MAD STARS Names Truly Global Executive Jury

MAD STARS has named the four international industry leaders who will preside over its final judging rounds and ultimately decide this year’s Grand Prix of the Year winners.

The four top-tier professionals, Alejandro Di Trolio, European creative chairman, Cheil; Alex Abrantes, chief creative officer, North America, Iris Worldwide; Ashish Chakravarty, executive director and India head of creative, McCann; and Tawana Murphy Burnett, head of top accounts and agencies, Meta; represent diverse regions and creative disciplines. Each will add their remarkable expertise and experience to the judging process, ensuring fairness that enhances the value of winning MAD STARS awards.

Alejandro Di Trolio is a multi-awarded creative focused on digital creativity and innovation with industry experience across Latin America and Europe. He has led multidisciplinary creative teams to find new disruptive ways to connect with audiences in a career spanning nearly two decades in independent and global network agencies, such as Leo Burnett, BBDO, MIG, Nucorpa, and Tc.

Before Cheil, he was ECD at Good Rebels, leading global creative teams in five cities (London, Madrid, Mexico, Colombia, and Barcelona), developing projects based on creative data and social content. Now he leads the European Creative Council of Cheil, overseeing innovation across more than ten countries in the network.

Alex Abrantes has recently been appointed chief creative officer North America at Iris Worldwide, following his role as executive creative director at FCB New York, where he led award-winning work for Michelob ULTRA, Spotify, and Hyundai.

Alex’s creative experience was developed at Publicis Brasil, Publicis New York, and Africa Creative. He was ranked as the world’s #1 executive creative director in both The Drum’s Global Creative Rankings (2024) and The One Club’s Global Creative Rankings (2023 and 2024).

Alex played a crucial role in fuelling organic growth for FCB New York’s AB InBev business. His leadership on 'Dreamcaster', the Cannes Lions 2023 Grand Prix winner in Entertainment for Sports, along with Michelob ULTRA’s 'McEnroe vs. McEnroe', led AB InBev to its first-ever Innovation Lion and helped expand the brand’s creative footprint. He also led Spotify’s 'A Song for Every CMO', which became the first-ever Gold Lion winner in the B2B category.

His work has won two Emmy Awards and more than 30 Cannes Lions over the past five years - and he played a key role in helping FCB earn the title of North America Network of the Year at Cannes for seven consecutive years. Most recently, he returned to the Cannes Lions stage in 2025 to collect two Gold Lions.

Ashish Chakravarty has worked on some of the biggest global brands and won more than 400 awards across categories in the industry’s most prestigious shows such as Cannes Lions, One Show, Clio, D&AD, LIA, ANDYs, Spikes Asia, AdFest and MAD STARS.

He has been recognised as one of the top 10 creative directors in India by Economic Times, the leading business daily in India, three years in a row, and was also ranked among the most awarded creative directors in the world. Chakravarty’s recent work for Ujjivan Small Finance Bank, Buckaroo, and ESAF Bank has been awarded at both global creative and effectiveness shows.

Tawana Murphy Burnett has been a key figure in teams for some of the largest and most influential global brands and advertising agencies across the US, EMEA, LATAM, and, most recently, in APAC. At Meta, she leads the team that advises CMOs, business leaders, and agency partners on how best to use digital and emerging marketing solutions. Her focus is on helping brands accelerate growth through advertising and commerce innovation.

Prior to Meta, Tawana led multi-million-dollar and award-winning product teams at Intuit, LeapFrog, Johnson & Johnson, and Pfizer, building and launching hundreds of new and innovative products such as QuickBooks, Listerine, Advil, and ChapStick. In 2019, she was featured in Adweek’s Women Trailblazers for her active mentorship, her investment in over 15 women-founded companies, and her participation in the groundbreaking #biascorrect campaign aimed to correct bias and elevate the discussion of women in leadership positions. She was inducted into the Ad Age Global Leading Women Class of 2023, Adweek’s 'The List' in 2024, and was selected as a juror for Spikes Asia and MAD STARS 2024. Tawana served as co-lead for the Singapore Inclusion Council at Meta and the IAB SouthEast Asia & India Board. She currently serves as a board member for the IAA SEA and the Ronald McDonald House NYC.

Under the leadership of the four executive jurors, the MAD STARS 2025 jury is an exceptional panel of 34 industry experts from 20 countries.

Following the completion of the online preliminary judging, the finalists have been announced. The final judging consists of three stages, beginning with an online round. The second and final rounds will be held in person in Busan on August 25th, where the executive jury will convene to determine the winners. The results will be officially revealed at the MAD STARS Awards Show on August 29th.