This is Debra’s second round at Grace Blue. Her first round started when Grace Blue flipped Debra from candidate to regional founder of the Americas in 2012. She helped establish the business as a retained executive search company and grew it to one of the most respected search firms in the region.
In between her time at Grace Blue, Debra joined Johannes Leonardo as their first Chief Talent Officer in 2019. While at JL, Debra focused on modernizing the agency’s employee experience including all facets of talent strategy while managing the agency’s operational and people response to COVID and EDI progress.
Debra started in advertising at a regional agency in Atlanta. She then built an in-house presence for a large independent agency at The Home Depot. In 2006, she joined Mother NY when they were still sitting around one table in a small office on Bond St. She spent almost seven years at the agency managing global accounts and the account (Mother) group, all while having the time of her life.
Away from Grace Blue, Debra has proudly been a member of the AAF’s Mosaic Council, an industry-leading think-tank on diversity and inclusion as well as she currently advises The Marketing Academy and World 50’s CMO 50 || on innovation in the marketing talent space.
