People To Watch 2026

Which marketing and communications executives are likely to have a particularly pivotal year ahead? Here, PRovoke Media's editors – Paul Holmes, Camillia Dass, Diana Marszalek and Maja Pawinska Sims – reveal their People to Watch list for 2026, in alphabetical order.

It was a particularly hard cut to get from our longlist to the final 12 this year, thanks to 2025 seeing a huge volume of senior people moves in agencies and in-house; indeed, they made up a significant proportion of our biggest news stories of 2025.

In the agency world, these included what at times seemed like a game of musical chairs among senior leaders: a fresh new European leadership team at Burson, with former Edelman and Golin leader Jonathan Hughes becoming EMEA CEO, former Ogilvy PR EMEA and global president Matt Buchanan moving to the sister agency as EMEA COO, as well as Simon Redfern leaving his in-house career to join former boss Corey duBrowa, as UK CEO.

Elsewhere, Kat Thomas left her agency One Green Bean, replaced by former MSL UK leader Jo Grier; and Ketchum global CEO Mike Doyle and global markets CEO Jo-ann Robertson both exiting, with Robertson moving to BPI. At FleishmanHillard, Marshall Manson stepped up as UK CEO as Hugh Taggart left to take up the EMEA CEO job at Weber Shandwick vacated by Michael Frohlich, who moved to WPP as chief marketing and corporate affairs officer.

And Edelman's appointment of Mainardo de Nardis as global president and chief operating officer marked a leadership shift at the firm, with longtime executive Matthew Harrington becoming executive vice chairman.

There were also a spate of senior in-house moves, including Microsoft's Steve Clayton moving to Cisco; Instacart's Dani Dudeck heading to Netflix; Syngenta's Carolin Strunz going to Audi; Merck's Cristal Downing moving to Insulet; Franz Paasche joining Verizon; Intel hiring Robin Colwell and Annie Shea; and Hannah Wong leaving OpenAI.

So how did last year's People to Watch fare? You can see the 2025 list here.

Chris Foster makes an unprecedented third repeat appearance in the People to Watch list this year, since his already-challenging role at Omnicom just got a whole lot bigger with the IPG merger.

Dave Heinzinger, who joined X as comms chief at the end of 2024, was the latest in the revolving door of communications leaders at the social media platform to leave abruptly, after just three months.

In other moves from last year's list, Sarah Waddington has since been confirmed as the CEO of the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA), while Karine Jean-Pierre has not yet emerged into the corporate realm after leaving the White House, but has published her second memoir.

HS Chung
CEO, Asia-Pacific, Burson

HS Chung is no stranger to PRovoke Media's prestigious lists, having been named on our APAC 2020 Innovator 25 list after expanding Hill & Knowlton in 2019 through a merger with Lumos PR as its regional president. Now, after just under two years at Burson as its North Asia-Pacific CEO, Chung has been handed the monumental task of handling the entire Asia-Pacific region as CEO as of December last year. This includes Burson's business in Australia and New Zealand, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand. With a deep understanding of Asian conglomerates and their business needs, Chung, who is based in Seoul, Korea, is perfectly placed to handle the needs of the region. She brings over 30 years of experience to the role and has deep and broad experience in corporate, integrated, and digital communications. As we look ahead to 2026, Chung will need to bring that all together to drive the region forward in these volatile times. For now, only time will tell us what's next for this ambitious leader. - CD

Chris Foster
CEO, Omnicom Public Relations Group

Chris Foster was on this list last year, and in fact this is the third time we've identified him as one of our People to Watch. But that's because his responsibility as CEO of Omnicom Public Relations Grou continues to evolve and grow, with $2.5 billion in PR fees under his control. All eyes will be on the holding company and its PR portfolio following last year's merger with Interpublic, which brought Weber Shandwick and Golin-two brands that have more than held their own in recent years-under his oversight, alongside Fleishman-Hillard, Ketchum, and Porter Novelli. With some small exceptions in secondary markets, Foster has kept the individual brands separate, but there's no question that some of them have underperformed in recent years and may be vulnerable to consolidation as a result.-PH

