Mindshare Asia Pacific names new CEO

Mindshare has named Helen McRae (pictured) as its new APAC CEO with a remit to lead the region and continue to extend its leadership across all areas of media and marketing. McRae is a 16-year veteran of the agency, and was most recently Mindshare’s EMEA and Worldwide Team CEO, leading Mindshare’s 26 markets in the EMEA region and its global client teams based out of a London hub - a role she has held since 2019.

Prior to this role she held a number of positions in the agency, including leading Mindshare UK and before that running the Unilever account globally from 2008 to 2012. Before joining Mindshare she held a number of agency roles across Asia in Thailand, Malaysia, Korea and Australia.

Adam Gerhart, Mindshare global CEO said: “I am thrilled to have Helen onboard to help Mindshare Asia with the next phase of our growth. Helen has done an incredible job with the EMEA and Worldwide Team in London and will bring with her deep insight for our clients looking to the West to expand, as well as a rich history of working in Asia Pacific from her prior roles.”

Helen McRae, Mindshare APAC CEO said: “Asia was the birth-place of Mindshare and has always been the envy of the industry in the region, I am thrilled to be joining a team that I have long admired for their work and their passion and am looking forward to partnering with GroupM and WPP in the region. I am sad to leave EMEA but know that my colleagues will continue to go from strength to strength in fulfilling our Mindshare agenda and driving growth for our clients.”

Ashutosh Srivastava, CEO Asia Pacific, GroupM, said: “It’s great to have Helen back in the region, to lead Mindshare. Mindshare has always been the industry leading media agency network in APAC ever since it was created here over two decades ago. We look forward to Helen continuing to drive market leadership and excellence for the agency, drawing on her global client and EMEA region experience.”

McRae will be based in Singapore. The process of recruiting a replacement for McRae in London is already underway, with both internal and external candidates involved.

The role was previously held by Mindshare’s APAC CEO and executive chair for Greater China, Amrita Randhawa, who left the organisation after more than 15 years to join Publicis Groupe as CEO of Southeast Asia on 1 June.  Randhawa will be fully responsible for all the operations of Publicis Groupe in the Southeast Asia region, from creative to media, influence, production, commerce, data, tech and clients. Her priority will be to drive impact for Publicis' clients by making them win in a platform world, the spokesperson added.  With Randhawa's new role, Publicis Groupe is bringing all its markets including Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam and Thailand under one leadership.