Zeno Group names new regional president and India MD

Edelman’s sister agency Zeno Group has appointed industry veteran Paul Mottram to regional president for Asia-Pacific. His appointment was made after previous CEO, Margaret Key, moved to MSL in November to take on the role of APAC CEO.

Mottram was most recently APAC MD of Allison + Partners’s All Told division, which combines research, content, creative, digital and measurement expertise. Prior to that, he was APAC MD of integrated strategy at Text 100 (now Archetype), and APAC executive vice president at Bite. His expertise includes integrated strategy, brand-building, corporate reputation and creative content development to drive multi-channel storytelling. 

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In his new role, Mottram will oversee a crew of 125 professionals in China, India, Singapore, Malaysia and Australia as well as the network of Zeno+ partners across APAC.

Separately, the agency also hired Rekha Rao as India MD. She brings some 24 years of experience working on brands such as Vicks, Oral-B, Gillette, Nissan and Abbott Nutrition. Most recently, she was senior VP at 2020MSL, MSL Group India’s strategic engagement and consultancy arm. 

Rao joins in January and Mottram in February. Mottram will report to Zeno Group CEO Barby K. Siegel and Rao will report to Mottram.

Additionally, David Lian has assumed the newly created role of MD of growth and innovation for APAC. For the past six years, Lian has served as MD of Zeno Malaysia and under his leadership, the office has grown seven-fold. In his new role, Lian will focus on key regional growth initiatives across talent and business development, as well as innovation and new capabilities ahead of the market. 

Amanda Leong, who has been with Zeno for five years, and for the last two has served as director, will take over as general manager at Zeno Malaysia.