Singapore – Southeast Asia’s superapp, Grab, has announced five industry leaders who will join the team to further its advertising capabilities and strengthen the technology, product, marketing, partnership and operational capabilities of its GrabAds offerings. The executives will play a key role in growing and developing GrabAds, which connects advertisers large and small with millions of consumers across the region.

The appointees include Jennie Johnson as the new head of marketing for GrabAds, Kaia Lai as the new head of product for search and personalisation technology, and Christina Lin as the new product marketing lead for ads and personalisation technology, as well as Kareen Mendoza as the new regional financial services partnership lead at GrabAds, and Yi Ling Wong as the new head of sales operations at GrabAds.

As the new head of marketing for GrabAds, Johnson, who brings 15 years of experience in marketing and communications, will be leading brand building and demand generation to accelerate growth, while Lai, the new head of product for search and personalisation technology of Grab, will be leading company-wide efforts to build a unified search strategy and platform for Grab, deepening the superapp’s personalisation capabilities to delight end users.

Meanwhile, Lin will be responsible for driving the adoption of GrabAds’ full-funnel advertising solutions as product marketing lead for ads and personalisation technology, and will be working closely with product development to build solutions to help businesses of all sizes to harness the Grab ecosystem. 

Mendoza, the new regional financial services partnership lead, will also be driving efforts to support financial services advertisers in harnessing the power of GrabAds to create meaningful engagements with high-value audiences. And lastly, Wong, the new head of sales operations at Grab, will be responsible for driving sales operational efficiencies for the team and advertisers.

In May, Grab has announced its commitment to increasing the percentage of women in leadership roles as part of its annual Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) report. This is to ensure that the company has diverse voices in management positions and considers a variety of views in crafting and implementing policies and decisions.

“We continue to build technology that connects advertisers with the millions of consumers who use Grab to commute, eat and shop every day. I’m thrilled to welcome these leaders, who will be instrumental in furthering the GrabAds mission: helping merchants and advertisers build their brand while driving real-world sales impact using Southeast Asia’s leading superapp,” said Ken Mandel, Grab’s regional managing director and head of GrabAds and Brand Insights.