WFA names expert jury for 2026 Global Marketer of the Year

WFA has named the senior marketers who will decide the winner of the 2026 Global Marketer of the Year.

The new jury will select the shortlist in November and then gather in early 2027 to debate who should win, ahead of a private vote.

The shortlist will be announced in December, with the winner named in February 2027.

The Drum continues to support WFA Global Marketer of the Year as media partner, while IPSOS joins as official sponsor and will support the judging process with data and insights from proprietary research.

The Award 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. Nominations are due by November 9th.

“The WFA Global Marketer of the Year is celebrating its 10th year and remains the most prestigious prize that a regional or global CMO can win. Each year it highlights the brilliant leadership and brand growth that many of our peers are delivering. It’s always exciting to see who gets shortlisted,” said Stephan Loerke, CEO of WFA and chair the expert jury this year.

Jury members are:

• Atul Agrawal, CEO, ISA, India
• Juliana Chu, VP of Digital & Ecommerce, Asia Pacific, Shiseido
• Jerry Daykin, Head of International Media, RBI
• Sameer Desai, VP Marketing, Clinical, Analytics and Commercial Operations Asia Pacific, Align
• Shaun Dix, Global Head of Service Line, IPSOS
• Jen Faull, Deputy Editor, The Drum
• Krista Hill, Head of Strategic Sourcing, Global Marketing, Uber
• Andrea Hunt, President and CEO, ACA, Canada
• Fiona Kigen, Head of Group Marketing and Corporate Affairs Academy, ABSA
• Jane Labuschagne, VP, Our LEGO Agency Boston, LEGO
• Eloisa Moscardo Gonzalez de Aledo, Director of Corporate Brand Marketing, Banco Santander
• Viviana Ochoa, Vice President Marketing Excellence, Essity
• Shenan Reed, Global Chief Media Officer, General Motors
• Joel Renkema, Global Head of Insights, Inter IKEA Group; and
• Stephan Loerke, CEO, WFA (chair).

Nominations can be made by anyone in the industry by visiting the Global Marketer of the Year website here and should show how the nominee has demonstrated outstanding leadership in two or more of the following four areas:

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

First launched in 2017, the winner of the 2025 WFA Global Marketer of the Year was Cheryl Goh, Chief Marketing and Consumer Officer at Grab. Other winners include Marcel Marcondes (AB InBev) in 2024, Asmita Dubey (L’Oréal) in 2023, Cristina Diezhandino (Diageo) in 2022, Conny Braams (Unilever) in 2021, Marc Pritchard (Procter & Gamble) in 2020, Lubomira Rochet (L’Oréal) in 2019, Raja Rajamannar (Mastercard) in 2018, and Keith Weed (Unilever) in 2017.

For more information visit www.globalmarketeroftheyear.com.