Carla Michelotti has a distinguished record of business leadership, providing strategic legal and corporate marketing expertise. She is internationally recognized for key roles in developing strategies and policies regarding protecting commercial free speech; internet and privacy; marketing and promotion; intellectual property; digital issues; all types of advertising regulation and self-regulation.

   

For her primary career, Carla was Executive Vice President, Chief Legal, Government & Corporate Affairs Officer of Leo Burnett Worldwide, working directly with many of the world's most valuable brands including McDonald's, Procter & Gamble, Diageo, Hallmark, Pillsbury, Philip Morris, Altria, Kellogg, Samsung, and Coca-Cola. As a "C" Suite executive she helped management, the corporation and multinational clients anticipate and navigate successfully through every type of legal challenge including "bet the company" litigation, corporate restructuring, merger and acquisitions, securing, licensing and defending intellectual property, and oversight and/or negotiation of thousands of varied agreements.

   

Carla is a past Chairman of the American Advertising Federation (AAF), and is also on the AAF Board as Government Affairs Chair. For more than two decades Carla was on the Executive Committee of the International Advertising Association (IAA) as a VP of the IAA, and  served as a Vice-Chairman of the Marketing Committee of the U.S. Council for International Business and the ICC. 

Today she continues to advise companies, and sits on several boards including DePaul University Board of Trustees; the BBB National Programs Board; International Council of Advertising Self-Regulators; Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and NW Indiana; Junior Achievement of Chicago; and The House of the Good Shepherd. Carla is honored to be an American Bar and Illinois Bar Fellow; an active member of the American, Illinois, Chicago, and Justinian Bar Associations; and is also a member of The Economic Club of Chicago and The Chicago Network.

   

Carla is honored to have received numerous distinctions and awards, including induction into the AAF Advertising Hall of Fame, the Anti-Defamation League's Women of Achievement Award; the AAF Barton A. Cummings Gold Medal; the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) Best Practice Award; the Chicago Advertising Federation Silver Medal Award; the IAA Medal of Achievement; the IAA "Champion" Award; the Lifetime Digital Icon Award from the Digital Advertising Association; the Justinian Bar Association Award of Excellence; the DePaul Law Outstanding Service to the Profession Award; the Girl Scout's Tribute to Achievement Award. Carla was named Chicago Catholic Lawyer of the Year; Chicago; the Chicago Ad Federation "Ad Woman of the Year"; and is listed in the "Today's Chicago Woman Hall of Fame". Prior to joining Leo Burnett Company, Inc, Carla was an attorney with Jewel Companies, Inc.

She has a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in political science, a Juris Doctor (JD), and an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters degree from DePaul University.??