Mindshare's Charlotte Lee joins OMD as APAC CEO

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OMD has appointed Charlotte Lee to lead its operations as APAC CEO, effective July, succeeding Stephen Li who left last October. Lee (pictured) joins from Mindshare where she was APAC regional MD. During her time there, she led global accounts such as Dyson, Facebook and Zespri, in addition to serving as the agency’s regional client lead for new business.

In a prior role within Mindshare, Lee served as the WPP lead for the HSBC APAC business, mobilising expertise for the client across WPP agencies in the region. She also played a pivotal role in launching the agency’s APAC digital performance hubs for HSBC and Dyson, leading multi-disciplinary teams including strategy, activation, data and analytics in support of the clients’ digital transformation journey. She has two decades of experience across North American and APAC.

Lee will lead OMD APAC’s business operations and work with clients including Apple, McDonald’s, Beiersdorf and Philips. Based in Singapore, Lee will report directly to Tony Harradine, CEO, Omnicom Media Group, APAC, and George Manas, CEO, OMD Worldwide.

At the same time, OMD has also beefed up its capabilities in APAC by elevating David McCallen (pictured top right), OMD New Zealand's chief strategy officer, to OMD APAC's chief strategy officer. At the same time, it has also named Matthew Ho (pictured bottom right) to the role of chief client officer for Omnicom Media Group APAC. He joined last September from Shopper360 where he was group CEO, according to his LinkedIn. Both McCallen and Ho start effective immediately.

Collectively, the trio will be tasked with expanding OMD’s momentum in the region by collaborating with local leadership to drive growth and efficiency, foster strong client partnerships and leverage the agency’s future-facing offerings to help clients unlock new solutions to making better decisions, faster.

No stranger to the OMD family, McCallen joins the regional leadership bench from OMD New Zealand, where he has helped shape one of the agency’s most successful runs, delivering substantial new business wins, the agency said. Prior to joining OMD, McCallen has amassed experience from both client and agency side and across brand, customer experience and media.

As chief client officer, Ho brings with him a wealth of experience, having worked extensively in the technology and media sector, specialising in strategy, sales and marketing, business development, and digital transformation. Prior to assuming his current role, Ho was at Facebook Malaysia where he managed MNC businesses across SEA and was on the global client partner advisory council. Before that, Ho was Huawei’s regional director for the Southern Pacific region.

Harradine said Lee's demonstrated expertise in client management, business operations and product strategy translates to a singular advantage for OMD in APAC, as the agency looks to leverage emerging opportunities for its clients and the organisation. "Add in the combined skills and experience of McCallen and Ho, and clients have the perfect equation and partner in OMD. In an evolving business landscape, the roles that media agencies play have become more critical than ever, and these appointments are designed to help our clients navigate the new realities of digital acceleration, e-commerce and consumer attention," he explained.

Manas added that APAC is an extremely strategic market for OMD, one that is starting to set the pace and agenda for global clients and agencies alike. "Coupled with their impressive track records, the appointments of Lee, McCallen and Ho underscore our commitment to creating actionable and measurable solutions for our clients through a reimagined and reignited agency offering. Together with our local market leaders, the three of them will assure OMD continues to deliver Better Decisions, Faster to drive better business results for our clients," Manas said.

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