Luis Miguel Messianu

The son of Romanian immigrants who had to start over in Mexico, Messianu began writing as a copywriter at 17 and, by his account, never stopped writing for a living and living to write. He was a creative director at McCann in Mexico on General Motors, L'Oreal, McDonald's and Coca-Cola before moving to the US, then returned to Mexico from 1990 to 1993 on a regional role while his father was ill. In 1994 he opened Del Rivero Messianu, the predecessor to Alma, with a vision of a multicultural agency built on depth of strategy and creative excellence to rival the great creative shops of the era.

Messianu relaunched the agency as Alma in 2007, backing what he called social creativity and the mantra that brands, like people, have soul. He spent 29 years as head creative for McDonald's, the last two as global chief creative officer overseeing what he says were 46 markets. He has since founded MEL, a leaner company built from the top down around a senior team and bespoke project crews. Alongside the work he has taught at the Miami Ad School and the University of Miami and founded Circulo Creativo, where he says he served as first president.