Initiative appoints Singapore head

Initiative has tapped long-time IPG Mediabrands exec Jeff Franco to become head of Singapore and regional managing partner of APAC.

In his new role Franco will be responsible for driving growth for the Initiative Singapore office, as well as managing the agency's key accounts across the region which includes Lego, Carlsberg and Amazon.

Franco is an IPG Mediabrands network veteran, first joining the group in the Philippines in 2004 as a media planner for UM. In 2010 he moved to the regional headquarters in Singapore to manage key regional clients for UM including the MasterCard and Sony Pictures business spanning ten countries.

He then took up a new business development role at IPG Mediabrands, and became growth director APAC in 2017, a role he has held since. In this role, he was recognised as Campaign Asia-Pacific’s New Business Person/Team of The Year 2018.

He will now reort to Initiative president APAC Will Anstee and IPG Mediabrands Singapore CEO David Haddad. Based in the Initiative regional headquarters in Singapore, his new role is effective April 2020.

Anstee called him "one of the best in the business".

"Not only a solid team player, he possesses a rare blend of business acumen, ingenuity, and natural leadership ability that give him the established credentials to step into this dual leadership role”, said Anstee.

Haddad said the creation of this role "signals our desire to grow Initiative Singapore from both a business and capabilities perspective”.

“In Jeff we have the perfect leader, his contagiously can-do attitude is coupled with a proven track record of delivering growth solutions for our Initiative network across APAC," Haddad added.