Tag: Chief Strategy Officer

New York, USA – Global creative-as-a-service company Shuttlerock has appointed Guillem Bonavia as its newest chief strategy officer to continue the company’s rapid growth and global expansion.

He is based in Auckland, New Zealand and will report to CEO and founder Jonny Hendriksen to accelerate key focus areas that will drive the greatest impact over the coming years. 

Bonavia has a rich consultancy history beginning two decades ago in Barcelona with positions at Accenture and Everis. He then moved to London where he held key roles at leading financial and consultancy institutions such as Citigroup, Deutsche Bank and McKinsey & Company. In 2016, Guillem was appointed by Lloyds Banking Group to drive the Digital Transformation journey.

Following that, he was hired as the head of strategy (digital) for Woolworths NZ in 2018. In this role, Guillem shaped the digital strategy and transformation portfolio.

Speaking on his appointment, he said, “The strategic goals for Shuttlerock are to double down on our focus on the creative-as-a-service model, increase our active customer base by delivering best in-class value and build up key technology and creative capabilities that set our customers up for success.”

The new appointment follows the recent hire of Kirsty Traill as chief customer officer, as well as two additional senior promotions of Cameron Burns as chief of staff and Arron Redmore as chief creative officer.

New York, USA – Cross-channel experience platform Insider has appointed Faraaz Khan as its new chief strategy and corporate development officer in order to further its fast growth through strategic mergers and acquisitions,as well as channel and technology partnerships.

In his new role, Khan will drive Insider‘s corporate strategy, spearhead inorganic growth by leading mergers and acquisitions, and drive organic growth through channel and technology partnerships. 

He has spent almost a decade driving growth at B2B enterprise software companies of various sizes, including Sitecore, Intercom, and Thomson Reuters. Faraaz led and advised on numerous mergers and acquisitions across the martech space including digital asset management, customer data platforms, e-commerce, marketing automation, AI search and merchandising, and front-end-as–a-service.

Speaking on his appointment, Khan said, “Insider has seen remarkable growth over the past few years and has been recognized as a Leader by Forrester, Gartner, IDC and most importantly by its loyal customers on G2 Crowd across a host of categories. All of this has been achieved organically, largely on the back of our direct sales channel in Europe and Asia.” 

He added, “The goal is to accelerate growth further through strategic mergers and acquisitions into categories that will add even more value to our customers, and by growing and enabling our loyal partner network. I am extremely excited to be joining the company as it enters the US to establish Insider as the #1 marketing platform trusted by marketers and analysts alike.”

Meanwhile, Hande Cilingir, co-founder and CEO at Insider, commented, “Following our journey to democratise AI and marketing technologies in most of the toughest markets in the world and providing our technology globally at this scale, the time has come for Insider to extend its remarkable go-to-market expertise over the businesses that are scaling up.” 

He added, “This will unlock greater growth opportunities for Insider. Faraaz brings immense experience and the required perspective to support our growth organically and through strategic mergers and acquisitions. Looking forward to achieving our aggressive growth targets together with Faraaz.”

Sydney, Australia – Specialist corporate and financial communications firm Honner has announced the appointment of Fiona Parker as chief strategy officer, adding to Honner’s growing senior team. In her new role, Parker will help build on Honner’s established financial communications practice including opportunities in the corporate, financial technology and professional services space – focusing on both Australia and regional mandates.

The move adds further senior resources to Honner’s growing specialisation in the fintech and digital assets sector, where the firm represents an array of global and local brands including BTC Markets, crypto.com, Algorand Foundation, Blockchain Australia, MH Carnegie & Co, Nano and Loda.

Parker brings more than 20 years of communications experience working across Australia, Europe and Asia. She joins from FleishmanHillard where she was the Sydney-based head of corporate communications for the past three years.

Prior to returning to Sydney, Parker was based in Asia for five years where she held roles including Hong Kong Technology Lead, Asia Pacific Technology Practice Director at H+K Strategies, as well as Director at MHP Communications. 

On her appointment, Parker shared, “I am thrilled to be joining the growing Honner team, one synonymous with quality, which provides the highest possible calibre of strategic counsel to its impressive roster of clients. I’m very excited by the opportunity to help cutting edge innovators reshape, lead and engage the market as the ongoing digitalisation of finance brings new possibilities to life in Australia and the region.”

Honner’s Founder and CEO Philippa Honner, said the appointment reflects the rapidly escalating impact technological change is having on financial players – as both providers and customers look towards an increasingly decentralised digital asset ecosystem.

