IPA announces 2021 Summer Honours

Vicky Fox, Kate Howe, Simon Jones, Sue Unerman Adam Ben-Yousef, Lindsey Clay, Dame Carolyn McCall and Richard Shotton are being honoured.

The IPA is recognising the exceptional impact of eight individuals through its 2021 Summer Honours’ list.

Each of the honourees has made an outstanding and prolonged contribution to the IPA, and will be awarded with Fellowship (FIPA) or Honorary Fellowship (Hon. FIPA) status.

The four new Fellows are:

  • Vicky Fox, Chief Planning Officer, OMD
  • Kate Howe, Executive Director, MSQ
  • Simon Jones, Managing Partner, Wavemaker Manchester
  • Sue Unerman, Chief Transformation Officer, MediaCom

The IPA also awarded four Honorary Fellowships (for individuals not with an IPA member agency) to the following individuals:

  • Adam Ben-Yousef, Marketing Director, Diageo
  • Lindsey Clay, CEO, Thinkbox
  • Dame Carolyn McCall, Chief Executive, ITV
  • Richard Shotton, Behavioural Scientist

Commenting on the awards, IPA Director General Paul Bainsfair said: "From serving on various IPA committees to chairing the IPA Effectiveness Awards and everything in between, Vicky, Kate, Simon, Sue, Adam, Lindsey, Carolyn and Richard have made incredible contributions to the IPA and our initiatives over the years.

I’m delighted to be able to thank and recognise each them for their tireless commitment and to award them with their much deserved fellowships of the IPA. Congratulations to you all.

The IPA also awarded five fellowships in its 2021 New Year Honours.

Fellowship awards:

Vicky Fox, Chief Planning Officer, OMD

Vicky is responsible for leading a team of 60 people who have elevated OMD’s planning output to new levels to create competitive advantage for the agency. She has been instrumental in using the TouchPoints Channel Planner as the most rigorous, cross-media planner, helping her team to understand the flow of audience through media brands, across media platforms and how each of the channels works together. As a result, Vicky and her team represent the industry standard for cross media planning and, as such, have presented extensively at IPA events and contributed significantly to the development and broader understanding of TouchPoints.

Kate Howe, Executive Director, MSQ

Kate has been a much-valued contributor to and loyal supporter of the IPA for many years. She has been involved in the governance of the IPA through her long-standing participation in both the IPA Council and the IPA Membership Committee, and she took over as IPA Honorary Secretary and Chair of the Membership Committee in 2019.

During her time on Council and Membership Committee she has been involved in numerous initiatives and projects, such as the regular reviews of the IPA’s membership rules and the development of the MIPA and Accelerator programmes, and she has also conducted many visits on behalf of the Membership Committee to agencies seeking membership. She was also a member of the Presidential Nominating Committee in 2014.

Simon Jones, Managing Partner, Wavemaker Manchester

Simon was IPA City Head for Manchester and the North West from 2018 to 2020. During his tenure he made it a personal mission to champion talent and diversity both in the North West and further afield, spearheading the efforts to broaden the reach of IPA initiatives such as Creative Pioneers and Advertising Unlocked.

As well as being instrumental in developing the IPA’s programme of training and events in Manchester and the North West, Simon regularly travelled across UK to attend City Heads’ meetings and support IPA and initiatives around the country.

Sue Unerman, Chief Transformation Officer, MediaCom

Sue has been integral to the shaping of the IPA Effectiveness Awards over the past four years. In 2017 she was appointed Deputy Convenor of Judges, rising to the role of Convenor of Judges for 2019-2020, when she expanded the technical judging process, called for more collaborative entries between creative and media agencies, and led our largest and most international panel of judges yet.

Sue has been a key voice in championing diversity and inclusion in the Industry. Under her leadership MediaCom setup the Glass Wall Network in 2016, which was open to all employees and across the industry, and which is expanding to become the Belonging Network this month, open to everyone.

She is the co-author of three best-selling books – The Glass Wall: Success strategies for women at work and Belonging: The Key to Transforming and Maintaining Diversity, Inclusion and Equality at Work and Tell the truth, Honesty is your most powerful marketing tool – writes regularly for Campaign, and has a column in Grazia.co.uk with her co-author Kathryn Jacob for women at work. In 2020 she featured on the IPA’s inaugural iList, which celebrated 30 of the industry’s top inclusivity trailblazers.

