UPDATE: Bleasdale to step down as Iris' regional head

Neither the agency nor Bleasdale, who has been in his position since February of 2008, has revealed his replacement at iris, although Stewart Shanley, global CEO for iris Worldwide, said a replacement has been chosen: “We fully respect his decision to move on and wish him all the best, in whatever he chooses to do next,” Shanley said in a release. “In line with our senior succession plans, we have already identified a replacement for Richard that we will announce in the near future.”

Bleasdale, who made the decision to exit the agency, told Media that he is looking to depart on a high note.

“I much prefer to set things up well so there’s momentum and the business is looking healthy rather than disappearing on a bad note and ending like that,” he said. “Great relationships have been made in the Iris Group and those will also continue in the future.”

Bleasdale confirmed that he does not have another job lined up following his departure but said he had been in conversation with several companies and would not rule out the possibility of rejoining a large holding-group agency.

“I’m going to be working at Iris until the end of the year, and that will be my focus, but I hope by the beginning of next year I will have made a move into something else,” he said. “I’m genuinely very, very open-minded to many opportunities because there are a lot of different things happening across the industry at the moment.”

Bleasdale joined iris, an independent integrated marketing agency, from Omnicom Group, where he was based for 15 years. At the time of his departure, Bleasdale was Asia-Pacific president of Rapp Collins and group MD of DDB Singapore.

“It has been an incredibly challenging and enjoyable period, helping to mould and shape the iris network and offering across Asia-Pacific over a couple of years,” Bleasdale said of his upcoming departure. “We’ve seen dynamic growth in our business with some superb new client wins. The successful launch of our agency in China. The building of new digital, experiential and consulting skill sets across all our offices. A broadening of our geographic footprint with some powerful partnerships now in place in Greater China and Southeast Asia.”