| Campaign compiles a new 'Move and win roundup' as each week
progresses. This edition will cover May 11 through May 15, 2026. Catch up on past people moves and business wins. |
Dentsu has appointed Chaola N. as head of partnerships, APAC. In the role, she will lead integrated partnerships to strengthen dentsu’s capabilities, drive innovation and accelerate growth across the region. Before joining dentsu, N. was director of growth and partnerships for Monks Southeast Asia and Korea, and previously served as regional performance lead for Meta APAC.
OMD Australia has promoted Thad King to chief planning officer and Richard Garratt to national head of planning as it strengthens its leadership team. King, a 12-year OMD veteran, joins the National Executive Team after more than three years as national head of planning, while Garratt steps up from comms planning lead after 13 years with the agency across the UK and Australia. CEO Sian Whitnall said the promotions recognise planning’s central role in driving client impact, creativity and effectiveness, while King said planning at OMD has “never been about silos” but about helping brands navigate complexity with confidence.
Dentsu Australia has overhauled its media operations, moving toward a state-based leadership model that consolidates the Carat and iProspect brands into a single unified proposition. This restructure resulted in the redundancy of three senior leaders, Marcelle Hoyek, Ken Lam, and Barbara Messitt, as the agency seeks to simplify operations and establish clearer accountability. While the group is currently recruiting for new NSW-based and Woolworths-specific leadership roles, the transformation extends beyond media; Dentsu is also retiring Merkle as a primary brand in the region, with 130 employees moving to a new business under Enduring Ventures and the remaining 50 integrating into Dentsu’s broader data and experience capabilities.
Hakuhodo International Indonesia (HIID) has announced that Daisuke Yanaoka will take the place of Yuzuru Iguchi as country director, and at the same
time be appointed as Group COO. Previously serving as president director of H3, one of the companies under HIID, Yanaoka's strengths lie in addressing client needs and shaping an aggressive team. Iguchi will move on to focus on other market responsibilities. The move comes one year after the appointment of Devi Attamimi as Group CEO, who focused on deeper integration and faster execution at the firm.
Minjoo Lee-Zeitler will be starting a new position as the APAC director of marketing at Canadian-themed coffee shop Tim Hortons. She was formerly director of marketing and a member of the senior leadership team at Deliveroo Singapore, but shared her departure two months ago, which was related to the company's decision to exit certain markets.
Initiative Australia has made two new appointments - Mikayla Ellis as managing partner - Sydney, and Samantha Smith as national head of marketing. These new hires follow the recent promotion of Paige Wheaton from chief investment officer to national managing director. Ellis joins from Zenith, where she was client partner. Prior to this, she spent eight years at Omnicom, including senior leadership roles at Hearts & Science. She will focus on leading the Sydney market, and key clients including Hello Fresh, Sanitarium and Netflix. Smith spent more than four years within Omnicom Media, including her most recent role as head of brand at Hearts & Science and will focus on improving visibility, strengthening client relationships and driving sustainable new business growth.
Omnicom Media has promoted Cynthia Zhang to CEO of PHD China, filling the seat vacated by Joey Zhao, who moved up to COO of Omnicom Media China in March. Zhang has been with PHD since 2021, moving from managing director to COO, and brings over two decades of experience across media, brand strategy and business growth. She takes the reins on PHD China's next phase of expansion and client development in the market.
WPP Media has appointed Winnie Chen-Head as CEO for Malaysia. In the newly created role, she will lead the network’s media agencies in the market and drive growth, capability development and integration across the group. She was previously hired as the CEO of Omnicom Media Malaysia in February 2025. Chen-Head brings more than 24 years of experience spanning media, e-commerce, aviation, telecommunications and tech start-ups. Most recently, she served as CEO of Omnicom Media Group Malaysia after a brief stint as managing director, media at Dentsu Malaysia between 2024 and 2025.
Prior to that, she spent three years at Dentsu Malaysia as partner and head of product and growth, while also leading iProspect Malaysia. Earlier in her career, she was head of product, strategy and innovation at Mindshare Malaysia, focusing on new business development and data- and technology-led media solutions. She also held a client-side role in 2017 as general manager of marketing and business development at payments platform Fave. Before that, she was business director at MediaCom Malaysia, where she led key client relationships and teams.
“My formative media agency years were spent here, and that experience provided me with not just a strong foundation, but a deep respect and genuine affection for what makes this place special—the people, the ambition, and the craft,” Chen-Head said in a statement. Helen McRae, CEO of WPP Media for SEAPAT, said Chen-Head’s “energy and expertise will be instrumental in helping us deliver intelligent growth and unparalleled value to clients across the region.”
