Fernanda Ledesma Padilla
Marketing vice manager of customer service and safety, Honda Motor Argentina
Ledesma has a bachelor's degree in social communication from Austral University, where she specialized in marketing and communication strategies and corporate strategy. She started her career in 2008 in FWD BA as an account assistant and then moved to Urban PR, where, as an account executive, she was in charge of the communication and PR strategy for several clients, including Coca-Cola. In 2011 she joined Wunderman Thompson as an account supervisor with local and regional clients such as Monsanto, Microsoft, Intel, Coca-Cola, Dell, Sancor and Telefónica.
In 2015 she took a position as marketing chief for motorcycles at Honda Motor Argentina; at present she manages the company's complete portfolio, leading the development and implementation of marketing strategy for Honda and its products. She is responsible for defining and executing communication strategies for all the business units: cars, motorcycles, power products and post-sale.
Florencia Leonetti
Strategic planning director, Mercado McCann
Leonetti has a bachelor's degree in advertising from the University of Palermo. She has built 25 years of experience working at big creative agencies, including VegaOlmosPonce, McCann, DDB, BBDO, R/GA and La América, with local, regional and global brands. Currently, Leonetti works closely with creative teams and talents on recognized and memorable campaigns.
Julia Lois
Marketing head of individual banking, HSBC
Lois earned a bachelor's degree in business administration at UCA. After working for brands—including Walmart, Quaker, Gatorade, Equalsweet, La Salteña, Pedigree and Whiskas—she moved to Philips in 2011. And in 2017 she took on a new challenge, joining the financial sector as marketing head for individual banking at HSBC.
Throughout her 25-year career, she has launched a variety of products, from cereal bars to innovations in fresh pasta and pet food. She learned from the LED lighting world and the men's personal care industry, managing the shaving category for Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Perú.
Pilar Lopardo
Communication and branding manager, Telecom
Lopardo studied communications at Universidad del Salvador. She began her career at ad agencies and worked for big brands including Coca-Cola, Nextel, Adidas, Mercado Libre and Personal. In 2011, she joined the marketing team of Nextel to lead the brand's rebranding and repositioning. She has participated in projects that have won honors at many prestigious festivals. From 2017 to 2018 she served as the government's brand director of content sub-secretary.
Before joining the Telecom group, Lopardo was managing director at Gut Buenos Aires. Now, as the communication and branding manager at Telecom, she is tasked with building big brands Telecom, Personal and Flow.
Julieta López
Head of brand, Naranja X
López holds a bachelor's in advertising from UCES. She began her career in small agencies and startups and in 2012 she joined the telecommunications business, helping develop the marketing strategy for the prepaid Claro. She then joined Cabify to lead marketing for the launch of ride hailing in Argentina.
After two years leading the growth, brand and PR team and seeing successful results, she assumed a new challenge in finance: she joined Naranja X to develop marketing for the company's fintech services.
Today, at 36 years old, she is head of brand for all products and services the company offers. She played a key role in the company's transition from a traditional financial business model to a fintech-focused one, where she led the end-to-end strategy.
Marina Prieto
Senior marketing director, PedidosYa Latam
Prieto holds a bachelor's in business administration from the University of Buenos Aires and has worked in mass consumer goods for 21 years.
She began her career at Andersen Consulting, held the position of young professional at Danone Waters and then moved Cepas Argentina. In 2004 she fell in love with the candy industry and for 16 years worked in different positions in Argentina, South Cone and Latam at Cadbury, Kraft and Mondelez, where she led the business unit.
In 2020, during the pandemic, Prieto joined PedidosYa as head of marketing for Argentina. Since 2021, she has led the branding, media, trade, research and PR teams for Latam.
Julieta Rey
Senior VP, La Comunidad
Rey has a bachelor's in advertising from UCES. She began her career as a brand strategist at La Comunidad before joining Ogilvy Argentina as general planning director. After a short stint at Mother, she continued her career as an independent consultant of strategic communications. In 2014 she moved to Mexico and joined Circus DF to co-lead the agency.
After more than three years with Circus, she returned to La Comunidad to lead the Argentina and Latam offices. Her professional career has afforded her deep knowledge of Latam region and she has worked with several brands locally, regionally and globally.
Carolina Tacco
Senior marketing manager for baby and child care, Kimberly-Clark South Cone
Tacco has more than 20 years in marketing and holds a bachelor's in business economics from UTDT. She began as a young professional at SC Johnson Argentina, where she worked for five years in marketing for different categories, then moved to the startup Sodimac in Argentina.
In 2008, she rejoined Kimberly-Clark, holding a variety of marketing positions in categories such as feminine care, adult care and baby and child care for Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
Belén Urbaneja
Regional VP of CSR, brand management and diversity, equity and inclusion, The Walt Disney Co. Latin America
Urbaneja graduated from the University of Buenos Aires with a law degree and has postgraduate studies in human resources, corporate social responsibility and sustainability. In 1996, she started her career at Disney as a corporate alliances project manager. In 2000 she contributed to the integration of the company’s business in Latam. In 2007 she created and led the strategy for sustainability and social responsibility in the region.
Currently, she is responsible for the regional strategy of sustainable management, community relations and social investment. She also oversees driving the growth and reputation of brands and putting diversity, equity and inclusion at the center of business strategy.
Julieta Vilá
Global marketing director for classifieds, fintech and Saas, QuintoAndar Group
Vilá began her career in finance while in her final semester of business administration at the University of San Andrés. A year later she opted to change course and started working in consumer, shopper and customer marketing at FMCG and luxury brands. In 2005 she joined Diageo, leading several alcohol categories in Argentina and Mexico, where she lived as an expatriate. Later, she decided to return to Argentina, joining Coca-Cola as a regional manager focusing on portfolio, brand building and content.
Looking for more flexibility, her next step was in digital marketing at ThinkY, where she led accounts for brands including Coca-Cola, Unilever, BRF and Natura. She also developed the research and audiovisual production business units, with the goal of offering more complete services to clients.
In 2018, she broadened her scope in fashion and direct-channel management by joining Rapsodia as marketing manager. In 2020 she was recruited again by Diageo, challenged with building shopper marketing for the region and managing the entire portfolio in all channels.
In her current role at QuintoAndar Group, Vilá leads B2C and B2B strategies, driving growth for many of the brands.
Lucía Villamil
Partner and managing director, Vendaval
Villamil is managing director at Vendaval, an independent agency that, together with partners Lucho Sánchez Zinny, Carmelo Maselli and Pablo Lezama, she built three years ago. The shop works with brands in Argentina, Chile and Mexico, including Banco Hipotecario, Pago Fácil, Arcor, Danone, AB InBev and Coppel.
After earning a bachelor's degree in institutional and advertising communication at UCA, she got her start at La Comunidad, working there for six years. But it was at Leo Burnett where she met her current partners.
Before joining Vendaval, she was group account director at The Juju for four years. Throughout her career, she has been an account leader for different local and regional brands, including Coca-Cola, Cencosud, Volkswagen Latam, Rolling Stone, Chrysler Group, Arcor, Banco Hipotecario, Car One, AB InBev, Axion Energy and El Cronista.