The Global / US Social Media Awards have been judged by digital marketing industry leaders and experts across the world.
Current Judges
Previous Judges include:
Head judges
Paris de Reuck | Freelance Marketing Consultant | Content & Community strategist | @
Paris has worked in social media and SEO for thirteen years, with eight years spent heading social media, influencers and editorial teams at MediaCom and OMD. Paris now works directly with companies and startups helping them find creative ways to grow through social media advertising, content and influencer marketing.Judges
Athar Abidi | Head of Social Media | British Heart Foundation
Greg Allum | EVP, Marketing | Fuzzy | @GregAllum
Greg Allum is an established client-side and agency marketer with over 10+ year’s experience leading high-performing teams. He is currently Vice President, Display & Social at LQ Digital driving forward the agency’s paid social media capability and leading its growing team. Prior to joining LQ Digital, he worked for Jellyfish as Global Head of Social leading a team of 25 and responsible for >$75m annualized media spend and also consulted on the Toyota/Lexus account for Group M agency m/six. He has significant in-house experience at brands including British Gas, Legal and General and more recently Sony Electronics where he was European head of social and creative strategy.
Olga ANDRIENKO | HEAD OF GLOBAL MARKETING | SEMRUSH
Together with her team she has built one of the strongest international communities in the online marketing industry. Olga has expanded SEMrush brand visibility worldwide, bringing >90% YoY average revenue growth from top 10 new markets and growing SEMrush presence in the main markets such as USA, Europe and Australia. Olga is a sought-after speaker at leading marketing conferences such as SMX, Pubcon and BrightonSEO.
Lauren Archer | Brand Marketing & PR Consultant
With over a decade of PR, social media and communications experience gained in agencies and in-house, Lauren is now a Freelance Consultant and Accredited PR practitioner, and works with brands and agencies to deliver innovative and creative communications strategies. She has previously worked with brands including French Connection, Nespresso and Travelodge on branded content and social media, as well as running an award-winning food blog. Lauren was also a finalist in the 2019 Global Women in Marketing awards & was listed in The Drum’s Top 50 under 30 women in digital.
Elmer Boutin | SEO Director | GTB
Elmer is the SEO Director at GTB. Following a career in the U.S. Army, he has worked in digital marketing for over 20 years doing everything from coding websites to managing online reputation management efforts as both an independent contractor and a corporate webmaster. In his current role at GTB, a global advertising agency and strategic marketing partner for Ford, he leads the team doing organic search optimization on websites for Ford and other clients.
Stuart Bruce | PR Futurist and CEO | Stuart Bruce Associates | @stuartbruce
Stuart is internationally recognised as a PR Futurist – a thinker and doer in modernised public relations and communications. He specialises in the measurement and evaluation of public relations, communication, reputation and relationships. He also provides senior consultancy and training on public relations and communication strategy, crisis communication, and using digital and social media for corporate communication and public affairs. His consultancy, SBA, works globally to provide strategic counsel, professional development and training to in-house and agency PR and communication teams all around the world. Stuart has worked in more than 30 countries and for clients in more than 60 countries. Before starting SBA Stuart was the co-founder and CEO of one of the UK’s first digital PR companies, which in less than two years he grew into a PRWeek Top 150 consultancy advising clients such as Sony Mobile, HSBC, PayPal, Discover Channel and Unilever.
Mary Grace Cerni | Social Media Editor | Refinery29
Mary Grace is a social media professional with nearly 4 years experience managing accounts on multiple platforms. With roots in journalism, Mary Grace brings her storytelling sensibility to every role—crafting all strategy and copy with the nuance of the reader in mind. She's worked for leading companies in the entertainment and publishing space, and currently she's helping women to feel, see, and claim their power as a social media editor at Refinery29.
Sarah Cook | Group Head of Social Media and Content Strategy | Legal & General
Rachael Courtney | Head of Studio Three | Three
Rachael has worked in PR & Events for over 17 years, with 13 years running Social Media for big brands. In her current position she leads the social media team at Three UK and has been responsible for a number of award winning social campaigns.
Brent Csutoras | Managing Partner | Search Engine Journal
Digital Marketing Consultant at Brent Csutoras, LLC and Managing Partner at Search Engine Journal, one of the top Digital Marketing publications online. Speaker at many of the top marketing conferences, such as Pubcon, Affiliate Summit, SMX, SMX Advanced, State of Search, SES, Ungagged, SEOktoberfest, and more. Over 13 years experience in Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Social Media Marketing, and an avid Futurist, focusing on the implications of future technology on society and societal growth.
