Carla R. Michelotti

Executive Vice President/General Counsel & Director of Government Affairs
Leo Burnett Worldwide, Inc.
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As executive vice president/general counsel and director of government affairs for Leo Burnett Worldwide, Carla Michelotti has legal responsibility for the agency’s global network, as well as the responsibility for the company’s Compliance and Industry/Community affairs work. She is recognized as one of the industry’s foremost authorities on a broad scope of legal issues pertaining to advertising, intellectual property and communications.

Carla has played a key role in developing industry positions on topics including advertising regulation and self-regulation, commercial free speech, privacy and e-commerce, and has frequently delivered speeches on these issues to industry and government leaders in the United States, Latin America, Asia and Europe. Carla organized the first global meeting on advertising self-regulation in 2001, was first to meet with White House and EU representatives to address government issues related to online advertising and has chaired numerous panels on privacy and e-commerce.

Carla served as chairman of the American Advertising Federation and is currently the national chairman of its Government Affairs Committee. She also serves on the as vice president of self-regulation for the International Advertising Association. She is a member or has served as a board member of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, the United States Council for International Business, the Economic Club of Chicago, Junior Achievement of Chicago and the House of the Good Shepherd. She is a member of the Chicago, Illinois and American Bar Associations and the Justinian Society of Lawyers.

Carla joined Burnett in 1979, after working as an attorney with Jewel Companies, Inc. She was promoted to general counsel of Leo Burnett Worldwide and elected to the Leo Burnett USA Board of Directors in 1999, and is currently a member of the Leo Burnett USA Operating Board and the Leo Burnett Worldwide Global Operating Committee.

Ms. Michelotti is a graduate of DePaul University (BA, magna cum laude, political science) and DePaul Law School (JD, cum laude). She joined Leo Burnett in 1979, was elected an executive vice president in 1997, and became General Counsel of Leo Burnett Worldwide and a member of the Leo Burnett U.S.A.’s Board of Directors in 1999. Ms. Michelotti is currently Executive Vice President, General Counsel of the Leo Burnett Worldwide network, a Publicis Groupe company, and a member of the Leo Burnett USA Executive Committee. In recognition of her achievements, Carla was named to Today’s Chicago Woman Hall of Fame in 2003, was honored as the “2003 Ad Woman of the Year”, and in 2004 DePaul University’s College of Law selected her as for its “Outstanding Service to the Profession” Honoree.