NEW YORK, USA // Shiz Suzuki is the Vice President, Global Brand Sponsorships & Experiential Marketing at American Express, leading the company’s strategic brand partnerships and experiences across sports, music and entertainment.

Shiz joined American Express in 2021, and spearheads innovative partnerships and impactful experiences globally across partnerships like Wimbledon, US Open Golf & Tennis, Coachella, BST Hyde Park, Austin City Limits, Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. and the NBA/WNBA. During her tenure, she has transformed the company’s assets with smart investments to introduce a suite of Card Member benefits to Amex’s sponsorship portfolio which includes 46 venues around the world. And as a global brand, Shiz developed an International Sponsorships Center of Excellence to ensure the brand was maximizing sponsorships investments and delivering unique benefits for Card Members across the globe.

In addition, Shiz evolved the brands direct-to-artist partnership strategy, creating one-of-a-kind music experiences that bring Card Members closer to their favorite artists like Lizzo, Jack Harlow and Harry Styles through immersive concerts and unique activations. Shiz is also dedicated to incorporating breakthrough trends and digital elements into brand experiences and has launched NFTs, POAPs and livestreamed events on Twitch. She also prioritizes backing local communities across partnerships, including at the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open, where the activation plan included providing local women-owned businesses unprecedented exposure by purchasing sponsorship inventory with six LPGA players to feature the small businesses logos and to have their businesses and stories shared globally.

During Shiz’s time at American Express, her team’s work across sports and entertainment experiences played a direct role in attracting Gen Z and Millennial prospective Card Members, who accounted for nearly 60% of new accounts in 2022, with many citing entertainment and sports experiences as a reason they became Card Members.

Prior to American Express, Shiz had a 14-year career journey at AT&T which spanned a wide variety of leadership roles. Her experiences ranged from leading a unionized call center, product marketing, chief of staff, pricing and analytics, workforce transformation, but her final role was in leading AT&T’s brand sponsorships and experiential marketing across sports and entertainment. During her time in this role, Shiz created a portfolio transformation strategy, which allowed the brand to make a significant shift in audience reach, without impacting the overall investment. As part of this plan, Shiz guided the company into a sponsorship with the NBA/WNBA, as well as the fast-growing esports and gaming industry, and helped launch DE&I engagement platforms, like AT&T’s She’s Connected and AT&T Unlocked Games.

With over 16 years of experience in brand management, marketing and business operations, Shiz has received numerous accolades including recognition by Variety 2023 Women’s Impact Award, Billboard 2023 Women in Music Executive List, Crain’s New York Business: Notable Women in Sports 2022, Sports Business Journal Game Changer in 2020, Cynopsis Top Women in Sports for 2019, 2019 Stevie® Award for Most Innovative Women of the Year in Technology, and an Outstanding 50 Asian Americans in Business Award in 2019.

Shiz holds a bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Science from UCLA and an MBA from Pepperdine University. She currently lives in Brooklyn with her husband Peter.