Move and win roundup: Week of July 14, 2025

Nathan Petralia has been appointed country head of Ogilvy One and Verticurl in Hong Kong, where he’ll lead the agency’s digital transformation efforts across customer experience, data, analytics, and omnichannel marketing. Petralia was most recently the product lead at an AI-powered commerce platform, Buy.Social and previously spent over five years at Dentsu Hong Kong, where he launched and scaled Merkle as managing director.

Dentsu has promoted Mimi Lu to head of Insight and Intelligence, APAC, and Richard Reid to head of media strategy, APAC. Both report to Clay Schouest, Dentsu’s APAC chief strategy officer. In her newly created role, Lu will oversee the development of insight products across media, creative, and CXM. She joined Dentsu China as Head of Strategy and Insights in 2021 and relocated to Singapore in 2023, when she was promoted to lead strategy for the region. Before Dentsu, Lu was Head of Strategy at OMD China. Reid will lead the media strategy function across APAC. He joined Dentsu in 2022 as Integrated Strategy Partner, APAC. His previous roles include Head of Consulting, Data and Performance at Iris Singapore.

Cheryl Pan has joined PDR Group as VP, global marketing, and will be based in Singapore. She was previously with Omnicom PR agency BlueCurrent Group for 13 years, most recently as SVP & Partner, GM for Hong Kong and the Greater Bay Area. Pan was named one of Campaign Asia-Pacific’s Women to Watch by Campaign in 2023. 

Bud Communications has opened a new office in Manila, led by newly promoted account director Kiana Carreon. Carreon joined Bud in 2022 as account manager in Singapore and previously held the same role at Ogilvy Philippines. The independent agency, founded in 2020, now operates in Singapore, Australia, and the Philippines.

Independent network Do Agency has appointed Simon Lockyer as managing director, Asia, succeeding Matt Collier, who has stepped down for personal reasons. Lockyer brings senior leadership experience from Cognizant, Edelman, IBM, FCB, and Ogilvy, and will oversee operations across Singapore, Japan, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia, alongside partner and ECD Beer Poonnootok.

IPG Health has promoted Pierre Loo to executive creative director of IPG Health in APAC. Loo brings over two decades of healthcare experience across global markets, including nearly 10 years within the IPG Health ecosystem as ECD of McCann Health Greater China, to the role. Responsibilities include advancing the network’s creative vision and effectiveness in China and Japan, as well as leading a team of over 50 talented creatives across the region.  

LG Ad Solutions has announced its official expansion into Australia with the appointment of Alex Blundell Jones as commercial director of Australia. Blundell Jones will be based in Sydney and will lead regional strategy and growth. He brings nearly 15 years of experience in media and advertising in the UK, with previous leadership roles at Captify before joining LG. He will continue to report to Ed Wale, VP of International at LG Ad Solutions. He took up the role earlier this year.

Tourism New Zealand has appointed Ogilvy PR as its public relations agency of record in Australia,  following a competitive pitch. Commencing in July, the partnership will see the team at Ogilvy PR manage communications for Tourism New Zealand in Australia, including earned-first creative campaigns and brand storytelling. Ogilvy PR will also work closely with Tourism New Zealand’s wider agency village to ensure its work feeds into global creative platforms and other marketing activity.

Allison Worldwide has named Omnicom PR Group's Kelvyn Foo as the general manager of its Singapore office. Foo brings close to two decades of experience in PR and brand communications across the consumer, lifestyle, and corporate sectors. At Omnicom PR Group, he was senior vice president, head of growth & marketing. 

Independent full-service media agency Bench Media has announced two promotions to its senior leadership team, plus three new hires across its client services and performance teams, effective immediately.

• Nate Vella has been promoted to head of strategy, from brand strategy lead, bringing a blend of commercial acumen, creative thinking, and deep audience insight into the agency’s client strategy offering. 
• Long-time team member, Erin Fraser, has been promoted to head of client services. Previously, Fraser was group head of media strategy. The promotion reflects her strong leadership skills and the value she brings to client solutions and growth.

James Bernardo has joined The Misfits Camp as creative mentor. With accolades from the Cannes Lions, Spikes Asia, and the New York Festivals, Bernardo brings decades of experience to guide neurodiverse and underrepresented creative talents from leading Saatchi & Saatchi Jakarta to FCB Manila. Meanwhile, RJ Espartinez has joined Jayme HQ as creative director. He was most recently the associate creative director at Redbin Philippines. The Misfits Camp and Jayme HQ were both founded by industry leader Merlee Jayme.

Universal Robina Corp (URC), the food and beverage division of the Gokongwei Group, has named Karen Ong as its CMO to drive regional brand growth and strengthen marketing operations. Ong brings over two decades of experience, most recently as senior marketing director at URMunchy’s Malaysia, where she helped steer the brand to biscuit category leadership through a unified five-year strategy with a focus on brand consolidation, pricing and operational efficiency. In her new role, Ong will be based in Manila and lead consumer insights, media, digital, PR and brand management across the Philippines and URC’s international markets. She reports to URC president and CEO Irwin C. Lee. 

Google Cloud has appointed Jennifer Ligones as country manager for the Philippines in a newly created position, tasking the tech veteran with driving local adoption of its cloud and AI solutions as the platform doubles down on regional growth. Ligones will lead go-to-market strategy and operations for both Google Cloud and Google Workspace in the country, reporting to Southeast Asia MD Mark Micallef. Ligones has more than three decades of experience and was most recently president and CEO of IT consultancy Third Pillar, which she founded in 2013. She previously held senior leadership roles at SAP, SAS, and IBM, and has helped over 100 Filipino businesses through digital transformation.

Independent media agency The Media Store has appointed M&C Saatchi executive Tanvi Singh as its new head of strategy and planning, effective immediately. Singh takes the reins to lead the agency’s strategy and planning function and drive new business efforts. She joins from M&C Saatchi, where she was senior strategy consultant on the Woolworths account. Singh brings over 14 years of experience across Australia, Southeast Asia and India, with prior stints at Mindshare, Vizeum, Isobar and Dentsu. Her client portfolio spans brands such as NAB, Nike, PayPal, BP, MYOB and the University of Melbourne. Singh’s work has been recognised at the APAC Effies, Spikes Asia and Campaign Asia-Pacific. She also serves on the grand jury of the New York Festivals AME Awards.