Meet The Judges
The consistently excellent caliber of judges has greatly contributed to the prestige of the ACE Awards. This year is no exception, as our judging panel is comprised of a veritable "who's who" of B2B, from both the agency and client side.Jason Ashlock
Nader Ashway
Phil Johnson
Ewan Pidgeon
Tom Stein
Jason AshlockCopywriter/Vice President, Deutsch
Since joining Deutsch five years ago, Jason has written and created award winning campaigns for IKEA, Monster.com, the Wildlife Conservation Society, Westin, Tylenol, Olympus, and the Bronx Zoo among many , many others.
Prior to Deutsch, Jason was a writer at Euro RSCG in New York, a student at Miami Ad School San Francisco and an Account Executive at Bailey/Gardiner in San Diego.
Back to top
Nader AshwayPresident, Creative Director, The Ashway Group
Nader Ashway is President and Creative Director of The Ashway Group, a small marketing communications firm that provides practical brand strategies to a mostly b-to-b client list. In 2000, he co-founded the Synergy Agency Network, a national consortium of small advertising and marketing agencies with varied vertical and channel specialties. Mr. Ashway is the former president of the BMA of NYC and is a member of several advertising industry associations. He has served as a creative judge for numerous awards shows, including, most recently, BMA/NYC’s ACE awards and AAF’s regional ADDY Awards in New York City. He has also guest-lectured on the subject of advertising for NYU School of Publishing’s Continuing and Professional Education Program.
Mr. Ashway is also the creative columnist/reviewer for Wreaks Media Corporation’s Journal of Financial Advertising & Marketing, and is currently authoring his first marketing book. Twitter: @nashway
Back to top
Phil JohnsonCEO, PJA Advertising + Marketing
Phil Johnson is CEO of PJA Advertising + Marketing. Phil founded PJA in 1988 to provide technology companies with an agency that understood the unique demands of marketing complex products to sophisticated business consumers. PJA has grown into one of the leading nationally recognized technology and health science agencies with nearly 60 employees and offices in Cambridge and San Francisco.
A three-time BtoB Agency of the Year winner, PJA has worked with many of the great technology and healthcare brands on a global basis, including Trend Micro, Novell, Juniper Networks, GE Healthcare, Boston Scientific and Infor.
Today, Phil is expanding the agency from BtoB to BtoC and applying its unique perspective on marketing complex brands to new markets. Phil is a weekly contributor to Ad Age’s Small Agency Diary, a blog devoted to the daily realities of life within America's independent advertising agencies. He serves on the board of the Boston Museum of Science and Partners In Health. Phil lives in Cambridge with his wife and two teenage sons. Twitter: @philjohnson
Back to top
Ewan PidgeonVice President, Creative Director, RiechesBaird
An award-winning creative director and vice president of RiechesBaird, Ewan Pidgeon has created high-profile campaigns for some of the most recognized brands on the planet, including Avis, British Airways, Ford, Panasonic, Jim Beam and Lever Rexona. During his 24 years in advertising and branding, Pidgeon has gained experience across most industry sectors in both the consumer and B2B categories. His resume includes some of the biggest agency names in the world.
Pidgeon began his career as an art director at Saatchi & Saatchi in London, spending seven years at Britain’s leading advertising agency. In 1991 he went to the agency’s South East Asia regional headquarters in Singapore where he created campaigns for Tiger Beer, Hilton Hotels and many Proctor & Gamble brands. He then relocated to New Zealand where he spent almost three years as creative director of J. Walter Thompson, taking the Auckland agency to number three in the JWT worldwide creative rankings.
For the last 10 years, Pidgeon has resided in the U.S. and, prior to joining RiechesBaird, served as a creative consultant to several top creative shops in Southern California. Pidgeon oversees the entire creative staff at RiechesBaird, leading the origination of strong, effective work and utilizing his experience to create a distinctive look for each client. With the ability to recognize brand longevity and the needs of the media, he brings a global perspective to RiechesBaird and its creative work.
Back to top
Tom SteinPresident, Chief Creative Officer, Stein Rogan + Partners
Tom Stein is president and a founding partner of Stein Rogan + Partners, named BtoB Magazine’s 2009 Agency of the Year and a top agency seven of the past eight years. Over the past 23 years, Tom has established Stein Rogan as one of the leading branding and integrated marketing agencies serving business-to-business, business-to-education and innovative consumer brands in categories ranging from technology, financial services and education, to publishing, telecommunications, travel and business services. In doing so, he has built the Agency into a multi-faceted practitioner of synchronized, multi-channel marketing for brand leaders and challengers.
In 2008, Tom was recognized for his career achievements and inducted into the CEBA Hall of Fame. The CEBA (Creative Excellence in Business Advertising) Hall of Fame was established in 1995 to honor the brilliance of business-to-business advertising.
Tom started his career as a copywriter and serves as the Agency’s Chief Creative Officer. As such, he is closely involved with Stein Rogan’s strategic and creative product – and works with all major accounts in the areas of brand vision, brand/creative development and marketing/business results.
Additionally, Tom serves on the Business Marketing Association New York Chapter Board of Directors, as well as on the Board of Directors for Ziff Davis Enterprise.
Tom’s two most significant achievements, however, are his starring role as bass player for Stein Rogan’s rock band, Cheaper Than Bowling, winner of two ad agency Battle of the Bands; and raising his eight-year-old twins.
Back to top