Our Global
Leadership Team
Our global executive leadership team is led by DDB Worldwide’s Global CEO, Marty O’Halloran. They are a bunch of talented and nice, relatively normal people who meet frequently and lead the DDB Worldwide network across all six of our regions inclusive of North America, EMEA, Latina, Australia/New Zealand, India and Asia. As you get to know DDB a little better, we thought you’d enjoy learning a little bit more about each of them once you hover over and click on their avatars below.
Marty O’Halloran was appointed DDB Worldwide Chief Executive Officer in July 2020.
With over 30 years of experience at DDB, Marty brings a deep understanding of the network’s rich history, culture, and people to the role of worldwide CEO. Marty spent nearly 20 years with the network before being named Chairman and CEO of DDB Group Australia and New Zealand in 2005. He also serves as Board Director of the Omnicom Media Group Australia and New Zealand Board and was the Chairman of the Interbrand Australia board. Throughout his career, Marty has been a driver of creativity, talent, and culture for DDB and its clients.
Marty has a deep understanding of client needs, which resulted in the Australia and New
Zealand agencies some of the most recognized and awarded agencies in the world. During his
time as Chairman and CEO of DDB Group Australia and New Zealand, the region dominated in
a variety of Agency of the Year and regional Network of the Year awards including AWARD,
Axis, Campaign in addition to international awards including Cannes, One Show, D&AD, Spikes, and Campaign Asia Pacific. Under Marty’s leadership, DDB in Australia and New Zealand has been recognized as the fastest growing international network in the region.
In his role as CEO of DDB Worldwide, Marty ‘s leadership spans over 100 offices across the
world.
A former member of the Australia Rowing team, Marty is married to his wife, Deborah, with
whom he raised three children.

Ari Weiss has been at the heart of defining Unexpected Works for the DDB Network across
149 offices in 63 countries around the world. As Global Chief Creative Officer, Ari has led the agency to Network of the Year at D&AD, Spikes Asia, El Ojo De Iberoamerica, ADC and One Show.
With more than 20 years of experience, Ari is best known for creating some of the most
unexpected work in the industry for world-famous brands, including Skittles, Starburst, Twix, Miller Lite, Coors Light, McDonald’s, John Lewis, PlayStation, Reporters Without Borders, House of Lapland, and Volkswagen. Across this impressive list of clients, the network has won an unprecedented 400 Cannes Lions under Weiss’ leadership.
During his five years at DDB, he led the agency’s visual identity redesign, the launch of the network’s Unexpected Works brand positioning, and helped unify the immensely talented
network of global creatives with the network’s first gender-balanced Global Creative Council.Weiss learned his craft by way of BBDO, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Wieden + Kennedy and Cliff Freeman & Partners. He lives in New York with his three children and wife Dara.

Alex is DDB Worldwide’s Global President and Chief Operating Officer focused on growth and is working closely with Marty O’Halloran and DDB’s global leadership team on DDB’s global strategic plan. Alex was most recently President, McCann North America where he held several regional leadership roles during the course of his tenure there. Before taking on his role at the helm of McCann’s North America region, Alex led McCann’s integrated new business activity, was President of McCann Worldgroup Asia Pacific, and was also the CEO of McCann London. Prior to that he held leadership roles with agencies including Grey and BBH.
Alex was born and raised in London.
His father is American, his mother is French, his wife is Mexican and has three young children, Lucas, Dylan and Siena. He plays tennis with enthusiasm, periodically runs until injured, and is in constant search of snow in which to wipe out.

As Global Chief People Officer for the DDB Network, Roisin’s role is to optimize DDB’s people-centered activities to ensure continuous growth for our 10,000 employees around the world.
She is a network lifer who has DDB proudly cursing through her veins. Her partnership with DDB Global CEO Marty O’Halloran ensures we hold ourselves accountable to nurturing and bringing to life an exceptional company culture, embodied through our values, beliefs, and behaviours.
Roisin is passionate about authentic leadership and building inclusive cultures. A people connector whose greatest joy is to support exceptional talent to do amazing things. Helping people unleash their full potential to make them proud of who they are and what they do.

