Allwyn Chief Brand Officer David Wheldon named as new WFA President

See the full list of Executive Committee members here.

David Wheldon OBE has been named as the new President of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), replacing Raja Rajamannar, Chief Marketing and Communications Officer at Mastercard, who is stepping down after six years in the role.

Wheldon, who was previously WFA President from 2015 to 2019, is currently Chief Brand Officer for Allwyn, which operates lotteries in Austria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Greece, Italy, Austria, UK and the US. He will be supported by Phil Myers, who was Deputy President between 2019 and 2021, and who is now Chief Institutional Affairs and Corporate Communications Officer at Ferrero.

In a long and distinguished career, Wheldon has also worked for RBS (now Natwest), Barclays, Vodafone, The Coca-Cola Company and WPP. He was awarded an OBE by King Charles III for services to advertising in 2021 and has been the host of WFA’s Better Marketing Podcast since 2020. He will serve a minimum term of two years.

“I'm absolutely thrilled to be taking over the WFA Presidency following Raja's successful tenure. WFA has ambitious growth plans grounded in ensuring members can continue to lead transformation in their businesses and across the industry – and I’m very excited to be part of that journey. It’s all about the team and as WFA President I'm privileged to be working alongside the biggest names in global marketing as part of the WFA Executive Committee.” said Wheldon.

The new President and Deputy President will be supported by the WFA’s Global Executive Committee, which includes senior representatives from both the world’s biggest companies and advertiser associations.

New members on the 2025 WFA Executive Committee include:

• Allyson Witherspoon, Corporate Vice-President, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Nissan Motor Corporation
• Russell Dyer, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Kenvue
• Olayinka Ijabiyi, Group Head, Marketing & Corporate Communications, First Bank of Nigeria
• Andrea Hunt, President and Chief Executive Officer, Association of Canadian Advertisers
• Riikka-Maria Lemminki, Managing Director, Marketing Finland

They will join members which have been re-elected for another term, including:

• Aude Gandon, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Nestlé
• Aishwarya Nambiar, Global Brand and Head of Marketing, Etihad Airways
• Jane Wakely, Chief Consumer and Marketing Officer and Chief Growth Officer, International Foods, PepsiCo
• Taide Guajardo, Chief Brand Officer Europe, Procter & Gamble
• Anne Stilling, Global Director Brand and Media, Vodafone
• Edward Bell, General Manager Brand, Insights and Marketing Communications, Cathay Pacific
• Asmita Dubey, Chief Digital and Marketing Officer, L'Oréal

See the full list of Executive Committee members here.
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