Ajaz Ahmed, founder and chief executive officer of AKQA, has been chosen to be the President of the Lisbon International Advertising Festival 2018 Executive Jury Panel.

Ahmed founded the innovation agency when he was just age 21. AKQA today employs around 2,000 people across 23 studios in 15 countries worldwide. Its clients include Nike, BBC and Rolls Royce, and it is the winner of a Queen’s Award for Enterprise Innovation, the highest accolade bestowed on business in the UK. Ahmed co-authored the two best-selling business books, Velocity and Limitless. All proceeds from his books and speeches are donated to charities voted for by employees of AKQA.

This year will be the third edition of Lisbon Advertising Festival, a global award of advertising creativity based in Portugal. Its aim is to award the best in the world, but also the best work in each region. Past jury presidents include Washington Olivetto, owner of W/Brasil, in 2016 and Jacques Séguéla, co-founder of RSCG, in 2017.

The Festival is open for entries and those who register their work now will benefit from significant discounts. The early bird discount ends on May 31.

“We want to be the Festival that most prioritises the importance of creativity – on a world level – but we also want to be the one that most points to the future of the advertising industry,” – stated Lisbon Advertising Festival chief executive officer, Ana Firmo Ferreira.

“This is a festival which was born to lead worldwide and proves that agencies which want to lead the future have to count on Lisbon Crows to be a part of their trophy shelf.”