• Transform magazine
  • October 05, 2024

Top

North America

The judges

alt

The Transform Awards is judged by a broad range of in-house industry experts in branding, marketing, and corporate communications.

Each year we invite the previous year's winners of the 'Grand prix' and 'Best overall visual identity' awards to join the panel, and these judges fill two agency slots.

We will also welcome audio branding experts to join the panel to review our audio branding category alone and 4-5 leading agency figures to judge the special recognition section alone.

 

alt

Scoring is based on a points system and the judges submit these scores anonymously. The judges mark the entries against the criteria mentioned within the entry and information guide: challenge, strategy, creativity/innovation and results.

Our judging system is rigorous and fair. If a judge has entered a specific category they will be exempt from reviewing that category, to avoid a conflict of interest.

Winners are determined by the scores they receive and the entries that score high enough will be shortlisted, invited to attend the awards ceremony and awarded with a trophy. We also provide detailed feedback on agencies’ work after the awards evening, which proves useful for future entries.

 

alt

If you are interested in the opportunity to judge and believe you have the necessary background, please email Olivia Connelly at oconnelly@transformmagazine.net with a short biography for consideration.

 

alt

Below you can see our wonderful judging panel for 2024. Learn more about the judges by clicking on the headshots to read their biographies.

Guto Andrade
Head of Brand- Amazon Fashion and Fitness
Amazon

Guto boasts over 25 years of experience in the creative realm, collaborating with prestigious brands worldwide. Armed with degrees in Architecture and Visual Com-munications Design, he excels in tackling a variety of design and branding hurdles. Presently, Guto spearheads the Brand and Creative team at Amazon Fashion and Fitness, striving to position Amazon as the ultimate destination for fashion and fit-ness enthusiasts. Throughout his career, he has held influential creative positions at Motorola, Sony Electronics, Hilton Hotels, Under Armour, and global branding agen-cy Lippincott, in addition to managing his own successful creative venture.

Juan Ascanio
Head of Brand Marketing
Concacaf

Juan is Head of Brand Marketing at the Confederation of North, Central America, and The Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf), where he oversees the strategy of the portfolio of brands, and in-stadium fan experience programs. Juan is passionate about the Concacaf’s “Football First” culture, as well as supporting all the efforts of the Confederation to make the brands strong and relevant to all football fans across the region.

Previously, Juan managed brands in CPG companies, including Kellogg’s for the Venezuelan market, and GP Batteries for LatAm. Another big passion of Juan is producing in-stadium infotainment programs and pre-game shows. In 2022, Juan was Lead Manager for the FIFA World Cup final Pre-match ceremony at Lusail Stadium in Qatar.

David Benaham
Brand Creative Manager
Reddit

David currently works as the Brand Creative Manager at Reddit. Reddit’s mission is to bring community and belonging to everyone around the world. David ensures the brand is represented consistently throughout all markets globally while also maintain-ing the integrity and authenticity of our users and platform. Overseeing out of home campaigns, user acquisition, social media, partnerships, NFTs, and on platform events.

He previously was Head of Design on the agency side at DEPT. Working with Spoti-fy, Google, Twitch, Waze, and JetBlue. Before that, he was also part of the brand creative team at MTV as a Senior Art Director.

He is a Pratt Institute graduate for Communications Design: Advertising/Art Direc-tion.

Jess Bernard
Senior Brand Manager
The Coca-Cola Company

Jessica Bernard is a Senior Brand Manager at The Coca-Cola Company, where she is the brand lead for the North America launch of Fanta's new persistent platform, which will be followed by a global launch. Fanta is billion-dollar brand with 97% awareness in the US alone, and is enjoyed by consumers in over 190 countries around the world.

She came over to Coke from Ferrero, where she led the LTO and Seasonal busi-ness for Keebler Cookies. Prior to that, she worked at Kraft Heinz on iconic brands including MiO, Crystal Light, Kool Aid, and Capri Sun. Some of her favorite career experiences to date have included leading experientials for iconic brands and inno-vating and launching LTO products in coordination with media and entertainment partners.

