Burson bolsters APAC leadership team with new appointments

Burson, a new global communications agency formed from a merger between BCW and Hill & Knowlton, has bolstered its APAC leadership team with nine market leader appointments.

As part of the leadership changes, Burson has appointed Rikki Jones as the CEO of Burson Group Singapore and the president of GCI Health Asia-Pacific, a global healthcare communications agency under BCW. 

Jones has worked at GCI Health for over 10 years, previously serving in roles such as CEO of BCW Group Singapore and president of GCI Health APAC.

Furthermore, Burson has appointed Cindy Lim as the CEO of Burson Singapore. Lim has been with BCW Global for over three years, most recently serving as the CEO and market leader for Singapore. 

Prior to that, she held roles such as managing director and market leader for Singapore, as well as senior director of integrated communications for APAC, where she shaped marketing and communications strategies for clients such as AliExpress and Huami.

Prior to her roles at BCW Global, Lim worked at Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts as the assistant vice president of global brand communications for food and beverage. Before that, she had spent over 11 years at Edelman.

While in Malaysia, Burson has appointed Justin Then as the CEO of Burson Malaysia. According to his LinkedIn, Then previously served as the CEO of Malaysia for Hill & Knowlton, before taking on this new role at Burson. 

Aside from the new leadership positions in Singapore and Malaysia, Burson has also made several other market leader appointments across the APAC region. These include Claire Li as CEO, Burson Greater China; Marianne Admardatine as CEO, Burson Indonesia; Tsuyoshi Takemura as CEO, Burson Japan; Wachiraporn Pornpitayalert as market leader, Burson Thailand; and Tom Horn as market leader, Burson Australia and New Zealand.

Meanwhile, HS Chung will continue to lead Burson Korea as CEO in addition to her role as North APAC CEO.

HS Chung, North APAC CEO, Burson, said: “In today’s fast-evolving environment, clients need the best talent and capabilities to solve their most complex challenges. With our extensive footprint and reach across APAC, clients will gain access to a diverse team of specialists with decades of experience building and protecting reputation for multinational businesses in Asia and Asian enterprises overseas.”

“Innovation and creativity are at the heart of our commitment to delivering unparalleled value for our clients in APAC. Our world-class talent will lead through exceptional creative thinking and bring innovation in action to build reputation capital as a competitive advantage for our clients, today and into the future,” said Adrian Warr, who will become South APAC CEO, Burson, as of 16 September.

Don't miss: WPP merges BCW and Hill & Knowlton to form new comms agency Burson

Back in January, WPP announced that it would be merging two of its largest communications agencies, Hill & Knowlton and BCW, to form Burson, effective 1 July 2024. It will be a firm that will deliver modern communications leadership at scale to clients across the world, it said in a statement. 

Burson will also have more than 6,000 employees in 43 markets worldwide with its name honoring the late Harold Burson, a pioneer and founding figure of modern public relations and strategic communications.

Furthermore, Burson has appointed Adrian Warr as CEO for South Asia-Pacific, effective from 16 September 2024. He will cover Burson's business in India, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia. He will be reporting to Corey duBrowa, Global CEO, BCW, who will hold the same title as Burson upon completion of the merger.

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