Wunderman Thompson Announces APAC Senior Leadership Team

Wunderman Thompson, a WPP company, today announced its newly appointed Asia Pacific senior leadership team who will report directly to Annette Male CEO APAC.

SheungYan (Mayan) Lo has been named chief creative officer of Wunderman Thompson APAC and will continue as chairman, APAC Creative Council. Since joining the advertising industry in 1996, Mayan has helped J. Walter Thompson garner many prestigious regional and global advertising awards, including ‘Network Agency of the Year’ at AdFest and Spikes, plus AdFest and Campaign Asia Pacific’s ‘Agency of the Year’. He has driven many firsts for China, including winning the country’s very first Cannes Grand Prix, and was the first Chinese Cannes Outdoor Jury head. He was also named as an AdFest ‘Lotus Legend’ in 2016.

Recently announced, Justin Peyton has been named as chief strategy and transformation officer APAC. With over 20 years of multi-disciplinary experience, Justin’s career spans finance, media, data-driven marketing, and digital transformation. He is driven to build businesses around consumer expectations and help brands innovate as they build the future.

Krishnan Menon has been appointed chief client and growth officer APAC. Krishnan has been with WPP for 22 years, most recently with Wunderman. Over the years, he has worked with renowned clients like Bose, HSBC, Microsoft, United Airlines, GSK, Chanel, Kellogg’s, Unilever, AIA, Vodafone, Ford, Shell and various other B2C and B2B assignments. He believes that creative content, technology and data used intelligently and seamlessly have the power to transform one-sided advertising of the past into experience-driven consumer engagement.

Affirming the network's strong commitment to talent, Lindsay Shirley has been appointed to the newly-created role of chief talent officer Wunderman Thompson APAC. Prior to joining Wunderman Thompson, Lindsay was the global operations and talent director at Acceleration, based in South Africa, where she helped lead change management by identifying, retaining and developing talent. Additional key areas of expertise include: simplifying process, design and implementation of leadership programmes, career planning initiatives, coaching and development, and assessment centres.

Mark Miller has been named as head of customer experience APAC, to lead the CX capability across the region, using a consumer-centric approach that integrates data, design thinking, social, CRM, loyalty, and research to help clients identify new business opportunities, and craft compelling customer engagements that drive measurable results. He has over 20 years of marketing expertise, 12 of which with Wunderman, across a wide range of verticals including: technology, banking, insurance, legal, healthcare, pharmaceutical, telecom, retail, automotive, and public sector. 

Thomas Brauch has been appointed head of data and analytics APAC. Thomas has over 20 years of experience in brand marketing, e-commerce, primary research and advanced analytics, among others. He has a track record of helping brands understand their customers' needs and motivations to create meaningful and relevant experiences that drive engagement, revenue, and loyalty.

James Bay has been named managing partner, commerce for Greater China. A 20-year digital veteran and former ECD, James' approach to solutions from both left & right brain has proved a perfect fit for the unique Chinese landscape, where e-commerce is so much more than just an online sales channel. In his eight years in China, with POSSIBLE and Wunderman, James has launched the commerce presence for a portfolio of top global brands such as Nike, Converse, Procter & Gamble, Estee Lauder, La Mer, MAC Cosmetics, Tom Ford, Wyeth & Bacardi. He will be based in Shanghai.

Jakarta-based Ashley Amanna has been appointed e-commerce lead for Southeast Asia. He has over 10 years of unique experience in domain monetizing, ad platforms, digital marketing, brand building and e-business. He was previously general manager at Wunderman Indonesia, where he helped motivate brands and clients to develop comprehensive ROI driven strategies that improve overall strategic e-business efficiency in the Southeast Asia region. 

John Rees has been named as chief financial officer of Wunderman Thompson APAC, and is responsible for overseeing finances, resource planning, client profitability and acquisitions. As CFO of Wunderman APAC for the past two years, John helped oversee the financial growth strategy of the business to drive efficiency and effectiveness in the region. He has over 20 years' international commercial finance experience in Europe, Asia and North America.

On appointing this new Asia Pacific senior leadership team, Annette Male, chief executive officer of Wunderman Thompson APAC said: "This new team brings together a unique breadth of capabilities that align with our commitment to help drive growth for our clients, people and partners. I'm truly excited to be working with the best in our business to build this new kind of agency that clients are asking for, and that the market is demanding."