Akvile DeFazio | President and Social Media Advertising Specialist | AKvertise, Inc. | @akvertise
As someone who lives for connecting people, making the connection between consumers and brands is what Akvile DeFazio, president of AKvertise, a social media advertising agency does best. As a conversion-driven marketer, she is passionate about helping businesses expand their online visibility and reach their goals via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest Ads
Phoebe Dixon | Senior Social Media Manager | twentysix
Phoebe has been working in digital marketing since graduating from university, nearing six years in the industry. Social media has been the skillset she honed in on because of the constantly changing industry and impact it has on brands and media platforms around the world. Phoebe is currently based in Leeds at multi-award winning agency, twentysix following previous experience in PR and influencer marketing.
Lissa Duty | Branding & Digital Marketing Strategist
Known around the web as “Your Online Social Coach” Lissa Duty is a social media coach, speaker, trainer and author of 25 Tips to Twitter Success: Learn How to Market Yourself, Brand and Business Online and co-author of Your LinkedIn Professional Network: How to Connect, Optimize, and Implement for Success. In 2009, she discovered her passion for leveraging social media platforms to brand businesses online and founded her digital marketing consultancy, LissaDuty.com. Lissa can be found speaking about leveraging social media, digital marketing and the importance of online branding around D/FW at conferences, local chambers, and groups. She does all this while balancing her many responsibilities at her own companies, Rocks Digital and LissaDuty.com.
Nick Entwistle | Founder & Creative Director | Bank of Creativity & One Minute Briefs | @boc_Atm
Nick is the Creative Director and Founder of the Bank of Creativity, working with agencies and brands to create compelling content to engage their audiences and generate big interest in their product or service. One of his biggest campaigns helped to encourage donations for Neuroblastoma sufferer Isabella and it went viral with 30 million views across social media and reached national press and TV news. He also directed the music video and social campaign that led to the NHS beating Justin Bieber to Xmas Number 1. As well as this, Nick has 50,000+ followers on social media, including the community user-generated content platform One Minute Briefs which encourages instinctive creativity. He hosts annual events, hold educational workshops with D&AD & the V&A and delivers talks at agencies, universities and the likes of BBC, SKY and Lloyds Bank. He recently released his third OMB & Agency Quotes books. Agency Quotes is a popular social feed where the creative industry around the world share all the #ThingsYouHearInAgencies. He has won a variety of awards for his work including Grand Prix at the Roses, Creative Circle, Campaign Big, Great British Entrepreneur Awards and my campaigns have been featured in publications such as Buzzfeed, New York Times, Adweek and The Drum.
Keith Goode | SR. SEO STRATEGIST | IBM
Keith Goode is the Sr. SEO Strategist at IBM and brings over 20 years of experience in the online sphere and over 10 years of experience in In-House and Enterprise SEO. He has worked for small and large enterprises including HomeAway, BDX, Dell, and IBM, and he has presented at dozens of conferences worldwide, including Pubcon, SMX, Advanced Search Summit, Cross Forum, and Clarity. A big proponent of democratizing SEO, Keith helped build the Search Certification program at Dell University and regularly presented a Technical SEO class, and he currently is building a virtual courseware for SEO at IBM.
Navah Hopkins | Director of Paid Media | Hennessey Digital
Navah Hopkins is the Director of Paid Media at Hennessey Digital, an integrated digital marketing agency helping our customers own their markets via PPC, SEO, CRO, PR, and Content. A veteran of the digital marketing industry, she began as an SEO in 2008, transitioning to PPC in 2012. She manages the strategy and execution of paid media, as well as leading a team of paid search and paid social champions. Throughout her career, Navah has made a point to give back and loves sharing lessons learned on the international speaking circuit as well as local universities. She is a frequent contributor to SEJ, SEMrush, and WordStream blogs/webinars. In 2019, she became a founding member of the Paid Search Association, a group dedicated to empowering the next generation of PPC practitioners, as well as serving as a resource for all practitioners to learn from and share with the community.
Katy Katz | Director of Account Strategy | Marketing Refresh
Katy has interactive marketing experience spanning across the higher education, healthcare, technology, and small business communities. She has spoken at numerous events nationwide on content marketing, search, social media, and brand personalization. Katy is the Director of Account Strategy at Marketing Refresh, a digital marketing agency in Houston. Connect with Katy on LinkedIn or Twitter to geek out on content, search, or even your latest Netflix obsession.
Laura Lesser | Culture & Innovation | O2 (Telefonica UK)
Laura is a creative and media specialist for brand marketing with experience across leading telco, retail and FMCG brands. She volunteers as a Comms Director at the Conscious Advertising Network and is passionate about technology and ways for brands to be relevant in customers' lives. Currently leading culture and innovation in the marketing communications team at O2 including brand campaigns, CSR initiatives and sponsorships such as The O2 and England Rugby.