She has a BS in Neuroscience from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Ivan Cayabyab
Senior Vice President of Brand
Moody's

Ivan Cayabyab recently joined Moody's as Senior Vice President of Brand in 2023. Prior to Moody's, he was the Head of Global Brand Management for Morgan Stanley, where he led the firm’s brand strategy, engagement and visual identity initiatives. He was a Senior Global Brand Manager at Yahoo, leading the rollout of a new logo and identity system. Prior to Yahoo, Ivan spent six years at GE Corporate, helping to grow GE’s image as one of the world’s most innovative B2B brands, and two years at Sterling Brands, where he managed a number of strategic and design projects for iconic brands such as Target, Disney, IBM and Ben & Jerry’s.

Alexandra Cerruti
Managing director
Design Bridge and Partners

Alexandra Cerruti is a visionary leader with a passion for design and a commitment to driving business results through creativity and innovation. With 15 years of experience in brand design, Alex’s mission is to redefine how design is perceived and what it can do for brands, businesses and people.

Since stepping into the Managing Director position of Design Bridge Singapore in 2020, Alex has been responsible for driving the success and development of the agency within SEA and India markets and is responsible for the overall strategic direction, management, and performance of the agency.

French by heritage, life enthusiast by nature and Asian traveller by passion, Alex has an academic background in Business Management, Marketing & Communications and has achieved the INSEAD “Leading for Results” Executive program in 2022. These, combined with an infectious dose of high energy and drive, have equipped her with the tools to run a successful business.

Joan Colletta
Formerly Senior director, marketing transformation, Global Brand Leadership Team
McDonalds

Joan is a distinguished marketing leader with a proven track record of driving transformative growth for some of the world’s most iconic brands. With a unique blend of experience across client-side, creative agency, and media domains, she is celebrated for her influential leadership, strategic prowess, role as a change agent and creative catalyst. Most recently known for leading McDonald’s global creative program, she helped drive a brand and creative renaissance for the Golden Arches, resulting in unprecedented business results and recognition as the Most Effective Global Brand by both WARC and Effie’s multiple years in a row.

Prior to McDonald’s, Joan was Managing Partner, Communications Planning Lead for Mindshare North America, and held leadership positions at Miller Brewing Company, Cramer-Krasselt and Leo Burnett. Over the course of her career, she’s created meaningful, culturally relevant connections between people and an impressive roster of leading brands including Corona, Heinz, Miller, General Mills, Kellogg’s, The Gap, Allstate, Hallmark among many others.

James Cooper
Global head of partnerships
For The People

James is Global Head of Partnerships at For The People, one of the world’s leading independent branding agencies with studios in the US, Australia, and New Zealand. He has 15 years experience in brand strategy, storytelling, and leadership roles. Today, he guides the agency’s partnerships with impactful leaders, organizations, and communities to build better brands that are honest, ambitious, and always…for the people. Before joining FTP, James worked with international clients and agencies including Shopify, eBay, Rocket Lab, Interbrand, FutureBrand, and FCB Global. He is a passionate advocate of wellbeing in the creative industry, nature, and all things music.

Regina Davis
Brand Marketing Lead
Yum! Brands

Regina Davis is an experienced marketing professional with over 15 years of experience. In her current role at Pizza Hut, she is a member of the Global brand marketing team, where she serves as the Brand Marketing Lead for a recently formed cross-functional Global Accelerator team. This team’s purpose is to identify key growth opportunities within key growth markets across the Pizza Hut global footprint and build test and learn strategies aimed at driving highest business impact. As the Brand Marketing Lead, she analyzes business performance, shares understanding of consumer needs and recommends and guides consumer-focused and data driven marketing strategies designed to increase transaction growth and profitability.


