Renetta McCann has been recognized as a leading innovator and influential executive in the advertising, marketing, and media industries. She has a global reputation for building brands and developing the organizations and leadership to sustain them.
McCann is Chief Inclusion Experience Officer for Publicis Groupe, one of the world’s largest communications groups. In this role, she supports initiatives that drive inclusion, benefitting the company’s clients and their consumers or customers. Previously, she served as Chief Talent Officer for Leo Burnett USA as well as Publicis Communications North America. Prior to that, she was CEO of Starcom MediaVest Group Worldwide; under her leadership, client billings exceeded $26 billion and the global workforce rose to over 6,000 people.
Since 2016, McCann has served as an adjunct lecturer in Northwestern’s MS in Learning and Organizational Change program, co-teaching courses on organizational design as well as equity, inclusion, and justice in organizations. This work has deepened her perspective as a business strategist who operates at the intersection of organizations, focusing on leadership, complexity, change / learning, and the future of work.
Currently, she is a member of the board of directors for the American Advertising Foundation, 4A’s Foundation, She Runs It Foundation, and Chicago Shakespeare Theater. She serves as the vice-chair for the Executive Committee of The Chicago Community Trust.
In 2023, McCann was inducted in the American Advertising Federation’s Advertising Hall of Fame, the industry’s highest recognition, and received the David A. Bell Award for Industry Service. In 2020, she was honored with the ADCOLOR Lifetime Achievement Award, Sheldon J. Levy Leadership Award, and Chicago Advertising Federation’s Silver Medal Award. In 2024, Renetta was one of three recipients of Northwestern University Alumni medalist Award.
McCann graduated from Northwestern with a BS in Communication Studies from the School of Communication and a MS in Learning and Organizational Change from the School of Education and Social Policy.