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Artificial intelligence is transforming every facet of modern life, from the way we work to how we communicate.
ADWEEK’s inaugural AI Trailblazers Power 100, curated in partnership with AI Trailblazers, highlights the people at the forefront of this technological leap.
From the scientists creating the hardware on which AI runs to the digital advertising pioneers streamlining the ideation process, these are the people building the infrastructure of the future.
“We created AI Trailblazers a year ago as a platform where decision-makers across marketing and technology could come together to shape the future of artificial intelligence,” said Greg Kahn, Shiv Singh and Amit Shah, co-founders of AI Trailblazers.
“This list highlights everyone from executives launching breakthrough campaigns to educators and researchers building the science behind them, to creators using AI to redefine content and engagement,” they added. “In a moment defined by rapid change, the Power 100 recognizes those who aren’t just adapting to AI’s rise—they’re actively shaping its future.”
Find all of ADWEEK’s coverage of AI news, companies, and key figures here.

Larry Adams
CEO & Founder, XStereotype

Jonathan Adashek
SVP, Marketing and Communications, IBM

Don Allen Stevenson III
AI Creator & Former DreamWorks Trainer, Independent

Anima Anandkumar
Professor, Caltech

Liz Bacelar
Recognized for her work as Executive Director, Global Tech Innovation, The Estée Lauder Companies

Chris Bagnall
CEO & Founder, Transmission

Regina Barizlay
Professor, MIT & Researcher, CSAIL

Crissy Behrens
Principal, Insight Partners

Krishna Bhagavathula
EVP & Chief Technology Officer, National Basketball Association

Kamal Bhandal
SVP, Global Invisalign Brand, Consumer and Americas Marketing, Align Technology

Sarah Bird
Chief Product Officer, Responsible AI, Microsoft

Pete Blackshaw
Founder & CEO, BrandRank.ai

Adam Buhler
EVP, Creative Technology, Digitas

Selena Cameron
Global CEO, Group SJR

Sandy Carter
COO & Head of Go To Market, Unstoppable

Filippo Catalano
EVP, Chief Information & Digital Officer, Mondelēz International

Jessica Chan
Head of Publisher Partnerships, Perplexity

Charlamagne Tha God
Media Personality & CEO, CThaGodWorld Productions, The Black Effect Podcast Network, Black Privilege Publishing

Jill Cress
Chief Marketing & Experience Officer, H&R Block

Ivan Dashkov
Director of Emerging Marketing Tech, Puma

Emanuela Delgado
Global VP, Growth & Innovation, Parts Town Unlimited

Luca Dell’Orletta
Global Head of IT Innovation and Business Architecture, Nestlé

Asmita Dubey
Chief Digital & Marketing Officer, L’Oréal Groupe

Dave Edelman
Executive Advisor, Author, Board Director, Professor, Edelman Advisory Services

Adam Evans
EVP & GM, Salesforce AI Platform, Salesforce

Kieran Flanagan
SVP, Marketing, HubSpot

Michelle Froah
Global Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer, SVP of Corporate Solutions, ETS

Patrick Garcia
Chief Digital Officer, SRS Distribution

Dan Gardner
Co-founder & Executive Chairman, Code and Theory

Bill Gross
CEO, ProRata.ai

Demi Guo
Co-Founder & CEO, Pika Labs

May Habib
CEO & Co-founder, Writer

Jon Halvorson
SVP, Consumer Experience & Digital Commerce, Mondelēz International

Mark Howard
COO, Time

Daniel Hulme
Chief AI Officer, WPP

Chris Jacquemin
Head of Digital Strategy, WME

Arpit Jain
Global President, Marcel, Publicis Groupe

Jean-Paul Jansen
CMO Mars Pet Care North America, Mars

David Jones
Founder & CEO, Brandtech Group

Laura Jones
Chief Marketing Officer, Instacart

Colin Kaepernick
Super Bowl Quarterback, Philanthropist, Tech Founder, Lumi

Ashok Kalidas
Chief AI Scientist, Kantar

Rana el Kaliouby
Co-founder, Blue Tulip Ventures; Host, Pioneers of AI

Sophie Kelly
SVP, Global Tequila and Mezcal Categories, Diageo


Remi Kent
Chief Marketing Officer, Progressive Insurance


Emily Ketchen
SVP & CMO, Intelligent Devices Group and International Markets, Lenovo

Zach Kitschke
Global CMO, Canva

Abbey Klaassen
Global Brand President, Dentsu Creative

Mike Krieger
Chief Product Officer, Anthropic

Michael Lacorazza
Chief Marketing Officer, U.S. Bank


Shira Lazar
Founder & Chief Creator, What’s Trending | Host, The AI Download

Valérie Leblond
CEO & Founder, BLNG

Jim Lecinski
Professor of Marketing, Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management

Melody Lee
Chief Marketing Officer, Mercedes-Benz USA

Francine Li
Chief Marketing Officer, Ipsy

Mounia Llamas
Director of Research and Head of Tech Research in Personalization, Spotify

