Tag: CEO

Hong Kong – Hong Kong-based telecommunications and technology services provider, HKBN Group, has appointed William Ho, former managing director at AI networking company Juniper Networks, to be the new CEO of Enterprise Solutions.

In his new role, Ho will be leading HKBN’s enterprise services arm, expanding and leveraging its system integration capabilities, and further consolidating and developing the blue ocean business growth strategy across Hong Kong and Mainland China.

With nearly 30 years of professional experience in the ICT industry, Ho brings many holistic dimensions having been a customer-side user and a service provider, covering network technology, internet, cloud, and big data, as well as e-commerce, amongst others. He is amongst the few senior executives with a broad range of experiences in technology R&D, sales and marketing, and business development. Aside from his previous role at Juniper Networks, Ho has also held senior executive positions at local and international companies, including Cohesity, ARRIS, Cisco, and Hong Kong Jockey Club, amongst others.

Commenting on his appointment, Ho said, “In a dynamic evolving business landscape, HKBN’s Talent-Obsession culture uniquely empowers our talents to embrace changes and do everything to help our enterprise customers to foster their digital transformation and gain their competitive edge rather than merely save money. I am thrilled to have my skin in the game as a co-owner and to achieve our goals together with our Elite Sports Team.”

Meanwhile, William Yeung and NiQ Lai, HKBN’s co-owners, said that Ho is putting his skin in the game by investing an amount equivalent to 2 years’ salary into their co-ownership scheme. 

“With William leading HKBN Enterprise Solutions, our goal is to bring digital solutions that go beyond connectivity services to our 110K corporate customers, fortifying our customer relationship, driving efficiency and business impact in Hong Kong and across mainland China, especially the Greater Bay Area. We welcome William to our Elite Sports Team,” they added.

Vietnam – United Overseas Bank (UOB) in Vietnam has elevated Victor Ngo, former head of group compliance at UOB Vietnam, to be its new chief executive officer (CEO). The appointment of Ngo succeeds Harry Loh, who relinquished his position to return to Singapore to lead the Group Non-Financial Risk Management.

In his new role, Ngo will be leading efforts to deepen UOB Vietnam’s digital capabilities, expand its financing offerings, and connect clients to market opportunities in Vietnam and across UOB Group’s regional network.

Ngo is a banking veteran with more than 30 years of experience. He joined UOB in 2004, where he led leadership roles. Since 2015, Ngo has been active in engaging businesses and industry partners in Vietnam. He was instrumental in helping the bank to become the first Singapore bank to establish a foreign-owned subsidiary in Vietnam in 2017.

Wee Ee Cheong, UOB’s deputy chairman and CEO, commented, “Victor has deep market knowledge and a strong affinity with Vietnam. With his extensive experience in the banking industry and within UOB Group, he is well placed to drive our Vietnam franchise to new heights.”

Singapore – Global marketing agency VMLY&R has announced that its CEO for Singapore, Preethi Sanjeevi, steps down from her role after 16 successful years with the network. Following through on a long-held dream, Sanjeevi will be moving on to begin her own digital venture, creating products and solutions outside the marketing space to solve global issues.

Commenting on her departure, Sanjeevi said, “It’s been a journey of 16 years, since joining VML (Qais) back in 2006, and a dream career with the agency. I will always be grateful for the journey full of fantastic clients, learning, mentors who gave generously and most of all the life long friendships. Thank you for everything VMLY&R!”

Meanwhile, Hari Ramanathan, CEO of VMLY&R South, Southeast Asia, and Japan, said that they will soon announce new leadership for the office under the new structure, designed to continue supporting collaborative and dynamic work across the agency’s customer experience (CX), brand experience (BX), and commerce teams, giving the employees, who are housed in Singapore, the chance to learn and grow with the best in the business and to provide world-class solutions for their clients.

In recent months, Singapore’s investment into capability growth includes moving Saurabh Mathur, previously EVP of growth and innovation for India into the role of regional head of customer experience & head of experience for Singapore. The team has also hired Alex Tan as regional commerce director. Both Mathur and Tan will be based out of Singapore and lead growth in solutions for Singapore and regional clients.

