Ali Rez, Chief Creative Officer MENAP, Impact BBDO Group

Named Creative Person of the Year twice by Campaign magazine, Ali Rez is the most awarded creative leader in the Middle East, and currently leads creative output for the IMPACT BBDO Group across the Middle East, North Africa and Pakistan region. Rez’s work has been instrumental in Impact BBDO Dubai being named the No.2 Agency In The World on the WARC report, while winning 10 different Agency of the Year accolades in 2022 for bringing tremendous business success and creative excellence to the Group, and positive impact to social causes.

Rez has won more than 750 international accolades in his career spanning four continents over 20 years, which include Grands Prix at all the major shows including Cannes Lions, Clio, OneShow, Loeries, Effies, and a United Nations Peace Medal – awards which have led him to be ranked No.1 ECD in MENA and APAC on several creative rankings. He is the first jury president ever at Cannes Lions to represent the Middle East, and in 2023 won the Middle East’s first Best-in-show for Bravery at the ANDY Awards.

Moving from California, Rez currently lives in Dubai, where he is an avid mountain biker. Besides lecturing at Oxford University, Rez has exhibited at Tate UK, spoken at Tedx, and has traveled to 139 countries.