The IPA is celebrating six advertising industry greats for their outstanding service and for raising the reputation of adland at large.
They will be bestowed an IPA Fellowship (FIPA) or Honorary Fellowship (Hon. FIPA) at the IPA President’s Reception on Thursday, 8 January.
Receiving a Fellowship:
- Jamie Elliott, former CEO, The Gate and Honorary Secretary of the IPA Council
Receiving an Honorary Fellowship (for individuals not with an IPA member agency):
- Alessandra Bellini OBE, former President, Advertising Association
- Lord Michael Grade, Chair, Ofcom
- Joyce Kelso, former Director of Agency Value, IPA
- Tim Lindsay, Chairman, D&AD
- Nigel Sharrocks, Non-Executive Chairman, Digital Cinema Media and Chairman, Barb
Commenting on the awards, IPA Director General Paul Bainsfair said:
“Announcing our New Year Honours is one of my favourite parts of my role as IPA Director General, because it gives me the opportunity to celebrate the incredible people that make up our industry, and to thank them for their immense contributions to it.
Alessandra, Jamie, Joyce, Michael, Nigel and Tim have all had extraordinary careers in advertising and media, and they have each worked tirelessly throughout their careers to make adland a better, bigger and more successful place. Congratulations to you all.
Alessandra, Jamie, Joyce, Michael, Nigel and Tim join 41 other industry stalwarts to be honoured in the IPA New Year Honours since 2019. The previous honourees are Rosie Arnold, Belinda Beeftink, Jenny Biggam, Karen Blackett CBE, Chris Byron, Helen Calcraft, Damian Collins MP, Patrick Collister, Tony Cullingham, Magnus Djaba, Mel Edwards, Annie Gallimore, Jan Gooding, Sarah Golding, Sir John Hegarty, Matt Hill, Johnny Hornby, Pip Hulbert, Carl Johnson, Catherine Kehoe, Annette King, Josh Krichefski, Vicki Maguire, Alex Mahon, Patrick Mills, Sebastian Munden, James Murphy, Mark Read, Mark Ritson, Nishma Patel Robb, Trevor Robinson OBE, Charlie Rudd, Aline Santos, Ridley Scott, Jeremy Sinclair CBE, Dame Cilla Snowball, Philip Thomas, Charles Vallance, Nigel Vaz, Michael Wall and Keith Weed CBE.
A further 41 individuals have been celebrated in the IPA Summer Honours since 2019 for their services to the advertising industry and to the IPA. The honourees are Dan Appleby, Adam Ben-Yousef, Michael Brown, Peter Buckley, Lindsey Clay, Phil Coverdale, Sarah Ellis, Rhian Feather (MIPA), Vicky Fox, Neil Godber, Simon Harwood (MIPA), Neil Henderson, Sera Holland, Jackie Holt, Kate Howe, Janet Hull OBE, Sarah Jenkins, Margaret Jobling, Simon Jones, Tim Jones, Jon Kershaw (MIPA), Valerie Ludlow (MIPA), Chris Macleod, Tony Mattson (MIPA), Dame Carolyn McCall, Sheila Mitchell, Marc Nohr, James Pais, David Payne, Sam Phillips, Andy Reid, Lynne Robinson, Richard Shotton, Harjot Singh, Lisa Thompson (MIPA), Amelia Torode, Sue Unerman, Nicky Unsworth, David Wheldon, Steve Wilcox and Orlando Wood.
Alessandra Bellini OBE
Alessandra is a senior Marketing and Advertising leader, who contributed to build commercially successful and sustainable businesses, in iconic global Retail & FMCG organisations, including Tesco and Unilever, and started her career in world-leading agencies in Italy and UK. She served as President of the Advertising Association between 2022 and 2025, focusing her efforts on helping the industry attract and retain the best talent and understand how the advertising workforce can better represent the diversity of its audience.
