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Emilio Pardo

Chief Brand Officer

Emilio is a senior executive with over 17 years of development and management experience with non-profit, corporate and governmental organizations. As Chief Brand Officer, he is currently responsible for all creating, coordinating and integrating brand–related plans from across the enterprise.Prior to his new appointment, he was the Senior Vice President, Business Development at AARP Services. At AARP Services, he was responsible for all product development, product licensing, new market channel development, and joint ventures for AARP Services, Inc. He also managed all strategic alliances and corporate partnerships efforts for AARP, which included working with organizations like The Home Depot, United Health Care, The Hartford Group, Proctor & Gamble, and Travelocity.In addition to his day-to-day responsibilities, Mr. Pardo established and led AARP’s cross-disciplinary Innovation Strike Force throughout the summer and fall of 2005, producing a strategic vision and roadmap for the boomer marketplace to guide the innovation required for AARP to become a dominant, best-of-class player serving boomer needs.Before joining AARP, Mr. Pardo held executive positions in business and partnership development, corporate reputation management, branding, and public affairs. Most recently he was a senior executive for Discovery Communications, Inc. where he was responsible for strategic business development spanning of all 14 broadcast networks including Discovery Health Channel, Discovery Channel, Travel Channel, Animal Planet, TLC, and FitTV. While at Discovery he developed a number of new on-air and off-air partnerships for the health and fitness sectors including the development of the first-ever Continuing Medical Education (CME) broadcast programs for Discovery Health Channel and forging dozens of public/private alliances with organizations such as U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control, White House Office of Drug Control and Policy, The National Park Service, Kaiser Family Foundation, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and The African Medical Research and Education Foundation.Prior to joining Discovery, Mr. Pardo was CEO and director of CityNet Telecommunications, Inc. in Silver Spring, MD and president of Universal Access, Inc. in Chicago, IL. At CityNet, he worked closely with cable, telecom, and major municipalities on developing new methods of deploying and offering broadband and other information services to the citizenship. He was also responsible for leading a fundraising team which yielded a $475 million capital raise.Mr. Pardo served as senior vice president and senior partner at Fleishman-Hillard International Communications, Inc., the nation's largest public relations and marketing firm. During his 10-year career at Fleishman-Hillard he is credited with innovating some of the agency’s most successful and largest products and services as well as pioneering its global expansion. He also served as head of business development and founder of the social marketing practice. Mr. Pardo has managed and mentored numerous senior strategic communications professionals, representing interests and organizations as diverse as: SBC, PBS, AARP, VISA, AOL, TELMEX, Direct Marketing Association, and The White House National Anti-Drug Communications effort.Former senior advisor to over 40 Fortune 500 companies on issues dealing with reputation management, branding, cyber-safety, and international market expansion, Mr. Pardo was also U.S. Senate Press Secretary to Chairman Fritz Hollings (D-SC) where he was the national spokesman for 5 years on major national issues such as telecom reform, aviation deregulation, public television, Merchant Marines, U.S. Tourism, and NASA Space Policy.