Every year since 2006, The Internationalist has named those agency executives who have the rare ability to rethink current notions of brand building by simplifying complex internal processes, encouraging collaboration, managing risk while working in the midst of fast change, keeping sight of "the big idea," championing multinational strategy, and involving customers directly in the creative process. Known as INNOVATORS, they underscore how breakthrough thinking knows no bounds of geography, age, company size, or title within today's agency organizations.

All INNOVATORS are selected from nominations during a 2-month Call for Entries. A committee-- largely comprised of past INNOVATORS, The Internationalist Board and its editorial team-- vote on the worthiness of each Innovator, while also taking into consideration the number of nominations for each individual.

On October 28 in New York, we'll salute INNOVATORS-- past and present-- at a peer-to-peer lunch. There is always strong interest in connecting the industry's best and brightest.

Past INNOVATORS include:

The 2014 INNOVATORS: Winston Binch of Deutsch LA; Natalie Monbiot (nee Bokenham) of UM Worldwide; Steve Carbone of MediaCom USA; Weng Keong Chin of Saatchi & Saatchi Arachnid; Shenan Chuang of Ogilvy & Mather Greater China; Chris Copeland of GroupM Next; Paul Dalton of DigitasLBi; Luke D'Arcy of Momentum Worldwide; Juan Davila of LiquidThread; Vladimir Djurovic of Labbrand China; Craig Elimeliah of RAPP; Greg Fischer of Swirl; Sergio Gordilho of Africa; Sasha Grujicic of Dentsu Aegis Network Canada; Paul Gunning of DDB Chicago; Steve Harding of Geometry Global; Peter Hubbell of BoomAgers; Sarah Ivey of Initiative; Peter Magnani of Omnicom Media Group, EMEA; Matthew Mee of MediaCom; Richard Pinder of The House Worldwide; Mark Pollard of Big Spaceship; Frédéric Raillard of FRED & FARID Shanghai; Jessica Rink of INNOCEAN Worldwide Europe; Shaffia Sanchez of MAGNA GLOBAL; Avi Savar of BIG FUEL; Nirvik Singh of GREY GROUP Asia Pacific; Leigh Terry of OMNICOM MEDIA GROUP Australia & New Zealand; Krisztian Toth of POSSIBLE Central & Eastern Europe; Aaron Walton and Cory Isaacson of Walton Isaacson.

The 2013 INNOVATORS: David Angelo of David&Goliath; Ed Brojerdi of Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners; Luis Casamayor and Jorge Plasencia of Republica; Frauke Cast of Just Media; Pully Chau of Draftfcb Greater China; Damian Claassens of Profero NY; Ian Cohen and Cal McAllister of Wexley School for Girls; Brett Dawson of Bohemia; Anthony Freeman of Host & One Green Bean; Yusuf Hatia of FleishmanHillard India & Majlis, FH's Muslim Consultancy; James Hier of MEC Australia; Rachel Israel of MEC-- now Executive VP of Guardian Labs US; Ashwini Karandikar of AMNET Global (Aegis); Vik Kathuria of MediaCom; Dimitri Maex of OgilvyOne; Dennis (DJ) Martin of Omnicom Media Group; Mark Miller of Team One; PJ Pereira and Andrew O'Dell of Pereira O'Dell; Chris Pyne of MediaCom-- now President OMD East & Chief Strategy Officer USA at OMD USA; Matt Rayner of Starcom USA; Wannee Ruttanaphon of IPG Mediabrands Thailand; Ian Schafer of Deep Focus; Andrew Shebbeare of Essence; Brad Smale of IPG Mediabrands Africa; Erik Sollenberg of Forsman & Bodenfors; Tom Telesco of ORION Trading; John Winsor of Victors & Spoils/Havas; Ichiro Zama of TBWA Hakuhodo.