Edgar Linayo | D2D Brand Manager | Nestle
"Strategic-design thinker and curious by nature" - I am truly passionate about design, innovation as well as brand building. I have over 15 years of experience focused on fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG). As a brand builder, I have been blessed to be part of paramount projects for acclaimed top global brands such as Ariel®, Bold®, Pampers®, Always®, Tampax®, Tess®, Naturella®, Vicks®, Ruffles®, Twistos®, Lay's®, Maggi®, Purina®, among many others. Furthermore, I have worked with praised local and regional brands. I took part of the global team at Bacardi Limited, the largest private family-owned company full of passionate employees and iconic brands as Bacardi® Rums, Grey Goose® Vodka, Bombay Sapphire® Gin, Martini®, and shaped by their rich history of spirited entrepreneurship. Nowadays, I am working at Nestlé as part of the central team overseeing EMENA projects.
Carla Marshall | Head of Content Marketing | vidIQ
Carla Marshall is the Head of Content Marketing at vidIQ. She was previously Editor in Chief at TubularInsights.com, and the Community Manager for the ReelSEO YouTube Channel. She is YouTube Certified and specializes in video optimization and organic marketing.
Jennifer “Kiza” McDonald | Owner + VP of Marketing | Plentiful Earth, LLC.
Jennifer “Kiza” McDonald loves the power of human connection, and this is evident in her human-centric, holistic marketing models. Though she has worked as the Vice President of Marketing in 15 industries including student housing, health insurance, tech, government, real estate, eCommerce, architecture, and more, the narrative remains the same -- users are people with real people problems. In each of these industries, Jennifer has created and executed digital marketing strategies and attribution structures that have resulted in an average of 227.69% organic visitor growth, 230.26% new user growth, 88.10% revenue increase, and a 1,500% marketable database growth, year-over-year between all clients. By leveraging human-centric content marketing, innovative covert social media marketing tactics, and predictive, high-conversion, and dynamic email marketing strategies, Jennifer recently grew a governmental marketable database by 17,593 users using strictly organic means in the last 6 months. She also established a new marketable, and highly-engaged database of 20,037 for Plentiful Earth; this marketable community has been transformed into a loyal fanbase of volunteer content writers. Her marketing style is for real people, by real people.
Brian McDowell | Sr. Director of SEO and Editorial | Credit Karma
Brian McDowell in an industry leader for enterprise level digital marketing and is the Sr. Director of SEO and Editorial for Credit Karma. Brian works with the worlds largest E-commerce brands on their strategies, forensics, process and team structures. He has been building and promoting websites since 1997. Brian has a true passion for technical application and has established primary revenue streams for multiple startups including LendingTree, Red Ventures, Conductor and Bloomreach. He has designed and built multiple in-house proprietary technologies and platforms for digital marketing and established large in-house teams dedicated to increasing online engagement. Brian often speaks to large enterprise level decision makers as well as advertising agencies about how to build, recruit and sustain new growth technologies. Brian holds a BS in Computer Science from UNC Charlotte.
Paul Morris | Marketing Specialist
Paul has 22 years’ experience leading Marketing, Digital & Ecommerce both Agency & Brand side. Paul was previously Director of Digital/ Ecommerce at Marshalls PLC, Head of Marketing at Tesco Bank, global Digital/ Ecommerce Director at PZ Cussons (brands including St Tropez, Imperial Leather & Original Source), led Digital marketing at the Co-op Group (Food > Funeralcare) and have through the line experience of working both client and agency side with brands including Wickes, Laterooms, Intercontinental Hotel Group, Cash Generator, Stagecoach & Silverstone.
Erica Myers | Director of Social | The Hollywood Reporter
Erica Myers is a digital and social media marketing strategist with 10 years experience leading global campaigns across various verticals. She started her career in media, working out of London with companies like Philips, Dell and Ubisoft. A personal highlight was launching the award-winning EDF: Energy of the Nation campaign during the 2012 London Olympics. In Los Angeles since 2014, Erica has worked with studios like Disney, Netflix and Amazon to develop and execute large-scale campaigns for new movies and television series. She is currently heading up social media for The Hollywood Reporter.
Matt Read | Director of Social Media | GSMA
Matt Read is the Director of Social Media at the GSMA. An award-winning social & content strategist with over 12 years of experience in the industry, Matt's innovative approach to social media marketing and relentless drive to stay ahead of the game has afforded him many opportunities to create forward-thinking strategies for some of the world's leading brands and organisations.
