No less than five Asia-Pacific industry leaders are among the jury presidents at the 2026 Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity including two representatives each from both Japan and India.
Kazoo Sato, the former CCO of TBWA Hakuhodo and now founder of Japan's Earth Centric Design will preside over the Sustainable Development Goals Lions. Sato previously served on the music jury at Cannes Lions and won accolades for his design of a hygenic voice-controlled public toilet in Japan in response to Covid.
Kazuhiro Shimura, executive creative director at Dentsu Inc, who judged the Digital Craft and Social & Influencer categories for Spikes last year is the other high-profile jury president from Japan who will lead the Innovation jury.
India also has dual representation among jury presidents with Anupriya Acharya, chief executive of Publicis Groupe, South Asia leading the Creative Data jury and Kainaz Karmakar, chief creative officer at Ogilvy India presiding over the Health & Wellness jury.
Singapore-based Sindhuja Rai, WPP Media's chief client officer for APMEA and former media investment leader for Mondelez, was named president of the Media jury, responsible for some of the largest categories at the festival.
Chaka Sobhani, global chief creative officer at TBWA\Worldwide will oversee the Dan Wieden Titanium category after having been part of the jury for the 2025 awards. Sobhani recently became global CCO at TBWA\Worldwide following Omnicom’s acquisition of Interpublic Group. Previously, she was global CCO at DDB Worldwide. Prior to this, she was CCO at Leo Burnett UK (now Leo UK) and was promoted to global CCO at the agency in 2021.
Pelle Sjoenell, former worldwide CCO at Droga5, part of Accenture Song, will also be jury president for the Film Lions. Sjoenell recently departed Droga5 after almost two years in the position.
Marcel Marcondes, global chief marketing officer at AB InBev, has been named the inaugural jury president for the Creative Brand Lion.
The Creative Brand Lion was introduced this year to recognise the brands that are “building the systems, cultures and capabilities that make world-class creative marketing inevitable and repeatable”.
Across the line-up, there are first-time presidents from Artplan, Rethink, M&C Saatchi and Mother.
Simon Cook, chief executive of Lions, said: “Our jury presidents are selected for their proven creative leadership, global perspective and ability to recognise creative work that will raise the bar.
“The 2026 Jury President line-up reflects the full breadth of creativity today – spanning from brand building to transformation, to driving culture and influencing commerce. I have no doubt they will collectively set a powerful new standard for the year ahead.”
The festival is taking place between 22 and 26 June.
A full list of this year’s jury presidents can be found below:
Audio and Radio
Oriel Davis-Lyons, chief creative officer at Mother New York, USA
Brand Experience and Activation
Rafael Pitanguy, deputy global chief creative officer at VML, global
Creative B2B
Ty Heath, global director, thought leadership, GTM strategy at LinkedIn, global
Creative Brand
Marcel Marcondes, global chief marketing officer at AB InBev, global
Creative Business Transformation
Gugu Mthembu, chief marketing officer at Telkom, South Africa
Creative Commerce
Phil Camarota, chief creative officer at Flywheel, global
Creative Data
Anupriya Acharya, chief executive of Publicis Groupe, South Asia
Creative Effectiveness
Bertille Toledano, chief executive of BETC and Havas Creative Middle East; president of Havas Creative Network, global
Creative Strategy
Sarah Lemarié, chief strategy officer at Publicis, France
Design
Greg Quinton, chief creative officer at Design Bridge and Partners, global
Digital Craft
Andrés Ordóñez, global chief creative officer at McCann, global
Direct
Joaquín Cubría, chief creative officer at Gut, Argentina
Entertainment
Chris Beresford-Hilll worldwide chief creative officer at BBDO Worldwide, global
Entertainment Lions for Gaming
Lolly Thomson, joint global chief creative officer at M&C Saatchi Group, global
Entertainment Lions for Music
Matt Murphy, global chief creative officer at 72andSunny, global
Film
Pelle Sjoenell, former worldwide chief creative officer at Droga5, part of Accenture Song, global
Glass: The Lion for Change
Monique Nelson, executive chair of UWG, USA
Health and Wellness
Kainaz Karmakar, chief creative officer at Ogilvy, India
Industry Craft
Rafael Gil, chief creative officer at Artplan, Brazil
Innovation
Kazuhiro Shimura, executive creative director at Dentsu Inc, Japan
Media
Sindhuja Rai, chief client officer at WPP Media, APMEA
Outdoor
Aaron Starkman, global chief creative officer at Rethink, global
PR
Dana Tahir, chief executive at Havas Red Middle East, Middle East and Egypt
Print and Publishing
Jessica Apellaniz, chief creative officer at Wieden & Kennedy, Mexico
Social and Creator
Mihnea Gheorghiu, global chief creative officer at LePub, global
Sustainable Development Goals
Kazoo Sato, chief creative officer and chief executive of Earth Centric Design, Japan
Dan Wieden Titanium
Chaka Sobhani, global chief creative officer at TBWA\Worldwide, global
