AdLab 2025’s final panel brought together top healthcare marketing leadership to discuss the groundbreaking, women-led innovations shaping our industry, and how women leaders are strengthening their company cultures. DeepIntent Chief Revenue Officer Lisa Kopp Johnson moderated the panel, which featured Nicole Hamlin, Group Director, Integrated Planning at Butler/Till; Andrea Palmer, Chief Executive Officer at Publicis Health Media; and Tricia Savio, Vice President and Programmatic Practice Lead at Eversana Intouch.
Their insights illuminated how marketers at any career stage can help build stronger, sharper, more inclusive teams. Here are the seven key takeaways.
You never really know the ripple effect of having women in leadership. Publicis Health Media’s Andrea Palmer proudly shared, “This year, all five of the media agency CEOs at Publicis are women.” But beyond the titles, she pointed to the power of mentorship: “One of the women on my team cited [Publicis Health Chairwoman] Alex von Plato from eight years ago who told her, ‘Make space for yourself and don’t be afraid to take up space.’” These lasting moments, sometimes just a sentence, can shape careers, build confidence, and stay with rising leaders for years.
Inclusivity doesn’t stop at the C-suite; it must be embedded in how teams are built and nurtured. Butler/Till’s Nicole Hamlin described her company as both “women-owned and employee-owned,” but she stressed that inclusion takes effort: “Even if you have those women at the top, if they’re not filtering down to the bottom and really cultivating that growth path for their future leaders, then we’re not doing a service for them.”
So, our charge is to build systems where all women, not just a select few, can rise, learn, and lead. And it requires leaders to be intentional about creating space for others, not just occupying it themselves.
Panelists stressed that work-life integration is a critical part of leading. Tricia Savio of Eversana Intouch shared how she supports women on her team who are becoming parents: “We’ve really leaned into just treating everyone like a human and making it normal to step aside for some of those parental duties… You can have a career and also hold down a whole other corporation of toddlers on the side.”
By embracing humanity in leadership, Savio makes space for real people with full identities, showing that success isn’t either/or.
When people feel safe to contribute, creativity flourishes. Savio explained how her team encourages innovation from the ground up with a “show-and-tell” culture: “We’ve really encouraged our team of traders and all the junior members… to come to us and show us some innovation they’ve done.”
Even small discoveries, she said, spark broader insight: “It usually results in some innovative way another trader didn’t know how to look at data.” Empowering junior talent is a practical strategy for cultivating fresh perspectives and smarter work.
Sometimes, leadership takes the form of a quiet, courageous conversation. Hamlin recalled being nervous to give tough feedback early in her management journey but choosing to lean in. “The person just said, ‘Oh, thank you. No one has ever told me that before. That was so kind of you to tell me.’”
That experience shaped how she leads today: “Feedback is kind, even if it’s a tough conversation.” These smaller moments can be the foundation of real growth.
The same empathy that guides inclusive leadership shows up in how these women build campaigns. Hamlin described a project that created a custom game for psoriasis patients who retreat inward during flare-ups: “We allowed them to kind of beat their condition, and use it as a way to talk to their friends about how they’re feeling.”
Palmer added that innovation must consider how patients want to be reached: “Are there specific influencers creating a voice of trust? Is there content missing from a patient population? What’s the barrier to changing behavior, and how do we address that?” True innovation is both data-driven and deeply human.
Success isn’t about fancier offices or endless hustle, our panelists agreed. It’s about meaning, wholeness, and impact. “When I was younger, it was all about a linear trajectory,” said Hamlin. “Now, I really appreciate places that give me the flexibility to have my life outside of home and make sure that I can show up for my children.”
Palmer echoed that sentiment: “Success is also about being a well-rounded person… and applying things from your personal life to professional—or professional to personal.” It’s not just about getting the job done: it’s about doing it in a way that feels right, resonates deeply, and lifts others along the way.
From mentoring the next generation to redefining success on their terms, our panelists showed that empowered healthcare marketing leadership is inclusive, human, and bold. Their insights offered a clear reminder that building supportive environments isn’t just a leadership tenet. It’s a practical strategy for shaping better teams, better work, and better outcomes.
Curious for more AdLab insights? Learn about 2025’s most significant emerging trends here.