Image of Michelle Headley
Jury

Michelle Headley
EVP, Head of Production
Alma

MIAMI, USA //Michelle Headley is a partner, EVP and Head of Production at modern culture agency Alma DDB.

With over three decades of experience at the agency, her leadership and expertise in creative excellence has been instrumental in evolving the agency into the largest, most awarded multicultural agency in the U.S. Most notably, she built the agency’s Production department and Content Studio from the ground up, after recognizing the importance of bringing these capabilities in-house as the agency continued to grow since its founding.

Michelle has extensive production experience in the United States and Latin America as well as globally, where she’s developed award-winning content for renowned brands including McDonald’s, PepsiCo, Molson Coors, Google, P&G, Wells Fargo and Change the Ref among others. While at alma, the agency has earned 32 Cannes Lions including 2 Golds in 2022, Effie Awards Most Effective U.S. Agency in 2022 and was named to Ad Age’s prestigious A-List in 2022 for the seventh time since 2010.

She’s served as a juror at top industry awards, including the 2023 Clios, FIAP, AICP Next Awards, Wave Festival and El Sol de Iberoamérica. Currently she’s a member on the National Board of Directors for the American Association of Advertising (4A’s), where she’s tasked with spearheading the organization’s recommended industry standards for production policies across the country. Among Michelle’s other accomplishments, she’s won multiple Clios, One Show, D&AD, FIAP, El Sol, El Ojo, ANA Multicultural Excellence Awards and AAF Mosaic Awards.

Michelle has built her advertising career on the philosophy that diversity is the creative force behind successful and effective brand campaigns, and she’s long championed DEIB both externally and internally through Alma’s production partners and within the agency as a whole. She currently serves as a mentor in ADCOLOR’s Futures program, and as a proud Latina and champion of diversity, she’s helped the agency become what it is today, working with a team comprising over 31 different nationalities and perspectives.