Roger Hatchuel Student Academy selection panel announced

Founded in 2003, the Academy will welcome 30 students who will learn first-hand from the world’s greatest brands, creative minds and industry leaders.

We’re delighted to announce our selection panel for 2023, which include Academy Dean Serfi Altun and Alumni Tutor Leyla Kamil Baliyeva, alongside a diverse group of experts tasked with deciding who will take part in the course at the Festival this year.

Inclusivity is a pillar of the Academy, and we go to great lengths to ensure the diversity of our selection panel across intersections, geography and career backgrounds. Online judging will take place in February, with successful candidates announced at the beginning of April.

Adrianne C. Smith
SVP/Senior Partner and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer
FleishmanHillard

Adrianne C. Smith is SVP/Senior Partner and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at FleishmanHillard. Prior to joining FleishmanHillard, Adrianne was named the first Global Director of Inclusion and Diversity at WPP. Adrianne is also the Founder and Visionary of the Can: Diversity Collective, a non-profit organization created to provide access and exposure to young adults of color and under-represented communities to global thought leadership conferences on advertising, marketing, creativity, economics, innovation and technology. In 2017, she launched the first iteration of the Diversity Collective, the Cannes Can: Diversity Collective (CC:DC) which provides rising stars in the advertising and creative industry the opportunity to attend and participate in the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. In 2019, she made history by creating the first stand-alone Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Beach in the festival’s 66 years of existence and named it Inkwell Beach – Cannes the historic beach on Martha’s Vineyard. Adrianne has been recognized as an Outstanding Mentor by the Diversity Action Alliance and a Game Changer in the Quantum Leap category during the She Runs It Game Changers Awards.

Alex Carvalho
Business & Social Media Creative Strategist and Founder, Alex's House of Social

Alex is a social media and business creative strategist. Following her performing arts career, she became an early adopter of internet marketing and spent 12 years working across branding, media, advertising agencies in London, Singapore, across the Middle East and Dubai. She ran social media departments and created social media campaigns for many Fortune 500 companies.

In 2016 she quit and ventured out on her own to launch Alex’s House of Social initially in the UAE - a consultancy and educational platform to help businesses and personal brands grow and stand out in the social space. Alex’s strong pulse in the current media landscape and big energy make her one of the most passionate hybrid social minds of her generation. She self-funded her business in the UAE, making it to 6 figures, leveraging her personal brand, and today she has clients and students from all over the world, from small businesses to brands like Hard Rock Café, Dubai Police, Max Factor and others. A large community across her social channels, she calls Rebels where since day one she candidly shares her entrepreneurial journey.

She offers free education with the Rebel Online Academy: 7000 students enrolled and 30+ courses. Her book “It’s A Good Day To Be a Rebel” (2nd edition) made it to Amazon’s Social Media Best Seller list. She has been featured on Forbes Middle East, Gulf Business Magazine, MBC News, Dubai Eye Radio Station, The National, Thrive Global Magazine and Mashable.

Angerson Vieira
Executive Creative Director, Africa

Born in Matozinhos, a country city of Minas Gerais, Brazil, Angerson has been working as a copywriter for 12 years. He joined Africa in 2015 and, since then, has created for some of the most important brands in Brazil such as Itau Bank, Telefonica Vivo, Budweiser, ESPN, and Mitsubishi, with several awarded projects that have been recognized by the national and international market. He currently works as an Executive Creative Director at Africa, being responsible for overseeing the creative work of brands such as Vivo, Heinz, and Budweiser.

Angerson is also one of the founders of Pangea, Africa's Diversity Committee. In 2022, he has already been a jury member at Cannes Lions Festival, Jury President at CCSP Festival - an important award that recognizes the best creative work in Brazil - and Jury President at The El Ojo de Iberoamerica. Recently, Angerson was celebrated as the Brazilian Creative of the Year at the Cabore Awards, the most important and prestigious recognition in the Brazilian market.

Maria Lashari
Global Creative Lead, H&M

Maria finds her creative groove in the intersection of art, fashion, music, and culture. She is driven by the freedom to experiment with ideas and narratives beyond the boundaries of traditional advertising and communication. Maria was hired before finishing ad school and she's been creating global campaign work for brands including Nike, H&M, Google, Evian, Beats by Dre, and Vogue. Her body of work is not only visually pleasing but eye-opening in its cultural context and intelligence. Maria has served as a juror at some of the industry's most prestigious festivals, including Cannes Lions and Eurobest.

Dr Akira Mitsumasu
General Manager, Ten Lifestyle Group

Akira is General Manager at Ten Group Japan, a UK-headquartered lifestyle concierge service provider. Prior to joining Ten Group, Akira has worked for over 30 years at Japan Airlines where he has held multiple leadership roles within the company, including VP of Global Marketing and Customer Experience. Akira has been named one of Asia’s Best Marketers and is recognized as one of the 50 Most Influential Global Marketing Leaders. He has also served as an advisory board member of the CMO Council for Asia Pacific, a member of EFFIE Asia Pacific Council, and Vice President of APEX (Airline Passenger Experience) board of directors. Akira is also a book author on Japanese corporate groups.

For more information on applying for next year’s Academy, please visit www.canneslions.com/initiatives/academies/roger-hatchuel