IPG Mediabrands refreshes top leadership in Malaysia

IPG Mediabrands has made a series of leadership appointments in Malaysia across its network of agencies, as Kristine Ong departs from leading Initiative in the market.

Amit Sutha, previously group managing director of Ensemble Worldwide and Universal McCann (UM), will take up the newly created position of CEO of UM, UM Studios and Ensemble Worldwide.

Darren Yuen, previously group managing director of Reprise and BPN, is appointed to the new role of CEO of Initiative and BPN. This appointment follows the departure of Kristine Ong, the group MD of Inititiave Malaysia, who is leaving the agency after nearly four and a half years.

IPG Mediabrands Malaysia CEO Bala Pomaleh said Sutha and Yuen have both "proven their abilities time and again to help create and maintain a dominant leadership position across the brands they oversee."

“UM has shown tremendous growth and momentum over the last five years since Amit came on board as brand lead. His strategic foresight and keen knowledge of industry nuances has helped UM flourish in a positive trajectory over the past few years," he said.

“Similarly, Darren has built BPN from a relatively unknown brand, to become a recognised player in the industry. In his new role Darren will unite and drive both the Initiative and the BPN propositions along this same path of excellence," he added.

Elsewhere, Sujith Rao, previously VP of Inventure, has been appointed to the position of MD of Reprise Performance & Tech.

“Sujith has shown impressive tenacity in helping us invest in future spaces through the integration of analytics and cloud consulting capabilities. His ability to innovate and provide solutions to meet our client’s business needs will drive Reprise Performance & Tech’s offerings to the next frontier,” commented Bala.

Sujith Rao will work in partnership with Stanley Clement, who remains MD of Reprise Creative, to lead the Reprise business transformation. Both Stanley and Sujith will report directly to Pomaleh.