“Traditional financial brands like banks, asset managers, super funds and wealth firms continue to be the mainstay of Honner, however emerging technology is revolutionising the way these firms do business,” Honner said

Honner added, “How people engage with their money, how they ‘bank’, and how they invest is all changing – and fast. We’re investing in that change, building a financial tech practice to better service existing clients, as well as the new wave of financial brands that are taking the sector in new directions.”

Besides the appointment of Parker, Honner made a number of new hires in the areas of financial communications, marketing, and content services in the year 2022.

Mumbai, India – Advertising agency TBWA\ India has appointed Amit Kekre, former national strategy head at advertising agency DDB Mudra Group, to be its new chief strategy officer.

With 23 years of industry experience, Amit has worked with agencies globally, including Lowe, JWT, and Ogilvy, as well as Grey, and McCann in India, Malaysia, and Australia. During his recent stint at DDB Mudra, Kekre led marketing, brand, and business strategies for the group’s clients, namely Diageo, Pepsi, Unilever, and Future Group, as well as Godrej, amongst others. He has also championed the group’s diversity agenda – and has been pivotal in establishing diversity as a key strategic growth capability for the group. 

Moreover, Kekre is the chairperson for the India chapter of Open Pride, Omnicom’s ERG for the LGBTIQ+ community at the workplace, and will continue to lead these chapters from TBWA.

Kekre said, “We live in times when the question of growth cannot afford to be linear, it must be discontinuous. So must be the ways to achieve it, we need a fundamental shake-up from comfort zones – of how we see our brands, our businesses, the consumers they serve and the world they must create. No better place than TBWA, the @DISRUPTION company to make this happen.”

Meanwhile, Govind Pandey, TBWA\ Inda’s CEO, shared that Kekre is an exceptional leader and an impressive strategist, and his ambition to discover and understand goes well beyond the books, tools, and processes.

“Amit will be responsible for developing and executing an elevated strategic approach across our planning department while working closely with the agency’s portfolio of brands,” said Pandey.

Australia – Advertising agency Howatson+Company has appointed Dom Hickey, former head of planning at advertising firm DDB Group Australia, to be its new chief strategy officer.

During her stint at DDB Group Australia, Hickey has worked with various brands such as Westpac, J&J, Coles, and Unilever as well as Domain. She has led the strategy on Westpac’s life moments, the Matriarchs campaign for Carefree, and the Australian launch of Tylenol. 

Moreover, Hickey has worked across every dimension of marketing from brand transformation to brand experience. She also teaches strategy at Ad School and Miami Ad School, as well as co-hosts a podcast, The Junior Mafia, to give the perspective of young people in the industry a voice. 

Commenting on her appointment, Hickey said, “I’ve been watching Howatson+Company from afar, and I’m delighted to get the chance to join them. It’s an incredible team of lovely people, smart, sharp and on the tools. I’m excited about the work we can bring into the world by collaborating across all disciplines in one place.” 

Meanwhile, Chris Howatson, Howatson+Company’s founder and CEO, shared that Hickey is the perfect strategy leader as she is a modern planner and empathic to all marketing disciplines, and understands how these marketing practices come together across the brand and customer experience.

“Her first career was in the police force as a crime scene photographer. What a way to start a career in understanding human behaviour,” said Howatson.

Most recently, Howatson+Company has also appointed Richard Shaw and Jeremy Hogg, former creative directors at CHE Proximity, to be its new executive creative directors, aimed at bolstering the agency’s creatives.

Singapore — Creative agency Ogilvy has announced that Arvind Srivastava has been promoted to become chief strategy officer of Ogilvy for the Asia division. He recently held the same position for Ogilvy China.

Srivastava started as a customer relationship planner at OgilvyOne Delhi and has spent nearly two decades with Ogilvy Asia where he has worked in various strategic planning roles that increased his expertise in the market.

Srivastava moved to Shanghai in 2016 and has since then helped build a modern strategy offering bringing together brand, CRM, commerce, data, media connections, and social strategists. He was responsible for leading Ogilvy China’s strategy for handling their global top-value clients namely Nestlé and The Coca-Cola Company and played a key role on large Chinese brands including AliExpress. Under his leadership, Ogilvy has been ranked one of the most effective networks in the Greater China Effies for 3 of the past 5 years.

Srivastava commented on his promotion, saying that Ogilvy has one of the strongest and the most effective strategy teams in Asia, and he feels truly honoured to be given this responsibility.

