VML Team Members

As VML’s President, Eric provides strategic leadership across our global offices, ensuring continued growth for current client engagements and new business efforts. He is known for his inventive ways of connecting with client partners to help them navigate the constantly-changing marketing landscape.

Since joining VML in 1999, Eric’s been pivotal in the evolution of our capabilities across departments and client teams. He applies his strategic, creative, technological and operational experience to deliver unique solutions. Eric has been central to expanding the VML footprint as the leading strategic partner for the world’s most forward-thinking brands.

Eric has also served on the VML Executive Leadership Team, currently as Chief Business Officer, where he’s responsible for business development. He led the launch of VML Seattle in 2004 with the Microsoft business, and has been integral in VML’s inclusion in other Team WPP operations.

In his free time, Eric enjoys spending time with his family. He is also an avid baseball fan and enjoys the lifelong challenge of improving his golf game. He graduated from the University of Central Missouri with a Bachelor of Science in graphic arts technology management. 

For the past 27 years, Jon has poured his heart and soul into VML — and VMLY&R. In October 2023, the merger of VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson was announced; the expanded company became operational in January 2024. Jon serves as global CEO and is a member of the WPP Executive Committee.

The unified agency — named VML — combines world-class creativity with deep expertise in data, marketing technology and platforms. VML is a global network of about 30,000 individuals across more than 65 markets. VML is proud to serve some of the world's most recognized and respected brands, including AstraZeneca, Colgate-Palmolive, Dell, Ford, Intel, Microsoft, Mondelēz, SC Johnson, Sherwin-Williams, The Coca-Cola Company, and Wendy’s.

In 2023, VMLY&R was named to Ad Age’s A-List. The agency was also recognized as 2023 Network of the Year by the New York Festivals, the ANDYs and the ADC Awards.

Jon graduated from the University of Missouri in 1993 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. He was named to the 2023 Campaign US 40 Over 40 list and is a graduate of the FBI Citizens Academy. Jon relishes spending time with his wife, Lisa, and their three daughters. 

I've been working since I can remember and love it. I'm intrinsically motivated to unlock potential in others and in brands. I believe that marketing can be the most powerful method for positively impacting business and people. Designing those stories and experiences is my sweet spot. And the alignment with internal employee culture and experience. I believe we are in a new golden age of RETAIL with the convergence of the physical and digital world. Designing content and experiences for Omnichannel retail!

As the global chief creative officer at VML, Debbi fosters a collaborative creative environment that delivers innovative solutions to clients around the world. Her creative leadership has enabled VML to become one of the top global digital agencies, with 26 offices on six continents and 2,500 employees worldwide. Since joining VML in 2000, she has led creative engagements for global brands such as Colgate-Palmolive, Ford, Gatorade, Kellogg, MasterCard, QuikTrip, Motorola, Sprint, Tropicana and Wendy’s. VML’s creative teams have earned recognition from top international shows, including ANDY Awards, Art Directors Club, Cannes Lions, CLIO Awards, D&AD, Effie Awards, Facebook Awards, London International Awards, New York Festivals, One Show, Spikes Asia, Tomorrow Awards and Webby Awards. VML is listed in the top 20 of all U.S. agencies from the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity 2014 rankings and 13th in branded entertainment globally.

As VMLY&R’s global chief marketing officer, Beth is responsible for facilitating the growth of the VMLY&R brand and marketing strategy across the agency’s global network. She has been an integral part of the agency’s expansion and is pivotal to the ongoing evolution of the network. As a part of the executive leadership team, she drives consistency in brand strategy, leads a dynamic and connected culture, and ensures client service team connectivity, as well as discipline integration among the VMLY&R network offices. Before the establishment of VMLY&R, Beth worked at VML for 16 years, including her time in a previous role of chief client officer. As chief client officer, she worked alongside each department lead on agency service offering evolution and company growth and achieved impressive results on the behalf of VML’s client base. In addition to her role as VMLY&R’s global CMO, Beth is extremely passionate about giving back to her community and helping mold the next generation of female leaders. To that end, she serves on the board of the BMA Foundation and is a founding member and proud supporter of Women@VMLYR . Beth is a graduate of University of Missouri-Columbia with a Bachelor of Science in business administration. Outside of her time at VMLY&R, Beth spends her free time with her husband and her daughter, who will be leaving for college soon to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor.

In October 2023, the merger of VMLY&R and Wunderman Thompson was announced; the expanded company became operational in January 2024 where Mel serves as Global President.

The unified agency — named VML — combines world-class creativity with deep expertise in data, marketing technology and platforms. VML is a global network of about 30,000 individuals across more than 65 markets. VML is proud to serve some of the world's most recognized and respected brands, including AstraZeneca, Colgate-Palmolive, Dell, Ford, Intel, Microsoft, Mondelēz, SC Johnson, Sherwin-Williams, The Coca-Cola Company, and Wendy’s.

A catalyst for business transformation, Mel is recognized globally as a leader with a proven record of helping marketers anticipate and navigate change.

Mel is a member of the Ad Council and has been recognized as one of the most influential people in digital marketing and advertising on many occasions, and was named one of Ad Age’s European Women to Watch, a group of 20 outstanding executives making a difference in the industry. 

In November 2019, Bas was appointed Global Chief Creative Officer of Wunderman Thompson, WPP’s largest agency network. Before this, Bas was a Creative Partner at J. Walter Thompson’s Amsterdam office as well as JWT’s Global Futures Council Lead. Bas’ ambition and commitment to creativity and innovation turned a local office into one of the most talked about and awarded agencies in the world. With ground-breaking, double Grand Prix-winning campaign ‘The Next Rembrandt’, the agency became the most awarded Dutch agency at Cannes in 2016 and won the title Cannes Lions Innovation Agency of the Year.

