WFA names new chairs for Insight Forum and National Associations Council

Henrietta van Swinderen, Director of the Dutch advertiser association bvA, and Joel Renkema, Global Head of Insights at Inter IKEA Group.

Joel Renkema, Global Head of Insights at Inter IKEA Group, will take the co-chair role in the Insight Forum, working alongside Angelica Beard, Senior Director, Global Insights & Analytics at Visa, to build best practice across the industry.

Joel brings huge experience to the role, having worked for FMCG giants P&G and Reckitt in local, regional, global and capability roles, from Australia and Singapore to London and Amsterdam prior to joining IKEA. He currently leads the Insights function at Inter IKEA Group, which has been radically transforming and investing significantly in the team and its capabilities in order to be a strong force for good moving forward.

"There's so much power in learning from each other and I've been so privileged to benefit from the awesome WFA community already. I'm really looking forward to playing a part in helping this community be even stronger moving forward so that we can do even better things in our industry, our companies and our teams", he said.

The WFA has also named Henriette van Swinderen, Director of the Dutch advertiser association bvA, as the new Chair of the National Associations Council (NAC), which brings together heads and representatives of WFA's network of national industry associations in more than 60 countries. She takes over from Ron Lund, former President and CEO of the Canadian advertiser association ACA, who retired in February.

Henriette has been in the marketing industry for more than 30 years, working in senior marketing roles at P&G Benelux and T-Mobile Netherlands. Prior to joining bvA in 2018, she was Marketing Director at hearing aid provider Sonova. She is also a member of WFA’s Executive Committee.

“I am delighted to be the NAC Chair at a time where it is more important than ever for national associations to learn from each other and share on what best practice looks like. National associations play a key role in helping marketers at global and local level address the big industry issues, and collaboration through the NAC is a great way to support our members and the industry”, she said.

“What makes the WFA the only global network for senior marketers is the expertise and experience we can call on from our corporate members from different functions and across our network of national associations. Together we are championing better marketing globally. Congratulations to Joel and Henriette and thank you to Ron, who has been a vital part of WFA’s leadership team for more than a decade”, said WFA CEO Stephan Loerke.