Recently, MightyHive hosted its first In-House Alliance Dinner in San Francisco where the conversations centered around recruiting and building in-house programmatic teams. MightyHive President Americas, Emily Del Greco asked Electronic Arts' Global Head of Media, Belinda Smith to share her experience as a change agent building teams at both AT&T and EA. Also in attendance at the dinner were senior marketers from Merck, Visa, Sprint, Electrolux, IHG, and others.

Belinda Smith, left, Global Head of Media, EA and Emily Del Greco, President of the Americas, MightyHive, speak at the inaugural MightyHive In-House Alliance Dinner in San Francisco.

"I feel like I have seen advertising from all sides... and at each junction I was so frustrated by people not willing to admit the failures of the ecosystem."

- Belinda Smith

Ultimately, Smith changed the culture of the companies she worked for. To do this, she moved teams halfway across the county, launched robust talent recruitment programs, and successfully campaigned for millions of budgetary dollars. But perhaps the biggest challenge was finding ways to blend agency culture with the deeply-rooted brand values.

"If I think about what I want to accomplish in my career, what’s going to be worth it to me to not be at home playing with my kid...then I really want to change the industry."

- Belinda Smith

During the interview, Smith confessed she missed the variety an agency affords, but showed no signs of wanting to return. At EA, Smith recognizes that she is in a place where she can make the most impact.

“When you are at an agency... your client being happy is what is sustaining you. That creates an inherent conflict of interest when you have bad news to tell them...so for me, I am fulfilled by the fact that I am in a position to have the mandate to be audacious and to challenge what is going on and to think about how we do things differently."

- Belinda Smith