London – 1 August 2026 – VML has announced the appointment of Cat Davis to the role of UK Chief Marketing Officer, joining the company’s senior leadership team to help drive the next chapter of its ambitious expansion.
Davis reports to VML UK Group CEO Joe Petyan, at a pivotal moment for VML, following a record-breaking haul of 10 Cannes Lions wins at this year’s festival including a prestigious Grand Prix for “The KitKat Heist”, being named as Campaign’s Global Network of the year and a step change in output across the agency’s integrated model.
Davis brings over 20 years of experience leading growth and marketing efforts across the UK’s creative agencies. Most recently she was Atomic London’s first CMO and prior to that was Group Marketing Director at The MISSION Group, leading group-wide growth initiatives across 19 agencies spanning the full comms spectrum, helping to deliver major wins that included Porsche, Post Office and Macmillan.
Earlier in her career, she served as CMO of Grey, Cheil, gyro, Carat and Fold7.
An active industry voice, Davis sits on the Executive Committee of WACL and has been recognised as a Campaign A-Lister, a Creative Pool Top 100 Influencer, and an IPA & Campaign Women of Tomorrow finalist. She also served on the IPA’s New Business & Marketing Group and was a board member and former Chair of the MAA’s New Business Group.
In her new role, Davis will oversee growth strategy, reputation and marketing across the full VML UK spectrum – encompassing advertising, social, commerce, customer experience and tech transformation.
Cat Davis, VML UK CMO, said: “I’ve spent my career helping agencies grow, and what drew me to VML is the rare combination of world-class creativity, deep technology expertise and a genuine commitment to putting people at the heart of everything it does. At a time when clients are navigating unprecedented change, VML is uniquely placed to connect brand, customer experience, commerce and transformation in ways that deliver meaningful business growth. With the momentum already building across the business and Joe’s leadership shaping an exciting new chapter, it’s a privilege to be joining the team.”
Joe Petyan, Group CEO VML UK, added: “At VML UK, we’ve got world-class creative capabilities and an enterprise-grade technology offering, solidifying a differentiated fully integrated proposition for clients. Cat joins us now to scale all of that. She’s smart, strategic, brilliantly connected and she’s exactly the kind of energy we need to drive the next wave of growth for VML and our clients.”
