The first edition of the Women in Marketing CEE Awards celebrated performance in marketing
First edition Women in Marketing CEE Awards, held in Bucharest, brought together marketing and communication professionals from all over Central and Eastern Europe and rewarded performance in an industry undergoing rapid change. The gala on October 1, held at the National Museum of Art of Romania, was followed, on October 2, by Women in Marketing CEE Talks Day, a day dedicated to conversations about the changes that are redefining the profession, from artificial intelligence and automation to long-term brand building, creativity, leadership, and training the next generation of professionals.
WiM CEE was created in 2026 as a regional chapter of Women in Marketing Global, an organization established in the UK, in 2004. The project’s ambition is to make the performance of professionals from Central and Eastern Europe more visible and to transform this visibility into a professional community that facilitates collaboration, education, mentoring and access to the international marketing conversation.
The first edition of the regional competition attracted 145 entries from 17 countries, evaluated by juries from five continents. The interest shown by professionals from the very beginning confirms one of the premises from which WiM CEE started: the region has specialists with international results and experience, but not always the regional platforms through which these performances become sufficiently visible. Since its launch, the competition was designed with the objective of creating a regional professional network and a space for the exchange of experience between markets and for encouraging mentoring.
Winners of the first edition include:Ana Maria Pocora, Generali Romania, which received two trophies, The Changemaker Award and Creative Marketer of the Year Award; Vesna Damnjanovic, professor at the University of Belgrade – Faculty of Organizational Sciences, winner of the Marketing Scientist Award and Svetlana Copic, Founder & Creative Director No Agency, Serbia, who won ex aequo with Toma Sabaliauskiene, Nord Security, Lituania, The Special Award for Outstanding Contribution to Marketing (Brand & Agency).
Oleksandra Naidonova from Holywater Tech in Ukraine received the distinction for PR Communicator of the Year. The second award received by Holywater Tech Ukraine was that of Khrystyna Tsapko, in the AI-for-Impact category.
Ioana Munteanu, Creative Director Golin Ketchum Romania, won The WiM Copywriting Award, as well as The WiM Social Impact Award for the “Play Fair or Be Square” campaign, carried out together with Save the Children Romania.
The award Best Leader in Marketing was shared by two winners, Nilay Gozegir Eralp from A101, Turkey, and Mihaela Dragan-Buldumac of the Moldretail Group, Republic of Moldova.
Also among the winners are Larisa Sferle, Black Sea FooDignity Association, awarded withThe One to Watch Award; Roberta Dina, HerStory_feminism, and Paul Olteanu, Mind Architect & ADN Vocational, joint winners of WiM Storyteller of the Year Award; as well as Ukrainian company wg Ukraine, winner of The WiM Company Award.
The jury also awarded Highly Commended and Commended distinctions to professionals from several markets, including Adina Vlad and Carmen Acatrina within the Marketing Scientist category, Jana Savic Rastovac in the WiM Social Impact category, Natasa Sarcevic in Creative Marketer of the Year category, Diana Mihai in Best Leader in Marketing, Catherine Russian in The Independent Consultant category and Ramona Joita in AI-for-Impact. The full list of winners can be found here. here.
„The first edition confirmed something we believed in from the beginning: Central and Eastern Europe has no shortage of talent, ideas or professionals capable of building internationally relevant brands, teams and businesses”, says Anca Ungureanu, co-founder of Women in Marketing CEE. “What we often lacked was a common context in which these results could be seen and connected. The gala was an event of celebration and recognition, but what I enjoyed most was seeing people from different countries, generations and disciplines meeting, discussing and discovering how much they have in common. If this first edition has shown us anything, it is that we already have a regional community. Our role is to provide it with room to grow.”
The gala was followed by Women in Marketing CEE Talks Day, which shifted the conversation from recognizing performance to the questions that will define the industry’s coming years. Under the title “Irreplaceable?”, the day started with a simple premise: as production becomes faster and cheaper, it becomes more important to know what is worth doing, why and when it is better not to do it at all. The program brought together professionals with experience in global companies, consulting, research, academia, media, creativity and technology, continuing the international character that WiM CEE has proposed since its launch. The international line-up of speakers included Karen Cesar, Warren Marenco Chase, Chris Jones, Gabriela Lungu, Tom Hidvégi, Liliana Caimacan, Ema Prisca, Tinatin Stambolishvili, Marta Macke, Vesna Vlahović Dašić and Beatrice Cord.
The day opened by keynote speaker Karen Caesar, CEO and founder of RedBandana, Brazil, who talked about what makes a brand irreplaceable when a ”look” can be generated in seconds: purpose, culture, and, most of all, people. Gabriela Lungu, founder of WINGS Creative Leadership Lab, and Tom Hidvegi, creative strategist and founder of Brodēon Perfumes, talked about creativity as a practice, not a prompt, and Canadian non-fiction writer Chris Jones brought attention, authenticity, and memory into question, from the perspective of a reporter who had built his career by earning the trust of the people he writes about.
Liliana Caimacan, professor at Hult International Business School and executive with over 20 years of experience transforming brands and portfolios for companies such as Unilever, Tata and KRKA, spoke about “The Long Game” and the need to protect long-term brand investment in an environment dominated by the pressure of immediate results.Laura Rosca, Qualitative Research Director iSense Solutions, andTanja Petrovic, president of IAA Serbia, presented two studies on how the new generation views a career in marketing, in a discussion moderated bySorana Savu, Senior Partner and founder of Premium Communication.
The afternoon was dedicated to decisions that remain up to the people.Tinatin Stambolishvili, Communications Director GPI Holding and Ema Prisca, creative director and political campaign strategist talked about what data can’t decide: what a brand should stand for, what risk is worth taking, and what you do when the numbers say something no one wants to hear. The dialogue between How old are you? and Alex Bordei, moderately Marta Macke, founder of Shortlist Consulting and CMO Summit, analyzed without alarmist rhetoric or undue enthusiasm what AI systems can actually do, where they can help professionals, and what types of professional judgment remain difficult to automate. Warren Marenco Chase, VP and Managing Director Copper Giants, Liberty Mutual Insurance, argued that the real value of a creative team lies not in speed or cost, but in proximity to the business, an advantage that does not erode as tools get better.
The last part of the day looked towards the future of the profession. Nicoleta Eftimiu, General Manager Mars, Vesna Vlahovic Dasic, with over two decades of experience in CEE and over 15 years in The Coca-Cola Company, and Marta Macke discussed, in a panel moderated by Claudia Chirilescu, how the industry is training its future seniors at a time when some of the activities traditionally reserved for juniors are being automated. Karen Cesar, Warren Marenco Chase and Tom Hidvégi returned to the stage for a conversation about regaining the strategic role of marketing, and Beatrice Cord, VP Global Partnerships Endeavor, concluded the series of dialogues by talking about how you build your own competence, relationships, and ultimately your company, when no one makes room for you.
Women in Marketing CIC (WIM Global) is a non-profit, community interest company established to highlight and promote outstanding women in marketing and related professions through events, education, mentoring programs, exclusive collaborations and strategic partnerships. Originally founded as a British organization, Women in Marketing (WIM) has expanded its global presence since 2017, with the goal of reflecting the ongoing evolution of marketing.
Women in Marketing CEE (WiM CEE)was founded in 2026 and aims to identify and promote valuable marketing, communication and business professionals in the region, through its annual competition and conference. The organization is supported by an international Advisory Board, consisting of women with proven expertise in their fields, and aims to create a community capable of driving positive change in marketing and communication through innovation and collaboration at a global level.