New D&AD education chairman named

Al Young, newly appointed education chairman at D&AD

The chairman works closely with the education and professional development director and Young will be putting his 18 years of experience in the industry to help develop the Education Programmes.

Young owes his start in advertising to a D&AD Workshop he enrolled on in 1990. The seven-week part-time course pits participants' creative wits against a new brief and a new creative director every week. Young describes the workshop as a transformative experience and it led directly to placements at leading London agencies and then to his first job in the industry. He has served on the D&AD executive since 2005.

“D&AD's most important job is to identify and celebrate leading creative people – not just those of today, but also those of the future,” says Young. “The economic health of the industry rests on our willingness to nurture and invest in the next generation of creative problem solvers. Finding and developing this next generation is where D&AD plays the most critical of roles. D&AD's activities in the education sphere span almost every stage of a creative's development and I am honoured to be its education chairman.”

“The whole Education Team is delighted that Al agreed to take on this role and he's already been extremely helpful with planning for the future” says Laura Woodroffe, education and professional development director.

“This year celebrates 30 years of the D&AD Student Awards and the Advertising Workshops, so having an education chairman who found his first role in advertising through a D&AD Workshop is rather neat. Al was one of the first creative directors I met on joining D&AD and has always been very committed to our education programmes because he feels such a powerful and direct connection with them. And apart from all of that, he's a great person to work with.”