Our 2019 Judges

Andy Bird - Chief Judge

Chief Creative Officer, Publicis New York

Andy Bird joined Publicis New York in 2015 as Chief Creative Officer and set out to transform the creative department. Since then he’s elevated the creative product. The result has been transformational and award-winning work for global clients including Diesel, HPE, Walmart, Heineken, Cadillac and Citi, and highly recognized pro bono initiatives for CoorDown, War Child and Creative Spirit. He’s also responsible for a stream of recent new business wins including the Outdoor Advertising Association of America, Smucker’s and Samsung. 

Ronnie Blumenberg

Executive Director, BLT Communications

Ronnie is an Executive Creative Director and Partner at BLT Communications, an LA-based entertainment advertising agency. He began his career in the late 1980s working in-house for Transworld Entertainment, an independent studio. While there, he worked on such cult classics as “Killer Klowns from Outer Space” and discovered his passion for entertainment advertising. His next job was with Dazu, an entertainment-based ad agency where he spent the next nine years honing his creative skills and working his way up to Creative Director.

In 1998, Ronnie joined BLT, the award-winning agency founded in 1992. Made a Partner in 2008, Ronnie has worked on award-winning Print campaigns for dozens of films including “Spider-Man,” “Star Trek,” “Deadpool,” “X-Men,” “The Hateful Eight” and “Hotel Transylvania.” His outdoor Print work has been seen around the world, and he’s collaborated with many of the best photographers, illustrators, and designers in his more than thirty years in the advertising business.

Jason Henderson

Chief Creative Officer, Secret Fort

Jason is the Chief Creative Officer and Founder of the Chicago-based marketing agency Secret Fort.
With more than 15 years of award-winning experience for Fortune-500 companies, he set out to build Secret Fort to be a real refuge for marketers.

He's forging a new agency model, which blends a nation-wide Maker Network with a forward-thinking core curation team. Building on his experience and enthusiasm, he guides Secret Fort in producing more ideas, better content, with fewer headaches. His career began in the Motor City where he worked on the famous Chevy Truck "Like a Rock" campaign. Continuing his passion for smart, memorable work brought him to Chicago where he hit the ground running at Leo Burnett on Allstate's "Mayhem" and the Art Institute's "Open Something Greater" campaign. Jason believes in ideas that tell stories to naturally connect consumers to brands.

Marta Llop

Creative Director, Facebook

Marta Llop is a visual designer and art director. She is currently a designer on Facebook's Creative Shop team, working and collaborating on creative projects across Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. She has won prestigious design awards, including Cannes Lions, One Show, and ADDY. Marta's interests in art and storytelling are what first inspired her to pursue a career as a designer. Originally from Spain, she started her career in Madrid in advertising and is now based in Brooklyn, NY.

Alexander Nowak

Executive Creative Officer, Droga5

Alexander’s 15-year journey in the world of visual arts started with his studies in architecture, where he was influenced by mentors such as Rem Koolhaas and Bolles+Wilson founders Julia Bolles and Peter Wilson. Focusing on the designs and shapes of monumental buildings while also creating interior design concepts, he completed his award-winning thesis in 2008. But he didn’t stop there. Leaving the field of architecture, he entered the new world of art direction, finding his visual voice with key strengths in photography and cinematography. Alexander joined Droga5 in 2011.

Since then, he’s worked on numerous award-winning campaigns, including brands such as Google, Under Armor and Hennessy. After Droga5’s relocation to Wall Street in April 2014, Alexander started curating the agency’s bare white walls with well-known photography and design pieces. He also expanded beyond the D5 walls, working with artists to edit books and co-curate shows.

Candice Simons

President, Brooklyn Outdoor

Michigan native, Candice Simons, established Brooklyn Outdoor in Detroit in 2013, it has since expanded past any boundaries imagined into becoming a platform for connecting the city of Detroit’s’ most inspiring entrepreneurs with the local and national media. Simons and her team are adept at creating opportunities in places that they didn’t previously exist, helping clients and potential clients explore exciting new creative possibilities.

Brooklyn Outdoor knows how to put big ideas into action and make a lasting and memorable impact with target audiences. Simons has been recognized time and time again by Crain’s Detroit Business “40 under 40”, DBusiness “30 in their thirties”, Detroit Young Professionals Vanguard Award, multiple Summit International Marketing and Creative Awards, Michigan Economic Bright Spot Award, Corp! Magazine’s Diversity Business Leader, 2017 Enterprising Woman of the year, one of Inc. Magazine’s “Inc. 5000” encompassing the fastest growing and most inspiring companies of 2018.

Irina Zeltser

Managing Director, Talon Outdoor

Irina Zeltser is the Managing Director of Talon US, the new US arm of Talon UK’s multi-award-winning innovative and data-infused OOH agency. Irina has been at the forefront of both the buying and selling side of the OOH industry for over a decade. 

Before joining Talon, Irina led Project X as Managing Director, and steered the mobile and corporate development initiatives at Cemusa. She began her OOH career at Kinetic. Irina enjoys playing the piano, crosswords and scrabble, and is fluent in four languages. She lives in New York with her husband, son, and dog and likes to spend as much time as possible in the South of France.