Mike is the Global CFO of DDB Worldwide. An accomplished finance leader for over 20 years,
Mike began his career with Omnicom as a Senior Accountant. He then elevated to Corporate Accounting Manager and Director of Corporate Accounting before becoming Controller for DDB US. In 2014, Mike became CFO for DDB EMEA and rose to take on his current role as global CFO in 2020.
A driving force within the DDB network, Mike oversees the strategic financial planning
process across all global regions. He is in lock step with DDB WW’s global CEO Marty
O’Halloran and provides direction to all DDB regional and local agency leaders on financial plans, forecasting and reporting into Omnicom. As a member of DDB WW’s global
leadership team, Mike’s sharp financial acumen and guidance provides a solid foundation
which fuels DDB WW’s growth.
Mike is an Australian and US citizen. He graduated from the University of Western Australia and has enjoyed living and working in Australia, the UK, US and Canada over the years. He currently lives in Brooklyn with his wife JoAnna, their 2 kids and dog. Important to note, Mike enjoys pina coladas and doesn’t mind getting caught in the rain.

Donna brings her passion for people, creativity and being a positive change agent to her role as Global Chief Marketing & Communications Officer at DDB Worldwide.
In addition to being a member of DDB’s Global Executive Leadership Team, she is on DDB’s North America Leadership Team, the OmniWomenNY Board and the 4A’s Agency Communications Committee. Dedicated to mentorship, Donna developed and launched a Women’s Leadership Network and mentoring program while at WPP’s Kantar, is an active mentor as part of Omnicom’s OmniWomen mentorship program, and has participated in the 4A’s Vanguard Mentorship program, as well as the MAIP Mentorship program.
Prior to her role at DDB Worldwide, Donna was the EVP, Marketing, Communications, Events & Partnerships at the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4A’s). She has extensive ad agency account management experience and led global brands, marketing, communications, and product development across industries including food and beverage, fashion, toys, licensing, and entertainment at companies such as Ocean Spray, Hasbro, Basic Fun!, and WPP.
Donna was also selected by Marketing Edge Magazine as a Top Female CMO to Watch in the advertising industry, as a jury member for The Drum’s PR Awards, and was recently selected to be a member and contributing writer of the Forbes Communications Council. She loves music, has three girls, and lives in New Jersey with her husband John and their 85-pound black lab.

For almost 30 years, Justin has worked in the precision and integrated marketing industry
across a number of sectors including Health & Wellness, pharma, technology, automotive,
travel, financial services and fashion. In his role as CEO of DDB North America, Justin is helping integrate creative with brand insights, data and technology to help clients generate innovative and revenue-driving business solutions. He has spent his career developing and leading teams to take brands through the complete consumer journey, leveraging brand awareness down to immersive experiences and demand generation.
Justin joined DDB from OPMG Health, an Omnicom Precision Marketing Group network, where he served as Global CEO. As CEO he was responsible for developing the vision, position and strategy of the network and its clients across all brands and regions globally, working on Eli Lilly, GSK, BlueCross/Blue Shield, Ascension Health, Pfizer, and United Health.
A true globalist, Justin has led global teams in London, Paris, Benelux, Singapore, Moscow, Finland and New York, supporting large, complex client engagements. He has won multiple creative and strategic awards, including the Precision Marketing Grand Prix for merging creative, data & technology strategies. Earlier in his career, Justin served client-side as Chief Digital Officer at Novartis Consumer Health based in Switzerland, setting a global digital transformation strategy which saw Novartis develop partnerships with the likes of Google, Adobe, Amazon, Boots (Walgreen), ePharmacies.

