BOSTON, MA – Last night, The Ad Club celebrated the 20th Anniversary of the Rosoff Awards, the region’s premier diversity awards celebration at the InterContinental. Along with Presenting Partner, Liberty Mutual Insurance, The Ad Club was joined by over 350 business professionals.

President of The Ad Club, Kathy Kiely, kicked off the 20th Anniversary celebration by telling the crowd that the night was “not a time to look back but an opportunity to look toward the future and to embrace diversity and inclusion as an innovation tool, a way to spark ideas, imagination and collaboration”.

In keeping with the new vision, Lee Pelton, President of Emerson College and Bob Rivers, President and COO of Eastern Bank were honored with 20/20 Visionary Awards. The new award was established to recognize individual leaders who embrace diversity not as a mandate but as a movement that will take them to the edge of innovation, inspiration and excellence.

Verna Myers, the inspiring lawyer, entrepreneur, author and cultural innovator was keynote speaker. She has worked for over two decades to eradicate barriers of race, ethnicity and sexual orientation at many institutions, from elite Wall Street powerhouses to the 10,000-member Fire Department of NYC, and has touched thousands more through her TED talk. Her dynamic speech had the audience laughing out loud as she shared personal experiences about unconscious biases and spelled out the steps needed to disrupt the status quo and embrace difference.

The evening capped off with the presentation of awards, emceed by WBZ-TV Journalist, Paul Burton. This year’s Honorees were selected in three categories.

2016 Rosoff Awards Honorees

Companies who are embracing diversity and showing corporate America how it’s done: Athenahealth
College Bound Dorchester
Digitas LBi
MassMutual Financial Group
Neighborhood Health Plan
Nixon Peabody
Novartis Institutes for Biomedical Research Radius Financial Group

Individual who is driving the new vision for diversity from the top down: Stephen Neff, Enterprise Chief Technology Officer, Fidelity Investments

20-something-year-old who is shaking up the old notion of diversity: Melissa James, President, Founder & CEO, The Tech Connection

To learn more about the 2016 Rosoff Awards, and to hear the honorees stories visit www.theadclub.org/rosoff2016

ABOUT THE AD CLUB

The Ad Club is the trade association for the New England marketing and communications industry. Focused on networking, education, professional development, advocacy, and diversity, The Ad Club presents over 30 events and programs every year. Legacy events like the Hatch Awards, Media Auction, and Rosoff Awards run side-by-side with the latest in new media and the digital landscape. The Ad Club’s membership represents the best in class advertising agencies, media companies, and brands in the New England region. For more information on The Ad Club visit www.adclub.org.