Former Tesco marketing boss and Advertising Association president, Alessandra Bellini, has been awarded an OBE in the New Year’s Honours List.
Alessandra Bellini
Former Tesco chief customer officer Alessandra Bellini has been awarded an OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in the 2025 King’s New Year Honours List for her services to advertising and marketing.
Reacting on LinkedIn, Bellini said she is “so honoured” to receive the accolade and credited colleagues throughout her career, including those at Tesco and Unilever.
She recalled entering the industry as an advertising apprentice and instantly falling for “the rigour, passion creativity and craft of both disciplines”.
“I believe passionately that marketing, done well, connects a company vision and goals to its customers and brings the reality of its customers’ lives to its goals and vision. And when colleagues, clients or suppliers, connect their hearts and minds to that journey, businesses can thrive and compete,” she wrote.
Bellini was Marketing Week’s Marketer of the Year in 2019, while under her watch Tesco scooped the Brand of the Year accolade in 2020.
She spent the majority of her career at Unilever between 1999 and 2017, rising from marketing manager to the role of vice-president of North American food and marketing director for the FMCG giant’s US division.
After this, she joined Tesco as chief customer officer in 2017, where she stayed for six and a half years to head up the retailer’s turnaround and growth strategy. Under her leadership, Jamie Oliver was brought on board as a collaborator and Clubcard was used to analyse shopper habits to trigger a move towards healthier eating. She also led Tesco’s centenary campaign.
Bellini served as president of the Advertising Association from October 2021 to March 2025, and now works as an external advisor and non-executive director for a variety of companies. Her CV also includes a period as chair of the board of Trustees for Teens Unite Fighting Cancer between April 2019 and September 2022.