The team will be run by Rob Kabus, head of comms planning; and include Lyn Rogers, formerly of Carat International; Barney Loehnis, regional network director of Isobar; and PV Narayana-moorthy, regional director of strategic resources.
The management reshuffle has seen Carat International managing director Anna Azilli leave the group. Carat International set-up in September last year to service international clients. Carat Hong Kong MD Stewart Li will now take over Azilli's duties.
A Carat staffer of eight years, Azilli left late last month following changes made by Ståhle, also CEO of Aegis Media Nordics. Ståhle has been installed for a three-month period to reorganise the agency following a series of failed senior management tenures. "We are merging Carat International with Carat Hong Kong to create a stronger regional offering for our clients," said Ståhle. "This left us with one manager too many. Letting Anna go was a very tough decision."
The Aegis Media Asia-Pacific CEO role has not been permanently filled since David Liu left a year ago. After Liu's departure to Rentokil, where he joined former global Aegis chief executive Doug Flynn, the region was subsequently added to the remit of Carat Americas CEO David Verklin.
Verklin divided duties for Asia-Pacific between Thomas Wong and Richard Halmarick, to run North Asia and Asia South, respectively. However, Wong left earlier this year, also to Rentokil, sparking another reshuffle. Aegis Media ranks as the sixth largest media buyer in Asia-Pacific, according to Recma, with estimated billings of US$1.5 billion in 2005. The group has two per cent share of the region's media market.