Aaron Kwittken
Global head of AI and innovation, FGS Global

For most of his roughly three-decade career, Aaron Kwittken was steeped in agency life, including nearly 20 years founding and running KWT Global. Around 2019, he turned a long-standing interest in technology – particularly AI – into a business, launching comms tech company PRophet under Stagwell, the holding company that had acquired KWT several years earlier, and becoming an active advocate for the industry's adoption of AI. Last year, Kwittken shifted again, putting his entrepreneurial ventures on hold to join FGS Global as global head of AI and innovation, charged with overseeing the firm's multi-year investment in AI capabilities. In less than six months, he has led the launch of a 200-person global AI advisory practice and the acquisition of threat intelligence consultancy Memetica, expanding FGS Global's capabilities in AI-driven communications strategy, reputational risk, and digital threat detection – an early indication that he is just getting started.-DM

Chris Lewis
Founder & CEO, Team Lewis

Chris Lewis has never lacked ambition, but Team Lewis's acquisition of the UK business of Instinctif Partners last year was a statement move even by his standards. The deal significantly expanded Team Lewis's footprint in the UK and Europe, adding scale, sector depth and a more established corporate and financial communications capability to what has historically been a fast-growth, entrepreneurial and largely tech-focused agency. It also underlined Lewis's determination to build a truly global independent at a time when many peers are either selling up or retrenching. Folding a complex, multi-market business into Team Lewis's distinctive culture, while retaining senior talent and client confidence, will test leadership as much as strategy. At the same time, Lewis must continue to differentiate the agency in an increasingly crowded mid-market, balancing growth with focus and consistency. If he can successfully absorb Instinctif while maintaining momentum and clarity of purpose, 2026 could be the year Team Lewis moves from energetic challenger to established global force.-MPS

Wendy Lund
Global CEO, Allison and Vice Chair of Health, Stagwell

Wendy Lund's appointment as global CEO of Allison Worl dwide marked a significant step both for Lund - who has spent most of her career in healthcare communications - and for the agency, which had previously been led by its namesake Scott Allison and, more recently, co-founder Jonathan Heit. Lund is no stranger to senior leadership roles; her resume includes serving as WPP Health's chief client officer and as CEO of GCI Health. But this role places the full breadth of an agency at an inflection point under her watch, as Allison navigates a period of transformation and renewed focus on growth. Parent company Stagwell is also making strategic use of Lund's sector expertise: in addition to serving as Allison's CEO, she will act as Stagwell's vice chair of health, leading the holding group's strategy to expand its healthcare business. The dual role signals the scale of the mandate, and the confidence being placed in Lund to deliver it.-DM

Matt Neale
Chief executive officer, Golin

Golin is by no means the largest of the global public relations agencies now part of the Omnicom Group but it has been in recent years the best performing, having been named PRovoke Media's Global Agency Of The Year For the past two years among numerous other honors, including a Cannes Gold Lion and the Best Agency to Work For recognition, all under the leadership of Matt Neale. Its success does not render the former IPG agency invulnerable to the implications of a giant consolidation-there have been layoffs already-so maintaining the outstanding culture will present new challenges. Still, it would be nice to think that Neale's track record will lead to new opportunities and perhaps even increased investment in the brand.-PH

Kelli Parsons
CEO, Avoq

Kelli Parsons arrived earlier this year at Avoq after leading one of the industry's most established brands, having served as global CEO of Hill & Knowlton during its transition into Burson. The move marks a shift from running a legacy agency to leading and growing a comparatively young firm still defining its long-term identity. With a career spanning senior in-house roles and top agency leadership, Parsons takes the helm as Avoq looks to scale its influence, sharpen its positioning, and respond to increasingly complex client demands around policy, reputation, and impact. The mandate ahead is less about preservation than about building and about translating momentum into sustained growth.-DM

