Jeffrey L. Conrad is vice president, Advertising and Public Relations of the Automobile Operations Division for American Honda Motor Co., Inc. He is responsible for the overall strategy and development of public relations tactics for the Honda/ Acura Automobile and Power Equipment Divisions as well as the development of all national advertising and interactive strategies and tactics to support corporate sales, profit and brand objectives. Additionally, Mr. Conrad is responsible for enhancing American Honda’s corporate image and reputation, with specific emphasis in the areas of strategic communications planning, corporate advertising, diversity, and investor relations.

Mr. Conrad joined Honda in 1982 as a district sales manager. In 1983 Mr. Conrad was promoted to assistant zone sales manager – Mid-Atlantic and then to zone sales manager – Mid-Atlantic in 1984. He served as the Acura national sales manager from 1987 to 1993 and the western region manager from 1993 to 1994. In December of 1994, Mr. Conrad was promoted to assistant vice president of National Marketing and then to assistant vice president of Dealer Relations in 1999.

Prior to joining Honda, Mr. Conrad served from 1975 to 1982 as a sales planning and distribution manager, light truck merchandising manager and zone sales manager at Ford Motor Company and from 1973 to 1975 as an assistant to a fleet manager at Pepsi-Cola Bottling Co.

Mr. Conrad serves on various committees and task forces and was the associate director of the Honda Foundation for a two-year term.

Mr. Conrad received his bachelor’s degree in business administration at the University of Maryland.

Richard Gilligan is co-president and co-CEO of Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. (MMNA). He shares, with president & CEO Hiroshi Harunari, responsibility for all Mitsubishi Motors sales, manufacturing, finance, and research and development operations in the United States and Canada.

Previously, Mr. Gilligan was president and COO of Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing of America (MMMA), Inc. in Normal, Illinois. During his seven years there, Mr. Gilligan was responsible for all aspects of the plant, including manufacturing, production control, engineering, quality control and all plant administrative and support functions. Under his leadership, MMMA earned the rank of #1 manufacturer in assembly productivity in 2003. Additionally, MMMA was the most improved North American auto manufacturer in productivity, as measured by The Harbour Report, for two consecutive years. During Mr. Gilligan’s tenure, leading industry organizations, including J.D. Power & Associates and AutoPacific, recognized vehicles produced at Normal for their high quality and workmanship.

Mr. Gilligan began his career in 1962 as a line worker at Ford Motor Company’s Mahwah Assembly Plant in New Jersey. He started on staff in 1966 as an industrial engineer with plant and division assignments, and subsequently held a steady progression of engineering and management positions. In 1974, he moved to White Motor Corporation as manager of industrial engineering for the truck group and launch coordinator and quality control manager for the new heavy truck plant in Dublin, Virginia.

He returned to Ford in 1978 and took on additional management responsibilities in quality control, engineering and production at several of its key manufacturing plants. In 1987, he became Ford’s assistant plant manager in Chicago, then assistant plant manager at the Kansas City Assembly Plant (1988) and Norfolk Assembly Plant manager (1989), before returning to the Kansas City Assembly Plant from 1990 - 1992 as plant manager. Under his tenure, the Kansas City Assembly Plant received the U.S. Senate Quality and Productivity Award, and the Harbour Report rated the plant the most efficient U.S. passenger car automobile plant. Prior to joining MMMA in 1998, Mr. Gilligan spent five years as president of House of Lloyd, a direct sales and marketing company with a sales force of more than 30,000.

Mr. Gilligan holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Bob Kraut was named director, GM brand marketing, in April 2006. He was previously director, GM brand marketing and advertising operations.

Mr. Kraut, 46, is responsible for advancing the image and reputation of the GM brand in order to increase consideration of GM vehicle marketing brands through advertising and branded entertainment marketing initiatives. He developed the “Only GM” advertising campaign which promotes GM’s superiority in safety, technology, quality and fuel economy; the “Live Green, Go Yellow” campaign, which promotes GM’s FlexFuel vehicles and the use of E85 ethanol fuel; and GM’s “Then and Now” and “GM Headlines” reputational ad campaigns.

Mr. Kraut joined GM with the former GMC Truck Division in August, 1995, as manager of advertising and promotions. From 1999 to 2004, Kraut was marketing director for the Pontiac Grand Prix, GTO, and Bonneville and was responsible for Pontiac’s Motorsports activities and marketing. Prior to that assignment, he served as director of advertising and sales promotion for Pontiac-GMC.

A native of New York City, he graduated both magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science degree and an MBA degree in marketing management from the Crosby School of Management, SUNY at Buffalo. He also attended the Advanced Management Training Program at Harvard Business School.

Mr. Kraut’s advertising career began in Chicago with Foote, Cone & Belding in 1981, where was a project director and in 1983 he quickly rose to research supervisor. Two years later, Mr. Kraut became an account executive and in 1987 he was appointed senior account executive. In 1988 he was named vice president and account director, integrated communications of Foote, Cone & Belding. Mr. Kraut managed a number of brands in varied categories , such as, Hallmark, SC Johnson, Coors, Citicorp Diners Club, Payless ShoeSource and Zenith to name a few.

In 1992 he joined Tatham Euro RSCG, also in Chicago, as a partner and management supervisor responsible for the Proctor & Gamble, Ameritech and Kemper Investments accounts.

Ms. Meyer is responsible for all Lexus marketing activities, including advertising, market planning, promotions, direct marketing, interactive marketing, and vehicle accessory pricing. She also coordinates the division's long-range strategic planning.

Previously, Ms. Meyer served as corporate manager of marketing communications for Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc. She was responsible for managing advertising and Internet commerce for Toyota's 17 models of cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles and worked with a number of Toyota's advertising agencies, including Saatchi & Saatchi, Hispanic agency Conill Advertising, and African American agency Burrell Communications.

Prior to joining Toyota in 2001, Ms. Meyer spent a number of years developing brand and marketing strategy for various automotive nameplates. She was recently at Lincoln-Mercury where she was responsible for advertising, promotions, Internet commerce, dealer meetings and auto shows. Prior to Lincoln-Mercury, Ms. Meyer worked for Mazda as the group manager over brand strategy and communications. She also held the positions of brand manager for Ford de Brazil in San Paulo, Brazil; and product manager for W.L. Gore and Associates in Paris, France.

Automotive News recognized Ms. Meyer twice as one of the 100 Leading Women in the Automotive Industry in 2000 and again in 2005. She has also been inducted into the American Advertising Federation Hall of Advertising Achievement.

She is a graduate of The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania; The Joseph Lauder Institute of International Studies in Paris, France; and Wellesley College in Wellesley, Mass., outside of Boston.

Jan Thompson is vice president of marketing at Nissan North America, Inc. (NNA). In that role, she oversees the development and execution of product marketing campaigns and promotions for Nissan and Infiniti.

Thompson joined Nissan in June 2004 from The Designory, an Omnicom owned marketing services agency, where she served as President and Chief Executive Officer for five years. Under her leadership, the company expanded their core services to include web site management and design for a number of major brands (i.e., Kelley Blue Book, Nissan, Infiniti, Disney Travel Co.) doubling the size and operating profit of the company in less than three years. Before heading The Designory, Thompson was VP, Interactive Marketing Technology for Callaway Golf and General Manager of Wilson Golf.

She began her career at Chrysler Corp., where she held a series of field sales positions. Later, she was national marketing manager for Lexus Division of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., and vice president of marketing and vice president of sales operations at Mazda Motor of America.