Prior to joining Pizza Hut, Regina worked for a variety of brands such as Dr Pepper Snapple (now Keurig Dr Pepper), PepsiCo/Frito Lay, JCPenney and Toyota. Her roles have included shopper marketing, brand management and marketing customer strategy. Some of her favorite career experiences to date have included repositioning iconic brands, innovating and launching new consumer products and most recently, stretching her expertise to lead marketing strategies for global markets. She is passionate about brand strategy and considers herself a consumer obsessed marketer. Regina earned her BSS in Psychology from Southern Methodist University and her MBA from Texas A&M University – Commerce.

Steve Green
Senior Creative Director
Nike

Steve Green, Senior Creative Director at Nike based in Portland, Oregon.
In his current capacity, Steve is responsible for overseeing all aspects of art and de-sign for Nike's tee shirt studio on a global scale. Steve has previously served as the Design Director for Men's Running products and as the Product Art Director for Nike Skateboarding.
Before joining Nike in 2011, Steve spent over a decade in New York City, where he held various graphic design positions within the fashion industry. Outside of his pro-fessional endeavors, Steve is actively involved in designing nightlife posters for Be-lieve You Me, a promoter renowned for bringing international electronic music DJs to Portland.
A lifelong enthusiast of music subculture and skateboarding, Steve's design ethos is deeply rooted in these passions, reflecting a unique and dynamic perspective in his work.

Kelley Grover
Director of Brand Identity, Standards & Protection
Deloitte

Kelley Grover is a highly experienced brand and marketing professional with 20 years of experience in the industry. She is currently the Director of Brand Identity, Standards & Protection at Deloitte Global. She is responsible for leading a team of brand managers, designers, and DAM platform admins that create tools, rules and resources to help the network of over 450,000 professionals use the Deloitte brand with consistency and quality. She has a long track record of working collaboratively with internal and external creative agencies to drive business results with omni-channel marketing and brand campaigns. Additionally, she is a part time faculty member at the Rutgers’s School of Communication and Information where she both teaches and has authored a new course on Creative Operations for Everyday Workflow in Digital Asset Management.

Darien Harris
Founding partner
JansenHarris

For more than twenty-five years, Darien has lived and breathed branding. Initially studying Art and Design in South Africa, then holding senior design positions at both Landor and HKLM, Darien now champions the global, multicultural approach that is very much a cornerstone of JansenHarris.
Since co-founding the business in 2010, Darien’s extensive brand-building experience has included partnerships with Abu Dhabi Airport, Accor, Costa Coffee, Marriott International, Jack Daniel’s, Siemens, The Emirates Group, The Macallan, and The Ritz-Carlton.
Darien heads up a multi-disciplined team, leading with courage and integrity. Together their work has been recognised with over 50 regional and international design awards.

Michael Irwin
Creative Director
ESPN

Michael is a multifaceted Creative Director, Brand Strategist, and Visual Storyteller who excels in building impactful brands. Passionate about sports and committed to crafting simple yet enduring solutions, he brings a unique blend of creativity and strategy to his work.
Currently, Michael is a Creative Director at ESPN, where he leads the digital brand and streaming initiatives. His role involves combining compelling storytelling with strategic insight to create deeply rooted connections between people and brands.
Before joining ESPN, Michael spent seven years with the NFL’s in-house creative team. During his tenure, he spearheaded multiple high-profile club rebrands, designed agile logo systems for the Super Bowl, and conceptualized environmental décor for all major seasonal events.
Michael’s extensive experience spans all mediums, including branding, environmental design, broadcast, packaging, experiential marketing, social media, animation, and digital platforms. He has collaborated with a diverse range of brands, such as Heineken, Nike, Pepsi, and Disney. Michael is dedicated to being a visual orchestrator for meaningful experiences.