Cindy Rose
CEO, WPP

Cindy Rose's succession of Mark Read at WPP last year marked a decisive moment for the world's largest marketing services group, not least because it signalled a clear shift in emphasis rather than continuity. With a background spanning Microsoft, Vodafone and Virgin Media, Rose arrives with deep experience at the intersection of technology, platforms and large-scale transformation, precisely where WPP's next chapter will be written. Her appointment was closely watched across the industry, not just for what it says about WPP's future direction, but for how the holding company intends to compete in an increasingly AI-driven, platform-dominated ecosystem. The opportunity, and the challenge, is huge. Rose must accelerate WPP's pivot towards data, technology and integrated solutions while reassuring clients, investors and talent that creativity remains central to the proposition. She inherits a group facing structural pressure, fierce competition from consultancies and tech players, and growing client demands for measurable impact. How Rose balances innovation with culture, and speed with coherence, will define not only her tenure, but WPP's relevance in the years ahead, particularly as rumours are circling about it being acquired by another group.-MPS

Emma Smith
CEO, Sandpiper Communications

It's rare to find a leader as well-loved and respected as Emma Smith, who has been the CEO of Sandpiper Communications in Hong Kong for the last 13 years. However, Smith does just that with grace, grit, and headstrong ambition. Despite her long tenure, Smith is far from being old news. In fact, just last year, with Smith at the helm, the firm expanded its specialist offerings in AI and emerging technology, research, financial services, and special situations-the latter as it seeks to break into the mergers and acquisitions arena. Its ESG and financial services businesses both also grew to 50% in tandem with the launch of its new division, Sandpiper Financial, in August last year. It also saw recent expansions into Australia and the Middle East, all of which contributed to it being named one of PRovoke Media's 36 best agencies in Asia last year. As we enter 2026, it remains to be seen what Smith will achieve and conquer next. All we know is that we can't wait to see it unfold. - CD

Michael Stewart
Chief corporate affairs and communications officer, Unilever

There's no doubt that Michael Stewart's former employer, PwC, is a major global enterprise in a high-profile sector, but from a corporate affairs perspective, Unilever is operating under a completely different level of scrutiny and it's fair to say that Stewart's new role, which was announced in November, is one of the plum assignments in the communications world, steering stakeholder relationships for a company at the heart of discussions around issues such as sustainability and brand purpose. His appointment last year signaled that Unilever would place communications in its rightful place as a critical management discipline, after a period in which it was combined with sustainability under Rebecca Marmot. Stewart's background in social sector organizations and the agency world should prepare him for this high profile challenge.-PH

Sally Susman
Former CCO, Pfizer

The departure of Sally Susman from Pfizer last year after two decades send shockwaves through the US corporate affairs community, coming so quickly on the heels of her magnificent work guiding the pharmaceutical giant through the Covid pandemic and the wave of anti-vaccine sentiment that created unprecedented controversy. It's unusual for this list to feature someone not obviously holding a position of great influence in the communications sector, but Susman has made it clear that her retirement does not mean inactivity. She is serving on a variety of corporate and nonprofit boards, advising individuals and is generally committed to continuing to make a difference on important issues. The early indications are that she plans on setting a new standard for what a productive retirement looks like for someone of her experience.-PH

Paolo Zanetto
CEO, Excellera Group

It is not yet two years since Excellera Group acquired Barabino, the longtime leader in the Italian financial communications sector and established itself as a significant force on the European corporate and public affairs scene. Under the leadership of CEO Paolo Zanetto, the group has established itself as a leader on the European M&A advisory scene, expanded its capabilities in public affairs, artificial intelligence, and even consumer marketing, and acquired the Middle Eastern operations of corporate advisory firm Instinctif Partners. It is now a $75 million business-one of the 50 largest public relations groups in the world-and having secured a new financial partner in ICG, a leading global alternative asset manager, the business is in a strong position to accelerate its international expansion plan and invest in innovation, data science, and advanced technologies.-PH

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