WFA's 70 in 70

WFA's 70 in 70

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About

The WFA is turning 70 this year.

In 1953, Count Metello Rossi di Montelera – of Martini & Rossi fame – brought together in Stresa, Italy, advertising associations from Italy, Belgium, Denmark, France Germany, India, Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland to create the International Union of Advertisers Associations.

The Stresa Resolution laid out the tenets of the UIAA: to champion responsible and ethical marketing; to provide verifiable audience measurement; to seek media transparency for members.

Much has changed in 70 years and we have come a very long way. From nine associations in 1953 to 60 in 2023. From WFA’s first corporate member in 1984 – Procter & Gamble – to 150 of the world’s largest multinationals today.

The marketing landscape has seen a dramatic transformation under the impact of globalization and new technologies, but we still remain true to that original vision of enabling and encouraging better marketing.

Like any organisation, WFA wouldn’t have thrived without the people who have helped build our impact and our influence.

To mark our 70th we wanted to celebrate 70 individuals who’ve made a particular contribution across the years.

We know there are many others who’ve also been part of the WFA story.

Thank you to all of you for your work in helping us promote better marketing.

Stephan Loerke, WFA CEO

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Join us on a walk down memory lane as WFA turns 70...

Marketing

  • Margaret Au Yong Margaret
    Champion of the marketing industry in Malaysia, ASEAN and beyond. A major supporter of WFA's development in Asia
  • Chris Burggraeve Chris
    Former Global CMO of AB InBev. The WFA's first CMO President and an active driver of our global growth agenda. Oversaw the foundation of WFA's CMO Forum.
  • Roel de Vries Roel
    Former global CMO of Nissan, now with Manchester City. Our first Japanese corporate member and supporter of our truly global approach to knowledge exchange.
  • Rupen Desai Rupen
    WFA VP for APAC, a champion and challenger in the service of marketing which puts purpose, people and planet at the heart of every business decision. Twice shortlisted for Global Marketer of the Year.
  • Sameer Desai Sameer
    Asia-based marketer and former GSK leader. Actively supported WFA's global and Asia-agenda from multiple roles. He is a former WFA regional VP for Asia.
  • Taide Guajardo Taide
    Long-time P&G marketing leader. Hugely supportive of WFA's media and marketing agenda and a champion for positive change throughout the marketing industry.
  • Rolf Kreiner Rolf
    CMO McDonald's Germany who was recruited by its founder, Ray Kroc. A charismatic no-nonsense leader who got things done. Made the WFA agenda relevant to CMOs.
  • Raja Rajamannar Raja
    Incumbent CMO of Mastercard and WFA President. A winner of WFA's Global Marketer of the Year and a vocal champion of the 'business of marketing'.
  • Syl Saller Syl
    Twice shortlisted for WFA Global Marketer of the Year. She has been a vocal supporter of WFA's Better Marketing agenda and is a Marketing Academy activist.
  • David Wheldon David
    Former Coca-Cola, Vodafone and RBS/NatWest marketing leader. WFA President and President Emeritus. Continues to work with WFA, notably hosting our Better Marketing Podcast

Media

  • Jerry Daykin Jerry
    Former Diageo, GSK, Beam Suntory and now RBI multinational media lead. Inspiring leader within WFA's Media Forum and co-chair of WFA's DEI Taskforce.
  • Luis DiComo Luis
    Long-serving marketer with Unilever, currently leading global media for the organisation. A proponent of global industry collaboration and one of the founder members of GARM and driving forces behind WFA's Cross-Media Measurement work.
  • Ian Gallois Ian
    Former Wrigley and Henkel global media leader. Fierce advocate for the WFA's global media community and a former Media Forum Chair
  • Bernhard Glock Bernhard
    Procter & Gamble legend and tireless supporter of WFA's agenda. Co-author of the first Media Charter and Chairman of the Media Committee for six years. He was deputy President for two years and President for four years.
  • Gerhard Louw Gerhard
    Former International media lead with Deutche Telekom, now Head of Media at Lindt & Sprüngli. A true collaborator on all things digital and media. Always led by example and a magnificent advocate for WFA.
  • Isabel Massey Isabel
    Co-chair of Media Forum. A driving force behind WFA's 2018 and 2023 Global Media Charter. Pioneer of 'Responsible Media' practices.
  • Belinda Smith Belinda
    Former global media, marketing and intelligence leader at Electronic Arts and a former WFA Diversity Ambassador. Founder of Second Arrow.
  • Adam Swann Adam
    Former Global Media leader at Kellogg's, now independent. Hugely helpful in developing the global media agenda as the WFA built up its capabilities in this area.

