CATHY CARLISI, C'89
ATLANTA, GA
Cathy Carlisi is president, Americas, in the Atlanta office of BrightHouse. She began as chief creative officer in 2005 and was named president in 2014.
Prior to her full-time position, and just three years after BrightHouse was founded, Carlisi worked with BrightHouse as a contract lead on seminal purpose work including airlines, consumer packaged goods, industrial product brands, banks, and others. During this time, and continuing during her full-time tenure, she crafted many BrightHouse products, processes, and deliverables including the film arm, and BrightHouse Picture’s first film. She has industry experience in financial and banking, consumer packaged goods, retail, airline, automotive, industrial goods, food and beverage, and telecommunications, and functional experience in marketing, communications, and cultural transformation.
Before joining BrightHouse, Carlisi was an award-winning creative director, writer, and art director at top-tier agencies like Carmichael Lynch and Fallon.
She was a fine arts major at Sewanee, where she was a member of the Society of Wilkins Scholars, and received magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa distinction. At Sewanee, she was inducted into the Omicron Delta Kappa honor society, was a member of the photography club, the Cap and Gown yearbook committee, and a member of Theta Pi sorority. She attended the Portfolio Center for writing and art direction, and spent two years studying poetry. Carlisi is also a nationally published poet and has exhibited her paintings in individual and group shows.
As an alum, she has been a Sewanee Career Readiness advisor, a Smith Career Day participant, and currently serves on the University’s Board of Trustees. She provides internships at BrightHouse for Sewanee students. She has also hosted semester-long Carey Fellow internships and has offered full-time employment to Sewanee graduates throughout the years.
