The Trade Desk hires Google alum to lead Southeast Asia

The Trade Desk has hired Rajesh Sheshadri to lead the firm's Southeast Asia business and growth strategy, a new role that puts greater focus on the region.

Sheshadri will focus on building agency, client and industry partnerships in Southeast Asia in his role as general manager.

He will be based out of Singapore and report to Mitch Waters, SVP for Southeast Asia, India, Australia and New Zealand.

Having a dedicated Southeast Asia leader comes as The Trade Desk has identified room for growth in digital advertising. Waters said: "Whilst consumers in Southeast Asia are exponentially increasing their digital time, only a relatively small portion of advertisers’ media budgets is spent on digital channels."

In addition, Waters said Sheshadri's experience in broadcast "will be a valuable asset" as the adtech company seeks growth in OTT. 

Sheshadri brings more than 20 years of media and adtech experience in Asia-Pacific. Most recently, he was the APAC head of advertising agencies partnerships at Google, where he spearheaded long-term partnerships with the big five advertising agencies. Prior to Google, he was the GM for Hong Kong and APAC VP of advertising sales for Fox Network Group.