The Ad Council has appointed Diego Scotti as the new chair of its board of directors. The longtime marketing executive is slated to step down from his current role as chief marketing officer and executive VP at Verizon later this year, though it's unclear whether he has another job lined up. 

Scotti joined the Ad Council board of directors in 2016, led its diversity task force from 2018 to 2021 and has served as its vice chair since 2020. He succeeds Jacki Kelley, executive VP, chief client officer and chief business officer at IPG, who served the typical chair term of one year. Tara Walpert Levy, VP at YouTube, Americas, and co-vice chair of the Ad Council’s board of directors, will succeed Scotti as chair this time next year.

Read more about Scotti's exit from Verizon

In his new role, Scotti will work with the Ad Council’s governing body and other leadership to spearhead the communication industry’s efforts to address social issues such as mental health, gun violence and racial justice. The non-profit organization typically creates national campaigns to draw attention to these issues; for example, in April the Ad Council teamed with Amazon for an audio-focused campaign addressing teen mental health.

At Verizon, where he has served as CMO since 2014, Scotti helped formulate the Responsible Marketing Action Plan, which is the telecom company’s long-term commitment to furthering diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). He also founded Adfellows, a marketing fellowship targeted toward building diversity at Verizon.

Read more: Verizon reveals DE&I initiative's first-year results

“Diego’s unrelenting commitment to DEI and social impact has been an invaluable asset to the Ad Council and is one of the many reasons he is going to be extraordinary in his role as Board Chair,” said Lisa Sherman, president and chief executive of the Ad Council, in a press statement.

Scotti’s appointment follows recent additions to the Ad Council that were made in April, which included a new chief media officer, DJ Perrera, and new board members.