In his new role, Irvine will oversee the Philippines operations of Hemisphere Leo Burnett, Starcom Philippines and First Direct, among other Leo Burnett units.
His appointment comes at the heels of group chief executive and Hemisphere Leo Burnett chief integration officer Constantine's departure from his Manila-based posting last month.
Constantine, who is also group chief executive of Bcom3 Holdings - the holding company which owns the Leo Burnett Worldwide network - regional office in the Philippines left his Manila-based posting to go on sabbatical leave until the end of the year.
"After his sabbatical, he'll make a decision on whether to pursue a career with Leo Burnett. Effectively he is still with Leo Burnett Worldwide, March Ventosa, managing director of Hemisphere Leo Burnett, said.
It is unclear what Constantine's new position with Burnett will be.
Constantine was assigned to Manila in June 1998 as chief executive officer.
According to Ventosa: "When he arrived he was tasked to oversee the transition of the agency to what he called a new-era agency. He was to build a deeper level of senior managers."
Ventosa said he succeeded in doing this by bringing in Irvine as ECD and Boyet Alvero as finance director. Altogether, he built a team of 25 associate directors and directors.
He established various units such as LeoActivation, Leo Burnett PR (integrated into LeoActivation in July), Leo Design and Leo Source, and established Starcom Philippines in 1999. Ventosa added that the agency also bought equity in First Direct, a database and direct marketing company.