“I am excited at the opportunity to partner with our strategy and business leaders to continue evolving and modernizing Ogilvy Asia’s strategic solutions to drive growth and impact for our clients at the intersection of capabilities,” Srivastava said.

Srivastava will continue to be based in China and he replaces Benoit Weisser who will be relocating to Europe to be closer to family.

Chris Reitermann, co-chief executive of Asia and chief executive of Greater China, shared his praises for the new CSO, saying, “Arvind has done an outstanding job for Ogilvy Asia for nearly 20 years in various strategy roles across several Asian markets. He has a deep understanding of the evolving strategy needs of our Clients and brings a great mix of business, brand and digital strategy to our offer. We very much look forward to partnering with him in building on the strong foundation set by Benoit and I’m personally excited to have a strong strategic partner continuing to be based out of China.”

This January, Ogilvy’s Malaysian arm has announced their appointment of Eddy Nazarullah, former creative director at Reprise, to be its new creative director.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Omnicom Media Group in Malaysia has announced two key leadership appointments in their agency, namely Kiron Kesav as chief strategy officer at OMG Malaysia and Mayank Bhatnagar as managing director at OMD Malaysia. Said appointments are part of the agency’s vision to continue strengthening its presence within the region as a media agency powerhouse.

Kesav, who was previously the general manager of PHD Malaysia, will be guiding OMG’s agencies towards pushing forward its strategic planning products, business solutions for clients and thought leadership and innovations for the network. Said promotion will provide the agency with the expertise needed to serve its clients and create a positive impact for the agency locally and regionally.

Meanwhile, Bhatnagar has over 20 years of industry experience, managing several blue-chip clients across various markets in Asia. His appointment will see him overseeing OMD Malaysia, ensuring the continuous growth and momentum of the agency and its client accounts.

Both new hires will be reporting directly to Eileen Ooi, chief operating officer at OMG Malaysia, and will officially assume their new roles with immediate effect. For the meantime, Ooi will also be overseeing PHD Malaysia in the interim.

Speaking about the new appointments, Ooi shared, “Both Kiron and Mayank’s appointments are extremely valuable in strengthening OMG Malaysia as a media powerhouse in the local and regional context.”

She added, “[Kesav] has proven his capabilities by successfully leading PHD Malaysia as general manager of strategy and platforms. I am confident that his well-earned elevation will see him contribute immensely to the success of OMG as a whole. [Bhatnagar’s] extensive experience [meanwhile], across the industry, along with how well-accustomed he is with the Malaysian market, will be beneficial to continuing the success of OMD Malaysia.

Singapore – Media and digital marketing communications company dentsu in Singapore has announced three strategic senior appointments for the market, namely Preeti Mascarenhas, the new chief strategy officer, Florian Lacombe, the new head of operations, and Prema Techinamurthi, the new managing director of creative group.

Mascarenhas joins dentsu Singapore in the newly created role of chief strategy officer for the market where she will lead strategy for key integrated clients, pitches, and solutions development, while in another newly created role of head of operations for the market, Lacombe will oversee the market’s business transformation journey and lead operational excellence for Singapore.

Meanwhile, as the agency’s new managing director of creative group, Techinamurthi will now be responsible for delivering excellence and driving business growth, as well as transformation to further unlock the full potential of the creative service line. Over the past year, she has been at the forefront of dentsu Singapore’s ‘Force for Good and Growth’ commitment in her work for Float Foods and Sustenir, as well as for dentsu Gaming, where she led the account wins of two new regional gaming clients and also led dentsu’s largest regional client, Toyota, in launching a regional e-sports tournament in partnership with ONE E-Sports. Techinamurthi’s appointment comes after former managing director Phil Adrien, who will now be focusing on his new role as the CEO of creative for APAC.

According to Dentsu Singapore, its performance for 2021 has been fuelled by its focus on strategic sectors, such as health and gaming, and sustainable growth; further integration of its offerings; and a strengthened eco-system of partnerships in the region, including with Google and Salesforce.

Prakash Kamdar, dentsu’s CEO for Singapore, shared that the formula for dentsu Singapore, with or without the pandemic, has been one built on purpose, discipline, and trust.

“We made a number of senior appointments across the business last year and I am delighted that we are now able to further augment our Singapore leadership bench strength as we kick-off 2022 with three strategic business appointments in Preeti, Florian, and Prema to bring us to new heights,” said Kamdar.

