Nelly Kennedy
Nelly Kennedy

Volkswagen Passenger Cars hires Google senior global brand marketing director Nelly Kennedy as CMO, effective mid-February 2023. She succeeds Jochen Sengpiehl, who has moved to Volkswagen Group China as CMO. Before joining Google, she was executive director digital at Condé Nast International and held several senior posts in global marketing at Adidas. “I am convinced that Nelly Kennedy and the expertise she brings with her will make a decisive contribution to giving Volkswagen a clear brand profile in all regions,” said Volkswagen Passenger Cars board member for sales, marketing and after-sales Imelda Labbé.

Leslie Sims
Leslie Sims

Impossible Foods, which produces plant-based “meat” products, hires Deloitte Digital chief creative officer Leslie Sims to serve as its chief marketing and creative officer, effective Jan. 1, 2023. Before joining Deloitte in 2021, Sims served as chief creative officer, USA at Ogilvy and CCO/North America at Young & Rubicam. At Impossible Foods, Sims will be tasked with building out the company’s marketing and creative functions as it works to significantly increase consumer awareness and trial. while pulling well ahead of other plant-based brands into a category of its own. “Leslie knows how to set the creative vision for brands and businesses in hypergrowth, build and lead high-performing teams, and create emotional connections with consumers,” said Impossible Foods CEO Peter McGuinness.

Ana Villegas
Ana Villegas

Saas platform AffiniPay brings on Ana Villegas as chief marketing officer. Villegas was most recently CMO at National Instruments. She previously spent more than 16 years at Dell leading digital marketing initiatives, as well as launching digital payments in the financial sector in Peru. In her new post, Villegas will lead marketing and help drive growth for AffiniPay’s payment and software offerings. “Ana is the ideal fit to lead our marketing strategy,” said AffiniPay CEO Dru Armstrong, who added that the company “will lean on her wealth of experience as we expand our technology-enabled products.”