Mindshare North Asia's CEO Andrew Meaden transfers to regional director of GroupM Asia-Pacific

The appointment is effective immediately following the Chinese New Year.

In an internal statement, Mark Patterson, GroupM CEO of Asia-Pacific, said that in his new role Meaden will focus "purely on matters relating to trading".

"Managing our GroupM trading scale in the region on behalf of and for the benefit of our clients is both a science and an art. Andrew gets that. He has been at the sharp end in MindShare talking media value, pricing and delivery with clients of all genres across many markets and not least in China where it is at it's most complex.

He is hungry for this new role and will move the game on. He has some very specific objectives, great ideas and, importantly, he is someone who gets things done and done well," Patterson added.

Meaden said: "I'm very excited to take on this new role. Trading is typically the most important service we offer our clients. It's critical that all of our agencies can maintain the most competitive offering in this area and I'm looking forward to helping them do that.

Trading is also rapidly changing with many new opportunities for our clients in both digital and content, which I will also help to drive forward. Clients know that our trading organisation is the biggest, but they need to feel the benefit of us being the smartest too." 

In May 2008, Meaden was promoted to the role of North Asia CEO as the first sign of management restructuring after the GroupM agency announced it was overhauling its global business model.