WWF SG scores Vivek Kumar as marketing and comms chief

The World Wide Fund for Nature Singapore (WWF Singapore) has appointed Vivek Kumar (pictured) as its new chief marketing and communications director, effective immediately. In his new role, Kumar will be tasked with leading campaigns focusing on conservation and climate change goals such as deforestation, haze pollution, food security, plastics, sustainable finance, sustainable consumption and illegal wildlife trade. He will also be working with communities, businesses and governments to advocate for positive change while reporting to CEO R. Raghunathan. In his role, three teams will be reporting to him, namely marketing, communications and external relations.

Kumar said that he has always been driven by a sense of purpose, from volunteering in his college days to taking on various roles at the Singapore Labour Movement since 2010 to support union members. He started out as a donor to one of WWF Singapore's initiatives and said it soon became "his dream job to join the organisation as a Panda". "I feel a deep sense of purpose and gratitude as I join the efforts of my colleagues in spreading WWF Singapore's mission,” he added.

He also told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that climate change and sustainability are worthy challenges for any purpose-driven professional today. "I bring a unique lens to this role with a deep understanding of business challenges from my stints with MNCs, involvement with Singapore’s tripartite framework, as well as with leading industry forums," he explained.

When asked what he hopes to achieve in 2022, Kumar said he wants to engage individuals and families on what steps WWF could take on an everyday basis to mitigate the climate crisis. He is also excited about the industry partnership initiatives by WWF Singapore’s market transformation team and hopes to foster more partnerships to expedite the learning curve within companies towards more sustainable and efficient operations.

Kumar brings over 20 years of diversified experience in management and strategic communications. He was formerly the NTUC FairPrice's director, strategic marketing and omnichannel monetisation. Kumar led two portfolios for FairPrice Group in that role: strategic marketing for the group's convenience retail business and omnichannel monetisation for FairPrice Group Media. At FairPrice, Kumar led the marketing transformation for over 160 Cheers and FairPrice Xpress stores across Singapore, including at all Esso service stations.

Meanwhile, his role as head of omnichannel monetisation at FairPrice Group Media included monetising media assets across supermarkets, cafes, online commerce and loyalty business, his LinkedIn said. Kumar was also responsible for developing the business blueprint, forming a partnership ecosystem and leading P&L for FairPrice Group Media.

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He told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE previously that it had been an amazing journey of 11 years in the labour movement. "I have been quite blessed that NTUC gave me the opportunity to scale up existing businesses, such as NTUC membership and the marketing transformation of Cheers and FairPrice Xpress. I have always had the opportunity to start something new and to really be in the start-up mode," he said. Kumar was also involved in creating new associate programmes for NTUC, which brought together professional bodies together under one umbrella. This was in addition to his responsibilities for NTUC membership, Cheers and FairPrice Xpress.

Prior to that, Kumar worked at Shell as head of retail marketing, APAC and Middle East based in Kuala Lumpur for over four years. During his time there, Kumar said in his LinkedIn that he managed a marketing budget of SG$50 million and directly led a team of 40 marketing professionals across Singapore, Thailand, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Oman, among other countries. He also gained operational support and cooperation for marketing initiatives by negotiating with Coles in Australia and 7-Eleven in Singapore, his profile added.

Additionally, Kumar was an assistant director-general and director of the membership services division with NTUC. He has also been a board member of Enterprise Singapore and Assurity Trusted Solutions, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the GovTech since 2018.

Last month, WWF Singapore was under the spotlight after a former junior member of the sustainable finance team called out the organisation and her former supervisor for bullying in the workplace. According to an article on South China Morning Post, the French national said she had suffered emotional abuse during her time at the NGO, from July 2015 to February 2017. She has since left for a job in Australia, but said that was diagnosed with PTSD months later by a doctor in Melbourne who attributed her condition to a persistent pattern of mistreatment by her former boss, which caused her undue emotional harm, the article reported. 

According to the article, three other employees who worked at WWF Singapore during the same period also faced similar experiences. Meanwhile, the superior accused was later dismissed for misconduct in January 2020, following a separate investigation sparked by another employee’s complaints.

Kumar told MARKETING-INTERACTIVE that he is deeply concerned to read the accounts published about the ex-employee who left the organisation in 2017. "The respect and well-being of the staff and the people I work with have always been extremely important to me. It is reassuring to see that the current management and the Board of WWF Singapore are committed to having strong processes and training to implement our values and code of conduct," he explained.

Coming from NTUC, he has always placed strong importance in connecting with PMEs to educate, train and inspire them not only in their professional skills but also to enhance the well-being of these members in their work life. "Aligned with WWF Singapore’s values, I plan to bring this mindset with me in my new role to support positive change," Kumar said.

When asked about his decision to announce his new role amidst the allegations, Kumar cited the 2021 IPCC report, stating that there is no time to lose when it comes to the health of the planet. "With Singapore accelerating the Green Plan 2030 agenda, I hope to engage individuals, companies and other stakeholders to create greater awareness of climate change and the loss of biodiversity through human-centric angles to build back better," he said.

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