Debbi Vandeven

Debbi Vandeven is global CCO at VML, delivering contemporary integrated work to clients worldwide, including Colgate-Palmolive, Dell, Ford, Intel, The Coca-Cola Company and Wendy’s. Debbi’s leadership helped VML become a top 10 Cannes Global Agency Network in 2022, 2023, and 2024, in addition to garnering Network of the Year from both ANDYs and ADC, Global Agency Network of the Year and Agency of the Year honours from New York Festivals, and landing on Fast Company’s 2023 list of Best Workplaces for Innovators. Most recently, VML won Global Network Agency of the Year recognition, and Debbi was named the top CCO of 2024 by The Drum. She also received No. 3 CCO ranking in 2024 by D&AD, and VML received Best of the Best Creative Network and Global Advertising Network of the Year distinction from Campaign US.

The company has experienced unprecedented growth and recognition under her leadership, earning accolades from every top international award show, including the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity — where she has received nearly 460 Lions and six coveted Grand Prix awards over the years — and the ANDYs, ADC, Clios, Communication Arts, D&AD, Effies, Loeries, The London International Awards (LIA), One Show, Spikes Asia, and Webby Awards.

Debbi has also presided over top international juries, including the ANDYs, ADC (2018 jury chair), Ad Age Creativity (2021 work jury chair), Cannes Lions (2024 Titanium jury president, 2020/2021 Social & Influencer jury president and 2018 Entertainment jury president), Clios (2019 direct and experiential/events jury chair and 2016 digital jury chair), D&AD (2020 experiential jury president), Loeries (2022 jury chair for film and film craft and 2014 jury chair for digital), One Show Interactive, and Spikes Asia (2019 Entertainment and Music jury chair). She’s graced the main stage at Cannes and the Loeries in Africa/the Middle East, SXSW Sydney, and led sessions of The One Club Creative Leaders Retreat.

Debbi’s creative philosophy is to focus on the idea, rather than a specific channel or execution, and she encourages teams to approach everything they do from this perspective. It’s this approach that’s at the heart of VML’s mission to bring brand experience, commerce, and customer experience together to create connected brands that drive value for clients.

The mother of two talented young women, Debbi believes it’s important to be a strong supporter of initiatives advancing women in creative leadership and is especially proud of receiving two Glass Grand Prix at Cannes. In 2022, she was named to Involve and Yahoo Finance’s Heroes Women Role Model List. She was also awarded the Female Frontier Award from Campaign US in 2021. She was named the 2020 Ad Age CCO of the Year and was recognized on Adweek’s Creative 100, Ad Age’s “Women to Watch” list, and Business Insider’s “30 Most Creative People in Advertising.”

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