Steve Keller
Sonic Strategy Director
Studio Resonate | SiriusXM Media

Steve Keller is the Sonic Strategy Director for Studio Resonate, SiriusXM Media’s in-house audio-first creative consultancy, offering support to brands that advertise on the Pandora, SiriusXM, and Soundcloud platforms. He is recognized as one of the world’s leading authorities on sonic strategy and identity, blending art and science into award winning creative content and sonic experiences for a variety of global agencies and brands.

Amanda Kicera
Vice president, Club Brands and Marketing
Major League Soccer

Amanda is Vice President, Club Brands & Marketing at Major League Soccer (MLS) where she primarily supports the League’s 29 Clubs with brand development and driving fan engagement. From helping existing Clubs clarify their purpose to building new-to-world expansion brands and matchday experiences, Amanda is passionate about strengthening Club relevance and helping grow the world’s sport in North America. Previously, Amanda specialized in brand strategy at FutureBrand, working across a variety of sectors. She has built brands for a range of clients including American Airlines, Pitney Bowes, AB InBev and Tupperware.

Kevin Koller
Group Creative Lead
YouTube

Kevin is currently a Group Creative Lead on YouTube Shorts. He began his career at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, crafting award-winning campaigns for MINI, Volkswagen, Miller Lite, and Burger King. He continued his journey on the west coast working at agencies Goodby Silverstein & Partners, 215 McCann, and R/GA, for renowned brands like Sprint, Got Milk?, NBA, Frito Lay, Comcast, Sonic, Xbox, Nike, Ubisoft, and Reddit. Kevin's work has garnered recognition from every major advertising award show, including a Cannes Grand Prix for Reddit's 5-second Super Bowl commercial. When he’s not working on ads or bios, he enjoys making art and playing video games with his son.

Simon Kringel
Founder & Director
Unmute

Simon Kringel is a sonic director and co-founder of Unmute. He started his career as a composer and music producer for TV and commercials. In 2014 Simon joined Chimney, a global creation agency, and ended up as their Head of Music working with a wide range of international clients. The need for a specialized sound agency became more and more evident and in 2018 Simon set out to start Unmute together with his partner Daniel Schougaard. The company has been on a constant rise ever since and is now working with brands and agencies across the globe - connecting them with their audience through sound, music and audible experiences. Simon has created sonic identies for brands like Novo Nordisk, Carlsberg Group, Bank of Ireland, KONE, Volleyball World and UCI.

Victoria Kurzweg
Brand Strategist
Microsoft

Victoria Kurzweg is a brand strategist at Microsoft with an eye towards how branding integrates with emerging technology. Her work focuses on cybersecurity, cloud computing and mixed reality, partnering with other disciplines to build multidimensional product brands as the role of immersive technology expands in our everyday lives.

Victoria came to Microsoft with wide-ranging expertise, including a number of companies that are pushing today’s technology forward. While at the brand consulting firm Siegel+Gale, she developed positioning and brand architecture strategies for Fortune 500 companies including Google, Visa, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and semiconductor producer Global Foundries.

A hands-on builder and creator, Victoria’s multi-disciplinary approach has also been influenced by her experience in web development, public affairs and journalism. She earned her master's in history of international relations from the London School of Economics and currently resides in Los Angeles.

Tiffiny Lai
Marketing Director
Magic Scoop

Tiffiny is the Marketing Director of Magic Scoop Nutrition, where she leads the company’s brand development and marketing. She also spearheads influencer relations and partnerships, a passion fuelled by her own experiences as the Digital Creator of Hergutfeelings, a fun food, lifestyle, and wellness community. Prior to joining Magic Scoop Nutrition, Tiffiny worked with the CFL, NBA and MLSE across multiple verticals such as marketing, licensing, global events and community relations.

