Year in review: Top 5 exits

See all our 2016 year-in-review features: Brand crises; major appointments and departures; big launches; the best, worst and strangest ads; and more.

Today's year-in-review list: The top 5 exits from regional roles, be they voluntary, involuntary or promotions.

1. APAC CEO Tom Doctoroff leaves JWT

(30 June) Tom Doctoroff is leaving his role as Asia Pacific CEO of J. Walter Thompson (JWT) and handing leadership of the region over to John Gutteridge, who has been managing Australia and New Zealand since 2011. According to the agency, Gutteridge's appointment is part of a long-term succession plan mapped out over the last year by the agency's Asia Pacific executive committee.

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2. Prashant Kumar departs IPG Mediabrands

(21 March) IPG Mediabrands has named Bala Pomaleh as CEO in Malaysia following the resignation of its president of world markets and CEO of its Malaysia office, Prashant Kumar. Pomaleh joins from Carat where he was also CEO for Malaysia. While he takes over the Malaysian office from Kumar, who is leaving the network to pursue new opportunities, he will not be assuming Kumar's regional duties.  

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3. DAN promotes Ruth Stubbs to global role

(3 October) Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) has named Ruth Stubbs as global president of iProspect, effective immediately, succeeding Ben Wood, who left the agency last month. Stubbs joins the global brand board and assumes responsibility for the agency from Singapore.

The agency later hired former Google executive Joanna Catalano to take on the APAC CEO role in the new year. Stubbs was named Agency Head of the Year (Digital) in the just-concluded Agency Network of the Year Awards.

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4. Publicis Media re-org leads to departure of two longtime execs 

Grace Liau exits Publicis Groupe amidst Vivaki rebrand
(25 May) After 17 years with the network, Grace Liau has stepped down from her role as Vivaki’s general manager for Asia Pacific, with the Vivaki team in the region to be absorbed into Publicis Media’s data, technology and innovation practice. 

Jeffery Seah steps down after 15 years with SMG 
(30 May) After 15 years with the network, Jeffrey Seah, CEO of Southeast Asia for Starcom Mediavest Group, has stepped down to pursue other opportunities in the areas of data, tech and e-commerce.

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5. A trio of Twitter leavers

(4 July) Shailesh Rao exits Twitter
Twitter’s VP for APAC, Latin America and emerging markets, Shailesh Rao steps down from his role

(1 November) Rishi Jaitly quits Twitter in a series of tweets
The social platform's VP of media for Asia-Pacific announced his resignation Tuesday.

(4 November) Parminder Singh, second Twitter Asia senior exec to leave in a week
Parminder Singh, Twitter’s managing director for India, Southeast Asia and MENA has announced his resignation on Twitter

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