Move and win roundup: Week of November 12, 2018

Publicis Communications ANZ appointed Kate Smither to a newly created role of chief strategy integration officer and Iona Macgregor to fill Smither’s role as chief strategy officer of creative agency Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney. Smither has been with Saatchi & Saatchi for three years. Macgregor joins from Marcel Sydney.

J Walter Thompson Melbourne made two senior hires. Catherine Graham joined as director of customer experience, arriving from TBWA, where she was director of customer engagement. She has particular expertise in CRM and integrating data to drive consumer insights. In addition, Brie Stewart joined as creative director, content. Stewart joined from Clemenger BBDO, where she was head of channel transformation, and was previously national head of social at Ogilvy Australia. 

Media planning and buying agency Criterion Global promoted Charmaine Low to APAC associate media director. Based in Singapore, Low was previously senior account manager at Criterion in New York.

Audience tech platform Eyeota hired Rohiet Ghildyaal as head of SEA partnership development, and Christine Siholina as SEA manager, demand sales. Ghildyaal joined from Zenith, where he was senior manager, digital, and Siholina previously worked at Smaato, where she led direct demand sales for APAC. 

Independent brand design agency Cowan opened a new Sydney office, led by business director Marion Micoud. She arrived from Landor, where she handled the P&G retail and experiential account. Micoud is joined by account manager Mayeule Graff, from Unilever Australia, and senior designer Kaushik S. Dominic Walsh was also recently named Cowan Australia CEO. 

Singapore's Infocomm Media Development Authority and SGTech partnered with WE Communications for Singapore Digital Spark, the authority's new initiative to support local startups. WE will provide strategic counsel on branding and marketing to growing infocomm companies in Singapore. 

Australian fashion brand Assembly Label appointed The Wired Agency as its digital partner. The remit is to drive greater brand awareness and drive online and offline traffic to Assembly Label stores. Wired will handle shopper advertising, SEO, display and social media advertising. 

Bangkok-based hospitality and travel branding agency QUO launched its sister agency QUO Digital. It will focus on the digital components of branding, offering services including design, web development, content creation and social media management. 

Magnum & Co hired four new staff. Holly Saich joined as brand leader, from London-based agency TRO. Amadou Doumbia joined as senior earned specialist, having most recently been marketing and communications manager for Marriott International. Jack Rodgers is influencer marketing specialist, joining from EHPlabs and James Manning joined as content creator.  

MediaCom promoted Bebhinn Carey, previously marketing and PR director for MediaCom AUNZ, to APAC communications director. Based in Sydney, she has been with the network for five years. She will report to APAC CEO Mark Heap and Willie Pang, who leads the network in Australia and New Zealand.

CNN International Commercial (CNNIC) appointed Menglye Liu, formerly with Mashable, as digital director for Southeast Asia, based in Singapore, and Noriyuki Imai, formerly with MediaMath, as digital director for Japan, based in Tokyo. They will be tasked with growing CNN’s existing commercial partnerships in the region and creating new relationships with digital-first brands. Both report to Brandon Keenen, senior digital commercial director, and will work closely with Sunita Rajan, senior vice president, APAC, and her sales teams.

Genesis Healthcare, a Japan-based company involved in genetic testing and research, appointed Thomas Haugan as head of marketing and partnerships in Singapore, covering Southeast Asia. Haugan has been in Singapor for the last eight yearsand most recently served as APAC business development director at Williams Lea Tag. He has also worked at AccelerAsia and Wunderman. The company launched regional operations in Singapore in March and is introducing its consumer brand of genetic testing kits, GeneLife. 

McCorkell opened a Melbourne office following its recent appointment as B2B agency of choice for Australia Post and announced three new hires: D'arne Buckley as senior marketing consultant, Shira Friedman as content producer and Marissa Cookson as senior martech specialist. Buckley has experience with McCann, Grey, Clemenger and JWT. Friedman has worked as a journalist, digital content director, SEO lead and webmaster. Cookson has a decade of experience as a front end developer, digital producer and QA lead.