Abby McInerney
Creative Director
Audible

Abby McInerney is a Senior Creative Director at Audible, an Amazon company. Here, she is responsible for brand development, go-to-market and brand activations creative. Previously, she spent over a decade at Time Inc., where she led the corporate global brand and worked on best-in-class content brands such as TIME, Sports Illustrated, People, Fortune, InStyle, Food & Wine and Real Simple. Abby is one of the inaugural graduates of the School of Visual Arts Master’s in Branding Program where she held teaching assistant roles for the Unified Theory of Branding and the Origins of Consumer Markets, Brand Identities and Package Design classes. She splits her time between Audible’s NYC-area headquarters, and Rhode Island where she lives with her husband, two kids and two German Shepherds.

Anton Mora
Creative Director
Headspace

Anton is a Creative Director with over 15 years of experience in communications, art direction, and visual design. He has led the creative development of marketing and communications at Headspace.
Anton’s extensive experience with global brands has enabled him to spearhead campaigns across the US and Latin America markets. He is dedicated to crafting work that resonates with culture and delivers value to its audience.
Before joining Headspace, Anton held roles at renowned creative agencies and in-house teams such as TBWA/Media Arts Lab, MediaMonks, and Apple.

 

Mayuri Nikumbh
Head of design
Conran Design Group

With a strong belief in the power of design to convey authentic stories that transform businesses and influence consumer behaviour, Mayuri has led award-winning projects and contributed to the success of both start-ups and global brands.
With a career spanning over two decades, she currently leads the creative vision for Conran Design Mumbai which she helped establish in the middle of the pandemic. Within three years of its inception, Mayuri has helped win notable businesses and awards including Campaign Agency of the Year, Transform Asia and IDA Awards.
Mayuri has been voted as one of India’s 40 under Forty go-getters in the creative field by Impact Magazine and amongst numerous other representations as a leading voice for design, Mayuri has been on the jury panel for Cannes Lions, Spikes Asia as well as all major national festivals including serving as jury chair for Abbys - powered by One Show.

Dominik Prinz-Barley
Head of Brand
Google

Dominik is a global, purpose-driven and industry-recognized C-Suite leader with over 20 years of experience in marketing, business strategy, creative direction, and building some of the world’s most admired brands: Google, Porsche, AT&T, Nissan, (Red), Microsoft, and many others. After holding leadership positions in global brand consultancies like BBDO, Interbrand and others, and is currently the Head of Brand at Google. Dominik has been described as an impatient optimist – and is a firm believer that the integration of business and purpose is a way for brands to create meaningful, positive change. He lives in Richmond, VA, with his husband and their two year old son Maddoxx, who makes sure they both stay curious at heart!

 

Brian Rapp
Creative Director/Brand Manager
CountryMax Stores

Brian heads up an “in-house powerhouse” creative team at CountryMax Stores, a regional retailer specializing in pet supplies, wild bird, and lawn and garden segments. At CountryMax, Brian has guided brand positioning, including development of new audio and video assets, plus several private label product lines. They’re also evolving the company’s email and content marketing efforts and growing its social media following. Before joining CountryMax, Brian was a lifelong agency copywriter and creative director working on B2B accounts, including Xerox, Kodak, Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, and Mastercard. He says the pivot to retail has been a blast. Simpler value propositions. Faster sell cycles and genuine customer for the brand, the products, and the in-store experience.

Stephanie Richa
Head of design | Branding specialist
Chemistry Brand Agency

With over 12 years of experience in the creative and design field, Stephanie Richa is an eclectic brand and visual designer with a strong understanding of entrepreneurship. Specializing in the F&B, hospitality, and event industries, she has collaborated with exciting brands across the Middle-East and Italy, from startups to well-established organizations. Since 2020, as Head of Design at Chemistry, an emerging Brand Hub in Riyadh, Stephanie works closely with brand strategists and marketing experts to help businesses find their competitive positioning and express it through compelling visual identities and design systems.

Kate Richardson
Managing partner
the thrills™

Kate has over 23 years of experience working with leading UK retailers and brands before moving to Australia 14 years ago.
As Managing Partner at thrills™, she is the glue that holds the agency together. Along with her business partner, Rick McEvoy, they champion the strategic thinking and client effectiveness.