Bob Lord
President, Horizon Media Holdings

Matthieu Lorrain
Creative Lead, AI & Creativity, Google DeepMind

Stanley Lumax
Executive Brand Marketing Director, Chase

Chris Mattmann
Chief Data & Artificial Intelligence Officer, UCLA

Don McGuire
SVP & Chief Marketing Officer, Qualcomm Incorporated

Mihael Mikek
Founder & CEO, Celtra

Allie K. Miller
CEO, Open Machine

Margaret Mitchell
Chief Ethics Scientist, Hugging Face

Jim Mollica
President, Luxury Consumer Audio & Chief Marketing Officer, Bose Corporation

Christopher Neff
Global Head of Emerging Technology, Anomaly

Roberto Nickson
AI Content Creator & Entrepreneur, Independent

Drew Panayiotou
Chief Marketing Officer, Keurig Dr Pepper

PJ Pereira
Founder, Silverside AI

Carolyn Pollock
Chief Marketing Officer, Tailored Brands

Rohit Prasad
SVP & Head Scientist, Artificial General Intelligence, Amazon

Yamini Rangan
CEO, HubSpot

Sam Ransbotham
Professor, Boston College

Jonathan Roberts
Chief Innovation Officer, Dotdash Meredith

Cynthia Rudin
Gilbert, Louis, and Edward Lehrman Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, Duke University

Dominique Shelton Leipzig
CEO & Founder, Global Data Innovation

Clara Shih
VP, Business AI, Meta

Navrina Singh
Founder & CEO, Credo AI

Neha Singh
Chief Innovation Officer, Infinite Reality

Elise Smith
Co-founder & CEO, Praxis Labs

Zena Srivatsa Arnold
CMO, Sephora

Randi Stipes
Chief Marketing Officer, The Weather Company

George Strakhov
Global Head of Creative Technology, DDB Worldwide

Greg Stuart
CEO, MMA Global

Siddharth Taparia
Global CMO, JLL

Omar Tawakol
CEO, Rembrand

Pratik Thakar
Global VP of Generative AI, The Coca-Cola Company

Dara Treseder
CMO, Autodesk

Shelia Vashee
Chief Marketing Officer, Figma

Mark Wagman
Managing Director, MediaLink | Partner, UTA

Alison Wagonfeld
VP of Marketing, Google Cloud

Jennifer Warren
Global VP of Brand and Creative, Indeed


Kevin Weil
Chief Product Officer, OpenAI

David Wellisch
CEO & Co-founder, Collage Group

Chris Wiggins
Associate Professor, Columbia University Data Science Institute

Jen Wong
COO, Reddit

Grace Yee
Senior Director of Ethical Innovation, Adobe

Timothy Young
CEO, Jasper

Andrea Zaretsky
CMO, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management


Maria Zhang
CEO & Co-founder, Palona AI

Larry Adams
CEO & Founder, XStereotype

Jonathan Adashek
SVP, Marketing and Communications, IBM

Don Allen Stevenson III
AI Creator & Former DreamWorks Trainer, Independent

Anima Anandkumar
Professor, Caltech

Liz Bacelar
Recognized for her work as Executive Director, Global Tech Innovation, The Estée Lauder Companies

Chris Bagnall
CEO & Founder, Transmission

Regina Barizlay
Professor, MIT & Researcher, CSAIL

Crissy Behrens
Principal, Insight Partners

Krishna Bhagavathula
EVP & Chief Technology Officer, National Basketball Association

Kamal Bhandal
SVP, Global Invisalign Brand, Consumer and Americas Marketing, Align Technology

Sarah Bird
Chief Product Officer, Responsible AI, Microsoft

Pete Blackshaw
Founder & CEO, BrandRank.ai

Adam Buhler
EVP, Creative Technology, Digitas

Selena Cameron
Global CEO, Group SJR

Sandy Carter
COO & Head of Go To Market, Unstoppable

Filippo Catalano
EVP, Chief Information & Digital Officer, Mondelēz International

Jessica Chan
Head of Publisher Partnerships, Perplexity

Charlamagne Tha God
Media Personality & CEO, CThaGodWorld Productions, The Black Effect Podcast Network, Black Privilege Publishing

Jill Cress
Chief Marketing & Experience Officer, H&R Block

Ivan Dashkov
Director of Emerging Marketing Tech, Puma

Emanuela Delgado
Global VP, Growth & Innovation, Parts Town Unlimited

Luca Dell’Orletta
Global Head of IT Innovation and Business Architecture, Nestlé

Asmita Dubey
Chief Digital & Marketing Officer, L’Oréal Groupe

Dave Edelman
Executive Advisor, Author, Board Director, Professor, Edelman Advisory Services

Adam Evans
EVP & GM, Salesforce AI Platform, Salesforce

Kieran Flanagan
SVP, Marketing, HubSpot

Michelle Froah
Global Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer, SVP of Corporate Solutions, ETS

