The Glue Society founder, Jonathan Kneebone, is one of the world’s top-ranking creative leaders invited onto D&AD’s first ever Advisory Board.

“I am very proud to have been chosen to represent Australia on the new Global Advisory Panel for D&AD. It is a rather esteemed group, so I will do my best to live up to expectations,” he commented.

John Mescall, global executive creative director and global creative council president of McCann Worldgroup and Nick Worthington, creative chairman of Colenso BBDO New Zealand have also joined D&AD’s collection of the world’s top creative adpeople:

On the D&AD Advisory Board are:

• Cheyney Robinson, Chief Experience Officer, EMEA and APAC, Isobar
• Colleen DeCourcy, CCO, Wieden + Kennedy
• Corinna Falusi, CCO and Partner, Mother NY
• David Lee, CCO, Squarespace
• Dörte Spengler-Ahrens, ECD, Jung Von Matt/SAGA
• Eddie Opara, Partner, Pentagram
• Farid Mokart, Founder and Creative President, Fred & Farid
• Jaime Perlman, Founder and Creative Director, Jaime Perlman Studio
• Joanna Monteiro, CCO, FCB Brasil
• Sir John Hegarty, Founder, BBH London
• John Mescall, Global Executive Creative Director and Global Creative Council President, McCann Worldgroup
• John O’Keeffe, Worldwide Creative Director, WPP
• Jonathan Kneebone, Co-founder, Glue Society
• José Miguel Sokoloff, President of Mullenlowe Group Creative Council and Chief Creative Officer, Mullenlowe Group UK
• Kai Hsiung, MD, RSA Films Ltd
• Kerstin Emhoff, Co-Founder and President, Prettybird
• Kitty Lun, Head of Creative Shop, Facebook Greater China
• Malcolm Poynton, Global CCO, Cheil Worldwide
• Mark Tutssel, Global CCO, Leo Burnett Worldwide
• Nick Worthington, Creative Chairman, Colenso BBDO
• Paco Conde, ECD and Partner, Anomaly
• Per Pedersen, Global Creative Chairman, Grey Group
• Rob Newlan, CEO EMEA, Virtue Worldwide
• Theseus Chan, Creative Director, Work Pte Ltd.
• Tim Greenhalgh, Chairman & CCO, Fitch
• Yuya Furukawa, Chief Creative Officer, Dentsu Inc.

Colleen DeCourcy stated, “I’m very proud and honoured to be part of D&AD’s first ever Advisory Board. D&AD is different, you can feel that when you judge, when you visit the Festival that actually feels like a ‘Festival’ and when you meet the incredible talent that comes through its New Blood programmes. D&AD is by creatives for creatives and in today’s day and age I think that’s something to keep hold of. Finding and nurturing great creative talent has never been so important. I look forward to working with them.”

Steve Vranakis, executive creative director at Google’s Creative Lab, has begun his tenure as the new president of D&AD and global figurehead for excellence in design and advertising. His job will be to champion “D&AD’s mission to stimulate a fairer, more diverse, properly gender-balanced, and therefore more robust industry, in the pursuit of groundbreaking creativity”. Vranakis will focus on increasing diversity in the creative industry and creating opportunities for budding creative minds from different backgrounds.

He explained, “My goal is to increase diversity and broaden the pool of talent that D&AD encompasses to reflect the strength and expertise of creative minds from around the world, from different disciplines as well as different genders and backgrounds, both cultural and socio-economic.”

One of Vranakis’ most important roles will be to nurture New Blood Shift, D&AD’s a free night school aimed at providing creative education to a more diverse group of people. The programme is in its second year and helps young creative minds outside the traditional education system get a foothold in the industry.

Read his plans for the year ahead here.

Harriet Devoy, creative director of design, marketing communications at Apple Europe, has been appointed deputy president.

And Kate Stanners, global chief creative officer at Saatchi & Saatchi, has been appointed to the Board of Trustees.

Tim Lindsay, chief executive, D&AD commented “Since its outset, D&AD has continued to encourage great work, set the bar high, inspire new generations of creative people, facilitate the exchange of knowledge and ideas, and acted in the best interest of the industry. Today, we are faced with unprecedented challenges, as an industry as well as a society. I’m excited to see Steve implement his programme over the next year to be more inclusive. Cross-disciplinary partnerships broaden horizons and breed innovation and creativity. It’s sure to be an exciting year ahead for D&AD.”

“I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank outgoing President Bruce Duckworth for his unerring support and the leadership he has provided over the last twelve months.”