Shannon Washington & Kaleeta McDade
Global CCO | Chief Experience Design Officer
Gotham | VMLY&R
Shannon Washington , Global Chief Creative Officer at Gotham
Creative, traveler, culturist—Shannon Washington is a busy woman.
Currently, Shannon serves as Global Chief Creative Officer for gotham, the global boutique creative brand in the McCann Worldgroup network of agencies. Shanno n returned to gotham in 2024 to lead the creative evolution and expansion of the agency, from a legendary, 30+ year player in the beauty space, to a full-stack creative powerhouse for a new set of categories, brands and talent.
Shannon previously served as the US Chief Creative Officer, Connected Communications for R/GA US, the network’s largest and flagship region where she focused on reshaping the region’s campaign creative vision, fidelity and work culture.
At R/GA, her intersectional and craft-centric style of leadership led to a renewed creative vigor in the office, resulting in an impressive set of award wins, including a Webby Agency of The Year win, a #2 sport for AdAge’s A-list, and three impressive award seasons, with a net of campaign awards the network had not seen since 2016. Business-wise, Shannon successfully led a host of winning pitches for Uber, Sephora and TurboTax, which was the second largest win for IPG in 2023. In addition, her approach has earned her three distinctive honors: Ad-Age CCO of The Year, The AdWeek 100 and one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business.
Shannon joined R/GA after a stint in Los Angeles with Media Arts Lab, where she helped launch Apple TV+ and build a foundation for original content marketing in the Apple ecosystem, and at Deutsch Los Angeles where she led the H&R Block team. Before that, Shannon was at Droga5 NY, where she led the culture-driven “I Am What I Make Up” relaunch of CoverGirl and the launch of You Invest with Chase.
When she can, Shannon can be found actively adding to the discourse around the culture of leadership and inclusivity in advertising through panels and public conversations. When she's not in front of a monitor, Shannon is working on adding another stamp to her passport or attempting to run a 10-minute mile.
Shannon is a proud and loud graduate of Howard University and lives in New Jersey.
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Kaleeta McDade, Chief Experience Design Officer at VMLY&R
At VML Kaleeta helps companies drive growth and human value through an unmatched understanding of brand and human behavior; while harnessing the power of innovation, design, data, and technology. Her near twenty years of experience spans numerous industries and geographies. Holding notable leadership and creative roles with Google Brand Studio, Apple, Sapient Shanghai, Deloitte Digital and Ogilvy.
Kaleeta has a proven ability to drive impact for brands, helping them shape a strategy and vision that deepens the customer relationship across every stage of the engagement lifecycle. Kaleeta's influence and leadership have shaped how customers around the world experience some of the largest brands in retail, sports, beauty and health. Her work has been revered by major clients such as Costco, Nike, Apple, Google, WNBA, LA Rams, Verizon, AT&T, Wellsfargo, NY Life, and
Kaleeta joined VMLY&R from Ogilvy as chief experience design officer, North America to jointly co-lead the agency’s growing experience design team. She is bridging creative storytelling, into storyliving across VML’s client portfolio.
Kaleeta has spoken at numerous conferences such as Cannes, MIT, Dreamforce, Adobe Summit, Adcolor, and NY Festivals. Lending her voice as a judge for Clios, ADC, D&AD, LIA, One Show, and Cannes."
Creative, traveler, culturist—Shannon Washington is a busy woman.
Currently, Shannon serves as Global Chief Creative Officer for gotham, the global boutique creative brand in the McCann Worldgroup network of agencies. Shanno n returned to gotham in 2024 to lead the creative evolution and expansion of the agency, from a legendary, 30+ year player in the beauty space, to a full-stack creative powerhouse for a new set of categories, brands and talent.
Shannon previously served as the US Chief Creative Officer, Connected Communications for R/GA US, the network’s largest and flagship region where she focused on reshaping the region’s campaign creative vision, fidelity and work culture.
At R/GA, her intersectional and craft-centric style of leadership led to a renewed creative vigor in the office, resulting in an impressive set of award wins, including a Webby Agency of The Year win, a #2 sport for AdAge’s A-list, and three impressive award seasons, with a net of campaign awards the network had not seen since 2016. Business-wise, Shannon successfully led a host of winning pitches for Uber, Sephora and TurboTax, which was the second largest win for IPG in 2023. In addition, her approach has earned her three distinctive honors: Ad-Age CCO of The Year, The AdWeek 100 and one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business.
Shannon joined R/GA after a stint in Los Angeles with Media Arts Lab, where she helped launch Apple TV+ and build a foundation for original content marketing in the Apple ecosystem, and at Deutsch Los Angeles where she led the H&R Block team. Before that, Shannon was at Droga5 NY, where she led the culture-driven “I Am What I Make Up” relaunch of CoverGirl and the launch of You Invest with Chase.
When she can, Shannon can be found actively adding to the discourse around the culture of leadership and inclusivity in advertising through panels and public conversations. When she's not in front of a monitor, Shannon is working on adding another stamp to her passport or attempting to run a 10-minute mile.
Shannon is a proud and loud graduate of Howard University and lives in New Jersey.
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Kaleeta McDade, Chief Experience Design Officer at VMLY&R
At VML Kaleeta helps companies drive growth and human value through an unmatched understanding of brand and human behavior; while harnessing the power of innovation, design, data, and technology. Her near twenty years of experience spans numerous industries and geographies. Holding notable leadership and creative roles with Google Brand Studio, Apple, Sapient Shanghai, Deloitte Digital and Ogilvy.
Kaleeta has a proven ability to drive impact for brands, helping them shape a strategy and vision that deepens the customer relationship across every stage of the engagement lifecycle. Kaleeta's influence and leadership have shaped how customers around the world experience some of the largest brands in retail, sports, beauty and health. Her work has been revered by major clients such as Costco, Nike, Apple, Google, WNBA, LA Rams, Verizon, AT&T, Wellsfargo, NY Life, and
Kaleeta joined VMLY&R from Ogilvy as chief experience design officer, North America to jointly co-lead the agency’s growing experience design team. She is bridging creative storytelling, into storyliving across VML’s client portfolio.
Kaleeta has spoken at numerous conferences such as Cannes, MIT, Dreamforce, Adobe Summit, Adcolor, and NY Festivals. Lending her voice as a judge for Clios, ADC, D&AD, LIA, One Show, and Cannes."