Tag: Leadership

Singapore – Sprinklr, the unified customer experience management (Unified-CXM) platform for modern enterprises, has announced the appointment of Haitham Elkhatib to senior vice president of growth markets. 

Elkhatib will be responsible for accelerating the growth of Sprinklr’s platform and capitalising on the strong demand in MEA and APJI, which includes the Middle East, Africa, Asia-Pacific, Japan, and India markets.

In the new role, he brings with him years of valuable sales strategy experience. He joined Sprinklr in 2018 as regional director in Dubai and has been instrumental in scaling sales efforts and driving awareness of the unique Unified-CXM value proposition in the MEA market. 

Prior to joining Sprinklr, Elkhatib held several sales positions at enterprise software companies including Oracle, Lithium Technologies, and EMC.

Elkhatib shared his excitement over the new role, stating, “Sprinklr has an incredible opportunity to transform the way companies all over the world are reaching, engaging, serving, and listening to customers across digital channels. I’m honored to expand my role with a phenomenal Sprinklr team and couldn’t be more excited to build on our momentum in MEA and APJI.”

Ragy Thomas, CEO and founder of Sprinklr, also said that Elkhatib’s expertise and deep understanding of customer needs will help the company achieve its growth potential as they work to expand its global customer profile.

“Over the past 13 years, Sprinklr has grown from the definitive leader in enterprise social media management to the only platform for Unified-CXM to bring social media, marketing, insights, and customer service together. We work with more than 1,100 brands including many of the most iconic companies and organizations on the planet, but we are still just getting started,” Thomas added.

Recently, Sprinklr has also unveiled 120 new customer service and 25 new AI innovations for its multiple product suites targeted at improving omnichannel customer experience.

Singapore – Food and grocery delivery platform foodpanda has appointed Luc Andreani as its new chief operating officer. Andreani was most recently the company’s chief international officer.

The announcements were made by CEO Jakob Sebastian Angele on a recent LinkedIn update.

Andreani has been with foodpanda for over six years, starting off as the managing director for Singapore before moving to the role of managing director for Japan. During his stint as chief international officer, he also served as the acting chief marketing officer for over a year before being replaced by Anna Znamenskya.

“I’m grateful he’s stepping up to this challenge and we’ll work closely to keep growing foodpanda’s business,” Angele said regarding Andreani’s appointment.

The company has also named Jamie O’Mahony as the new chief financial officer, and will play a crucial role in leading foodpanda’s business planning, strategy and reporting divisions.

Singapore – Marcus Pousette, most recently the managing director for Southeast Asia at Channel Factory, has joined Magnite as its senior director for business development in Asia. In his new role, Pousette will be responsible for supporting and accelerating the growth of Magnite throughout Asia by growing new and existing strategic supply partnerships across the Asia region.

His role at Magnite will also specialise in focusing on video streaming and omnichannel partners. He will also play an important role in driving publisher adoption of key platform tools and features, including Magnite Streaming, to enable them to capitalise upon the growing streaming opportunity in the region.

Prior to his role at Channel Factory, Marcus was the country manager for Southeast Asia, Greater China and South Korea at PubMatic, where he spearheaded the company’s operations, growth, and expansion across the Asian region.

In all, Pousette brings with him more than 10 years of experience in the digital advertising space.

Speaking on his new role, he said, “I’m thrilled to join the team at Magnite and to be working closely with Gavin and the wider team in some of the largest emerging digital markets globally. I look forward to bringing the benefits of Magnite’s omnichannel capabilities to Asian publishers.”

Meanwhile, Gavin Buxton, managing director for Asia at Magnite, commented, “I’m excited to have Marcus on board and looking forward to the fresh perspective he’ll bring to the team here in Asia. His impressive breadth of experience and relationships across the industry will be critical in accelerating our growth in the region.”

Hong Kong – Hong Kong-headquartered global news company The South China Morning Post (SCMP) has announced the appointment of Lou Wee as its new director of global strategic business. 

Based in Hong Kong, Wee’s role sits within the Post’s Advertising and Marketing Solutions (AMS) business with the mandate to build and nurture long-term partnerships with global strategic accounts. 

Wee rejoins SCMP after his move to VICE Media as vice president of sales and brand partnerships, APAC in 2022. In SCMP, he previously held the roles of head of advertising sales for Hong Kong and regional markets as well as regional director of advertising and partnerships for more than three years. 

With over 15 years of diverse media and advertising experience acquired from Hong Kong and Singapore, Wee counts VICE Media, FOX Networks Group, CNBC, and The Wall Street Journal amongst his prior career appointments where he was responsible for advertising sales and partnerships.

Commenting on his appointment, Wee said, “Hong Kong holds a very special place in my heart – not only has it been my home base for the past 8 years, I also owe much of the success that I enjoy in my personal and professional life to this city.”

He added, “My appointment and return to SCMP comes at an exciting point of the Post’s journey as it enters its 120th year of journalistic legacy, the reopening of Hong Kong to the rest of the world and a tech-forward next-phase which will continue to pave the way for SCMP’s leading role in the Asia media industry.”