Ramanathan further shared that VMLY&R Singapore is a flagship for the region and has gone from strength to strength under Sanjeevi’s leadership, and she leaves it perfectly primed for its next stage of growth. 

“We thank her for everything she’s contributed to the network’s growth over the past 16 years and wish her all the best with her new venture,” added Ramanathan.

He also noted, “In the coming months, our renewed and strengthened Singapore teams will continue to make an impact on our clients’ businesses, reiterating our focus on commerce as the intersection point between BX and CX. This seamless coming together of the three pillars (BX, CX, Commerce) places us perfectly to partner with our clients to diagnose their business problems and work with them on solutions that have an impact far beyond the traditional communications and marketing sphere.”

Singapore – Kinesso, the connected intelligence company under IPG, has appointed Matt Ware, the current managing director for APAC at Matterkind, to be its new CEO for APAC. With this appointment, Ware will still retain his leadership responsibilities at Matterkind.

In his new role as CEO for APAC, Ware will be streamlining support for Kinesso’s largest IPG partner, Mediabrands, and capitalising on growth opportunities as the company continues to evolve its business both inside and outside the IPG network.

Commenting on his appointment, Ware said that the new structure ensures clients have a single, simplified engagement experience with Kinesso and Matterkind, companies that work closely together as part of the data, technology, and media activation backbone for IPG.”

“I’m excited to bring to life our ability to design and deliver integrated solutions across the breadth of our offerings for clients across APAC,” he added.

Aside from Ware, there are three new regional CEOs, who will also retain their Matterkind leadership responsibilities, namely, Andy Butters, CEO for EMEA, Jorge Chavez, CEO for LATAM, and Sean Muzzy, CEO for North America.

Ware and the newly appointed regional CEOs will serve as a single point of contact for Kinesso and Matterkind services and solutions. Clients will benefit from the end-to-end solution sets and additional innovations Kinesso and Matterkind develop as they work more cross-functionally and globally.

Arun Kumar, the chief data and technology officer at IPG and the global CEO at Kinesso, believes that putting regional CEOs in place supports the kind of horizontal integration that will spark additional innovation at Kinesso.

“Innovation happens everywhere. Matt, Andy, Jorge, and Sean will give us a unified, global focus on the challenges we need to solve for our clients – including better connections between their martech and adtech – and will surely be a catalyst for further growth for Kinesso and our clients,” said Kumar.

Meanwhile, Erica Schmidt, Matterkind’s global CEO, commented, “I couldn’t be more thrilled for Matt, Andy, Jorge and Sean. They already have a track record of success leading Matterkind’s business in these regions, and I know they will continue to deliver excellence in their new roles.”

Mumbai, India – Heeru Dingra, current CEO of Isobar India, has also taken the new role of CEO of dentsuMB Group India as its current CEO Sidharth Rao has announced stepping down the role to return to his entrepreneurial roots. Through the new leadership movement, Dingra will be supported by business leaders Ajit Devraj, Indrajeet Mookerjee and Harsh Shah.

The new dentsuMB India leadership team will work with Sidharth through the transition, and in close partnership with Amit Wadhwa, CEO for the entirety of dentsu’s creative service line for India.

Speaking about the new leadership, Rao said, “Being acquired by dentsu has, by far, been the most important milestone in Webchutney’s journey. It has been a great, great ride. Together, dentsu India and Webchutney are miles ahead of where we started and there are absolutely no regrets. Post the acquisition, I have been around for a decade now and the credit for my journey here goes to the network’s leadership team. I would like to thank them dearly for making dentsu feel like home.|

He added, “Amit is a great leader and a fantastic comrade. He is the one to ensure that we get the best of opportunities. As I move on, I am glad that sentsu Webchutney is at a point where it is at its best; and what I take with myself is a sense of immense pride of being associated with dentsu. For my journey ahead, I am exploring a few new ideas in the exciting space of the internet. The plan for it should be ready over the next couple of months.”