In December 2016, Bas was honored by AdAge’s Creativity 50, listing the 50 most creative people of the year, together with Tom Ford, Beyoncé, Prince and David Bowie. In April 2017, this honor was followed by being selected by Adweek as ‘One of 10 Global Creative Leaders who are reinventing Advertising and the Ad industry.’

Bas originally graduated as a Logistics Engineer but moved swiftly into advertising as a junior copywriter. Two years later he became Creative Director and Board Member of DDB Amsterdam, before leaving with his creative partner Michael, to start their own agency: Selmore. After setting up an experimental agency called Nothing in 2008, Bas joined JWT in 2011 with the ambition to truly do things differently. So, he did.

To date, Bas has won 34 Lions, 11 D&AD Pencils amongst which a Black Pencil for his work for Free a Girl ‘School for Justice’, plus numerous other international awards. He has judged at all major award shows and gives talks at schools and universities on innovation in the wider ad industry.

He lives in Amsterdam.

Neil is a renowned strategist who has over two decades of experience working with world leading brands across the automotive, CPG, financial services, and travel & hospitality industries. In 2019, he was appointed Chief Global Strategy Officer of the newly merged Wunderman Thompson to help inspire growth for ambitious brands with a particular emphasis on demonstrating the commercial impact of our work across the consumer experience.

Prior to Wunderman Thompson, Neil served as the Chief Strategy Officer for Publicis Sapient International, where he led large-scale digital transformation projects across multiple industries. His team was responsible for shaping the digital products and services, new business model innovation and the digital experience ecosystem required to deliver business and consumer value.

Earlier in his career, Neil held several strategy leadership roles at prominent creative agencies including TBWA/London, where he was both Chairman and Executive Planning Director, and led one of London’s biggest and most successful planning departments. He was also a Planning Director at Havas London and the Founder and Director of HMDG, an independent creative agency, for five years.

He’s helped his teams rack up numerous awards for both strategy and creative effectiveness. During his time at TBWA the agency won 6 IPA Effectiveness Awards. Neil has featured 6 times as a Top 10 Account Planner in Campaign UK lists including twice as the No.1 planner .He has judged several industry-leading organizations including the IPA Effectiveness Awards where he served as the Convenor of Judges in 2008, member of the jury in 2016, WARC Social Media Effectiveness in 2015, where he served as Chair, and most recently, on the jury of the inaugural Cannes Creative Strategy Lions in 2019.

During his tenure at Publicis Sapient the company twice won Digital Innovation agency of the year for Campaign and featured in the top 3 another 2 times.

Naomi joined Wunderman Thompson in March 2020 as Global Chief Marketing and Growth Officer responsible for global marketing, new business and communication of the Wunderman Thompson brand, working cross-functionally across all capabilities to drive growth.

Naomi was formerly with MullenLowe Group where, since 2014, she served as Global Chief Growth Officer. During her tenure she led the global rebranding of the MullenLowe Group network following the merger of Mullen with Lowe and Partners. The merger rebranding was awarded a Cannes Lion in 2016 and led to the network being named to the Ad Age A-List in 2018.

Prior to MullenLowe Group, Naomi spent a decade at Havas where she held key roles across Europe, the USA and Asia. She served as CEO, Havas Worldwide Southeast Asia, based in Singapore and Global CMO of Havas Worldwide, based in New York, where she also led the global rebranding of the Euro RSCG Worldwide network and its agencies as Havas Worldwide.

Naomi has served as a judge for numerous advertising awards, including Cannes, Spikes Asia, Cristal Festival and the EFFIES, and sits on the International Council for WGI Worldwide, an international organization to educate people around the world to combat illiteracy. Naomi is a frequent blogger and her latest series on Creative Cities focuses on international markets that have been growing in strength as creative hotspots (musebycl.io/creative-cities).

Naomi started her career at McCann Erickson, graduated from Oxford University with a degree in Biology, and lives in New York.

Diane Holland is Global Chief Financial Officer at Wunderman Thompson, a creative, data and technology agency built to inspire growth for clients.

As Global Chief Financial Officer, Diane oversees the financial and operational management for one of WPP’s largest agencies. In her role, Diane is responsible for all financial management of the global company including mergers, acquisitions, joint ventures and strategic partnerships.

Diane has more than 20 years of financial experience driving growth and creating operational excellence across global networks. Prior to her current role, Diane was the Global Chief Financial Officer of Wunderman. Before that, she served as Global Chief Financial Officer for POSSIBLE, a digital agency within WPP. Diane was the Chief Financial Officer of digital firm Schematic and played a critical role in managing Schematic's acquisition by WPP in 2007. She was instrumental in WPP's integration and organization of multiple digital agencies that ultimately became the foundation for launching POSSIBLE as one unified agency. Additionally, Diane was Director of Finance at Fox Television Stations in Los Angeles and served as an Internal Auditor and Financial Analyst at EMI Group, in New York and London respectively.

Diane has built her career by passionately supporting talent and creativity while also providing strong financial leadership. She is on the National board of Step Up, a nonprofit organization that mentors teen girls, which helps them become college-ready.

Diane’s career has allowed her to support her deep passion for the arts when she isn't cooking, practicing yoga or sailing with her husband Jim and their dog, Hawkins.