Our Trustees

Chair of Trustees A promising career in fashion design was cut short when Vicki discovered she couldn’t draw. Encouraged by her mentor Paul Smith to write her ideas down instead, Vicki soon found her way into the world of advertising. Vicki has spent over 15 years developing campaigns, thoughts and ideas for agencies including Wieden + Kennedy, Mojo and Amsterdam International before joining Grey London to work on briefs as diverse as full fat butter and the British Heart Foundation. She has collected more than 35 major awards for her BHF ‘Hands only CPR’ Vinnie Jones campaign – which has now saved more than 50 lives (and counting) – while The Angina Monologues, also for the BHF, earned her a coveted British Comedy Award. The IPA has named Vicki one of advertising’s Women of Tomorrow, Business Insider voted her one of the 10 most influential women in advertising, and she is active in both WACL and SheSays. 2016 saw her take the Chairmanship of the Creative Circle Awards – becoming the first female chair in its history – as well as judge the Cannes Glass Lions.

Chaka Sobhani has recently joined DBB as the President & Global Chief Creative Officer of DDB Worldwide after 7 years as Global Chief Creative Officer of Leo Burnett Worldwide. With 20 years of experience as an award-winning director, writer and creative director, she has worked for the biggest broadcasters, brands and agencies worldwide. She hasn’t had a conventional advertising career, having spent over 10 years as a film maker and in television. Chaka was recruited by ITV to set up their first in-house creative agency, production company and design studio. During this time, the network regained the no.1 position in the UK, created its most successful global formats and content in the X Factor and Downton Abbey, and won the prestigious Channel of the Year for the first time in their history, as well as numerous BAFTA’s and the Rose D’Or. Chaka then spent a number of years at leading independent agency Mother, running a number of accounts and building their content ability, before joining Leo Burnett. She has worked on countless brands including McDonalds, Boots, Coca Cola, Kellogg, Co-op, NSPCC, Stella Artois, Agent Provocateur and Adidas. Highly awarded amongst all the major honours, Chaka has overseen Leo Burnett London be named Agency of the Year 2016 by Epica and Direct Agency of the Year 2016 by Campaign, as well be part of the most awarded network in the world (according to AdAges 2015 Awards Report).

I am the Executive Creative Director of 4Creative, Channel 4’s in-house creative agency, and have been since 2019. I started as a print and exhibitions designer, mainly for Neville Brody. I then co-founded the arts / subculture publishing company Ditto Press. Offprint Paris called us “Lords of the English underground.” But cult don’t pay the bills. Overground, I joined BBH as creative strategist on The Guardian and Virgin Media. I then spent time being freelance and being in California, which is the same. I returned and joined Conde Nast Video as Head of Creative Development and launched channels, series and docs for Vogue, GQ and WIRED. That led to being Creative Director at Havas London overseeing Department for Education, Durex, Carling, Heathrow, and a bit of Rolls Royce. I have chaired the jury of the British Arrows and been invited to judge D&AD (Film), Ciclope, Eurobest (Film Craft), Campaign BIG and Creative Circle amongst others. I am also on the board of trustees for the Creative Foundation. I do all these things happily because I like both dark rooms and warm sandwiches.

Sorcha Shepherd is the Managing Executive Producer of Caviar London. Since it's inception 11 years ago, Shepherd has helped build and develop the careers of some of the worlds most sought after commercial and music video directors in Europe and across the pond. She has Executive Produced commercials and music videos that have gone onto win awards and nominations such as The British Arrows, Cannes Lions, The APA Award Show, Shots, UKMAV's, D&AD, Creative Circle & Ciclope, with several nominations for Best Production company at many of the UK's most esteemed Awards Shows. She has sat on juries for British Arrows, The APA Show, Creative Circle Shots, Cannes YDA & the UKMVA's. She sits on the board of Trustees for The Creative Circle and the APA Council, where she is part of numerous groups tackling important issues such as working parents, diversity and inclusivity and mental well being within production. She has twin boys and a French Bulldog called Augustus.

Mark Waites was born in Leeds, England. There he got an education, an accent and a football team. He is co-founder of Mother – Campaign magazine’s ‘Agency of the Decade’. Mark started his career so long ago that it’s now embarrassing to admit. Here’s some stuff he’s proud to boast about: In ’94 he rode a motorcycle from Alaska to the tip of South America. A short film he wrote and directed was accepted into over 60 film festivals around the World in 2003/4 and picked up ‘Best Short’ in six of them. In 2008 the British Television Advertising Awards gave him their ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Industry’ distinction. 2009 Mark and his creative partner Robert Saville were Campaign magazine’s ‘Creative Directors of the Decade’ For 2008 & 2009 he was Honorary Chairman of the Advertising Club of New York ANDY Awards His story telling project can be found at supposedhistories.com He lives in London with Kate and their two daughters.

