Meet Your Cascadia Jury!

Meet the Jury Behind the 2026 Cascadia Creative Awards

Every great awards show starts with one thing: a jury you trust.

For the 2026 Cascadia Creative Awards, that was the bar. Not just recognizable names, but a group of leaders who actively shape the work, the culture, and the future of our industry.

This year’s jury brings together a deliberately small, senior-level group designed to ensure thoughtful evaluation and real credibility in what gets awarded . Across three focused panels, they’ll evaluate work spanning craft, cultural impact, and strategy, ultimately setting the creative benchmark for the Cascadia region.

And importantly, this isn’t a jury of one perspective. It’s a mix of agency, brand, media, and creative leadership that reflects how modern marketing actually works.

A Jury Led by Creative Excellence

At the helm is Jury President Jim Elliott, Executive Creative Director at Visa.

Jim brings more than two decades of experience leading iconic, business-driving work across brands like Comcast, Hyundai, and Häagen-Dazs. His work has earned recognition across every major award show, and even a place in the Museum of Modern Art. He’s known for one thing above all else: the ability to translate strategy into ideas that actually matter in culture .

That balance of craft and effectiveness sets the tone for the entire jury.

A Group That Reflects Where Creativity Is Going

What stands out most about this year’s jury is how well it represents the full ecosystem of modern marketing.

You have creative leaders like Lex Beltrone of Johannes Leonardo, whose career spans some of the most respected agencies in the world and includes an Emmy-winning campaign and one of the most successful brand activations in Kraft-Heinz history .

You have brand-side leadership like John Ludeke, Chief Brand Officer at Dr. Squatch, who has helped turn humor and entertainment into a growth engine for one of the fastest-growing personal care brands, after scaling Monster Energy globally .

And you have global operators like Dianne Villarreal at Microsoft, who has built creative organizations at massive scale, including YouTube’s Global Creative Studio, while leading work for brands like Nike, Google, and Pepsi .

Together, they bring both the maker and the operator perspective, which is exactly what strong judging requires.

Where Media, Technology, and Creativity Intersect

This jury also reflects how much the definition of “creative” has expanded.

Gage Barry brings deep expertise in programmatic and CTV, helping shape how modern media strategy and creative execution work together, with experience spanning platforms, publishers, and brands like Taco Bell .

Luke Perkins, now leading creative strategy across Coca-Cola’s portfolio, adds a perspective rooted in integrated storytelling at global scale, across brands that require both cultural relevance and business impact .

Anna Rosenblatt contributes a strategy-first lens, known for connecting cultural intelligence, data, and creative thinking to help brands stay ahead of change in a rapidly evolving landscape .

This is critical because today, great work doesn’t just look good. It performs, it moves culture, and it adapts to new platforms.

Independent Thinking and Creative Craft

The jury is also grounded in leaders who have built and shaped independent creative thinking.

Jason Majewski of Cornett has spent over 15 years developing standout brand work across categories, known for storytelling and earned-first ideas that break through .

Ginger Quintanilla brings a multidisciplinary perspective, blending fine art, design systems, and cultural storytelling across brands like Apple, Nike, and Spotify, along with her own studio work .

Jim Haven adds a founder’s perspective, having built Creature and led creative work across agencies and innovation studios, with a focus on narrative-driven brand building and unexpected ideas .

This mix ensures the work is evaluated not just for polish, but for originality and creative risk.

How This Jury Will Shape the Work That Wins

The Cascadia Creative Awards are designed to reward more than just surface-level excellence.

Entries are judged across three areas:

• Craft & Execution
• Digital & Cultural Impact
• Strategy, Media & Impact

And across a structured, multi-round process, this jury will evaluate not just what looks good, but what actually works. From breakthrough creative thinking to measurable impact, the goal is to elevate the kind of work that moves the industry forward.

Because ultimately, this isn’t just about picking winners.

It’s about defining what great looks like right now.

And with this jury, that bar is set exactly where it should be.

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