Sue has also been a member of the IPA Effectiveness Leadership Group since 2018, and has spoken at the EffWorks 2019 and 2020 conferences, presenting insights from winning IPA Effectiveness Awards case studies.

Honorary Fellowship awards (for individuals not with a member agency):

Adam Ben-Yousef, Marketing Director, Diageo

Adam was a member of the IPA Effectiveness Leadership Group from 2017 to 2020.

He has been a leading client-side champion of a strong Effectiveness culture. He has been key in transforming Diageo’s business, driving a deep cultural shift in how marketing is used to drive business performance in the organisation. This shift was driven through a combination of cutting edge technology, analytics and a major capability programme, which was rolled out across 50 countries with outstanding results.

This business transformation won Diageo an IPA Effectiveness Award for ‘Best Dedication to Effectiveness’ in 2018, and in 2020, a Gold IPA Effectiveness Award for their portfolio case study.  Adam is now a global Marketing Director at Diageo, and continues to be an advocate for the IPA Effectiveness initiative within the organisation.

Before joining Diageo, Adam’s background was in strategy consultancy, working with Oliver Wyman primarily in the Retail & Consumer Goods sectors in Europe and North America.

Lindsey Clay, CEO Thinkbox and Global TV Group

Lindsey has been the CEO of Thinkbox, the marketing body for UK television advertising, since 2014.

Prior to joining Thinkbox she had a 20-year agency career, which included senior positions at J. Walter Thompson where she ran prestigious pieces of business such as Kellogg’s, Nestle and HSBC in the UK. Her early career was spent at Clarke Hooper, including a stint in their Hong Kong office, and McCann Erickson.

In 2019, Lindsey became the first President of The Global TV Group, composed of TV broadcasters, sales houses, and trade bodies in Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia and Latin America. She is a non-executive director of content agency, Somethin' Else; a trustee of the Rank Foundation and on the board of its production company, CTVC; and Chair of the Rank Fellowship, its leadership award alumni group. Lindsey is a member and recent President of WACL, a fellow of the Marketing Society and a member of the Marketing Group of Great Britain.

Lindsey has been a long-term supporter of the IPA’s Effectiveness programme (Thinkbox has been a commercial partner of the IPA Effectiveness Awards for 15 years) and of the IPA EffWorks initiative since its inception. Thinkbox has also been instrumental in co-funding the series of publications authored by Les Binet and Peter Field, which draw on the evidence base of the IPA Effectiveness Databank, and has also produced over 38 brand films to amplify Effectiveness case studies.

Carolyn McCall, Chief Executive, ITV

Carolyn has been Chief Executive of ITV since 2018 and has an impressive track record in business. She has also been a huge advocate for marketing and its contribution to business performance. 

Her career includes 20 years at Guardian Media Group, where she held several senior roles including nine years as Chief Executive. In 2010 she joined EasyJet as Chief Executive, where she brought a customer-focused approach to the business and redefined what passengers now expect from short haul flights. This drove both passenger loyalty and growth, delivering sustained success for easyJet’s shareholders. She has also served as a Non-Executive Director of Lloyds TSB, Tesco and New Look Group, and is currently serving as Senior Independent Director for Burberry and as a trustee for the Royal Academy of Arts.

In 2008, Carolyn was awarded an OBE for services to women in business and in 2016 received a Damehood for services to the aviation industry.

Carolyn was the Chairman of Judges for the 2018 IPA Effectiveness Awards, leading the discussions with the stellar panel of judges with insight and expertise. She also delivered the keynote at EffWorks Global 2020, sharing her perspective on how marketers can ‘get the board on board’.

Richard Shotton, Behavioural Scientist

Richard is an industry leader in behavioural science and economics. He is the author of the bestselling book, The Choice Factory, and the founder of Astroten, a consultancy that applies behavioural science to marketing.

Richard started his career as a media planner, working on accounts such as Coke, Lexus, and comparethemarket, before specialising in applying behavioural science to business problems.

He has made outstanding contributions to IPA courses and qualifications, including via writing and hosting Advanced Behavioural Economics, editing the revised version of the Advanced Certificate in Effectiveness (formerly known as the Eff Test), and speaking on the Excellence Diploma in Brands Module 1. He also spoke at the IPA Business Growth Conference in 2017 on ‘applying findings from behavioural science to our own business, not just our clients'.

Last updated 17 April 2024