Michelle Robbins | VP Product Innovation | Aimclear
For more than 20 years Michelle has lived at the intersection of technology, marketing, and data. She is an accomplished marketing, technology, and media professional with deep experience as an analyst, engineer, digital marketing and content strategist, editor, writer, and speaker. A member of the search community since its beginnings in the late 90s, Michelle spent 12 years at Third Door Media, most recently serving as SVP, Content & Marketing Technology while also Editor in Chief for Search Engine Land, Marketing Land, and MarTech Today. Michelle recently joined award-winning integrated marketing agency Aimclear where she’ll leverage her deep technology and analysis experience to lead product innovation. Working across data ops, marketing ops, dev ops, and ad ops, she’s focused on growing the agency’s robust suite of martech, data, and marketing products to further extend Aimclear’s pioneering strategies for customer success.
Dave Rohrer | Founder of NorthSide Metrics & Co-Host of The Business of Digital Podcast
As an in-house and agency digital leader for more than 20 years, Dave Rohrer has solved problems and increased revenue for companies both large (Internet Retailer 100 & Fortune 500) and small (start-ups & small, local businesses). Dave is the co-host of The Business of Digital Podcast and runs Chicago-based digital agency NorthSide Metrics. Dave is an internationally recognized speaker and can be found sharing his digital marketing wisdom at conferences like PubCon Pro, Midwest Digital Marketing Conference, and the Craft Brewer’s Conference.
Carrie Rose | Rise at Seven | Co-founder and Creative Director
The Co-founder and Creative Director of creative content marketing agency Rise at Seven. She leads the creative content marketing and digital PR offering within the agency working on viral PR and social media campaigns for brands in UK, US and Europe. Carrie has won over 6 industry awards for her work and made the shortlist for Young Digital Marketer of the Year 2019
Ann Smarty | Brand Manager | Internet Marketing Ninjas
Ann Smarty is the Brand Manager at InternetMarketingNinjas.com as well as the founder of Viral Content Bee. Ann has been into SEO industry for more than a decade. She is the former Editor-in-Chief of Search Engine Journal and contributor to prominent search and social blogs including Small Biz Trends and Mashable. Ann is also a frequent speaker at Pubcon and the host of a weekly Twitter chat #vcbuzz. Follow Ann on Twitter and Linkedin.
Aleyda Solis | International SEO Consultant & Founder at Orainti
Aleyda Solis is an International SEO Consultant and founder of Orainti -a highly specialized, boutique SEO consultancy-, blogger (Search Engine Land, Search Engine Journal and Moz), speaker (with more than 100 conferences in 20 countries in English and Spanish: Inbound, MozCon, Pubcon, BrightonSEO, SearchLove, etc.), author (of "SEO, Las Claves Esenciales"), who also offers actionable SEO tips in her weekly YouTube video series "Crawling Mondays". Aleyda has been awarded as the European Search Personality of the Year in 2018, included in Forbes top 10 online marketing experts to follow, in Hubspot as one of the 59 Female Marketing and Growth Experts You Should be Following, has also been interviewed in publications such as The Huffington Post and contributed for Think With Google.
Bianca Spada | Global Senior Social Media Manager | Red Bull
I am a global digital strategy expert with 10 years experience of delivering successful digital strategies and global campaigns in some of the world’s leading and cutting edge companies. I am an expert in consolidating and creating brand new social strategies to significantly increase the visibility of brands online. I have a proven record of radically turning around performance and generating 3-figure growth within 12 months of working in a company.
Dean Weaving | Head of Display, Video and Social | Deliveroo
For the last 12 years Dean has worked across a multitude of digital media & technology functions including programmatic media buying and trading, technical solutions engineering and digital client service roles including clients such as Volkswagen. Technology and automation at scale is a passion for Dean having worked side by side with product and engineering functions throughout his career to help maximise media output for his clients and delivery efficiently at scale across his teams. Currently manages a global cross functional media team that covers paid social, display, video and digital audio at Deliveroo.
Susan Wenograd | CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER | Aimclear
Susan Wenograd is recognized nationally and internationally as a leading authority on digital marketing, specifically in paid search and social. As Chief Marketing Officer for Aimclear®, Susan fearlessly develops groundbreaking integrated marketing strategies to help clients reach customers via digital channels and inject the right message at the right online moment. Susan is a regular contributor and expert source for top media outlets, including NPR, Wired, Digiday, Marketing Land, Search Engine Journal, and many others. She shares insight as a sought after keynote speaker and session presenter at top marketing conferences around the world, including Pubcon, SMX, Digital Summit, brightonSEO, Social Media Marketing World, Zenith Conference, and many others.