Kevin Huang, chief operating officer of SCMP also said that Wee’s rich industry and regional background reflects the mission of SCMP’s global strategic business, which is to work with partners worldwide in targeting respective local markets across APAC and globally.

Huang added, “As our readers are a global community, the majority of which comprises the APAC market with a particularly strong presence in Hong Kong, Singapore and the rest of Southeast Asia, followed by the North America market, Wee’s homecoming highlights the Post’s robust regional position and strong confidence in Asia as a leading global hub for media and advertising.”

This follows Sophia Yu’s appointment as managing director of SCMP’s magazine division, SCMP Hearst.

London, United Kingdom – Due to its growth across the regions of North America, EMEA, and APAC, global executive search firm Grace Blue has announced its new appointments including Sarah Skinner as its global managing director and Helen Duffy as its CEO for Asia-Pacific Region.

Skinner will be responsible for ensuring the firm’s service quality across the divisions of consumer brands, agencies, media, entertainment, and sports whilst Duffy will continue to lead the APAC operations. 

Simultaneously, Grace Blue restructures its advisory board led by its chairman Ian Priest. Juliet Timms joins the advisory board as its board advisor to help in supporting the Grace Blue team and its clients.

Moreover, the advisory board also welcomes Sherilyn Shackle, CEO and founder of The Marketing Academy and Tim Shaw, ex-commercial director of the Ryder Cup and PGA European Tour.

Global CEO Jay Haines said that Skinner has been a truly brilliant ambassador for the Grace Blue brand and their team is excited to have her to continuously grow the business worldwide.

“Our new advisory board will also continue to service our current clients and support us as we continue to broaden our client base and build our global footprint,” Haines added.

“I am thrilled to be taking on a more global role working across our three regions, and look forward to the next chapter of Grace Blue’s journey,” Skinner expressed.

Grace Blue specialises in transformational leadership talent for brands, agencies, media, entertainment, and technology organisations.

Sydney, Australia – Creative technology agency whiteGREY has appointed Reeshma Bhanji as its executive creative director. The appointment is targeted at significantly boosting the agency’s design and creative offering.

In the new role, Bhanji’s immediate focus is to lead the Scentre Group (Westfield) business with an additional responsibility to develop and deepen whiteGREY’s creative offering to drive business transformation for clients.

She also brings with her a wealth of experience from both agency and client-side to whiteGREY. Her expansive retail experience is garnered from working across brands such as Freedom, Rebel Sport, Aesop, and Glasshouse Fragrances, where she created award-winning campaigns and led strategy and creative thinking to create in-store spatial design experiences.

Prior to joining whiteGREY, Bhanji was previously with The General Store as its creative director and was also the founder of Flying Fish Designs. 

On her new appointment, Bhanji said, “While design thinking is a critical component of the creative process, my true passion lies in collaborating with my team and our clients to identify solutions that can genuinely foster the growth of their business. This human-centric approach is what drives great creative and design, and I’m thrilled to bring this perspective to both whiteGREY and its clients.”

Chad Mackenzie, whiteGREY’s national CCO also said that Bhanji’s appointment was a game-changer for whiteGREY supporting the agency’s ongoing investment in outstanding talent. He added that Bhanji will likewise provide a new perspective for clients and expands the agency’s brand design offering.

“With a career built on a strong foundation of visual arts and design, Reeshma leans heavily into design, strategy and creativity to discover what will work for her clients’ brands to make their business better. Reeshma helps see the world differently, creating powerful as well as beautiful client solutions using design thinking to grow her client’s businesses,” said Mackenzie.

He added, “She is well known to challenge conventions to create breakthrough brand experiences and her unique way of blending design, strategy and creativity is an exciting proposition to bring to market and is the next step in the evolution of whiteGREY’s already strong creative offering.”

Bhanji’s appointment is effective immediately. She will also be based in Sydney for the new role.

Malaysia – In its recently held 16th Biennial General Meeting, The Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia (4As) has elected its council office bearers who will serve the not-for-profit industry body for the next two years. 

The newly appointed leaders are the re-elected president Andrew Lee, group managing director of Havas Group Malaysia, who will be serving his fourth consecutive term, and Ryusuke Oda, managing director of Hakuhodo Malaysia as the new vice president.

Both Lee and Oda will work jointly with the council members as well as Dato’ Johnny Mun, managing director of Oxygen Advertising and 4As senior advisor, and En. Khairudin Rahim, 4As chief executive officer, to accomplish the association’s objectives.

The election also saw the induction of Council members from Dentsu Malaysia, Fishermen Integrated, Geometry Global, Grey Worldwide, M&C Saatchi, Monster Interactive, NagaDDB, Oxygen Advertising, Shinajii, and TBWA Kuala Lumpur.

Speaking about his re-election, Lee said, “I feel honoured to have been asked to lead the 4As Council once again, and to have the opportunity to continue the legacy of earlier leaders including the late Dato Tony Lee, Tony Savarimuthu, and 4As Honorary Life President Tan Sri Vincent Lee.”

