WFA names jury for 2025 Global Marketer of the Year

WFA has extended the deadline for entries for Global Marketer of the Year and named the jury members who will decide the winner of the revamped competition.

Marketers now have until October 6th to nominate the peers they believe have inspired their brands, delivered growth and demonstrated industry leadership during 2025.

Their efforts will now be entirely judged by a jury of peers, with the new 17-strong jury, not just selecting the shortlist but also gathering in December to debate who should win, ahead of a private vote. WFA CEO Stephan Loerke will chair the jury.

For the first time, the award, which is supported by The Drum, will also have an official partner, with Kantar now backing this initiative, and supporting the judging process with data from both Kantar BrandZ and its Blueprint for Brand Growth research.

The finalists will be announced in November, with the winner named in January 2026.

Jury members are:

• Adaku V Izuka, Team Lead, Brand Strategy, First Bank of Nigeria
• Alexey Bokov, Vice-President, Brand, Product, Content and Experience, Visa
• Alyssa Fenoglio, former Vice-President, Global Head of Digital Commercial, Teva Pharmaceuticals
• Efrain Ayala, Global Creative Partnerships & Inclusive Marketing Director, Marketing Excellence, Reckitt
• Eleni Kitra, Executive Director, Advertising Business Group (ABG) Middle East
• Eloisa Moscardo, Directora de Publicidad Corporativa, Santander
• Florian Péquignot, Human Resources Vice-President Global Brand Building, P&G
• Guilherme Espagnoli G. Martins, Executive Marketing and Innovation Vice-President, Diageo
• Jane Labuschagne, Vice-President, Head of Our LEGO Agency Boston, The LEGO™ Group
• Jen Faull, Deputy Editor, The Drum
• Joel Renkema, Global Head of Insights, Inter IKEA Group
• Kenneth Lim, Assistant Chief Executive, Marketing Group, Singapore Tourism Board
• Kok Hwee Ng, Chief Marketing Officer, Zespri International
• Mark Visser, Global Head of Consulting, Kantar
• Pawan-Kumar Marella, Vice-President Strategic Growth Initiatives, Marketing Capabilities, Innovation Excellence, Unilever
• Prerna Suri, Vice-President, Communications, Asia & Middle East, Sony Music Entertainment
• Stephan Loerke, Chief Executive Officer, WFA

Global Marketer of the Year 2025 is open to any client-side marketer in a senior global or regional position, who has worked for their company for a minimum of two years and nominations can be made at globalmarketeroftheyear.org.

“The Global Marketer of the Year is always a big moment in our calendar at WFA: it tells us what’s cutting through among our peers and which brand leaders are admired for their leadership and their ability to drive business growth. I can’t wait to see who gets shortlisted this year,” said Stephan Loerke, WFA CEO.

Nominations should show how the nominee has demonstrated outstanding leadership in two or more of the following four areas:

1. Driving initiatives that contribute to business growth;
2. Developing talent and capabilities within their marketing organisations;
3. Delivering stand-out innovation and creativity; and
4. Demonstrating industry leadership, for example in relation to inclusion and environmental sustainability.

“The Drum is thrilled to continue this long-standing partnership with the WFA to celebrate the marketers who deliver value while also driving initiatives around diversity and sustainability. We know just how difficult that can be in today’s challenging environment,” said Jen Faull, The Drum's Deputy Editor. “I’m very excited to see this year’s nominations.”

Launched in 2017, previous winners of WFA Global Marketer of the Year Award include Asmita Dubey, Chief Digital & Marketing Officer at L’Oréal, who won in 2023, and Marcel Marcondes, Global Chief Marketing Officer at AB InBev, who won last year.