Omnicom Media Group (OMG) China announced that Aaron Wild, current CEO of PHD China, will move over to the same role at OMD China, while Anna Chitty, current MD of PHD China, will be promoted to take over from Wild as PHD's China CEO.
The moves will take effect on 20 March.
The OMD China CEO chair has been vacant since Arlene Ang stepped down last summer; the individual office leaders (Weibin Zou in Beijing, Lisa Thompson in Shanghai and Dickie Cheng in Guangzhou) have managed operations in the interim with the support of OMD APAC CEO Stephen Li.
Wild has been with PHD since 2010 and was named China CEO in August 2013, while Chitty has been MD at PHD China since 2014.
The company said PHD China has doubled in size under Wild's tenure. “Aaron is a proven leader who has delivered fantastic results for PHD," Doug Pearce, CEO of OMG China, said in a statement. "We wanted the best leader we could find for the OMD CEO role, and Aaron was not only our No. 1 choice but he is, as always, completely up for the challenge.”
Li said OMD looked "across both geographies and disciplines" to fill the role, but that Wild was always its first choice. Likewise, Pearce said that Chitty was the "natural and only choice" to take over PHD and has "proven herself to be a great leader".
"It’s a well-deserved promotion and a testament to our talent development program that we can make an internal appointment for such a crucial position in one of our priority markets," said Susana Tsui, PHD's APAC CEO.
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