Craig Mapleston relinquishes Iris Singapore MD position, moves into APAC role

Iris Singapore has appointed Sorcha John (pictured right) as its new managing director and simultaneously promoted Craig Mapleston (pictured left) to the role of chief growth officer in APAC.Prior to the promotion, Mapleston had held the MD role for a total of eight years, during which he grew the business and expanding the Iris Singapore headcount to over 100 people. In his new position, Mapleston will be responsible for growing key Iris clients around the APAC region, and look to establish new iris offices and partnerships in markets of high opportunity.Meanwhile, John has been with the agency since 2010. She started out with iris Concise, iris’ insight, CRM and management consulting arm. According to the agency, John has played a large role in the "dramatic impact" on the effectiveness and impact of client’s marketing spend and business performance.She moved to Singapore in 2015 to lead the Concise division for the region alongside director Will Hanschell. This follows a year of account wins from Samsung and Shell.In her new role, John will be tasked with continuing the effective integration of iris’ skills across creativity, culture, commerce and consulting. She will also support iris clients to participate in more meaningful and innovative ways with their audience.She will also be responsible for finding the best creative and strategic talent to grow the agency in Singapore, and to serve evolving client needs and utilise emerging technology and platforms. Meanwhile, the agency in a press statement said that it will continue to grow its investment in iris Concise Singapore under Will Hanschell.This follows a recent hire of Eugene Yap, former head of marketing analytics at Burger King APAC, to lead its marketing analytics team, and Hitesh Bhikabhai, former senior management consultant at Accenture, to oversee its consulting practice.“John has had a profound impact on the agency in Singapore since joining – and has an incredible track record in CRM and management consulting but also, is bright, ambitious and motivated. I have no doubt she will follow on from Mapleston in continuing to grow an incredibly diverse and talented agency in Singapore,” Ian Millner, CEO of iris, said.