Luis Gallardo (business person)

Luis Gallardo is the Founder of The World Happiness Summit and President of Brands & Rousers Foundation. A social innovator, entrepreneur, consultant and author. He has worked in executive roles for Deloitte, Young & Rubicam Group: Burson-Marsteller, BAV Consulting. Gallardo is also the author of the book Brands & Rousers: The Holistic System to Foster High-Performing Businesses, Brands and Careers, and has founded companies including Deep Communications Group and THAP.

Gallardo holds an MBA from International Institute for Management Development in Switzerland and a graduate degree in international relations from Lancaster University. In the 1990s Gallardo held positions including executive director of AccesoGroup, worked as the CMO of several companies, and founded the communications and brand management firm Deep Communications Group, where he worked as CEO.

Gallardo began working at Deloitte’s Spanish offices in 2001. In 2004 he was promoted to the global communications director, moving to the New York office. Gallardo then served as the global director-brand and marketing for the company, which put him in charge of keeping brand consistency for Deloitte’s companies worldwide. Starting in 2009, he was in charge of the Green Dot advertising campaign, which appeared in more than one hundred countries. He also utilized social media platforms as alternate outlets for Deloitte marketing, in addition to other online events like fantasy football during the 2010 World Cup or viral film festivals. Forbes Magazine noted his statement that it is important to “think holistic, act personal” when it comes to brand identity. He has also stated that he saw all 170,000 employees of the company as brand managers, giving them the methods to aide in public attention campaigns.

Leaving Deloitte in 2012, Gallardo founded the strategic consulting company THAP (a company named for the motto Forbes noted above). He also worked as director of global brand strategy at BAV Consulting between 2012 and 2014. In 2012, Gallardo also became the President of Brand Marketing Practice for Burson-Marsteller. Since leaving there in 2014, he has served as the first CEO of Thinking Heads Americas, helming the Spanish company’s expansion into the US and Latin America.

Gallardo has contributed to publications like the South Florida Business Journal and Upstart Business Journal. His book Brands & Rousers: The Holistic System to Foster High-Performing Businesses, Brands and Careers, published in 2013, received a silver medal from the 2014 Annual Axiom Business Book Awards. The book focused on Gallardo’s understanding of business management, and stated there were six “R”’s of business and brand management: Reason, Relationships, Reputation, Revenue, Rouser, and Resilience. “Rousers”, the namesake of the book, are executives that create value for their company, and who leave a “legacy of sustained value” behind after their time with the company comes to an end.