EDB names Inez Yang as head of brand and regional director

Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) has appointed Inez Yang as its head of brand and regional director, international marketing. Yang previously helmed the role of area director, Americas at Singapore Tourism Board (STB). In her place, a spokesperson from STB told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE it has appointed Glenn Koh as vice president, marketing and leisure trade (east coast). It is added that Koh was previously the area director for Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos from 2013 to 2016, and was most recently the deputy director of brand campaign B in Singapore. Koh reports to Rachel Loh, senior vice president, Americas. Meanwhile, EDB has declined to comment on Yang's new appointment. 

According to her LinkedIn profile, Yang (pictured) has been with STB for over 10 years. She first joined in 2010 as a management associate, dining and destination marketing. She subsequently took up managerial roles in STB's segment marketing and industry marketing departments, before being promoted to area director, Americas in 2016. 

In her previous role, Yang oversaw STB Americas' leisure marketing efforts with airlines, tour operators and travel consortia, and was responsible for driving tourism performance from USA. Under her helm, STB achieved 13% growth in visitor arrivals and 21% growth in tourism receipts from USA in 2019, despite the region being Singapore's longest-haul market. Yang was responsible for STB's PR and digital marketing in the Americas as well. 

Additionally, Yang drove brand partnerships with popular US consumer and lifestyle brands to build destination awareness and reinforce positive associations with Singapore. Some of the partnerships include activations with brands such as Lyft, Pandora, and Bumble. In 2018, Yang also led STB's partnership with Warner Bros. on a global promotional campaign for the movie Crazy Rich Asians. 

EDB has been helping international companies grow in Singapore in the past couple of years. Earlier in August 2020, EDB helped video-conferencing platform Zoom set up its first data centre in SEA. This came as Zoom saw growth from 10 million daily meeting participants in December 2019 to 300 million in April 2020. Separately in 2019, EDB's investment arm also aided experiential agency Cityneon in expanding its headquarters in Singapore by establishing a new creative office, as well as growing its international businesses in Asia and globally.

EDB has also supported expansion of agencies in Singapore. In 2019, GroupM's Essence established an innovation, research and development hub in Singapore, which collaborates with EDB to enhance Singapore’s position as a global centre for business, innovation and talent. Similarly, EDB also supported R/GA Singapore's launch of its Smart Design and Technology Centre of Excellence in March. According to a press statement, the goal of the centre is to impart R/GA’s approach and expertise by mentoring and coaching the next generation of Singaporean talent.

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Essence partners EDB to launch first R&D and martech hub in APAC
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