Two Washington and Lee University Alumni to Headline Fifth Annual AdLib Conference March 10–11
Washington and Lee University’s AdLib Conference will take place on March 10–11 with two alumni headlining the event. Tom Coates, W&L Class of 1994, creative director at the advertising agency Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners, will give the dinner keynote at 7 p.m. on March 10. Amy Bohutinsky, W&L Class of 1997, chief operating officer (COO) at Zillow Group, will give the closing keynote at 4:30 p.m. on March 11.
Check go.wlu.edu/adlib for locations and a full schedule of programming.
Zillow Group has a portfolio of some of the largest real estate and home-related brands on Web and mobile including consumer brands Zillow, Trulia, StreetEasy and HotPads.
Bohutinsky oversees Zillow Group’s people organization (human resources, recruiting, and learning and development), as well as marketing, communications and consumer care. She joined Zillow in 2005, as one of the company’s earliest employees, and built the company’s marketing and communications functions from the ground up. Prior to becoming COO, she served as Zillow Group’s chief marketing officer, leading brand strategy, growth and marketing for the company’s flagship Zillow brand.
Bohutinksy is a recognized leader in her field and has received numerous awards including Inman News’ 100 Most Influential Real Estate Leaders in 2013, Swanepoel Power 200: Most Powerful People in Residential Real Estate 2014 and 2015, Direct Marketing News’ Marketing Hall of Femme 2014, HousingWire’s 2014 Women of Influence and Puget Sound Business Journal’s 20 Under 40 in 2012. Bohutinksy is also on the boards of directors of Avvo, the Web’s largest legal marketplace, and HotelTonight, a fast-growing mobile-based hotel booking service.
Before joining Zillow, she ran communications for Hotwire, a discount travel site. She led the public relations launch of Hotwire in 2000 and continued through the company’s $675 million acquisition by IAC/InterActiveCorp in 2003.
Bohutinsky started her career as a broadcast journalist, working for various CBS, NBC and ABC affiliates. She earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and mass communications from Washington and Lee.
The clients of Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners, in Sausalito, California, include Mini Cooper, Greyhound, Sunrun Solar, Draft Kings and Nature Made Vitamins.
Coates joined Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners more than a decade ago to run the Converse account, working on the company’s iconic “Chuck Taylor” and relaunching the brand in basketball with NBA star Dwyane Wade. Coates has also created global integrated campaigns for Columbia Sportswear and reintroduced legendarily rugged Sorel boots as a women’s fashion brand.
He began his career during the first dot-com boom as a copywriter in San Francisco, where he made ads for Internet start-ups as well as established brands like Adidas, Sega and CNET. Coates worked at various agencies as both a writer and creative director and spent a year launching major titles such as Madden and NBA Live for Electronic Arts.
He is a member of the second graduating class of the VCU BrandCenter.
