Nina DiSesa

DiSesa began her advertising career in 1973 as a writer in Richmond, Virginia, later moving to New York to join Young & Rubicam. In 1987 she became a senior vice president and group creative director at McCann-Erickson New York, where she worked with such large national brands as AT&T, Alka-Seltzer and Nabisco. Five years later, DiSesa left New York and became executive vice president and executive creative director at J. Walter Thompson/Chicago. At Thompson, she was part of a turn-around team that brought the failing agency back to life. In 1994, DiSesa returned to McCann-Erickson's New York office as executive vice president and executive creative director. She now heads a group of 140 people on accounts for MasterCard, Salomon Smith Barney, Gateway Computers, Lucent Technologies, Sprint, Avis, Agilent Technologies, Black & Decker Tools, DuPont, Johnson and Johnson, and L'Oreal. She is part of a team that has brought in the most new business in McCann New York's history: $1.5 billion from 1995 through 1999. In 1999, DiSesa was appointed chair and chief creative officer of McCann-Erickson's New York office. That same year, McCann was named Agency of the Year by Ad Age and also by ADWEEK for the second consecutive year. In addition, DiSesa was featured in The Wall Street Journal's campaign acknowledging creative talents and listed as one of Fortune Magazine's 50 Most Powerful Women in American Business.