Alessandra also served as the Chair of Teens Unite, Chair of the Marketing Group of Great Britain in 2024/25, and is currently a NED, an Executive Coach and Advisor. She is a proud member of WACL and the Thirty Club.
In 2025, Alessandra presided over the IPA Effectiveness Accreditation Panel, bringing influential leadership and deep expertise to a pivotal industry process. Her oversight was instrumental in accrediting 44 agencies and in upholding the IPA’s renowned Effectiveness standards.
Jamie Elliott
Jamie led The Gate from 2017 until the end of 2025, during which time the agency climbed over 100 places in Campaign’s Creative Agency Rankings and won over 60 awards for excellence in marketing effectiveness, creativity, strategy and culture.
Prior to joining The Gate, Jamie was CEO of MullenLowe, leading it to become EFFIE Agency of the Year. He was shortlisted as CEO of the Year at The Drum Awards 2023 and at the Campaign Agency of the Year Awards 2024 before being named Creativepool’s Creative Leader of the Year at the end of 2024. He is a longstanding member of the IPA Council as well as its Honorary Secretary and Chair of the Membership Committee. He has an MBA and has recently become a trustee of the charity, The Children’s Society.
Lord Michael Grade
Michael Grade is Chair of Ofcom, the regulatory and competition authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications, postal industries and online safety.
He has had a long career in broadcasting, encompassing London Weekend Television, the BBC, ITV and Channel 4. He has chaired the BBC, ITV and Pinewood/Shepperton Film Studios.
He is Chair of Imagineear, which produces digital displays for museums, galleries and live attractions. He is also chair of Arora Group’s Heathrow Expansion Advisory Board, having also been Chair of Ocado, First Leisure Corporation, Camelot, the Charity Fundraising Regulator and Bradford’s Media Museum. He was a member of the former Press Complaints Commission and was a Trustee of the Science Museum.
In 2011, he became a member of the House of Lords, where he sits as a non-affiliated Peer. He is known as Lord Grade of Yarmouth.
Joyce Kelso
Joyce has had a long career in the advertising industry, starting at Davidson Pearce in the 1980s, working on the famous PG Tips Chimps campaign. She spent time at Y&R, McCanns, specialist travel agency SOUK and also spent some time abroad running an agency in Bermuda.
Joyce joined the IPA in 2011 and covered a number of roles, including Head of Marketing Strategy, before becoming Director of Agency Value in 2024. She oversees the IPA Commercial Leadership programme, providing innovative thought leadership to help agencies become more profitable and sustainable.
As well as running the Commercial Leadership Group she also brings together the Client Relationship Group, New Business & Marketing Group, Finance Business Group and the recently formed Sustainability Action Group.
Culminating in the flagship Business Growth Conference that showcases the breadth of the IPA's work at what has now become a mainstay in the IPA's calendar. She retired at the end of 2025.
Tim Lindsay
Tim’s advertising career began in the early 1980s, and he spent over three decades in agencies, as joint managing director of BBH, managing director of Y&R London, MD then CEO of Lowe-Howard-Spink, then President of Lowe and Partners Europe, then President of Lowe Lintas/Lowe Worldwide, Chairman of Publicis UK and President of TBWA\UK and Ireland.
In 2011, Tim was appointed CEO of D&AD, the advertising and design awards show and creative education charity, and in 2019 he took on role of Chairman.
Nigel Sharrocks
Nigel has had a decades-long and highly successful career in advertising and media encompassing a number of European regional roles including Managing Director of Warner Bros Pictures UK, Managing Director of Grey Advertising and Chairman of MediaCom – a company which Nigel launched in the early 1990s.
After joining Warner Bros in 1999, Nigel oversaw the release of more than 150 movies which included the highly successful Harry Potter and Matrix franchises. He then became Global Brands CEO at Aegis Media before being appointed at Non-Executive Chairman of Digital Cinema Media and Chairman of Barb, both in 2013.
Last updated 07 January 2026