Meanwhile, Wadhwa commented, “Sid is not just a colleague. He is also a dear friend; our go-to mate. He has played an instrumental role in crafting dentsu’s creative journey for India in partnership with some of our key talents who have now grown into powerful leaders; and that is invaluable. However, when he chose to discuss his new entrepreneurial ambitions with me, I realised how truly he wanted to do this.”

He added, “Sid has my wholehearted support on his next move. Meanwhile, what gives me great assurance is the fantastic set of leaders that he has mentored during this growth journey. They are already taking charge and delivering with confidence. Although I would miss catching up with Sid at the office, our banters will continue beyond work. He deserves to choose a fresh path for his next milestone, and I am sure his next venture would be an innovative one. We truly wish him all the luck for this next big leap.”

Bangkok, Thailand – Publicis Groupe Thailand is moving its leadership structure to a co-CEO one, with current CEO Songkran Sethesompobe joined by Sorada Sonprasit, currently CEO of Brilliant & Million, and Paruj Daorai, currently Managing Director of Digitas Thailand.

The move to a co-CEO structure in the market is in line with the scale of the Groupe’s business in Thailand, aligned with the ambition in the coming years to make Thailand a real focus for Groupe transformation and acceleration, as well as representative of the potential in Southeast Asia of Thailand as a market.

Both Sorada and Paruj will report to Amrita Randhawa, CEO of Publicis Groupe, Singapore & Southeast Asia. The appointment is effective 1 June with the outgoing CEO overlapping for a smooth transition till the end of June. 

Sonprasit started Brilliant & Million after an illustrious career working with companies like American Express and Citibank. Always ahead of her time, she saw a huge opportunity for digital in 2007 and started Brilliant & Million. And in 2018 once again saw the immense potential of taking the agency to the next level by integrating Brilliant & Million into Publicis Groupe.

Meanwhile, Dorai began his career in advertising as a copywriter. From a small agency in Bangkok to a degree in graphic design in the US and stints in ad and design firms across the USA, Paruj came home to Bangkok to start the second phase of his career working at D’Arcy (DMB&B), Lowe Bangkok and Ogilvy & Mather Thailand. A move to the Leo Burnett Group Thailand shaped up the third phase of Paruj’s career. Moving from CD to ECD to launching Digitas Thailand.

Lastly, Songkran joined Publicis Groupe as CEO of Leo Burnett Thailand in April 2011. Together with his team, he has led Leo Burnett Thailand to become one of the most recognized and awarded agencies in Thailand. In May 2016, Songkran was appointed Country Head of Publicis Groupe Thailand.

Speaking on the new endeavour, Randhawa said, “I am delighted to see Sorada and Paruj step up into this role. Both are leaders who have been ahead of their time in developing digitally-led services for clients and work really well in partnership with each other, making them a very strong choice as we continue to transform the Groupe and its services in Thailand. I would also like to thank Khun Jod for his many years of service to the Groupe and for building strong relationships with our people and our clients. He is a trusted voice who will be missed.”

Australia — For the first time since its inception 30 years ago, Enigma has decided to create a new leadership role to help drive the expansion and growth of the agency with John Gutteridge’s appointment as CEO. He also becomes an equity partner in Enigma and will work closely with Lisa Sutton Gardner, founder and director of Enigma, to realise the agency’s ambitions to grow its services, capabilities, and clients.

Gutteridge brings 25 years of global marketing communications experience to the new role, with extensive experience in leadership, digital transformation, mergers, and acquisitions across APAC. He began his career in London before moving to Australia where he became CEO of JWT Australia and NZ. In 2016 Gutteridge became CEO of JWT and Mirum APAC, bringing together the creative and digital services under one cohesive vision across 17 diverse markets.

In 2019, he returned to Australia to lead the merger between JWT and Wunderman across five offices in Australia and NZ. He briefly left the industry to launch MAWDE, a D2C purpose-driven ecommerce clothing brand manufactures in Australia using sustainable materials.

Gardner, said, “We have run a healthy but understated business for three decades now and have been planning the next chapter for Enigma for more than a year. It’s rare that an agency with its roots in the regional centre of Newcastle, which has an incredible talent bed, has successfully expanded to Sydney and Brisbane – it’s a key differentiator for our agency and I like to say we were ahead of the curve of the ‘work from anywhere’ phenomenon.”

