Image gallery Videos

Pernod Ricard's CMO, Martin Riley, remains President

Matthias Berninger, Vice-President of Public Affairs at Mars, named Deputy President

Senior executives from L'Oréal and Grupo Bimbo named as Regional Vice-Presidents

Sydney, March 25: The World Federation of Advertisers has named a new leadership team with 12 new appointments to its executive committee and other senior positions. The Executive Committee is the senior decision-making body in the organization and is charged with devising and steering WFA strategy.

The Executive Committee is made up of senior marketers and public affairs executives in order to reflect the dual mission of the WFA: to help marketers be more effective and efficient in terms of their marketing communications spend while helping brand owners protect and future proof their license to operate through advocacy and effective self-regulation. It also includes senior corporate figures and heads of national advertiser associations.

Unless otherwise stated, all appointments are effective immediately. Those taking up senior positions include:

• Martin Riley, CMO at Pernod Ricard, remains President, a position he was appointed to in March 2013.
• Matthias Berninger, Vice-President, Public Affairs, Mars becomes Deputy President. He replaces Stephen Kehoe, Head of Global Financial Inclusion & Regional Corporate Relations, VISA Worldwide.
• Mike Hughes, Director General of the Incorporated Society of British Advertisers (ISBA) becomes Treasurer of the WFA. He replaces Gérard Noël, Vice President & Director General of the French Advertisers Association (UDA).
• Loïc Armand, President, L'Oréal France, becomes the new Regional Vice-President for Western Europe. He replaces Paul Jackson, formerly External Advertising Affairs Director at Mars.
• Idorenyen Enang, Managing Director for Central & West Africa at L'Oréal becomes the new Regional Vice-President for Africa. He previously undertook the same role between 2010 and 2012 when working for Samsung. Since 2012, the post has remained empty.
• Javier Medrano, Senior Vice-President of Marketing at Grupo Bimbo, will become the Regional Vice President for Latin America from July 1 this year. He will replace Mario Davis, President of the Chilean Advertisers Association (ANDA Chile).

Regional Vice-Presidents play a critical role as regional ambassadors for WFA, working closely with corporate and national association members in order to steer WFA priorities and co-ordinate regional action as well as representing the region on the global executive. All of the appointments above will serve two-year terms.
Other new members of the Executive committee comprise:

• Michael Birkin, Chief Marketing Officer, Acer
• Pierre-Jean Bozo, Director General, UDA (France)
• Mariann Coleman, Director Global Agency Management, Intel Corporation
• Barbara Krajnc, Director General of the Slovenian Advertisers Association (SOZ)
• Eleonore Ogrinz, Head of International Advertising, Red Bull
• Joris Pollet, Director Government Relations & Public Affairs EMEA & Asia, P&G;
• Roel de Vries, Corporate Vice-President, Nissan Motor Co. Ltd.
• Wouter Vermeulen, PAC Director, Energy Balance, EU, Coca-Cola
• David Wheldon, Managing Director, Brand, Reputation, Citizenship & Marketing, Barclays

The executive committee meets quarterly to determine the WFA's priorities and guide the organisation's strategy. The full list of executive committee members can be seen here: https://wb01.wfanet.org/en/executive

“We're delighted that so many senior marketers and public affairs executives are willing to devote their time to serve on our Executive and ensure that the WFA drives action on brand owners' priority issues. I take it as a sign that the work we do is taken extremely seriously when people with such demanding roles can add this responsibility to their day job. Equally, my sincere thanks go to our departing executive committee members and regional vice presidents for the time and effort they have put into the organisation” said Stephan Loerke, Managing Director of the WFA.

-ends-

For all media enquiries please contact:
Alastair Ray
[email protected]
+44 1600 713 987
+44 7941 428 243

Note for editors:

The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) is the voice of marketers worldwide, representing 90% of global marketing communications spend – roughly US$700 billion per annum – through a unique, global network of the world's biggest markets and biggest marketers. WFA's champions responsible and effective marketing communications worldwide. More information at www.wfanet.org