She has built long-term partnerships with an array of brands and businesses, including Carman’s, Coles, Priceline, Nestlé, Huon and Bondi Sands. Kate’s undying sense of curiosity inspires everyone in her midst to thrive. To look deeper. Think smarter. Shine brighter.

Gerard Rizzo
Global Design Director
Colgate Palmolive

Gerard is a born and raised New Yorker who studied at the Fashion Institute of Technology developing his passion for graphic design and typography. As a Creative Director, for over 25 years, Gerard has designed and curated visual identities and consumer products for some of the world's most well-known brands like Coca-Cola, Kraft Heinz, Nestle, Pfizer and Kimberly-Clark.
Gerard is currently a Global Design Leader at Colgate Palmolive who collaborates with marketing, innovation, and insights teams to create strategic branding experiences. In this role he carefully crafts narratives that sync with consumers needs and turns them into effective creative solutions displayed across omni channel platforms.

Mat Staab
Global Creative Director
Ciena

Matt is the Global Creative Director at Ciena — a global leader in optical and routing systems, services, and automation software. At Ciena, he leads the in-house creative team spanning design, advertising, and video.
Prior to joining Ciena, Matt held creative leadership positions at brands such as Philips and AT&T, helping to build global brand identities and design systems that define how the brands are expressed across all internal and external activations, campaigns, and experiences. On the agency side, he helped build creative solutions for a wide variety of brands, including Case Knives, Children’s Medical Center, ClubCorp, ExxonMobil, Hyundai, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Neiman Marcus, Nokia, and The Home Depot.

Franziska Stetter
Creative Director
Interbrand

Franziska Stetter, currently at Interbrand New York as a Creative Director, is an award-winning Graphic Designer and artist.

In her current role, she leads large international projects across all sectors and channels, delivering innovative and impactful brand experiences that connect with consumers and drive business growth.

Franziska holds an MFA in Graphic Design from Rhode Island School of Design where she studied with two Fulbright scholarships. She has previously worked at Pentagram NY and gained experience in the UK, Switzerland, and Germany.

Alexander Wodrich
Managing Director
why do birds

Alexander Wodrich is managing director of why do birds, a Berlin-based agency for audio branding, motion and service design. Founded in 2010 the agency employs 25 people. Their clients include companies from 17 countries such as Siemens, Hyundai, GORE-TEX, Ferrari and Deutsche Bahn. why do birds is considered one of the most creative and awarded audio branding consultancies. Alexander has a degree in business and has also been a successful musician for the most part of his life.

Brian Yap
Creative Director
Adobe

Currently a Creative Director at Adobe, building campaigns for the design and creative cloud segments. As someone who came to Adobe with a unique story using their products, I found a huge amount of passion for sharing others' experience and focusing that into creative campaign content. With almost 25 years experience in creative fields I have had the pleasure of working as a product designer on toys, digital artists and art director in advertising, clothing designer, illustrator and marketing creative director. Experience that seemed like a wild ride until it all made perfect sense and gave me the perfect background for where I landed.
As a navy kid I grew up all over the US, attending VCU School of the Arts, and landing back where I belong on the west coast being continually surprised that curiosity, paying attention and a love of drawing could get me this far.

Sponsors
ALIGN YOUR BUSINESS WITH THE GLOBAL CELEBRATION OF BRAND DEVELOPMENT

We have a number of sponsorship options available. For more information please email Andrew Thomas at athomas@transformmagazine.net or call the office on +44 (0)20 3950 5356.

Supporting Partners
INTERESTED IN BEING A SUPPORTING PARTNER OF THE TRANSFORM AWARDS?

We'd love to hear from you! Email Lauren Ditcher at lditcher@transformmagazine.net or call the office on +44 (0)20 3950 5356.