Henry Tajer exits DAN network within a year

CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network (DAN) ANZ Henry Tajer (pictured) is leaving the agency, effective 27 November, less than a year after he joined on 18 February from Amazon. Replacing him is Angela Tangas, executive director of business operations at DAN ANZ.

Before joining the agency, Tajer was Amazon’s managing director, media services. He has over two decades of experience spanning across media, creative and digital services. He has also held leadership roles in IPG Mediabrands as its global CEO in 2015, and then as global chief operating officer. He was also APAC president at Universal McCann between 2004 to 2008. Meanwhile, CFO Reg Davidson is also stepping down, effective 27 November. He will be succeeded by APAC Finance Director Jerome Whelan.

Ashish Bhasin, chief executive APAC, said in a statement that "this is the right decision for the network and market". Bhasin added that ANZ are important markets and have a critical role in its global business strategy. According to him, both Tangas and Whelan will be instrumental in leading the business through its next phase of growth and into a successful 2020.

Bhasin added that to help the market return to growth, the ANZ Leadership team have created a blueprint to enable much-needed transformation, one which will leave the business with stronger foundations and a more competitive local business model. "As a leadership team, we are committed to all our regional markets as well as providing stability to our teams, business, clients and partners," he said.

"In 2019, our business in Australia continued to be impacted by local market and business challenges, and I would like to thank Tajer and Davidson for their support during a difficult period," Bhasin added.

Over the past year, DAN has witnessed leadership reshuffles and exits. Most recently, Dick van Motman stepped down from his role as global CEO, creative and content to become an advisor to executive chairman and CEO Tim Andree. Succeeding him is DAN’s global CEO, customer experience and commerce, Jean Lin, who also helms the dual role of Isobar’s global CEO. Phil Teeman and Susana Tsui also left their roles as CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network SEA and CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network China respectively this year.

DAN also experienced another major leadership change in December last year when Takaki Hibino was appointed executive chairman of DAN Asia Pacific, as regional lead Nick Waters moved to London to take on the role of executive chairman of DAN UK and Ireland. Meanwhile, Bhasin was appointed to his currently role in September this year. At the same time, DAN also named CEO of Isobar Singapore Prakash Kamdar to CEO of DAN Singapore.

The network also split its Asia Pacific regional business into three clusters from the original five to form Greater South, Greater North, and ANZ. Up until September this year, the Singapore business remained separated from Greater South. However, this changed following Kamdar’s promotion and after Masaya Nakamura, deputy chairman and chief growth officer, APAC took on a new role as CEO, global solutions, DAN, based in Tokyo. As such, it is now part of the Greater South cluster.

Another round of job cuts followed in July this year, with DAN’s spokesperson telling Marketing that while it is “unable to comment on the number as it affects [employees], it is limited”.

This came after a restructure of its media and performance business in Singapore in January this year, with DAN settling on two verticals – Brand Solutions business and One Singapore Media Group. A DAN Client Solutions virtual team was also formed to sit across all brands to drive best practice.