A strategic and operational leader, with 20+ years' experience within the creative sector, Ete's led multi-disciplined teams at everything from a project, to programme, agency and network level. Having worked at some of the world's premier creative agencies including Engine Group, AnalogFolk, AKQA, Tribal Worldwide, Digitas and SixandCo; Ete's gained experience across sectors from Financial Services, to Technology, Travel and Tourism, FMCG and Automotive, for global, national and local market brands and clients, across a range of projects from Digital Products, Experiences and Services to Online and Offline Brand Campaigns, Innovation Consulting, Change Management and Business Transformation. Prior to joining Dentsu Creative, he was CEO of Engine:Creative where transformed the agency – culminating with Engine:Creative being recognised amongst 'Fast Company's 100 Most Innovative Companies 2021'. As well as the Cannes Lion Titanium Grand Prix for the highly impactful Kiyan Prince Foundation's #longlivetheprince campaign. Ete's obsessively passionate about delivering innovation and driving social change. He was one of the original co-founders of WeAreStripes and is the founder of CultureHeroes, initiatives whose missions are to create opportunities for Black Asian and Multi-cultural talent, across the creative industries. He's also the Chair for the UK Chapter of the 'Black and Brilliant Advocacy Network', on the Advisory board for CreativeEquals and SheSays and is a mentor with BT, Bloom, WYMM/Shesays. He's also a member of the Effies UK Council, BIMA Charities Council and Non-Executive Director at 'Hey Big Man!'. A Drum Digerati "Top 100 people in UK Digital" 2017 and 2018 Alumni, Ete was recognised in the BIMA 100 in 2017, 2018 and 2019; in CreativePool's 'Top 100 Influencers' 2018 and 2019, 2020, 2021; also Campaign Magazines: 'Top 10 Trailblazer' 2019, 'Top 10 Ad Suits' 2020 and shortlisted for 'Agency Head' of the Year 2021.

Munzie is one of the industry’s most well known and loved sound designers with 25 years of creative flex and a huge portfolio of award-winning work to his name. Starting his career as a runner at Grand Central Studios, Munzie quickly progressed through the ranks to become one of the most well-loved and sought after sound designers in the industry to date. Now calling BAFTA and Academy Award winning Wave Studios his new home, Munzie continues to light up the studio with his infectious enthusiasm for each project he takes on.

Trevor Robinson, OBE is a creative director and founder of Quiet Storm, the London-based advertising agency and production company. A dedicated philanthropist, he heads a drive to encourage the UK's creative industries to embrace those, who like him, come from ethnic minority backgrounds. In 1995 Robinson branched out on his own. He set up Quiet Storm, the UK's first and only joint creative agency and production company, being recognised members of both the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising (IPA) and APA.

International Creative Director, Meta Kat is an award-winning Creative Director who build her almost 20-year-long career in both traditional agencies and digital hot-shops in London and across Europe. Now at Meta’s in-house agency CreativeX, she leads campaigns for Instagram and Facebook internationally - currently in Japan and India.

Kai-Lu Hsiung’s first roles in the creative industries were extremely varied; Business Manager of Deadline Magazine with Jamie Hewlett and Steve Dillon, Fine Art and Printmaking lecturer at Harrow School of Art and Sunderland School of Art and working on the first Time Out Eating Guide Awards. From reception at Howard Guards Company through to RSA Films as Production Assistant, Producer, Cannes Award-winning Executive Producer, and Managing Director; Kai is a shining example of production meritocracy. Having led RSA Films UK for 17 years, in 2020 Kai accepted the role of Global Managing Director, ensuring that RSA maintains its place as one of the world’s leading production houses, and continues to create some of the most culturally transformative and influential creative across every medium.

Charlie Sells is Joint MD of creative collective TBM Group. Having discovered early on how immersive worlds can be created through design and animation, Charlie channeled her passion for talent and creative collaboration to fill a clear gap in the market for integrated content by co-founding Jelly, the production company and artist management agency within the collective. Having led a global expansion in the US & Europe, and formed TBM Group, Charlie became joint MD with Nicki Field in 2023, establishing the company as one entirely led and managed by women. With two decades of experience across the business, Charlie is using her craft knowledge and understanding of the industry at large to provide strategic production solutions for agencies, and full-service creative and strategic consultancy for brands. For Charlie, the company’s shared values lie at the heart of every decision. From becoming an employee-owned business and setting the wheels in motion toward B-Corp certification, to forming emerging talent initiative ‘Futures’ and dedicating her time to programs and partnerships that support underrepresented talent, she is fuelled by wanting to make the creative industries more accessible and equitable for all.

Chris is a Partner at Mother and has worked there a long time. It’s too boring and scary to say how long but Uber didn’t exist and people used Keynote so you can work it out. Over the years he has worked on everything from Moneysupermarket’s Epic campaign to KFC’s FCK and lately Uber, now that it finally exists. In previous lives he was lucky to work with great people on amazing campaigns for things like Halo 3, MasterCard and Paddy Power. He is proud Mother London has been consistently named Agency of the Year by Adage, Campaign, Contageous, Creative Review, MAA and Marketing Week to name but a few (well, to name them all) . This has been achieved while also continuing to champion Mothers unique working culture that led to being named a Sunday Times Best Company to Work For in 2024.