Roy Spence

Roy Spence

Keynote Speaker

Roy and his partners, right out of The University of Texas at Austin, built GSD&M from scratch into a purpose-based marketing, advertising and idea machine - building iconic brands like Southwest Airlines, Don’t Mess with Texas, The PGA Tour, Walmart, The United States Airforce, Goodyear, American Institute of Architects and DreamWorks. Roy has always held a deep belief that purpose- inspired marketing can be a force for good. He and his partners are always the first to donate time and talent, creating powerful PSAs when disasters hit America such as 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina as well as creating an historic moment by getting all the former US Presidents to create a 30 second PSA when Hurricane Harvey and Irma hit in 2017. He is now on a mission to use the power of purpose-based marketing to bring America together on higher ground and begin putting the US back into USA. Roy is also cofounder and CEO of The Purpose Institute, which is also home-based in Austin, Texas. The Purpose Institute is singularly focused on discovering the higher calling purpose and core values that define and shape an organization’s culture and the core purpose that captures the difference an organization makes in the world. Its purpose is to help organizations and leaders discover and fulfill their purpose. Along with Haley Rushing, Roy co-authored the Wall Street Journal best-selling book, It’s Not What You Sell, It’s What You Stand For: Why Every Extraordinary Business is Driven by Purpose. And more recently, he authored The 10 Essential Hugs of Life, a collection of heartwarming stories about the need for gratitude and love. Roy’s most passionate endeavor is the Make It Movement of which he is the founder and CEO. The purpose of the Make It Movement is to use marketing as a force for good in supporting high school counselors, teachers and parents and by visually and emotionally connecting all students, while in middle school and high school, with hope and clarity about their purpose, passions, talents and career pathways that play to their strengths. So again, while they are in high school, can start exploring a whole new world of higher learning, higher skills and higher income which blows them away when they find out.

All Sessions by Roy Spence