NEW YORK, USA // As Senior Vice President, Strategy, Planning and Integration at the National Basketball Association, Gustavo de Mello utilizes consumer behavior, demographic trends, and business and cultural data to design marketing strategies to grow the NBA’s influence among fans in the U.S. and around the world.

Prior to joining the NBA in April 2015, de Mello was Senior Vice President and Global Strategy Director of DDB Chicago, Inc, where he served as head strategist for the company’s two largest accounts – McDonald’s (on the global side) and State Farm. At DDB, he also worked with a handful of other major companies, including PepsiCo, Safeway and LaQuinta. Preceding his time at DDB, de Mello was Senior Vice President – Director of Strategic Planning at Lapiz, the Hispanic marketing division of Leo Burnett. During his time at Lapiz, de Mello was the lead strategist on six Procter & Gamble brands, Allstate, BlackBerry, General Motors, and several other blue-chip accounts. Under his leadership, Lapiz won more Effie awards than any other Hispanic agency in the United States.

de Mello received bachelor’s degrees in Journalism from Casper Libero School of Social Communication and in Publicity and Advertising from the School of Higher Education in Advertising and Marketing in San Paulo, Brazil. He came to the U.S. to earn a master’s degree in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. de Mello is fluent in English, Portuguese and Spanish, and played for the Brazilian National Rugby Team for five years.

He resides in New York City with his wife Liz, daughter Elena, and son Thomas.