Ogilvy names Chris Riley replacement with new group CEO for SG and MY ops

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Ogilvy Asia has appointed Kunal Jeswani (pictured left) new group CEO for Ogilvy Singapore and Malaysia, succeeding Chris Riley (pictured right), who is departing the agency. Jeswani has been with Ogilvy in India for the last 17 years. He has been CEO of Ogilvy India since 2015.

Prior to that, Jeswani was the chief digital officer of Ogilvy India. During his tenure as CEO, Ogilvy claims that its India office has gone from strength to strength as a leading agency in the India market.

Jeswani has spent over two decades in the communications business working with a range of clients, including: Unilever, Mondelez, Vodafone, Pidilite, The Tata Group, and The ITC Group. He has also worked on the launch of the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Board of Cricket Control in India (BCCI) and the South Asia Cricket Boards' successful bid for the ICC Cricket World Cup.

Ogilvy Asia co-CEO and chairman of Ogilvy Singapore and Malaysia Group, Kent Wertime, said, “I couldn’t be more thrilled that Jeswani is taking up this important role. Jeswani lives the Ogilvy spirit: he cares deeply about Ogilvy people and what we stand for, he is focused on building close client relationships, he is deeply passionate about the creative product for our clients, and he constantly aims to shape and transform the Ogilvy service offer through innovation, new capabilities and new partnerships.”

Last month the agency announced the departure of Riley. Riley will be leaving to join transport and tech company Glydways as chief commercial officer based in the US. Riley, who had been with Ogilvy in Asia for more than 25 years, originally joined Ogilvy Hong Kong in 1995. Since then, he has held several key roles across the agency group, including managing the experience business in Hong Kong, leading the growth of IBM across 147 growth markets, and for the last six years as Ogilvy Singapore CEO and group chairman for Singapore and Malaysia.

In an interview with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Riley said he is eternally grateful to Ogilvy for providing such stimulating career opportunities which he has thoroughly embraced. "I’ve worked with fantastic clients, colleagues and friends, and now have an opportunity to apply my skills and experience to something completely new and different," he added.

In his new role with Glydways, he will be involved in aspects such as sales, government and investor relationships, go to market strategies, international expansion and of course marketing. Glydways is a company focused on creating solutions for the best passenger experience at a lower cost and carbon footprint to push society and planets forward. It is founded by Mark Seegar who previously also served as global director and founder of Ogilvy & Mather's Ogilvy Innovations, and designed a variety of products in the hardware and software consumer electronics sphere.

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