The 2012 INNOVATORS: Wayne Arnold of Profero-- now Co-Founder and Global CEO of Lowe Profero; Valerie Beauchamp of Starcom; Jordan Bitterman of Digitas-- now Chief Strategy Officer, North America at Mindshare; Chris Boothe of Spark/SMG; Arvid Bostrom of MEC; Beth Doyle of Vivaki; James Fox of RedPeak; Jan Gerits of Omnicom Media Group; Huw Griffiths of UM; Warren Griffiths of Starcom MediaVest Group; Bob Habeck of Omnicom Media Group; Jonathan Hoffman of Starcom-- now President of SMG's ZeroDot; Sebastian Jespersen of Vertic; Prashant Kumar of MediaBrands; Anna Khin Khin Kyawt and John Handley of SAIL, Myanmar; David Lee of TBWA Worldwide-- now Chief Creative Officer of Squarespace; Michael Litchfield of Doremus; John Noe of Rokkan; Jitka Petrickova of MEC; Tamina Plum of ZenithOptimedia; Sarah Power of Initiative; Jim Russell of McKinney; Francisco Samper and Jose Miguel Sokoloff of Lowe SSP3; Miguel Magalhaes Santos and Patrick Walhain of ICOM+IN; Andrea Suarez of MediaBrands; Sue Unerman of MediaCom; Steve Williams of PHD-- now CEO of Maxus North America; Damian Winstanley of OMD International; Jarek Ziebinski of Leo Burnett.

The 2011 INNOVATORS: René Allemann of Branders Group AG, Zurich; Kristi Argyilan of UM, San Francisco-- now SVP, Media & Guest Engagement at Target; Rich Astley of MEC Interaction-- now Managing Director of Videology UK; Giuseppe Barbetta of Maxus, Milan; Avishesha Bhojani of BPG Group, Dubai; Mark Bowling of Starcom MediaVest Group, Singapore-- now Director of consultancy MashUp CX; Lily Chakrabarty, of Starcom MediaVest Group, New York; Emma Cookson of BBH, New York; Barry Cupples of Omnicom Media Group, Singapore-- now CEO of Omnicom Media Investment, London; Katie Ford of Starcom MediaVest Group-- now President & Managing Director of MediaVest; Scott Hagedorn of Annalect Group, New York; Alex Hall of TigerSpike, New York; Matt Howell of Arnold Worldwide, Boston-- now Partner at Vermonster; Marcus John of MediaCom SPORT, London-- now EVP World Sport Group, Singapore; Mark Kiernan of Digitas, New York; Dave Knox of Rockfish, Cincinnati; Joe Phelps of The Phelps Group, Santa Monica; Paul Price of Creative Realities, New York; Mauricio Sabogal of Mediabrands, New York-- now Global CEO, Kinetic Worldwide; Sasha Savic of Havas Media, New York-- now CEO of MediaCom USA; Steve Schildwachter of Draftfcb, Chicago-- now CMO of rVue and Ad Majorem blogger; Oliver Snoddy of Doremus, New York-- now Director of Global Content Marketing Strategy at Twitter; Michael Stich of Rockfish, Cincinnati; Shekar Swamy of RK Swamny BBDO, Mumbai; Maartje Symons Wisecrackers, Amsterdam-- now Founder of The Workz; David Tang of DDB Group, Singapore; Scott Tegethoff of UM, New York-- now Executive Director Global Accounts, Managing Partner Transformation at OMD; Paul Woolmington of Naked, New York-- now Angel Investor; Charlotte Wright of MEC, London-- now Head of Planning for MEC Global Solutions Singapore; Oscar Zhao of BlueFocus Communications, Beijing.

The 2010 INNOVATORS: Mark Beeching of Digitas, New York; Cheuk Chiang of PHD, Singapore- now CEO Asia Pacific for Omnicom Media Group; Saurav Chakaraborty of Digital Direction, Mumbai; Karl Cluck of Mindshare Asia-Pacific, Singapore-- now CEO Japan & Korea at Mindshare; Allison Coley of MEC, New York- now Client President at MEC Global Solutions London; Lee Daley of McCann Worldgroup, London- now Founder/CEO at Daley Strategic Advisory; Agnello Dias of TapRoot India, Mumbai; Matthew Don of Doremus, London; Anne Dooley of Energy BBDO, Chicago; John Duban of Starcom MediaVest Group, New York-- now CMO of AFS USA; Ricardo Fragale of Starcom MediaVest Group, Miami-- now SVP/Managing Director of SMG Argentina; Elaine Ip of Omnicom Media Group, Shanghai; David Lang of Mindshare Invention / Entertainment, New York; Cynthia McFarlane of Saatchi & Saatchi Latin American, Miami; Andrew McLean of GroupM, New York--now CEO of Mercury Media; Deepika Nikhilender of Mindshare Asia Pacific, Singapore; Enyi Odigbo of Casers Group, Lagos; Jean-Guillaume Paumier of Banner, London- now Senior Account Director at Essence, London; Reda Raad of Raad\TBWA, Dubai; K. Satyanarayana of Media Direction, Mumbai; Marc Schader of MPG, Madrid; Tracey Scheppach of VivaKi, Chicago; Mark Sherman of Media Experts, Montreal; Toby Southgate of The Brand Union, New York; Angela Steele of Starcom MediaVest, Chicago-- now CEO of Ansible Mobile; Paul Suskey of Media 8, Miami- now CEO Exit 7; Kenny Tomlin of Rockfish Interactive, Arkansas; Dick van Motman of DDB Group, Shanghai-- now Chairman & CEO of Dentsu Asia; and Andy Wasef of MEC, New York-- now Managing Director of ESP, a WPP company.

