Giancarlo Pitocco

Giancarlo Pitocco is a professional-in-residence in the Donald P. Bellisario College of Communications where he teaches advanced topics on strategic thinking in the AI era, drawing from his extensive experience in insight development and creative strategy. His course combines traditional strategic planning principles with cutting-edge applications of artificial intelligence in the communications field. He also serves as an adviser to Penn State's National Student Advertising Competition team, helping to mentor the next generation of strategic planning talent.

As Senior AI Adoption Consultant at Covestro, a global pioneer in sustainable material science, he’s a leader in enterprise-wide AI transformation initiatives that bridge technical innovation with human-centered implementation for the U.S. market.

Previously, Giancarlo held positions at companies like Meta, Apple and Ogilvy, and over the course of his career has pioneered approaches to digital transformation and strategic planning.

As Partner & Chief Strategy Officer at KBS/Attention, he built and scaled the agency's strategic planning function, working with prestigious brands including Spotify, American Express, BMW, Mattel/Barbie and Moët & Chandon. At Ogilvy and Publicis/MRY, he was a pioneer in social media marketing strategy, developing some of the agencies’ first strategies for social & emerging media while working with clients such as Microsoft, L'Oréal, Amazon, Volvo, Mattel, Williams-Sonoma, Six Flags and Nestle-Purina.

At Meta, he helped bring new technologies to market, formed strategic partnerships and transformed how WPP's US creative agencies approached creativity in the mobile era, earning Meta's Power of Partnerships award for breakthrough cross-functional impact.

A recognized thought leader in technology's impact on business and society, Giancarlo has been invited to share insights at the World Economic Forum, TEDxNYU, Harvard Business Review and Adobe. He co-founded CGC Leadership Institute, a leadership development and executive coaching company, where he led the integration of AI across marketing, sales, and operations while developing scalable frameworks for organizational transformation.

Giancarlo holds a B.A. in advertising/public relations with a minor in information sciences & technology from Penn State.