Debra Kaye

Debra Kaye is an international innovation expert specializing in marketing and culture strategy for consumer brands. She encourages her clients to become change-makers, and has helped set agendas for companies such as L’Oreal, Mars Petcare, American Express, Dove Chocolate, Groupe Danone, McDonald’s, Absolut Vodka, Kimberly Clark, Banco Santander, Johnson & Johnson, Colgate, Clairol, Reckitt Benckiser, and Sony. Her book Red Thread Thinking: Weaving Together Connections that Lead to Brilliant Ideas and Profitable Innovation — one of the only books on innovation ever written by a woman — published by McGraw Hill was a Washington Post Leadership Book of the Week in 2013 and an Amazon best-selling ebook in its category.



BDDP/Mancebo•Kaye, the marketing company she founded in Spain, became #1 in the country for strategic thinking and #3 for creativity in fewer than three years, according to Ballester research. It’s the kind of success that comes from inspiring people to be great thinkers and creating a culture of solving critical business issues. Spain’s Tribuna Económica recognized Debra as Female Entrepreneur of the Year.


As CEO of TBWA\Italy, she was named the country’s top marketer, and oversaw the business for clients such as Wind (mobile phones), Apple, Group Pernod Ricard, Bieirsdorf, and Nissan. In the U.S., she introduced her own skin care line, which was distributed nationwide in Nordstrom, Sephora, and in Saks Fifth Avenue New York. Three-months into distribution, Iconoculture named it the best-positioned cosmeceutical on the market. 



Today, she is partner at innovation consultancy Lucule. A frequent commentator on American Public Radio's "Marketplace", columnist for Inc Magazine and Entrepreneur.com, contributor to Fast Comapany, she is a sought-after speaker and has been featured at such venues as South by Southwest, California Women’s Conference and Chambers of Commerce.

Follow Debra on Twitter @DebraA_Kaye.