Chief Marketing Officer,
Dentsu Aegis Network North America
Donna Wiederkehr has extraordinary drive and extraordinary heart.
As CMO for Dentsu Aegis, she has taken a global holding company into prominence with lots of wins and new ways of working by creating custom solutions for clients. And for the past decade, she has been advocating for orphaned and abandoned children in Rwanda. She helps Chantal Mbanda, the founder of NewHopeHomes.org care for 28 kids. Not only is Donna passionate about her work in Rwanda and travels there 3x a year, but she also has five Rwandan students in College in the US who reside with her on breaks.
Few manage such work/life balance or so actively live a dream of such giving.
In her role at the Dentsu Aegis Network in the Americas, Donna is responsible for driving growth. She has been a part of the leadership team that has reshaped Carat’s market position by helping to win pitches worth over $6 billion in the past 3 years. This momentum resulted in Carat being named of Agency of the Year by Ad Age and MediaPost in 2012 and 2013. She has been a driver in getting Vizeum on the map in the US, and transitioning key clients like Microsoft and Reckitt Benckiser.
Although Donna spent the majority of her career in full-service creative agencies, few people realize that her route to advertising was far from ordinary. She was a full time hot air balloon pilot for her father’s company. Donna grew up traveling the world and living out of a suitcase while helping companies create awareness for their products. She often jokes that its nearly the same job today.
Today her accolades are plentiful: Donna was named an Ad Age Woman to Watch in 2014. She’s been a contributor to Fortune’s Most Powerful Women series since 2015. She was named the top performer in Dentsu Aegis Network globally in 2013.
Her blog, a labor of love, is well worth reading at rwandadonna.blogspot.com. New Hope Home Rwanda—homes, not orphanages-- provide for all of the children's needs-- medical, spiritual, educational, emotional etc. Education is at the center of this mission, as is family, and Donna’s Rwandan family—like Donna herself-- is quite remarkable. Ask her about them whenever you get the chance.