new
new
Chief executive, Thinkbox
Following a career in advertising at agencies including McCann Erickson and J Walter Thompson, Lindsey's love of telly drew her to Thinkbox, the UK marketing body for commercial TV, where she now leads the brilliant team who make it their mission to help brands get the best out of today’s TV.
Lindsey is a passionate and persuasive advocate of the power of TV advertising, the benefits of gender equality and the joy of netball.
A regular industry speaker, commentator and awards judge, Lindsey is also a member and former president of WACL (Women in Advertising and Communication Leadership), a member and former president of the Global TV Group, a fellow of the Marketing Society, an honorary fellow of the IPA and a member of the Marketing Group of Great Britain. Lindsey is a trustee of The Rank Foundation and chaired the Rank Fellowship, its School Leadership Award alumni group. She also serves as a non-exec director of its TV production company, CTVC.
Lindsey
Clay
CEO, The Marketing Society
Sophie Devonshire’s career began with classic management training at Procter & Gamble and then Coca-Cola. She later moved agency-side with Leo Burnett in the Middle East and Interbrand in London. She set up her own ecommerce business during the global financial crisis, which she sold before running a luxury gifts business and an award-winning business consultancy.
In July 2020, Sophie became CEO of The Marketing Society, a global community of senior marketers whose purpose is to empower brave leaders. Founded in London in 1959, it now has hubs in the UK, the UAE, the US, India, Singapore and Hong Kong.
She is a passionate advocate of flexible and dynamic working as the future of effective companies. Her book on 21st-century leadership, Superfast: Lead at Speed, was published by John Murray Press and was shortlisted for Business Book of the Year, as well as reaching the number one spot on Amazon.
Sophie
devonshire
Partner, Passionbrand, and Marketing Week columnist
Helen Edwards has an MBA from London Business School and a PhD in marketing. An award-winning business columnist, she is a regular industry awards judge and speaker. She is co-author of the publication Creating Passion Brands: How to Build Emotional Brand Connection with Customers, and is a partner at strategic brand consultancy Passionbrand.
Helen is a member of the executive education teaching team for brand management at London Business School and works extensively as a consultant for clients that have included Johnson & Johnson, MetLife, BBC Worldwide, Avon, Nando’s and Wella. She also writes a monthly column for Marketing Week.
Helen
Edwards
CEO, Pearl & Dean
Kathryn Jacob has extensive experience in many areas of the media industry, including national newspapers, magazines and radio. She has also turned her hand to running cross-media initiatives that expanded her role into television, posters, radio and cinema.
Now, as CEO of Pearl & Dean, she focuses on film and cinema. Building on the cinema advertising company’s reputation, her team has grown its activities outside of the usual tried-and-tested venues into pop-up cinema, cinemas on luxury ships, film partnerships and product placement.
Previously, Kathryn was managing director of SMG Access, commercial director of Virgin Radio and agency sales director
of IPC Magazines.
Kathryn
Jacob
Founder and CEO, The Marketing Academy
Sherilyn Shackell is the founder and CEO of The Marketing Academy, a unique non-profit organisation dedicated to the development of leadership talent in the world of marketing, media and advertising. In the UK, Australia and US, it brings together some of the world’s best-known brands to provide world-class learning for young leaders through to CMOs.
When she gets the chance, Sherilyn writes about talent engagement and development – a particular passion – and all things ‘leadership’, and her many articles have been published in The Sunday Times, Fast Company, The Telegraph, AdNews, Marketing Week, AdWeek and Management Today. Her background includes 25 years spent as a board-level headhunter before selling her company, and she served on the global board of IMD International Search Group. She is currently a board advisor to Grace Blue executive search CMO practice and WeAreFearless.
Sherilyn Shackell
Outgoing director general, ISBA
Phil Smith’s broad marketing and general management career, which has spanned packaged goods, grocery retail, consultancy and marketing technology startups, has served him well as director general of ISBA, the voice of British advertisers. As he steps down after eight years in the role, he will become chair of Origin, the cross-media measurement tool he helped to establish while at ISBA.
He spent 10 years at Kraft, latterly as vice-president of strategy for Western Europe, and was marketing and trading director for Kwiksave before joining the board of Somerfield as group marketing director. Phil joined National Lottery operator Camelot in 2002, becoming commercial and operations director before being appointed managing director of Musgrave GB in 2007. He was commercial director for the 1,000-boat Thames diamond jubilee pageant in 2012.
He has also worked on a number of early-stage digital businesses, most recently with Ecrebo, the point-of-sale marketing specialist.
Phil
Smith
CEO, Advertising Association
Stephen was appointed CEO of the Advertising Association in 2016. The AA promotes the role and rights of responsible advertising and its value to people, society, business and the economy. All the key advertising trade bodies, commercial media owners and tech platforms are members of the AA. Prior to joining, Stephen held management roles in four agency groups (Leo Burnett, WCRS/Engine, Adam&eveDDB and Next 15). He is a governor of Ravensbourne University in London.
Stephen is a past president of NABS and serves on the board of the History of Advertising Trust. He was IPA president between 2003 and 2005, when he led the organisation's first ethnic diversity initiative and launched its professional qualifications for new industry entrants, which more than 20,000 people have now passed in the UK and around the world.
Stephen Woodford
Former CMO, RBS Group
Described by Marketing Week in February 2021 as blissfully semi-retired, David Wheldon is non-executive chairman of Pablo, senior advisor to Lansons, a member of the corporate advisory boards of The Donmar Warehouse and Teenage Cancer Trust and a mentor/coach. He is the president emeritus of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and presents its Better Marketing podcast. He is also an ex-chair of the MGGB, fellow of the IPA, fellow of The Marketing Society and was awarded an OBE in 2021 for services to advertising and marketing.
He had a long and varied full-time career, starting out in advertising at Saatchi & Saatchi in 1983 and ending as chief marketing and communications officer of RBS Group (now known as NatWest Group), retiring from the role and his position on the executive committee in March 2020.
David
Wheldon
JUDGES
CEO, Glow London
Emma Harris spent a decade at Eurostar leading major commercial and brand transformation, and drove growth through reinvention, crisis leadership and customer experience innovation. Today, as founder and CEO of Glow London, Emma heads a team dedicated to helping businesses unlock sustainable growth through aligning brand, culture and leadership, working across both B2B and B2C.
She also serves as global chair of The Marketing Academy Alumni programme, a global community of 1,500 senior marketers, and founded the #slowthef*ckdown movement, which advocates for mental and physical wellbeing to avoid burnout and drive growth. Emma won Mentor of the Year at Campaign’s Female Frontier Awards 2023, earned a spot on Campaign’s 40 Over 40, and in 2024 was named a Fellow of the Marketing Society, a Marketing Week Change Maker and one of Campaign’s top 10 Trailblazers.
EMMA HARRIS
CEO, Digitas UK
As CEO, Anne Stagg is responsible for supercharging growth and positioning Digitas as the connected experience company within Publicis Groupe UK. She was previously CEO of Dentsu's UK and Ireland customer experience practice, and CEO of Merkle UK sitting on its European leadership team. She was influential in shaping Dentsu’s approach to customer engagement.
Previously, Stagg was managing director at Indicia and chief client officer at parent company KMMS, where she was responsible for driving client growth and satisfaction. She also has a background in data-driven marketing, first at Experian then as board director of client services and analytics at more2.
Stagg believes strong cultures build strong work. As an advocate for diversity, equity and inclusion, she champions equal parental leave and served as an executive sponsor for parent and carer networks, while consistently mentoring and promoting talent from within.
ANNE STAGG
analysis
methodology
judges