WPP Media has appointed Marcelle Hoyek as Sydney client managing director at EssenceMediacom, effective July, where she will oversee a portfolio that includes Lion, HBO Max, Uber, Commonwealth Bank, KFC and UPI. She reports to CEO Pippa Berlocher. Hoyek joins from iProspect, where she spent two and a half years as national managing director before Dentsu shuttered its agency brands in Australia last week. She succeeds Stevie Douglas-Neal, the former Sydney managing director who has moved to Omnicom as CEO of UM.
Redhill has appointed Anuroopa Pereira as managing director for Singapore, effective May 2026, where she will oversee the agency's operations across Singapore, Vietnam and the Philippines, reporting to group president Manisha Seewal. She joins from PRecious Communications, where she was regional senior director from 2024 to 2026. Before that, she spent two years as director of marketing communications at Sabre India and four and a half years as head of corporate communications at Applied Materials India. Her earlier career included agency roles at Archetype and Ruder Finn Asia. She announced the move on LinkedIn.
Rishab Mukherjee has left Procter & Gamble after 16 years with the company, most recently serving as commercial leader for beauty and head of brand function across Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore, overseeing Pantene, Head & Shoulders, Herbal Essences, Rejoice, Aussie, Olay, Old Spice and Safeguard.
Before that, Mukherjee was regional CMO and senior brand director for haircare across Japan and Korea from 2021 to 2025, responsible for brand health, innovation, commercialisation and media across the haircare portfolio. Earlier, he held the dual role of commercial leader for SK-II APAC (excluding Japan) and director of global retail innovation from 2020 to 2021, overseeing the luxury skincare brand across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, South Korea and Australia.
Publicis Groupe Vietnam has made three senior appointments across its creative and business leadership, effective immediately. DuyAnh Nguyen joins as general manager, returning to the group more than a decade after his first stint with Publicis Groupe Vietnam. He joins from Piaggio Vietnam, where he was head of marketing, and will lead strategic business development for key clients. Meanwhile, Kim Ngan Nguyen has been promoted to general manager of Leo Vietnam, stepping up from her previous role as business director at the agency. On the creative side, Thiti 'Moss' Boonkerd joins Leo Vietnam as executive creative director, relocating from Leo Thailand where he was deputy executive creative director.
Orange Line has been appointed by hair loss treatment provider Ashley & Martin following a competitive pitch, covering SEO, outreach and AI visibility across Australia and New Zealand. The digital marketing agency's remit spans technical SEO, content and category page optimisation, local SEO, link building, journalistic outreach and large language model optimisation across both markets. Orange Line's existing client roster includes Skyscanner, Udacity, Meshki and Fantastic Furniture.
McCann Worldgroup Singapore has been appointed by the Government Technology Agency (GovTech) as its digital and social media agency, following a competitive pitch that drew bids from The Little Black Book, Addpetizer and more than a dozen other agencies.
The one-year contract, valued at around US$233,000 (SG$296,189) with an option to extend for a further year, covers strategy, content development and day‑to‑day operations for GovTech’s official channels across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, X, and YouTube. In addition, McCann will oversee content planning and creation, audience engagement and paid media measurement. Previously, Reprise was appointed GovTech’s social media content agency in 2021, after a competitive pitch involving nine agencies.
Pamela Pung has left her role as head of group corporate communications and corporate social responsibility at Great Eastern after around a year in the position. Before joining the insurer, she was communications and public affairs director for APAC at agricultural sciences firm FMC Corporation from 2018 to 2025. Prior to that, she spent more than seven years at Neptune Orient Lines, rising from director of corporate communications to global head of corporate affairs and communications. Earlier, she was general manager for group communications, Asia Pacific at A.P. Moller-Maersk from 2008 to 2011.
Pung acknowledged that moving into financial services sector was challenging. She announced the departure on LinkedIn: "After 30 years across corporate communications, public affairs and strategic leadership roles across both local and multinational environments, I'm taking some time to reflect and explore what I want the next chapter of my professional life to look like."
Melbourne indie agency Sickdogwolfman has appointed James Wills as creative director. With two
decades of experience, he joins with more than 11 years at VML, where he rose from copywriter to creative director
and most recently led the Defence Force Recruitment account, where it contributed to the highest application volumes in 15 years, up 31% within six months of launch, and
earned a Gold Effie in 2025.
Dentsu Australia has made three senior media roles redundant as it shifts to a state-based operating model and continues consolidating Carat and iProspect into a single dentsu media proposition. The changes affect Marcelle Hoyek, Ken Lam and Barbara Messitt, with the business also recruiting new state-based leadership as part of a wider restructure aimed at simplifying operations and sharpening accountability.