Sourcing

  • Ekaterina Agafonova Ekaterina
    Former global marketing procurement lead at Heineken, now Director Optimisation – Global Sales. First to represent the Sourcing Function on WFA's Executive Committee.
  • Tracy Allery Tracy
    Former Diageo, Hershey, Mondelez, Nestle sourcing lead, now with IBM. Passionate leader and first co-chair of Sourcing Board. Instrumental in leading Project Spring and other WFA reports. Strong support to recruit new members and develop our network.
  • Barry Byrne Barry
    Former Diageo, SAB Miller/ABI and adidas marketing procurement lead, now looking after EVP at adidas. Strong supporter of the need to change the face of marketing procurement and first co-chair of WFA's Global Sourcing Board.
  • Jean-Luc Charlier Jean-Luc
    Former P&G, AB InBev and Philips marketing procurement leader. Chairman of WFA's sourcing community and leader for the Belgian Advertiser's Association (UBA).
  • Natasha Lee Natasha
    Former Cadbury/Mondelez and SAB Miller/ABI and Danone procurement lead. Industry leader and mentor to WFA on establishing an effective community for marketing sourcing professionals.
  • Sarah Madden Armstrong Sarah
    Former Coca-Cola sourcing chief now with Google. Sarah's leadership helped define a unique, open-source VBR, inspiring a generation of Sourcing Forum members.
  • Debbie Morrison Debbie
    Former ISBA (UK) sourcing lead, now with Ebiquity. Instigator of WFA adopting marketing procurement as a workstream following ISBA's lead. A long-time supporter of WFA.
  • Hiten Patel Hiten
    Former sourcing lead with Nokia. First chair of Global COMPAG – which went on to become the Sourcing Forum. Generous with his time, hosting and leadership.
  • Tiow Wei Yeong Tiow
    Former Diageo marketing sourcing lead in Asia, now with Mondelez. Intrumental in helping to drive the Sourcing Forum agenda from cost to value and develop the foundations of WFA's Project Spring.
  • Jen McLachlan & Chris Kredo ‎ Jen McLachlan & Chris Kredo
    Global mktg procurement VPs from P&G/ Mars, now co-chairing the Sourcing Board and playing an active role to connect WFA communities and elevate procurement in areas such as D&I and media.

Policy

  • Matthias Berninger Matthias
    The former policy leader at Mars where he helped set up the EU Pledge, then moved to Bayer. A former WFA Deputy President who helped gain global visibility for the WFA's policy agenda.
  • David Coleman David
    A long-time supporter of WFA policy work in both Europe and beyond both at McDonald's and Mars. He played a key role in driving EU pledge and always looked to raise the bar on responsible food marketing.
  • Brian Ellis Brian
    Former marketing and policy lead at Hasbro and the first chair of the Policy Action Group (PAG). A long-time supporter of WFA's progressive policy agenda.
  • Paul Jackson Paul
    The first senior marketer to get involved with the WFA policy agenda. Helped marketers understand the policy implications on marketing and was a tireless advocate for children's media literacy.
  • Stephen Kehoe Stephen
    Former policy leader at Pepsico, Visa, then Edelman. An inspirational leader in the public affairs community and an early advocate for the Better Marketing agenda.
  • Hans Merkle Hans
    Former P&G policy lead & WFA President who played a decisive role in restructuring WFA during its toughest financial times and setting out an ambitious vision for the future.
  • Phil Myers Phil
    Former PepsiCo global policy lead. A former WFA Deputy President who helped shape the WFA global policy agenda on food marketing.
  • Mary Catherine Toker Mary Catherine
    Led Global Policy at General Mills, played a critical role in supporting WFA's global policy outreach and helped align WFA work with that of the International Food and Beverage Alliance (IFBA). Long-time Executive Committee member
  • Miguel Veiga-Pestana Miguel
    Former policy lead at Unilever, then moved to Reckitt to shape their sustainability agenda. Now spokesperson for COP28 in UAE. Laid the foundations for the WFA global policy agenda.
  • Astrid Williams Astrid
    Policy lead at PepsiCo and long-time chair of WFA's Responsible Advertising & Children (RAC). She made RAC the global industry reference point for the debate around advertising and children.

Associations

  • Jean Luc Chetrit Jean Luc
    Director General of Union des maques and ongoing WFA Treasurer. Is one of the leading voices on brand safety, DEI and environmental sustainability within WFA's network of national associations.
  • Malcolm Earnshaw Malcolm
    WFA President Emeritus and former Director General of ISBA (UK). A champion of the need for global marketing industry leadership through WFA.
  • Bob Liodice Bob
    Chief Executive Oficer of the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) in the USA. Long-time WFA Regional VP North America. Big supporter of the WFA's media transparency agenda.
  • Ron Lund Ron
    Head of the Canadian association and twice chair of WFA's National Associations' Council. Has helped build a closely knit group of peers through his charisma and bonhomie.
  • Jorge Merino Jorge
    Former Director General of ANDA Peru, regional thought-leader and the first chair of WFA's Latin American network.
  • Bharat Patel Bharat
    An Indian advertising industry legend and long-time business leader with Procter & Gamble. A fierce advocate for better media measurement and a current member of WFA's Executive Committee.
  • Philip Perez Philip
    Long-time WFA Regional VP Latin America who played a key role in fostering collaboration among Latam national associations and setting out a regional advertiser agenda.
  • Ahmet Pura Ahmet
    The long-time President of the Turkish association (RVD) played a key role in building the reputation of WFA in Turkey and bringing Turkish brands into WFA membership.
  • Phil Smith Phil
    Director General of ISBA (UK). Champion of global architechture and local implementation of strategic priorities for the marketing community, including Cross-media measurement, GARM and AdNetZero.
  • Hideto Takada Hideto
    The WFA go-to-person at the Japanese association (JAA) for more than 20 years. Helped build a close partnership between WFA and JAA.