Just recently, dentsu APAC has also appointed Kamdar to be its new CEO for dentsu Indonesia, which is an addition to his current role. This follows the step down of former CEO Maya Watono who will be taking on a role in a newly established holding company for Indonesia’s State-Owned Enterprises.

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia – Global advertising agency company Publicis Groupe in Malaysia has announced two new senior appointments namely Emir Shafri as chief creative officer and Andrew Michau as chief strategy officer. Both internal promotions will take effect immediately.

Shafri will drive the company’s creative ambition, while Michau enhances the company’s integrated, and data-led approach to connected solutions. Providing their expertise to clients in the region, both appointees will report to Neil Hudspeth, CEO at Publicis Groupe Malaysia and global client leader for APAC.

Shafri first joined the agency in 2019 as an executive creative director and has since been instrumental in elevating creative products and helping some big brands win in this platform world. As the new chief creative officer, he will develop and head creative communications, bringing together brand-building ideas with a modern approach. Prior to returning to Malaysia, he was previously Y&R Singapore’s head of digital.

Speaking about his promotion, he said, “It’s been a refreshing experience working alongside and learning from some of the most talented thinkers, storytellers, artists, digital tinkerers, customer experience builders as well as data and human insights detectives over the past few years. I’m excited to write our next chapter with this amazing team by bringing together their diverse skills to help businesses solve their most pressing problems with creativity.”

Regarding his appointment, Hudspeth said, “Emir’s passion, humankind, and commitment have enriched our most important asset – our people. He is driven by his love for understanding human behaviour, asking “what if” and crafting experiences with the alchemy of technology, creativity and humanity. I am confident that as my creative partner, we will continue to grow and succeed, not only business-wise, but also in terms of expanding our capabilities in CX and innovation to support our clients’ growth acceleration and creative ambitions.”

Meanwhile, Michau’s new role means he will drive diverse thinking and functional insights across teams, thereby promoting a culture that delivers extraordinary work. As the company evolves to better integrate a broader strategy and insights team, Andrew will continue to drive and lead strategy for clients, while maintaining close relationships with them.

Speaking on his new role, he said, “I am extremely proud to be asked to lead such a talented team of strategists, analysts and transformation specialists. I look forward to accelerating our strategic growth agenda with our clients and continuing to help our teams across our enviable portfolio to deliver world classwork.”

On Michau’s new role, Hudspeth said, “Andrew’s passion for crafting well-thought-through narratives with increasingly data-fuelled intelligence is highly valued and appropriate, and I am confident that working closely with the rest of the incredible talent we have in our Strategy & Insights team, our agency proposition will go from strength to strength.”

London, United Kingdom – Global advertising and public relations company dentsu International has appointed Alex Hesz as its new global chief strategy officer, where he will help shape and define the strategy, priorities, and long-term direction of dentsu International, aligned to dentsu Group’s strategy. He officially joins the company in 2022.

Hesz will spearhead dentsu International’s go-to-market strategy partnering across the business to define integrated, human-centric, world-class products, services and solutions to drive growth for clients. This, in turn, will provide strategic leadership across the business, further strengthening dentsu International’s ambition to be an integrated agency network delivering data-driven, tech-enabled and ideas-led solutions for their clients.

Hesz joins dentsu from DDB Worldwide where he has been global CSO since June 2020 and group CSO of adam&eveDDB.

He will be working closely with Wendy Clark, global CEO at dentsu International, alongside with the dentsu International executive team.

Speaking about his appointment, Hesz remarked that the company is uniquely placed to provide an enviable modern marketing offering that delivers the work that will truly align with clients’ objectives.

“In dentsu International (DI), and with Wendy and her leadership team, that’s what I’ve found. A truly integrated business across Media, CXM and Creative, led by a group of absurdly talented practitioners who are dedicated to the work, the culture and the society they are building together. The commitments to sustainability and diversity as drivers of that success are critical parts of that shared culture, and are values sincerely held and shared by everyone I’ve been lucky enough to meet,” Hesz stated.

He added, “I can’t wait to get going at DI, to help shape the offering that today’s largest and most progressive clients are asking for, and that DI is unique in its preparedness to deliver. These are exciting times.”

Meanwhile, Clark commented that Hesz’ appointment is critical to integrate their total offering across media, CXM and creative, delivering growth and creativity for clients at the speed and efficiency demanded by the marketplace.

“[Hesz] is a massively talented, driven and proven leader who is wired to understand clients’ needs and aspirations. I couldn’t feel more confident that [Hesz] joining at this critical juncture in our transformation will bolster our realisation of being the most integrated network in the world,” she stated.