Cheryl Wannell – Savage joined SAWA, the global Cinema Trade body in 2003 when she relocated to London and in 2006 returned to Australia and continued to run the Secretariat from Sydney. In 2004 she became General Manager and subsequently in 2017 became CEO and was responsible for running the day-to-day operations. Besides driving the profile of the medium the body was responsible for setting standards and recommendations both ethical and technical aspects of the Cinema Medium around the world. Cheryl’s background is in Marketing, Sales and Business Management. Prior to this role Cheryl was Global Managing Director of the Cinema advertising company Val Morgan based in Australia– her operational expertise saw the company grow from an Australian company into a Global organization operating in 8 countries. In 2015, through her efforts the Cinema advertising industry supported purpose by providing Cinema advertising globally an important engagement for the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In 2015 she worked with Sir John Hegarty and Richard Curtis to launch the SDGs on global cinema. The campaigns ran in 2016, 2017, 2018, and again in 2019 for the United Nations World Food Programme concentrating on Zero Hunger Goal Number 2.
Since retiring from SAWA in 2021 and until 2025, Cheryl was a Senior Consultant to the United Nations Development Programme who is based in New York. Her role was to market and launch global campaigns for the Climate Emergency as part of the Sustainable Development Goals together with securing new partnerships for the UNDP. Cheryl also sits on the Global Task Force for UNDP and ICCO, the Global Trade body for the PR Industry.
In 2025 Cheryl became a Consultant for the Pvblic Foundation also based in New York who works with many UN agencies. PVBLIC Foundation is a global institutional platform designing and executing development frameworks across nature, technology, capital, and multilateral systems, working with governments, global family offices, and international institutions. Cheryl now in 2026 manages the Cannes Lions programme for both Pvblic and UNOOSA (United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs).
Chery is also a mentor for The Marketing Academy, a non-profit organisation with a mission to develop leadership capability in talented marketers from the Marketing, Media & Advertising industries.
As a partner in the Savages Unlimited company with her husband Terry Savage, she liaises with global clients in Business strategy and Marketing
Cheryl Savage, Partner – Savages Unlimited