Patrick Garcia
Chief Digital Officer, SRS Distribution

Dan Gardner
Co-founder & Executive Chairman, Code and Theory

Bill Gross
CEO, ProRata.ai

Demi Guo
Co-Founder & CEO, Pika Labs

May Habib
CEO & Co-founder, Writer

Jon Halvorson
SVP, Consumer Experience & Digital Commerce, Mondelēz International

Mark Howard
COO, Time

Daniel Hulme
Chief AI Officer, WPP

Chris Jacquemin
Head of Digital Strategy, WME

Arpit Jain
Global President, Marcel, Publicis Groupe

Jean-Paul Jansen
CMO Mars Pet Care North America, Mars

David Jones
Founder & CEO, Brandtech Group

Laura Jones
Chief Marketing Officer, Instacart

Colin Kaepernick
Super Bowl Quarterback, Philanthropist, Tech Founder, Lumi

Ashok Kalidas
Chief AI Scientist, Kantar

Rana el Kaliouby
Co-founder, Blue Tulip Ventures; Host, Pioneers of AI

Sophie Kelly
SVP, Global Tequila and Mezcal Categories, Diageo

Remi Kent
Chief Marketing Officer, Progressive Insurance

Emily Ketchen
SVP & CMO, Intelligent Devices Group and International Markets, Lenovo

Zach Kitschke
Global CMO, Canva

Abbey Klaassen
Global Brand President, Dentsu Creative

Mike Krieger
Chief Product Officer, Anthropic

Michael Lacorazza
Chief Marketing Officer, U.S. Bank

Shira Lazar
Founder & Chief Creator, What’s Trending | Host, The AI Download

Valérie Leblond
CEO & Founder, BLNG

Jim Lecinski
Professor of Marketing, Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management

Melody Lee
Chief Marketing Officer, Mercedes-Benz USA

Francine Li
Chief Marketing Officer, Ipsy

Mounia Llamas
Director of Research and Head of Tech Research in Personalization, Spotify

Bob Lord
President, Horizon Media Holdings

Matthieu Lorrain
Creative Lead, AI & Creativity, Google DeepMind

Stanley Lumax
Executive Brand Marketing Director, Chase

Chris Mattmann
Chief Data & Artificial Intelligence Officer, UCLA

Don McGuire
SVP & Chief Marketing Officer, Qualcomm Incorporated

Mihael Mikek
Founder & CEO, Celtra

Allie K. Miller
CEO, Open Machine

Margaret Mitchell
Chief Ethics Scientist, Hugging Face

Jim Mollica
President, Luxury Consumer Audio & Chief Marketing Officer, Bose Corporation

Christopher Neff
Global Head of Emerging Technology, Anomaly

Roberto Nickson
AI Content Creator & Entrepreneur, Independent

Drew Panayiotou
Chief Marketing Officer, Keurig Dr Pepper

PJ Pereira
Founder, Silverside AI

Carolyn Pollock
Chief Marketing Officer, Tailored Brands

Rohit Prasad
SVP & Head Scientist, Artificial General Intelligence, Amazon

Yamini Rangan
CEO, HubSpot

Sam Ransbotham
Professor, Boston College

Jonathan Roberts
Chief Innovation Officer, Dotdash Meredith

Cynthia Rudin
Gilbert, Louis, and Edward Lehrman Distinguished Professor of Computer Science, Duke University

Dominique Shelton Leipzig
CEO & Founder, Global Data Innovation

Clara Shih
VP, Business AI, Meta

Navrina Singh
Founder & CEO, Credo AI

Neha Singh
Chief Innovation Officer, Infinite Reality

Elise Smith
Co-founder & CEO, Praxis Labs

Zena Srivatsa Arnold
CMO, Sephora

Randi Stipes
Chief Marketing Officer, The Weather Company

George Strakhov
Global Head of Creative Technology, DDB Worldwide

Greg Stuart
CEO, MMA Global

Siddharth Taparia
Global CMO, JLL

Omar Tawakol
CEO, Rembrand

Pratik Thakar
Global VP of Generative AI, The Coca-Cola Company

Dara Treseder
CMO, Autodesk

Shelia Vashee
Chief Marketing Officer, Figma

Mark Wagman
Managing Director, MediaLink | Partner, UTA

Alison Wagonfeld
VP of Marketing, Google Cloud

Jennifer Warren
Global VP of Brand and Creative, Indeed

Kevin Weil
Chief Product Officer, OpenAI

David Wellisch
CEO & Co-founder, Collage Group

Chris Wiggins
Associate Professor, Columbia University Data Science Institute

Jen Wong
COO, Reddit

Grace Yee
Senior Director of Ethical Innovation, Adobe

Timothy Young
CEO, Jasper

Andrea Zaretsky
CMO, Morgan Stanley Wealth Management

Maria Zhang
CEO & Co-founder, Palona AI

This story appeared in the April 8, 2025 issue of Adweek magazine. Click here to subscribe.