Lee also added that he is looking forward to furthering the steps taken in the all-important area of Diversity, Inclusion, and Equity (DEI) that the previous council had begun. 

“Other challenges ahead of us include the continuing post-pandemic recovery, understanding and co-opting new technologies such as AI and its subset ChatGPT, and more prosaic challenges like staff retention and continuous professional development,” he added.

The Association of Accredited Advertising Agents Malaysia (4As), formed in 1971, is the Malaysian advertising industry’s foremost body engaged in promoting the value of advertising agencies in the marketing communications industry to advertisers, media, suppliers, government and the public.

Australia – Red Havas, the global consumer and creative communications arm of Havas, has announced the appointment of Shane Russell as its chief executive officer for Australia. Russell will be growing its client roster and driving the business’ overall aggressive growth ambition.

Russell brings with him an experience in consumer and corporate communications with a focus on technology. Before joining Red Havas, he served as the executive vice president of New York-based 5W Public Relations where he helped in driving its rapid expansion to become one of USA’s top 10 independent PR agencies by size.

James Wright, global CEO at Red Havas and Havas Creative Group Australia, said that he is looking forward to Russell’s skills and attitude that he maximised in the US market and apply it to the agency’s growth plans in Australia.

Meanwhile, Russell expressed his excitement in further building the agency’s reputation for leading-edge creativity alongside a phenomenal roster of consumer and corporate brands.

“With my strong professional background in all areas of technology, I’m also excited by the significant investments Red is making to increase our presence as a leading agency in the tech sector,” Russell added.

Red Havas is the global consumer and creative communications arm of Havas which was launched in 2019. It currently operates in 14 markets and has 26 offices as of present.

Tokyo, Japan – To strengthen its creative power, marketing communications agency Geometry Ogilvy Japan has announced the promotion of Yasushi Arikawa as senior creative director and creative head of experience whilst adding Naoto Nishimura who assumes an executive creative director position.

The appointments are part of the agency’s efforts to support the growth of its client portfolio and as a whole agency.

Arikawa has been an integral part of the agency’s pioneering Shibuya metaverse work over the last several years. He will now oversee the work of KDDI’s new Web3 venture, Alpha-U which was launched last month.

Meanwhile, Nishimura previously worked at Beacon Communications in Tokyo where he built a strong creative portfolio. In his new role, he will work with Arikawa to strengthen the agency, bringing creative and social together to provide a more integrated offering.

Doug Schiff, chief creative officer at Ogilvy Japan, said that it’s good to recognise some of their best talents whilst bringing great leadership from the outside. Schiff also said that he looks forward to working with the team to collectively move forward and provide bigger integrated ideas for their clients.

Geometry Ogilvy Japan works with brands both in Japan and global countries to support their business ambitions and growth objectives.

Sydney, Australia – Australian communications consultancy Honner has announced new appointments for its senior team, reinforcing the agency’s position as one of Australia’s leading specialist corporate and financial communications firms.

Equity partner Susie Bell has been appointed managing partner, focusing on leading Honner’s people and culture. In the new role, Bell works closely with founder and CEO Philippa Honner to drive a range of management responsibilities in addition to leading the agency’s relationships with key clients.

Meanwhile, Alison Kahler has joined the Honner team as its new senior consultant – content, in response to ongoing demand for ‘high-quality, strategically driven’ content programs in the financial services sector. 

In the new role, Kahler brings with her more than 25 years of experience as a financial journalist and communications adviser for major publications and institutions. At Honner, she will be working across the firm’s financial services, corporate, and technology clients offering content strategy development and delivery as well as strategic communications counsel. 

Another addition to the team is Rashmi Punjabi, who has been appointed to the newly created role of head of business development. She will work closely with the CEO and senior leadership team to drive new business efforts across traditional finance and new economy sectors, as well as lead marketing initiatives for the agency.

Honner has also formalised its senior leadership team, in recognition of the collective contribution the agency’s senior consultants make in managing a growing consultancy. 

Along with Honner, Bell, Kahler, and Punjabi, the new team includes Judith Bence, chief operating officer; Craig Morris, head of marketing solutions; Samantha Rockliff, senior consultant; Fiona Parker, chief strategy officer; and Natasha Moldrich, account director.

Speaking about the appointments, Honner said that they reflected the firm’s ambitions to continue broadening its offering across the Australian and APAC region.

“Each year we behave more like a traditional consultant – working with a wide range of stakeholders to deliver highly tailored, strategically driven programs that make a commercial impact,” she said.

Honner also added, “We’re investing in our team, digital tools and infrastructure to support the next phase of growth – as clients continue to value specialist agencies that bring deep market insights and creative ideas to the table, operating as a dynamic and flexible extension of their in-house team.”

Bell also commented that continuous learning and global curiosity were strong contributors to the firm’s culture. “The Honner team is our greatest strength, and we are extremely proud of our diverse range of talent. We’re committed to delivering relevant and future focused training and team experiences that add value and create a real impact.”