Andrea Fant-Hobbs ’82

Chief Brand Strategist

Brand Strategy, Development and Innovation

Andrea Fant-Hobbs is a dynamic marketing leader with more than 30 years of experience developing and implementing transformational brand strategy, marketing, sales and multimedia advertising strategies and solutions for Fortune 50 companies and major brands.

She began her career as an on-air co-host and producer for the ABC affiliate in Syracuse. She returned to her native New York City to serve as brand manager for Colgate Palmolive, and later worked on campaigns for companies such as Smith Kline Beecham, Greyhound, Bank of America and General Motors. She was the principal architect of the Pontiac G6 integrated promotion on Oprah, for which she won a Cannes Gold Media Lion.

Fant-Hobbs went on to join Verizon, where she served as vice president of brand marketing, media and sponsorships for Verizon Wireless. She was chosen to lead the Joint Innovation Lab, a global joint venture among Verizon, Softbank Mobil of Japan, China Mobil and Vodafone. She also served as vice president of marketing, business solutions group for Verizon Wireless, working with federal customers including the FBI, the Department of Defense and the White House.

She served on the FCC’s Digital Learning Taskforce, which sought to assist school systems in creating a mobile learning strategy to improve academic outcomes.

After leaving Verizon to care for her father and help him complete his “bucket list,” Fant-Hobbs started BSDI: Brand Strategy Development and Innovation, an independent consultancy. She works with both domestic and international companies.

Fant-Hobbs has been honored by The Network Journal as one of the 25 Most Influential Black Women in Business and by Ebony magazine as an Outstanding Woman in Marketing and Communications.