2011 INDUCTEE

OGILVY & MATHER

Nancy Vonk is co-founder of the Swim leadership lab. In 2012 she and partner Janet
Kestin were inspired to leave their long-time CCO roles with ambition to close the huge
leadership skills gap for creative people. Today Swim supports the success of leaders
at top agencies and creative companies around the world.

Nancy was Co-Chief Creative Officer of Ogilvy Toronto with Janet for 13 years. Their
teams delivered work like Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty and “Diamond Shreddies”,
garnering One Show and Damp; D&AD pencils, the Grand Clio, the Creativity Awards Grand
Prize and two Cannes Grand Prix. Nancy has judged The One Show, D&AD, Cannes,
Clio’s and many others. She was the first female chair of the ADC (New York) in their
87-year history, in 2009. While a One Club board member (2009- 2021), she was highly
engaged in their Creative Leaders retreats and helped develop programs that support a
more diverse, sustainable industry.

In 2012 Nancy and Janet were on Advertising Age Magazine’s “100 Most Influential
Women in Advertising” list, and they were among Creativity magazine’s “Top 50 Most
Creative People” of 2008. They are the authors of Pick Me, a staple in advertising schools
from Texas to Turkey. Their 2014 HarperCollins book, Darling, You Can’t Do Both (And
Other Noise To Ignore On Your Way Up) was named a top book on leadership by Inc.
magazine. In 2011 they were inducted into the AMA Hall of Legends and are recipients of
other recognition for their lifetime of achievements including the Les Usherwood Award
(ADCC) in 2021, the Hall of Marketing Gold and The One Club for Creativity Hall of Fame
in 2022. Women of Influence and AWNY honored them with women of the year awards in 2007.

Nancy speaks at companies, schools and organizations who seek new ideas for
advancing women’s success, like UCLA, Google, and Lean In. In 2016, Nancy helped
design the creative leadership stream at Factry, the school of creativity sciences
founded by Sid Lee leaders.