Research Fellow with the University of Delaware's Center for Political Communication and was awarded the University of Delaware's Excellence in Teaching Award in 2014. She is a Distinguished Fellow of the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center and an Affiliated Researcher with the University of Arizona's National Institute for Civil Discourse (NICD). Along with NICD researchers Rob Boatright, Tim Shaffer, and Sarah Sobieraj, Young edited "A Crisis of Civility: Political Discourse and its Discontents" (Routledge, 2018).

Young's writing has appeared in the popular press, including articles in The Atlantic, The New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, contributions on National Public Radio, and coverage of her research in national and international publications including Variety, The Globe and Mail, the Guardian, and the Christian Science Monitor.

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