Upstream Group, Inc.

Oct. 27-28, 2008, Oak Brook, IL

Anne Murray

Former Director of Marketing Communication, Southwest Airlines

Anne is an industry leading online marketer and innovative brand champion who has just launched her independent consulting firm. Anne is well recognized for her work taking successful brands, establishing their online position, and driving online retail success.

Previously, Anne held the position of Senior Director of Marketing Communication for Southwest Airlines and led the strategic planning and development for the Southwest brand across all Customer communication channels. She enjoyed her leadership role in directing the voice of one of the most respected leaders in the intensely competitive travel industry. Anne led many change initiatives including the brand's repositioning and the development of new market segments within a media and advertising budget in excess of $150 million.

A respected leader in the interactive marketing arena, Anne was at the center of Southwest Airlines online success in driving revenue for southwest.com, the most successful airline website in the industry. When Anne joined the interactive marketing team in 2000, Southwest Airlines' website was responsible for only 25 percent of the Company's revenue. Today, southwest.com drives almost 80 percent of Southwest Airlines' total revenue and leads the industry with over 12 million unique visitors per month. In 2005, Anne led the launch of DING!, a direct to customer marketing channel for southwest.com allowing customers exclusive fare offers and desktop convenience. DING! generated over $130 million in revenue and two million customer downloads in its first year. Anne implemented the development of partnerships in car, hotel, cruise, and other ancillary revenue categories generating over $30 million annually. These relationships elevated southwest.com from an air product only website to a full service travel website.

Prior to interactive marketing, Anne held the position of promotions director, leading the marketing strategy for sports, event sponsorships, and media partnerships both nationally and locally. She negotiated and developed the first significant partnerships for the Southwest brand with strategic partners such as Coca Cola, Disney, the NFL, and Busch Entertainment. Anne has received numerous recognitions at Southwest Airlines including the prestigious President's Award and was elected and served on the Company's Culture Committee ensuring the brand stayed true to its mission of delivering exceptional Customer Service.

Evident of her passion for the industry, Anne has participated as a keynote and guest speaker at numerous events and conferences and enjoys sharing her insights and best practices. An active contributor to the marketing community, she is a member of the Board of Directors for the Dallas Fort Worth Interactive Marketing Association, DFWIMA, and chairs the Programs Committee. Anne is also a past Board Member of the Girl Scouts of Texas and served as the Vice President of Marketing and Membership for the Promotion Marketing Association. She was selected and completed the Leadership Texas 2007 development program building women leaders across the state.

Perianne Grignon

Vice President of Media Services, Sears Holdings Corporation

As Vice President of Media Services with Sears Holding Corporation, Perianne Grignon, champions the idea that media strategy is a driver of both strategic and commercial value for brands. Sears’s use of media has undergone a creative explosion under Grignon’s leadership evolving beyond transactional media management to a key function of integrated marketing. Partnering with the ABC Television Network, she developed the widely successful marketing partnership with ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and has directed marketing projects across venues in sports, news, music, and platforms for Sears’s charitable Heroes at Home campaign.

For the Kmart retail format, Grignon led the media launch of Kmart’s new brand campaign in 2007. In July 2008, Grignon developed the media sponsorship for Kmart’s apparel business with the new TV reality show, High School Musical: Get In The Picture.

Grignon’s core philosophy of managing media assets is collaborative approach with marketing and brand business leaders and partner agencies centered by brand strategies to integrate media with all customer touch points across public relations, brand management, mass and interactive media, retail and sponsorship. To achieve this at Sears - where the structural organization did not fit her vision – Perianne founded the Sears Buzz Team to develop and execute integrated marketing plans.

Managing Sears Holding’s media agency partnerships is one of Grignon’s core and respected skill sets. She has managed numerous agency reviews, selection processes and contract work with law, procurement and financial partners at Sears Holdings.

The past five years have seen Grignon lead Sears Holdings into the digital marketing era. She started the practice of using online media as a mass communication tool and has grown the company’s use of online media ten-fold by successfully driving profitable consumer traffic to both the retail stores and E-commerce sites.

Grignon joined Sears in 1998 with advertiser and agency management experience including Director of Media Strategy at AT&T, Executive Vice President, of Media and New Technologies at Bates Worldwide, and Manager of Media Planning for Nabisco Food’s Specialty Products Division.

She is the former co-chairperson of the ANA Television Committee and a member of the Executive Committee of the Family Friendly Programming Forum. She was featured in the 2005 book “Time Off For Good Behavior” by Mary Lou Quinlan. Grignon is a past Trustee of the Elgin Academy. She was named as one of the “100 Media People to Know” by Media Post Magazine. In 2008, Grignon was named the “Trailblazer Working Mother of the Year” by Working Mother Magazine. In 2008, she will be named an Ad Age Media Maven. She is originally from New Jersey and now lives in Illinois with her husband and two daughters.