Our team
I lead the WFA team. I love the job because it sits at the intersection of my two passions: marketing and public affairs and that’s where I think some of the most exciting opportunities and challenges for marketers will emerge in the years ahead.
I'm a global citizen, a keen traveller and a passionate skier. I live in Brussels with my wife, Sabine, and my two sons, Sebastian and Alexandre.
David Wheldon
WFA President and CMO, RBS
David is the President of the WFA as of March 2015. He is the first-ever chief marketing officer of the Royal Bank of Scotland, responsible for all aspects of brand, marketing, communication, and corporate responsibility.
Prior to joining the executive board of RBS, he has spent three years at Barclays as managing director of brand, reputation, citizenship and marketing.
David started his career at Saatchi & Saatchi as a graduate trainee where he rose to Group Account Director. He then moved on to be the Managing Director of Lowe Howard-Spink in London, before being recruited to Global Director and Vice President of Advertising for the Coca-Cola Company based in Atlanta. David then returned to the agency world as President of BBDO Europe and then joined Tempus as a main board director and CEO of Tempus Partners which was later to be purchased by WPP, where David set up Team Vodafon. He joined Vodafone in mid-2004 and became Global Brand Director in 2005, later becoming the CEO of Vodafone Ireland Marketing Ltd in January 2008. David left Vodafone in September 2010 returning to live and work in London.
I lead WFA’s advocacy work on digital advertising and I manage the Digital Governance Exchange working group. Before joining WFA, I worked as a brand marketer at P&G where I led brand initiatives and championed digital innovation. I’ve worked and lived in Geneva, London and Paris but have now settled in Brussels, where the chocolate is (in my opinion) the best in the world.
I support the team in implementing WFA’s internal and external communications plan. Born in Belgium and bred in the Philippines, I worked for the communications department of the European Parliament. I'm an amateur record collector and enjoy Netflix, Snapchat and other shiny new objects.
I support WFA corporate members in Asia by helping to build on the existing working groups and nurture fully-fledged regional CDO and CMO groups. A Singaporean national, I previously worked in various digital marketing roles at Samsung.
My work primarily revolves around initiatives such as the Coalition for Better Ads and Value of Advertising. With Agnieszka, I also look after Policy Action Group. I was previously Project Officer for the European Interactive Digital Advertising Alliance (EDAA), a Strategic Consultant for IBM Global Business Services and a Communications Intern at the United Nations Secretariat in New York City. I hold a Master's Degree in International Relations and have an impressive collection of comic books.
My role at the WFA is to lead all our marketing projects, which include digital, integrated marketing, insight and sourcing.
I started my professional life in media agencies but my passion is for creativity and collaboration across all marketing disciplines.
Happily, my role enables to mix with some of the most talented, creative people in the world.
I've worked and lived in Canada and Belgium but am now based in the UK. I am a proud husband and father to three hybrid British-Canadian children.
I manage WFA's remote knowledge exchange and facilitate the interaction with our Latin American members through initiatives such as our LATAM Regional Meeting. After almost seven years in market research and retail marketing in LATAM, I moved to Europe for a Masters in International Marketing and decided to stay. I love cooking Colombian and Mexican food. On weekends, I can often be seen strolling the streets of Brussels on my bike. I'm a big animal lover, especially dogs!
I've worked on food marketing and the issues around marketing to children for the last 12 years so I've seen up close how brands can find themselves on the wrong side of public policy debates. That experience led to Project Reconnect, the WFA's effort to bring global brand marketers together with regulators, kids and parents to help define how brands should behave in the digital age. Former hack, avid linguist and traveller, I recently moved back to Brussels from Singapore together with my wife and two unruly boys.
Prior to joining the WFA I worked as a media planner and buyer and as a consultant, gaining an in-depth knowledge of the mechanics of paid media markets and the unfolding ad-tech ecosystem.
That was the perfect training for my current role on the WFA’s MEDIAFORUM, where I organize research and benchmarking services as well as identifying topics for discussion on critical global media issues.
Outside of work, I spend time negotiating the clogged arteries of Brussels and negotiating with my two-year-old daughter at home.
I help brands get best value from marketing and marketing agencies. Since 2006, I’ve led the WFA’s work on global marketing procurement. That means helping marketers tackle thorny issues such as payments, remuneration, contracts and agency management. I also work with procurement teams to demonstrate how they can work intelligently with marketing to focus on driving value, rather than cutting costs. I’m based in Brussels, where I’m cultivating an expensive addiction to collecting old guitars.
My core task at the WFA is to manage the IMCForum, a pioneering group for multinational marketers who want to exchange knowledge and experiences that will help improve their integrated marketing communications.
The group is growing year on year and now meets regularly on three continents.
A French national of Cambodian-Chinese origin, I speak four languages. My next linguistic challenges are to learn Tamil - my husband’s mother tongue – and Flemish as I live in the Dutch-speaking part of Belgium.
It’s a rich heritage that I am trying to pass on to my two daughters, along with my passion for food.