“Gutteridge brings to the CEO role all the skills, experience, energy, and passion I have been rigorously searching for. We found instant chemistry, he and I are both entrepreneurs, and he a great fit for our humble and approachable culture. I’m incredibly excited to work with John to realise our growth ambitions and expanded services,” Gardner added.

Commenting on his new role, Gutteridge said, “I felt inspired at the prospect of returning to the industry for the right opportunity, and this is exactly that. It was apparent very quickly that Garder and the Enigma team have created a fantastic business. Above all, it’s clear there’s a genuine ambition and commitment to take the business to another level and create a truly iconic and distinctive agency for the future”.

Enigma houses creative, media, brand strategy and design, with offices in Sydney, Newcastle, and Brisbane.

Singapore — BBDO Singapore welcomes Melvin Kuek as their new CEO. In his new role, Kuek will push creative boundaries and drive greater results for the renowned advertising company.

Kuek holds an extensive understanding of the industry as he holds a career spanning 25 years. Additionally, Kuek has also held leadership positions at top integrated agencies and was a partner in two successful agency start-ups.

He has also recently been appointed vice-chairman of the Global Esports Federation’s Metaverse Council which aims to drive thought leadership and education by promoting the integration of esports and gaming with VR, Web3 and Web4 related technologies -a feat establishing his discipline to account for multiple responsibilities.

On his new journey, Kuek shares, “I am psyched and honoured to join and work with Guan Hin; a renowned creative leader and a great person as well. BBDO’s ethos is about “The Work. The Work. The Work” and this is 100% a belief I share and will continue to evangelize.”

“Having spent time immersed in the esports/gaming and also the Web3 space, I am looking forward to integrating my experience in these spaces to developing BBDO Singapore’s skillsets and offerings further to push boundaries,” adds Kuek.

Simultaneously, Guan Hin Tay, creative chairman of BBDO Singapore, said, “Kuek’s vast experience will add depth and innovative thinking. His understanding of future trends and ability to capitalise on what’s next will ensure our client’s business remains effective and relevant.”

Melvin will take up the position of CEO of BBDO Singapore effective immediately as the first Singaporean CEO to lead the agency in a while. Managing director Monica Hynds will be departing the agency at month’s end.

Meanwhile, Tan Tze Kiat, CEO of BBDO Asia, shared, “I couldn’t imagine a better choice for this role. Melvin has the perfect combination of industry experience with a passion for innovation, and in today’s market, innovation is key. I’m confident that Melvin’s background in the metaverse and dedication to embracing new trends will yield some really awesome work this year, that will not only feel fresh but also push into new creative frontiers.” 

Paris, France — Insurance company Coface has announced the appointment of Hugh Burke as the CEO of Coface Asia-Pacific, effective on April 1, 2022. He joins the group executive committee and reports to Xavier Durand, Coface CEO. Burke takes over from Bhupesh Gupta who has built a solid group of leaders and experts who will support the development of Coface in the Asia-Pacific markets.

Burke joined Coface as chief commercial officer for the Asia-Pacific region in 2016. Based in Hong Kong, he successfully led the region’s commercial transformation, with record year-on-year growth since 2018. Coface is now recognised as an established insurance company by clients and partners in APAC.

In regards to his understanding of the industry, Burke has more than 20 years of experience within the trade credit insurance industry, where he has held senior positions at major specialist brokers. Prior to joining Coface, he was head of Aon Asia’s trade credit business.

Singapore — Genting Singapore, the Singapore-based regional leisure, hospitality and integrated resorts development company, has been named Tan Hee Teck as its new chief executive officer.

Teck has been with the group since 2004 and has previously held the positions of president and chief operating officer for the company’s indirect wholly-owned subsidiary Resorts World at Sentosa.

In his new role, Teck is responsible for executing the board’s approved strategies, managing and developing Genting Singapore’s businesses, and providing leadership to the management team of the group to ensure effective day-to-day operational performance and organizational excellence.