The International Advertising Association (IAA) today announced the appointment of a new Global Young Professional team. The team has been elected from local Young Professional Chapters around the world and has been formed to demonstrate the IAA’s dedication to be a crucial point of insight, information, training and education to those new to the advertising industry. Each member of the team will be a central resource for the local Chapters in the respective areas they are responsible for.

“The future of the IAA requires us to rethink and rebuild our membership starting with professionals new to our workforce,” said Felix Tataru, Chairman and World President of IAA. “Our local Chapters have created some strong leaders who are at the forefront of creating unique experiences on the ground and we’re excited to have them shaping how to bring those best practices for learning, networking and events to the global stage. As a former VP of Young Professionals, I’m personally committed to helping this team succeed and have a direct impact on our overall leadership strategy.”

The team consists of some of the top local chapter young professional leaders from around the world. Meeting for the first time at Cannes Lion this past June, they’re already showing their commitment by looking at membership programs to increase and drive engagement and to build communication strategies that will enable young professionals from around the world to better network, build their experiences and gain valuable mentoring from more senior IAA members.

“As global Vice President of Young Professionals for the past 2 years, I’ve had the pleasure to meet and work with these amazing young minds,” said Karen Carter. “Our goal is to transfer responsibility of YP programs to this group and let the future leaders of our industry own and define what the IAA will look like in five years and beyond. I’m honoured to be able to help them on this journey and can’t wait to see what they’ll achieve.”

The global team consists of:

Katrin Barbarello, Area VP YP Americas: While originally from Germany, Katrinhas spent the last 8+ years in PR and media sales in New York City. Katrin has acquired a strong expertise in international media during her time with the leading global media and advertising services company Publicitas and with CNN International. Katrin joined the New York Chapter of Young Professionals in 2010 and is now their President. (LinkedIn:kbarbarello)

Victoria Ryan, Area VP YP Western Europe: Victoria has just started as a Global Sales Director for Flipboard, working with worldwide brands to create unique marketing strategies on the Flipboard platform. Most recently she worked as a Sales Director for The Week, Dennis Publishing and has held sales roles at the Financial Times and Wall Street Journal. She has chaired the IAA UK Young Professionals committee for five years, bringing successful programmes from the UK including the PAC conference, now in its 27th year, to wider Western Europe. (LinkedIn:vryan)

Halim Sader, Area VP YP, MEA: Halim is currently working as a Sales Director in Choueiri Group, the leading Media Representation group in the Middle East. Halim Sader handles MBC Action, the first and only Arab male entertainment destination in MENA delivering a focused and dynamic 360 experience which extends out of TV, into on-ground, online and social media. In addition to his role as Middle East/Africa Area Vice President, he is also the Chair of the IAA UAE Young Professionals. (LinkedIn:hsader)

Janak Sarda, Area VP YP APAC: Janak Sarda is the Managing Director of Deshdoot Media Group, publishers of Deshdoot, Sarwamat, Deshdoot Times and Nagar Times Newspapers in India. He has been leading the Young Professionals at IAA India for the last two years and will act as the Area Vice President for India and Asia Pacific. (LinkedIn:jsarda)

Ioana Sigarteu, Area VP YP Eastern Europe: Ioana is the Social Media Manager in Samsung Electronics Romania, responsible for South East Europe. She has more than 10 years marketing experience, with a background in tech and financial industries. She has led the IAA Young Professional Chapter in Romania as President for the last 3 years. (LinkedIn:isigarteu).

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