Responsibility & Insights

  • Jamie Barnard Jamie
    Former long-serving counsel at Unilever, privacy champion, co-founder of WFA's Digital Governance Exchange and author of some of WFA's most pioneering work on data ethics.
  • Count Metello Rossi di Montelera Count Metello Rossi
    Martini & Rossi fame. Convened the first meeting of 10 national asociations to form the Union Internationale des Associations d'Annonceurs (UIAA - later WFA) on 14 May 1953.
  • Giovanni Fabris Giovanni
    Former McDonald's global media lead and media audience measurement guru. Co-author of the first Media Charter and Global Guidelines for Television Audience Measurement.
  • Ian Hutchinson Ian
    Former Global Media Lead at Reckitt and chair of the Media Forum. Helped champion WFA's value in terms of being a unique peer-to-peer platform as well as furthering our work around media transparency and ad fraud.
  • Mikko Kotila Mikko
    Self-proclaimed "mad scientist" who co-authored some of the industry's most seminal and revealing work on topics including the programmatic supply-chain and ad fraud.
  • Sorin Patilinet Sorin
    Sorin Patilinet. Senior Director, Consumer Insights at Mars who recently became the Insight Forum's new Chairperson, bringing a leadership voice to the community and huge expertise in Marketing Effectiveness.
  • David Porter David
    Former Unilever media lead and industry champion. David was our regional VP and played a vital role in WFA's development in Asia Pacific - and in supporting our strategic priorities globally including GARM.
  • Magid Souhami Magid
    Former P&G and General Mills sourcing lead and now Chief Client Officer at Compliant. Strong supporter of the DGX agenda to help marketers' take back control of data collection in the programmatic value chain.
  • Jacqui Stephenson Jacqui
    Responsible Marketing Leader at Mars who is chair and co-founder of WFA's Digital Governance Exchange.
  • Giorgia Vulcano Giorgia
    The Global Digital Ethics Manager at AB InBev and a key contributor to 2022 WFA Guide to Data Ethics in Practice and driver of data ethics workshops.

Partners

  • Richard Bleasdale Richard
    Formerly of Observatory International now with Construct Digital, a long-time supporter of WFA's growth in Asia and beyond. Generous and wise in his council.
  • Jillian Gibbs Jillian
    Award-winning entrepreneur who is ever-ready to support the development of the marketing industry in the USA and globally, not least through WFA.
  • Paul Kemp-Robertson Paul
    Co-founder of Contagious and a long-time partner with WFA, inspiring WFA members with creativity and helped inform WFA's Better Marketing agenda.
  • Nick Manning Nick
    Media industry mensch and long-serving strategy lead for Ebiquity who oversaw Ebiquity becoming WFA's first strategic partner in 2012.
  • Alastair Ray Alastair
    Former journalist and now communications consultant. He is a long-time trusted partner of WFA on communications and has been making WFA colleagues, and our members, sound great for more than 10 years.
  • Rocco Renaldi Rocco
    Founded public policy consultancy Landmark with WFA as his first client. Played a key role in shaping WFA's Better Marketing agenda in the policy arena.
  • Ruben Schreurs Ruben
    Founder of Digital Decisions and now Chief Product Officer with Ebiquity. He remains a WFA strategic partner and advocate for the growth of WFA and our network of national advertiser associations.
  • Jon Wilkins Jon
    Co-founder of Naked Communications, now with Accenture Song. Jon was instrumental in helping WFA establish our Integration Forum and has made a huge contribution to defining WFA's Better Marketing agenda.
  • Lucinda Peniston-Baines & Stuart Pocock ‎ Lucinda Peniston-Baines & Stuart Pocock
    Co-owners of Observatory International. Long-standing strategic partners of the WFA and huge contributors of member value, not least in relation to agency management.
  • Rob Oliver & Tom Bainton ‎ Rob Oliver & Tom Bainton
    Rob Oliver and Tom Bainton at Coolbox. First worked with WFA more than 13 years ago and continue to push us to improve as AV storytellers. Loved by WFA team and members alike – great partners and collaborators.

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