Trading places in Greater China: Saatchi's Chen and Ng, Yooya's Steere and more

Cathryn Chen (陈慧茹, pictured), current general manager of Saatchi & Saatchi Guangzhou, will now head all creative agencies under Publicis Communications in Guangzhou. In her new role, Chen will link creative agency brands (Saatchi & Saatchi, Publicis Worldwide and Leo Burnett) to specialist agencies (Nurun, MSL, Arc) under the group. She joined Saatchi & Saatchi Guangzhou in 2012 as director of client service and was promoted in 2013. Formerly GM of Ogilvy & Mather Guangzhou, she brings twenty years of experience in client servicing. Meanwhile, Saatchi & Saatchi also gave Fan Ng (吴凡) a larger remit and promoted him to CCO for Greater China from previously North China.

Yooya, a Chinese online video network, has appointed John Steere as the company's chief marketing officer, reporting to CEO Rick Myers. Steere was most recently regional MD for Asia Pacific at Vivid Brand, a shopper marketing agency that was purchased by Publicis Groupe in 2015. Prior to that, Steere was CMO at McCann for Greater China, as well as MD for Momentum China.

The founder of Strategic Public Relations Group, Richard Tsang (曾立基), moved up from his APAC regional role to be PROI Worldwide's new global chairman—the first ever from Asia since the network’s inception in 1970. Tsang takes over Andreas Fischer-Appelt.

Jeff Ma (马捷) has been promoted to a twin-hat role at the The Woolmark Company: China country manager and marketing EVP for Greater China and developing markets. Before this, he was marketing VP for Greater China since March 2015. In addition to this consolidated role, Ma is given a new assignment to develop retail and design partnerships in Southeast Asia to create demand for Australian merino wool.

Baris Gencel has been roped into Ogilvy & Mather China to be a creative director specifically for branded content, as well as to lead the creative team for Huawei across WPP. He is also in China's Ministry Of Culture as executive committee member, head of branding and marketing, as well as art consultant for the Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Development Fund (CHSDF).

Ogilvy gained one but lost another after Joyce Chang (张崇琦), who was managing director of Ogilvy & Mather’s Beijing and Shanghai offices, joined Zanadu as chief marketing officer. Based in Shanghai, Chang will oversee Zanadu’s branding, marketing, public relations, media, digital and retail marketing strategies. She will report directly to chief executive officer Zan Wu. Dirk Eschenbacher, Zanadu’s co-founder and creative director, moved on to the role of chief creative officer simultaneously.

Another promotion at JCDecaux Transport in Hong Kong and Macau went to Shirley Chan succeeding ex-MD Amy Chan who left the company for personal reasons in April. Chan has been with JCDecaux Transport for over 18 years and played an instrumental role in winning the MTR and Hong Kong International Airport advertising concessions over the years in her old position as GM.

Joshua Campbell (康培力) has been hired as general manager for BBDO Live Shanghai. Campbell has worked in Greater China for more than 15 years, and most recently was chief strategy director at BlueFocus Communications, also based in Shanghai. He is also the author of the book Know China Business: The Insider's Guide to Doing Business Successfully in China.

Frog has named UX expert Franco Papeschi as creative director in Shanghai. Prior to joining Frog, Papeschi held service design management positions at Education First (Shanghai), the Web Foundation (London), and Vodafone (London). He is also a regular on the international speaking circuit including IXDC 2016 in Beijing, UX Poland 2016, UX Australia 2015, and Interaction 13 in Canada.

Wunderman Shanghai, the largest of the agency's three offices in China, promoted Pornthip Suchanthabut (林纯蒂) and Jimmy Wong (王景俊) to managing director and client services director, respectively. Both report to CEO Bryce Whitwam.