Welcome and Opening Remarks (11:00 - 11:15a.m. ET)

Session I. A Brand with Purpose: Virtua Health is Here for Good (11:20 - 11:45 a.m. ET)
Virtua Health launched a new brand strategy in 2019 and has undergone significant growth during this period. The organizational rebrand created a movement built around a distinct market position of being Here for Good. Through a carefully designed strategic plan, Virtua continues to fulfill its vision to be the market leader for health care in southern New Jersey as the trusted choice for personalized health care and wellness. Marketing content is at the forefront of this successful connection with consumers. Orchestrated by a small team, messaging is engaging, targeted, timely and relevant. Content is delivered in a variety of formats across channels and supportive of a purpose-driven brand.

This session will demonstrate the storytelling capability of the team with examples of our Eat Well Program and the impact Virtua is having in creating communities of wellness. People across southern New Jersey prefer Virtua for a range of services and brand metrics demonstrate significant growth in the market. Ryan will highlight short case studies and stories that help you understand how content, aligned with strategy, can be a catalyst for growth of your brand.

Speaker:
Ryan Younger, Vice President of Marketing, Virtua Health

Session II. Data-Driven Content Strategies: Unlocking ROI and Impact for Life-Saving Campaigns (11:50 - 12:15 p.m. ET)
In today’s data-driven world, content isn’t just about storytelling—it’s about measurable impact. As Senior Marketing Leader at NMDP, Ryan Peña has leveraged analytics to transform how the organization connects with audiences, drives registrations, and supports its life-saving mission. This session will explore how to harness data to inform content strategies, improve campaign performance, and demonstrate tangible ROI. Attendees will gain insights into the metrics that matter, from understanding audience behavior to optimizing conversion rates, and learn actionable approaches to creating campaigns that inspire engagement while delivering measurable outcomes. Whether you’re building awareness, driving action, or fostering long-term engagement, this session will equip you with the tools to maximize the impact of your content campaigns.

Speaker:
Ryan Peña, Senior Marketing Manager – Member Recruitment, NMDP

Session III. How We Use AI in Creating Content, and How We Don’t (12:20 p.m. ET - 12:45 p.m. ET)

Artificial intelligence has quickly evolved into an unavoidable fact of life, for better or worse. The Mount Sinai Health System has been a leader in responsibly adopting this powerful tool, establishing the nation’s first Department of Artificial Intelligence and Human Health in 2021, and this year launching a dedicated AI platform to support the learning experience of medical students.The Content Marketing team is taking a similarly enthusiastic but measured approach, using AI in line with our brand voice and standards for accuracy and ethics.

In this session, we will walk you through the brand attributes that underlie everything we do and discuss how we are experimenting with generative AI in our digital news site—saving significant time and effort. Finally we will share some “do and don’t” guardrails that we have developed over time.

Speakers:
Vanessa Gordon, Director of Content Marketing, Mount Sinai Health System
Julie Compton, Communications Manager, Mount Sinai Health System

**Schedule subject to change

SPEAKER BIOS

Ryan Younger

Over the past six years as vice president of marketing at Virtua, Ryan has contributed to significant organizational growth as a leader in branding, consumer insights, marketing technology, team transformation, content and innovation.

Ryan currently serves as a board member for the Society for Healthcare Strategy and Market Development, an affiliate of the American Hospital Association. He is a frequent speaker on a range of marketing and health care topics on the national stage.

Prior to Virtua, Ryan was vice president, strategic marketing at Hackensack Meridian Health with enterprise-wide responsibility for academic medical centers, children’s hospitals, diversified health ventures, and service lines. He also held marketing and planning management positions at Mass General Brigham, a global leader in research, teaching and clinical care.

He received a BA from Johns Hopkins University and a master’s from Boston College.

Ryan Peña

Ryan Peña is a seasoned digital marketing leader with over 15 years of experience driving innovation and growth. As a Senior Marketing Leader at NMDP, Ryan spearheads strategic initiatives that enhance brand awareness and increase registrations for the world’s largest and most diverse marrow registry. His expertise in social media, content marketing, and innovation has transformed audience engagement and amplified organizational impact.

Ryan is also a passionate speaker, trainer, and emcee, sharing his expertise at top marketing conferences. He inspires professionals to embrace authentic storytelling, improve customer experiences, and implement meaningful process improvements, empowering them to create lasting change through the power of digital marketing.

Vanessa Gordon

Vanessa Gordon is Director of Content Marketing for the Mount Sinai Health System, a leading academic medical center in New York City, with 40,000 employees, seven hospitals, 400 outpatient sites, the renowned Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and the Mount Sinai Phillips School of Nursing.

Vanessa leads a team of writers and editors who strategically support Mount Sinai in its mission of science, education, and advanced and equitable care. The content marketing team produces the Mount Sinai Today digital news site, develops science content, reviews communications for quality and brand consistency, and creates consumer health content for the HealthCast enewsletter, which is deployed twice monthly to one million patients. Before joining Mount Sinai, Vanessa was a veteran journalist, working as a reporter, editor, and designer at publications including The Philadelphia Inquirer and The New York Times.

She received a BS in Journalism at the University of Kansas—where she is a Trustee of the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications—and an MFA in creative writing at Temple University.

Julie Compton

Julie Compton is a communications professional with more than a decade of experience. Currently a communications manager at the Mount Sinai Health System, she helps develop strategic communications that uphold Mount Sinai’s mission and reputation as one of the world’s leading health systems. A former freelance reporter, Julie has been published in NBC News and Today.com. She also held positions at the IEEE, the world’s largest professional organization for electrical and electronics engineers, where she supported communications for technology initiatives. Julie holds an MA in Professional Writing from Carnegie Mellon University and a BA in English from Rutgers University.