Dentsu Aegis Network ANZ replaces top leadership

Dentsu Aegis Network's year-long overhaul of it's Asia-Pacific leadership is continuing with the replacement of its C-suite in Australia and New Zealand.

Ashish Bhasin, DAN's chief executive for APAC has announced in a statement that ANZ CEO Henry Tajer and CFO Reg Davidson are leaving the company, effective November 27th.

Angela Tangas has been named as Tajer's replacement as ANZ CEO, while Jerome Whelan is succeeding Davidson as CFO, effective immediately. 

In its recent quarterly financial statements, Dentsu has pointed to weakness in Australia and China for weighing down DAN's regional and global earnings. 

Today, Bhasin referenced Australia's "local market and business challenges", thanking Tajer and Davidson for their support "during a difficult period."  Tajer has been in the role for less than a year. 

"I believe this is the right decision for the network and market," Bhasin said of his move to replace them. 

Angela Tangas, DAN ANZ CCO has been promoted to CEO

"To help the market return to growth, the ANZ leadership team have created a blueprint to enable much-needed transformation, one which will leave the business with stronger foundations and a more competitive local business model,"  Bhasin said. "As a leadership team we are committed to all our regional markets as well as providing stability to our teams, business, clients and partners."

Tajer joined DAN in January 2019 after a brief stint at Amazon. He had previously served as the global CEO of IPG Media after being promoted from COO in 2015. He stepped down from that role in May 2017.

Over the last year, Dentsu Aegis has seen restructuring and job cuts, along with a relatively large number of high-level departures, including longtime APAC CEO Nick Waters (who went to a UK/Ireland role with the company as Takaki Hibino became APAC executive chairman), China CEO Susana Tsui (who later joined TheAsianParent), Southeast Asia CEO Phil Teeman and North Asia CEO Rob Hughes and former Carat CEO Jonathan Chadwick.

Ruth Stubbs, global CEO of iProspect and Dick van Motman, DAN's global creative CEO who also served as global president of Dentsu Brand Agencies, both announced their departures from their Asia-based network roles earlier this month.