Nikki Lamba sits on the DDB Worldwide Executive Leadership team as DDB’s first Chief Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) Officer. In her role, Nikki is responsible for designing and implementing DDB’s global DEI strategy, ensuring that DDB’s core values, The Four Freedoms, are a key driver for agency culture. Nikki is also a part of Omnicom’s Employee Research Group’s leadership team and DDB’s North America leadership team, where she partners closely with the regional Chief Executive Officer and Chief People Officer to ensure that DEI is strategically intrinsic to the people and talent strategy.
Additionally, Nikki leads DDB North America’s Equality in Advertising Council (EAC) which brings together DEI champions from across offices to drive the strategic plan by curating activations designed to educate and create shared dialogues. Nikki was recently recognized as a finalist by Crain’s NY Business as a Top 2022 D&I leader, is an Aspen Ideas Scholar, and has spoken at events such as The 3% Conference, AdCouncil, Asians In Advertising, and the Ad Club of NY.
Prior to her current role, Nikki spent 11 years with global research organization Catalyst, providing partnership and guidance on organizational strategies and D&I programming in order to hire, advance and retain diverse talent for F1000 organizations across a range of industries. She holds her masters degree (MSc) in Global Politics from the London School of Economics.
Nikki is married, has two daughters, and lives in Connecticut.

Glen is CEO of Europe, Middle East and Africa and has been with DDB since 1995, having joined the London office as part of a graduate trainee program.
Based in London, he is responsible for the EMEA region and focused on building incredibly motivated teams across geographies to create an environment where creativity and effectiveness can truly flourish across the network.
Glen has managed a multitude of local and international brands including Unilever, Diageo, MARS, McDonald’s, Vodafone, Volkswagen, Honda and Reuters. One of his first accounts was Unilever’s UK local jewel, PG Tips; he went on to manage DDB’s global relationship with the Unilever business, growing it into 50+ markets and leading it to consistent Cannes Lion success.
For 10 years Glen was based in South Africa as Chairman and CEO of the region. From here he had the unique and incredibly inspiring opportunity to build the DDB network across the African continent in order to help global clients such as Unilever, Mars Wrigley and Diageo expand into previously unchartered territories.
His particular passion is transformation – whether it be growing people, businesses or agencies to defy even their own expectations of what is possible. He thrives on the energy and momentum this creates.

Juan Carlos Ortiz was the first Latin American to become the president of an advertising agency in the United States when he led Leo Burnett USA in 2006.
In 2008, Ortiz was invited to join DDB Worldwide as CEO of the Latin America offices, where he quickly became the pioneer in uniting the company’s Latin markets worldwide (US, Latin America, and Spain) under a single vision of culture rather than geography. This movement has inspired Latin creativity and passion for becoming a world reference.
Under the leadership of Juan Carlos, the united team of DDB Latina has won more than 200 Lions. In 2021 and for the first time in its history, it was named Network of the Year at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity, representing 50% of DDB Worldwide’s creative results. From a regional perspective, it has been recognized as Network of the Year in Ibero-America at El Ojo Festival and by the prestigious Adlatina Cream ranking in 2017, 2019, 2020, and 2021. It was also named the Most Effective Network at Effie LATAM 2021.
Juan Carlos has collected several awards worldwide, has been a member of the Global Effie Awards, and a speaker and president of the Jury at Cannes, El Ojo, El Sol, and Wave, among other festivals. He is known in his natal country for winning the first Gold Lion in Colombia’s history with the famous antidrug campaign film “Dandruff.” The World Economic Forum at Davos recognized Ortiz as a Young Global Leader for his professional accomplishments,
commitment to society, and potential to shape the world’s future. He is also an inductee of the Hall of Achievement by the American Advertising Federation.
Juan Carlos is the author of “Shorts,” a trilogy written from his mobile phone at 30,000 feet above the ground during his business trips around the globe. Forbes magazine listed the book as the postmodern book in 2011.
In 2014, he was invited to take upon the role of Creative Chairman of DDB Americas to merge the creative teams of North America, Spain, and Latin America, and in 2018, he led the strategy and creative campaign of the current President of Colombia, Iván Duque. In 2021, he was included for the second consecutive year in the select list of the 50 Forbes Creatives, which highlights the Colombian talent that makes a difference around the world.
Juan Carlos is also a columnist for El Espectador newspaper and Soho magazine, two of the most relevant publications in Colombia.