The 2009 INNOVATORS: Tim Andree of Dentsu, New York-- now Executive Chairman, Dentsu Aegis Network; Bianca Baltrusch of DaVinci Selectwork, Düsseldorf; Joel Bary of LatinMedios, Miami; Serge Dumont of Omnicom Asia Pacific, Shanghai; Michael Fassnacht of Draftfcb, Chicago; Roderigo Figueroa Reyes of FiRe Advertainment, Buenos Aires; Malcolm Hanlon of Zenith Media China, Shanghai- now COO/Asia Pacific at ZenithOptimedia, Singapore; Mark Heap of PHD, Shanghai- now CEO Asia Pacific of MediaCom; Barbara Kittridge of Spark, Chicago- now Board Advisor/Strategist for Abundant Ventures and BPK360i; Tom Laranjo of Total Media International, London; Daryl Lee of Universal McCann, New York; Jessica Michaels of The Wunderman Network/Group M, Seattle-- now Founder of Bread N Butter Digital; Mike Moszynski of LONDON Advertising, London; Saneel Radia of Denou, Chicago- now Founder at Finch15, a VivaKi-incubated innovation boutique; Rand Han of Bloody Amazing, Shanghai; Lauren Richards of Starcom Mediavest Group, Toronto- now Founder of Pollin8; Jasmin Sohrabji of OMD India, Mumbai; and Brandon Starkoff of Starcom Worldwide, Chicago.

The 2008 INNOVATORS:: Ian Bell of MediaCom, London-- now ‎Global Strategy Partner at Carat Global Management; Dan Benedict of Mediaedge:cia, London; Philip Brett of TBWA\Tequila, Singapore, Shadi Bteddini of B.E. International, New York & Dubai; Christina Dagnello of Mediaedge:cia, New York; Charlotte White (nee Freemantle) of Universal McCann, London-- now Strategy Partner at Carat Global; Shubha George of Mediaedge:cia, Mumbai- -- now MEC; Patricia Gogliara of McCann Erickson Brasil, Sao Paulo; Alistair Henderson of Fuse/OMD, Sydney; Rob Hilton of The Promotion Factory, Melbourne; Christian Kugel of Denuo, Chicago- now VP Consumer Analytics & Research at AOL, New York; Hani Mahdi of Mindshare Interactive, London; Laura Milsted of JustMedia, London-- now Managing Director at Carat Enterprise; Mark Stewart of OMD, New York- now ‎EVP, Chief Strategy Officer at Townsquare Media LLC; Nazeer Suliman of Univeral McCann South Africa, Johannesburg; Martin Sundberg of Mediacom, Stockholm; Will Swayne of Carat, Hong Kong- now EVP, Managing Director at Carat USA; Givi Topchishvili of Global Advertising Strategies, New York; Becky Walden of Starcom, Chicago; Crystal Wang of G2 Star Echo Group, Beijing and Felix Wong of The Marketing Arm, Beijing.

