Dentsu appoints new CEO for Merkle China

Dentsu China has appointed Derek Huang to the role of chief executive officer (CEO) of Merkle China, the customer experience management company (CXM) of the group, effective from 1 November 2023. 

Huang will succeed Hawk Liu, who joined Merkle from Accenture China in June 2022 and left Merke last month for personal reasons.

Before returning to Dentsu, Huang was most recently head of marketing shared service at Yum China. He led Yum China’s group marketing for brands across creative production, media, membership and customer relationship management (CRM) functions, as well as consumer insights.

Prior to joining Yum China, Huang had previously served over nine years in leadership roles in China and the Asia Pacific region across media and CXM. In 2021, he was chief solution and innovation officer of Dentsu China.

As CEO, Huang will lead the transformation and rapid acceleration of Merkle in China to support the growth of Dentsu’s CXM capability globally, bringing together strategy, consulting and implementation across experience, digital commerce, data platforms/analytics / AI, martech, customer value optimisation, identity solutions and activation. 

He will also work closely with the broader Dentsu China leadership team to elevate customer transformation and technology offerings, fully integrated with Dentsu’s media and creative capabilities.

“Derek brings back a wealth of strategic industry leadership skills to Dentsu, and I am delighted to welcome him back to lead Merkle,” Chun Yin Mak, CEO of Dentsu China said.

“I have had the privilege to work alongside some of the best in the industry at Dentsu China, and I am truly excited to be back,” Huang added.

Globally, Dentsu took full control of Merkle in April 2020, paying about $108 million to buy shares from the agency’s staff and shareholders.