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Keynote Speaker: Deborah Dugan

Deborah Dugan is the Chief Executive Officer of (RED).  (RED) was founded in 2006 by Bono and Bobby Shriver to engage businesses and consumers to help fight AIDS in Africa.

 

 

 

(RED) partners with the world’s most iconic brands, such as Apple, Starbucks, Converse and The Coca Cola Company who contribute up to 50% of profits from the sale of (RED)-branded products and services to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.  To date (RED) has raised close to $210 million with 100% of that money going to AIDS programs that have helped impact more than 14 million lives.

Ms. Degan joined (RED) in 2011, and under her leadership (RED) has welcomed global partners such as The Coca-Cola Company, SAP, and Latin America’s major mobile carriers Claro and Telcel.  With Ms. Degan at the helm, (RED) has continuously pushed the boundaries for how social media is used for social good.  In 2011 (RED) was recognized as the first cause to have reached over 1 million on both Facebook and Twitter, and (RED) recently set a new record with the largest non-profit check-in campaign on foursquare to date, in partnership with Starbucks, raising $250,000 in 8 days.  In June 2013, (RED) partnered with Mashable and set a new awareness-raising world record using the emerging video app, Vine.

Prior to (RED), Ms. Degan was President of Disney Publishing Worldwide, generating $1.8 billion in global retail sales.  During her eight years at Disney, she oversaw 275 magazines and published more than 4,000 new book titles.  In particular, she developed The Cheetah Girls, Artemis Fowl, acquired Baby Einstein, and launched Disney English language learning programs throughout Asia.  She also served as Senior Advisor to the Tribeca Enterprises Board.  Ms. Degan’s roots are in the music industry – she spent many years as Executive Vice President at EMI/Capitol Records.  Deborah began her career as an attorney on Wall Street.

Ms. Degan has written on the AIDS issue number times for the Huffington Post, and has recently given speeches at the IEG Sponsorship Conference in Chicago, and the University of Utah Law School Commencement address.  Ms. Degan is included in Forbes’ “100 Most Powerful Women” issue (June, 2013) for Social Entrepreneurism.