The 2007 INNOVATORS: Damian Blackden of Universal McCann, London- now Global Chief Strategy Officer CEO at Maxus; Adnan Brankovic of Initiative, New York- now Managing Partner, Group Account Director at MediaCom; Chris Carmichael of Mindshare, London- now Global Head of Media at HSBC; Peter Colvin of Mediaedge:cia, London-- now MEC; Hamish Davies of Mediaedge:cia, London-- now MEC; Rupert Denny of Banner London-- now Director and Head of Mediacom Business; Andrew Fair of Ogilvy, New York-- now Senior Partner/Executive Director of OglivyEntertainment, Los Angeles; Torie Henderson of OMD, Hong Kong; Philip Jabbour of Starcom Mediavest, Dubai-- now EVP, Managing Director at Spark, Chicago; Michael Jones of Mediaedge:cia, Miami-- now enjoying the good life in early retirement; Elie Khouri of Omnicom Media Group, Dubai; Silas Lewis-Meilus of Mindshare, London-- now Digital Media for McDonald's Asia Pacific Middle East Africa (Singapore); Christophe Mayer of ZenithOptimedia, Paris-- now Director of Communications for Lancel, Paris; Hiroshi Ochiai of TBWA/Hakuhodo, Tokyo; Tonia Perretta of Initiative, London-- now Director of Products & Reseach at MediaBrands Social; Anna Ringsberg of Carat Business, Malmo; Patrick Ryan of Mediacom, London-- now Worldwide Business Development Director at PHD; Sesh Sampath of BBDO Asia, Singapore; Jacqui Wallis (nee Seddon) of Just Media, London- now Media Strategist at AdditionPlus, London; Latha Sunderam of Starcom, Chicago-- now Global Account Director at OMD USA, Chicago; Jill Toscano of Mediaedge CIA, New York- now Vice President US Media at American Express; Hanne Tuomisto-Inch of Banner, London- now Senior Industry Head, Finance at Google; Magnus Wretblad of Low Brindfors, Stockholm.

The 2006 INNOVATORS: Jorge Irizar of MPG , Paris-- now Global CEO of Havas Media International; Stuart Clark of MPG, London--now Managing Director of Havas Media APAC, Singapore; Diana de la Torriente (nee Sevillano) of OPTIMEDIA, Miami- now VP Business Development & Product Strategy at Havas Worldwide, Miami; Andrew Swinand, STARCOM Chicago-- now Co-partner at Abundant Venture Partners; Joe Warren of UNIVERSAL McCANN, New York- now Client Services at MediaCom; Matt Eaton of MEDIAEDGE:CIA, Tokyo--now CEO/Managing Partner of Strategy SET, Tokyo; Lori Senecal of McCANN WORLD GROUP- now CEO of Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal, New York; Somak Chaudhary of LEO BURNETT, Bangkok; Matt Dyke of TRIBAL DDB-- now at his own agency, London; Carolina Jimenez-Garcia of MINDSHARE, New York-- now Account Director at 360i , New York; Mark Boyd of BARTLE BOGLE HEGARTY, London-- now Founder of Gravity Road; David DeSocio of OMD, New York-- now SVP of A+E Networks; David Mayo of OGILVY & MATHER, Singapore- now CEO of Bates CHI&Partners; Tom Brookbanks of MEDIAEDGE:CIA, New York--now at Starcom MediaVest Group; Asuka Mogi of BEACON COMMUNICATIONS, Tokyo; Jimmy Liang of LEO BURNETT, Guangzhou; Rob Hughes of MINDSHARE, Beijing-- now CEO Aegis Media North Asia, Hong Kong; Steve Traveller of STARCOM, London; Ean Shearer of DENTSU, New York--now Partner, Director Integration at MEC, New York; Kavita Kailash of LEO BURNETT, Mumbai; Sean Finnegan of OMD Digital, New York- Chief Strategy Officer at true[x] media, New York; Mark Jones of ZENITH OPTIMEDIA, San Francisco- now President of Global Solutions at MEC, New York.

ABOUT THE INTERNATIONALIST:

The Internationalist focuses on the reinvention of marketing around the globe by connecting the people and ideas in international marketing and advertising through original content, intelligence, thought leadership, community, collaboration, and influence. Marketer driven, The Internationalist has become a trusted source for international best practices, and is dedicated to the business needs and challenges of international marketing professionals as they participate in multinational brand building and aspire to world class standards. Originally created as a trade publication, The Internationalist connects a global audience through content and case studies in print, online and in-person-- via peer-to-peer marketer events including Dinners, Think Tanks, Awards and Summits- all to better serve the needs of this fast-changing community.

The Internationalist is proud of its Global Alliance with ANA (Association of National Advertisers) as we partner on an initiative called THE INTERNATIONALIST 1000 with ANA or 1000 Marketers around the World Reshaping the Future of Marketing.