Dave Kissel is an award-winning senior marketing executive with extensive experience delivering effective brand communications plans for Fortune 500 clients, leading cross-functional teams at world-class agencies and media companies.
Dave is currently a Global Business Lead at Doyle Dane Bernbach Worldwide, one of the world’s most creative advertising networks. As a partner to McDonald’s in 45 countries, the world’s largest restaurant company is DDB’s biggest multi-national client. Dave is responsible for the global leadership and coordination of the agency’s McDonald’s relationships, helping each office deliver high-impact strategy, content and experiences to measurably grow the McDonald’s brand and business. Dave is a member of DDB Worldwide’s Executive Leadership Team, as well as a member of Omnicom’s Global Client Leadership Team.
Dave transitioned to the Global role after having been a key architect and builder of We Are Unlimited, the DDB-led “Agency of the Future” designed specifically for McDonald’s U.S. by Omnicom. In addition, Dave is the former CEO of, InStadium, a national Nielsen-measured media network consisting of 450+ pro and college sports teams. Under Dave’s leadership, he helped transform InStadium into a multi-media video and gaming platform for major brands. Prior to InStadium, Dave helped create the award-winning agency Zócalo Group, Omnicom’s first dedicated social media agency, a division of Critical Mass.

As Global Business Lead at DDB, Varsha is responsible for strengthening and evolving Mars Incorporated’s global relationships across multiple geographies and individual agency offices, including adam&eveDDB London, DDB Paris, DDB Chicago, DDB New York, DDB Guangzhou, DDB Mudra (India), and DDB Mexico. Her focus includes delivering future-facing, data-driven strategic & creative solutions to Mars Inc., leveraging new data, insights platforms, technology and capabilities integrated into DDB as part of a broader network strategy.
Varsha brings to DDB over 20 years of experience working in creative agencies and business technology consultancy. Her expertise spans across capabilities and industries including brand management, creative solutions, Data driven precision marketing, generating growth for top name clients.
Prior to joining DDB, Varsha was a member of the core leadership team at predictive intelligence San Francisco-based startup Motista, and led client relationships for financial, brokerage, and healthcare clients. There she worked to combine the company’s proprietary tools and big data with expertise in brand positioning, creativity and client relationships, to grow Motista’s revenue and clients significantly over a three-year period.
Varsha started her career at Leo Burnett, spending over 17 years managing US based and global brands such as Allstate, Kellogg’s, and Brooks. She holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication and Media Studies from The University of Georgia and is a frequent advocate and mentor for women in business. Varsha is also on the Chicago board of America India Foundation (AIF) which is a not -or-profit organization focused on addressing education and health care challenges in India.

Aditya was born in a military family, where he moved homes every couple of years. The constant travelling, new places and living in villages and towns across the country, helped him develop a deep sense of empathy and an appreciation of culture at a young age.
These early influences translated into advertising as a career choice. He started his journey with the erstwhile Mudra in 2003 as a strategic planner, taking on various responsibilities over the years including that of the Chief Strategy Officer, a role in which he helped shape India’s most successful independent advertising agency into an Omnicom-owned integrated marketing communications group.
He has overseen globally recognised Diversity, Equity & Inclusion initiatives like ‘The Phyllis India Project’ that builds and develops a community of women leaders; and ‘Open Pride’ that focuses on respectful representation in creative work and an inclusive work environment for the LGBTQIA+ community & allies. DDB Mudra Group was the first agency in India to include same sex & live-in partners in medical insurance, the first to offer professional mental health resources years before the conversation became mainstream; and provides best-in-industry paternity leave to enable equal parenting.
Aditya graduated with honours in Economics at St.Stephen’s College, Delhi and is a gold medalist from MICA, Ahmedabad. His path to DDB’s global leadership team and the transformation of the DDB Mudra Group is a subject of a case study taught at Omnicom’s global leadership development programme. He lives in Mumbai with his wife and enjoys seeing the world afresh through the eyes of his little boy.

