PHD's Susana Tsui to join DAN as China CEO

Susana Tsui, currently regional CEO for PHD, is joining Dentsu Aegis Network as China CEO in Shanghai, while current China CEO Phil Teeman moves from Shanghai to Singapore to become Southeast Asia CEO.

Tsui has been CEO at PHD since 2013, and was named Asia-Pacific media-agency head of the year at Campaign's Agency of the Year Awards in December. Teeman takes over the SEA role from Dick van Motman, who became global and Asia Pacific president of Dentsu creative agencies at the end of 2017. Teeman was MD of DAN China for three years before being named CEO in the same reshuffle that saw Van Motman promoted.  

Both appointments will be effective in April, and both Teeman and Tsui will report to Nick Waters, CEO of DAN APAC.

Waters told Campign Asia-Pacific that his original understanding with Teeman when he came to China was that it would be for three to five years, so that when van Motman's move opened up the SEA role, it was a good time for Teeman to make a move. The company then began a "rigorous" search process for the China CEO role, which eventually led them to Tsui.

Asked what he expects of his new CEOs in each territory, Waters' answer focused on rapid changes roiling the industry and media agencies in particular. 

"In China, what we've seen in 2017 is a market where the big managed ecommerce and ad services platforms offered by Alibaba and Tencent are creating disruption in the industry, and we have to create strategies to capture more of the flows of money into those platforms," he said.

As for SEA, the company has built "a reasonably scaled business" across the region, but there are still areas where it can add strength, specifically in digital capabilities, Waters said.

Campaign is reaching out to Omnicom for comment on Tsui's departure and plans to fill her role.

Phil Teeman