Mindshare Group MY reorganises under single leadership structure

Sheila Shanmugam, MD of m/SIX Malaysia, has been promoted to CEO of Mindshare Group in Malaysia, overseeing Mindshare, m/SIX and Neo. She (pictured left) reports to GroupM Malaysia CEO Chanchal Chakrabarty and Mindshare APAC CEO Helen McRae. Farrah Harith-McPherson (pictured second from left), who joined m/SIX as GM in 2019, replaces Shanmugam as MD of m/SIX and will report to her. Harith-McPherson was previously GM of BBDO Malaysia for two years.

At the same time, MediaCom Malaysia's GM Chan Wan Lih (pictured second from right) has been promoted to MD of Mindshare Malaysia, succeeding Animesh Kumar (pictured right) who is understood by A+M to be joining Google Indonesia as agency business leader - performance. A+M understands Kumar will be responsible for helping agencies grow their performance marketing practice. He left Mindshare Malaysia last week, a year after assuming the position. Google declined to comment on A+M's queries.

Shanmugam said she is honoured to be entrusted with group responsibility. "Very excited to drive integration building new services, creating value for clients, partners and our talents. With the able management team, it’s upwards and onwards for us," she added. Before being promoted to MD, Shanmugam was GM of m/SIX and prior to that, worked at Zenith as GM. 

Meanwhile, Chan has more than 21 years of experience in the industry, 10 of which were at Mindshare. According to her LinkedIn, she also worked at Munchy's Malaysia as brand manager for close to three years.  “I started in Mindshare as a planner and now I have been given the opportunity to lead the agency. I look forward to mentoring our talents to deliver good growth for our clients," she added.

Chakrabarty said the new Mindshare group leadership structure will be more nimble and adaptive to the rapidly evolving Malaysian market, under one leadership. The three agencies have a segmented strategy towards the market with clear roles cut-out but with a consistent bedrock of 4Cs – core, content, commerce, consulting.  “We thank Animesh for his focused leadership of Mindshare Malaysia during the challenging pandemic year and wish him the very best in his new endeavours," Chakrabarty added.

McRae added: "I am delighted that we have both Shanmugam and Chan joining Mindshare. Both are homegrown talents and bring a wealth of experience that will ensure Mindshare, m/Six and Neo continue to go from strength to strength in Malaysia."

Separately, Kumar spent close to 14 years at GroupM and in a LinkedIn post, he thanked GroupM, Mindshare and Neo for the amazing years. He was previously CEO of Neo for more than two years and was with Mindshare Vietnam as head of digital before that. 

Meanwhile, McRae was appointed as Mindshare's APAC CEO in July 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.

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