Elizabeth is the Chief of Staff for DDB Worldwide. She is powerful agenda-driver who can air traffic control and execute multiple initiatives on behalf of the CEO and leadership team. She comes to the role with broad experience managing both relationships and projects with and on behalf of senior leaders. As a business partner to key function leads within the global C Suite group, as well as regional leadership, she is focused on helping these stakeholders achieve their strategic objectives and supports the execution of mission critical initiatives.
Prior to joining DDB, she spent over 20 years as the development and communication platform strategy leader for Omnicom Group’s global network. She was charged with creating online and offline collaborative communications platforms for best practices and idea sharing
to leverage assets. She developed and managed digital tools and was the strategic lead for Omnicom’s global intranet. Additionally, she was the point person for global talent initiatives and services across the network, led the OmniWomen Mentorship program and is on the OmniWomen NY Board.
A connector, simplifier, and shapeshifter, she is passionate about professional development, human potential and sharing big ideas.

Toby is CEO of DDB Germany, responsible for all agency brands in the Group including Voltage, Kapacht, Track, Screen and 480Hz.
Based in Berlin, he has worked at DDB for over twelve years in various positions, formerly as CEO of Team Voltage, Omnicom’s bespoke agency for Volkswagen, servicing the business across EMEA, India, Australia, South America and China. In his previous role as Managing Director at DDB Berlin, Toby led a business turnaround; the agency became once again a
thriving creative hub, winning new business and numerous creative accolades.
A born and bred Bavarian, Toby moved to London to take a degree in International Business Studies and has worked for BMW and various creative agencies including BBH and Fallon. He managed accounts including Škoda, Audi, Sony, Coca-Cola, Vodafone, Unilever and Nestlé.
He acquired digital experience setting up a dedicated dotcom unit at WCRS and has completed management training with Hyper Island, The London Business School and Omnicom University.
He sits on DDB’s worldwide Executive Leadership Team and is a member of Omnicom’s Global Client Group.

Andrew Little is the President and Regional CEO of DDB Group Australia and New Zealand, leading DDB, Tribal, TRACK, DDB Remedy and Mango across the region. He is celebrating his 22nd year with the agency.
The advertising company works with some of the region’s biggest brands, including McDonald’s, Volkswagen, Westpac, Sky, Lotto New Zealand, Coles, Kmart, and Dulux. Andrew believes in surrounding himself with the very best people in the industry and dedicating himself to the success of his clients.
A passionate golfer and beach lover, Andrew is married to Vanessa and the father of Maya and Hugo.

Pietro was appointed CEO of DDB Europe, in July 2010 and took over responsibility for the Middle East & Africa regions three years later. He is responsible for 22 agencies in EMEA.
Based in Amsterdam, Pietro joined DDB in 1997 as chairman of DDB Amsterdam, the agency he founded himself as Result Reklame & Marketing in 1970.
During Pietro’s 50 year career in advertising he served a large number of national and international clients like Appelsientje, Mars, McDonald’s, Philips.
A key figure in the Dutch advertising industry, Pietro was named Advertising Man of the Year in 1987 and was also elected Legend of the Year by the VEA (The Dutch Association of Advertising Agencies) in 2008. He also served as VEA vice-chairman and on the jury for the Dutch Effies.
In addition to his DDB commitments, Pietro served on the board of the Ronald McDonald Children’s Fund for 10 years and in 2005 was recognized at the Ronald McDonald’s European House Charities Awards for his contribution to the success of the annual fundraising Gala.
