Move and win roundup: Week of November 28, 2022

Application security testing (AST) firm Checkmarx has named Amit Daniel as chief marketing officer to lead global corporate marketing, branding, digital marketing and communications initiatives. Daniel joins Checkmarx from software company Cognyte, where she was CMO for the last seven years during which time she rebranded the spin-off company and built the strategy to float on the NASDAQ.

Sudeep Guha is the new chief content officer at PR Professionals (PRP) based in Gurgaon, India. leading the content team for its PR and digital verticals. A content veteran with over 22 years of experience, Guha served as content and business consultant to Radiant Book Company prior to joining PRP, and before that was group editor at Bloomberg Businessweek Middle East.

Xiaomi has appointed Stephanie Sicilia as its new associate marketing director for Indonesia. She will be leading a cross functional team, named “marketing communication”, across PR, influencers, social media and community. Sicilia has been at Xiaomi since 2017, where she managed PR initiatives across Southeast Asia markets, including Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore from Xiaomi HQ in Beijing. 

AIA has appointed Isabella Lau as chief customer strategy and transformation officer in Hong Kong and Macau. She will report to Alger Fung, the chief executive officer of AIA in Hong Kong and Macau. Lau joins from Manulife, where she was chief customer officer. 

Singapore-based communications agency W has added McLaren Singapore and Pagani Singapore to its client roster. 

Social Beat, a India-based digital marketing solutions company, has been appointed as the social media marketing agency for women grooming brand Sanfe. Social Beat will also manage Sanfe’s social media content and strategy. 

Datawords has acquired Chinese integrated communication company Switching-Time which was founded in 2012. Switching-Time serves clients in the fashion, beauty, luxury and lifestyle industries. Over the years, it has expanded its offerings to digital marketing services, including public relations (e-PR), influencer digital marketing and social media. 

Performance agency Alley has appointed Taylor Murray, former head of digital at Amart, as the newly created head of growth to further scale the business. The agency, on the back of Nunn Media's acquisition of Alley last year, has been increasing its service offerings.

Integral Ad Science (IAS) has tapped in Khurrum Malik as CMO effective immediately. Malik will be responsible for accelerating market growth initiatives for IAS and lead its global marketing strategy. He will be based in New York and report to Yannis Dosios, chief commercial officer.

Redhill has appointed Manisha Seewal as its senior international advisor. She will take primary responsibility for driving Redhill’s operational performance, scaling the agency’s international presence, and exploring growth opportunities. Seewal—who has over two decades of experience—was most recently CMO of Gumtree, Carsguide, and Autotrader. Prior to that, she was group CMO for online car marketplace Carro. In her new role, she will work closely with CEO Jacob Puthenparambil.

Ogilvy ANZ has expanded its relationship with Boehringer Ingelheim (BI), recently winning work for its Livestock division in a competitive pitch. The agency will be tasked with enhancing the online experience of BI’s livestock customers, with specialists from Ogilvy’s health and experience teams collaborating to provide solutions. The firm has worked with the Companion Animals division since 2009 including brands such as Frontline, and in 2017 the Nexgard brands were included.

Paris and Boston headquartered Natixis Investment Managers is roping in AML Group to create campaigns in line with their EMEA and APAC strategy. The scope of work includes the creation of a new capability information and content site followed by a B2B and internal promotional campaign to include print, digital, events and out of home placements in Asian markets.

Digital analytics platform Amplitude has named Mark Velthuis as VP of sales for Asia Pacific and Japan (APJ). Reporting into chief revenue officer Matt Heinz, Velthuis will lead business development in APJ, overseeing sales and revenue growth. Velthuis was most recently president of APAC at Jedox, an enterprise performance management platform. Prior to that, he was VP of partnership sales and market Ddvelopment for APJ at Commvault, where he oversaw all indirect sales channels in Asia Pacific and Japan.

Lemma, an SSP for DOOH, has appointed Reuben Lee as director of sales and partnerships for its Malaysia office. In his new role, Lee will be responsible for driving growth and strengthening partnerships with stakeholders including advertisers, agencies and DOOH screen-owners. He joins from OMD Malaysia where he was group business and growth director, responsible for client retention and new business development. Up till now, Lemma has been working with its 30-plus clients and vendors in Malaysia from its India office.

Unmesh Pawar has been appointed as chief people officer for Dentsu India and South Asia. He will oversee the all aspects of the network’s talent strategy while assisting Dentsu India leadership in shaping its culture. Pawar has more than 25 years of experience in HR across firms such as Accenture, Mastek, Tata, and Peerless. Prior to this, he served as KPMG's chief people officer. In his new role, he will report to Luke Speers, chief people officer at Dentsu APAC, and Peter Huijboom, interim CEO of Dentsu India.

MullenLowe Group has announced the elevation of S Subramanyeswar (Subbu), as group chief executive officer. He takes over from Virat Tandon who has stepped down from his role. Read the full story here.

Gillian Zhao is appointed as China president at Warner Bros Discovery. Zhao is a veteran who has overseen box office performance in China, including growing the role and contribution of co-productions. Going forward, Zhao will lead the strategic growth of WBD’s Theatrical, TV Distribution, Home Entertainment and Local Theatrical Production businesses in China. Additionally, Tony Qiu is appointed as SVP, head of commercial, Western Pacific. In addition to ad sales and games management in China, Qiu will also lead the consumer products business in China and ANZ, and drive the international ad sales function for the region as a whole. Both Zhao and Qiu will report to James Gibbons, president and managing director, Western Pacific, WBD.

Samsung Ads Australia has appointed Samantha Cooke as head of product marketing APAC. Her previous roles include commercial marketing lead at Domain Group, where she was responsible for driving acquisition, retention and revenue growth, and prior to that, she was head of digital advertising and brand partnerships at Foxtel. In her new role, Cooke will act as a conduit between the local sales, global product marketing and business development teams. Meanwhile, Gideon Hornung joins the team as sales atrategy lead for advertising partnerships. In the newly created role, Hornung will be responsible for developing an understanding of client challenges in order to build deeper partnerships with advertisers. Prior to this, he was was group client strategy manager at Seven West Media.

Stephanie Sicilia is promoted to associate marketing director for Xiaomi Indonesia. She will be leading a cross-functional team across PR, influencers, social media and community. Sicilia joined Xiaomi in 2017 to coordinate and manage PR initiatives across Southeast Asia markets, including Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, and Singapore from Xiaomi HQ in Beijing. After a year, she was appointed to head Indonesia’s communications team. 

Adtech company RTB House has appointed Keiichiro Tomimatsu in the Tokyo as head of sales. Tomimatsu began his career at P&G and has also worked for Reuters, Citibank, GE Capital and 20th Century Fox Films. Prior to joining RTB House, he was the Japan representative for MediaMath where he was responsible for business expansion in the Japanese market.

Branding and innovation agency The One Centre has appointed Chris Gillespie as creative director and head of digital; and Bettina Winkler as design director. Gillespie is responsible for the agency's creative and technology teams as well as creative direction and design for projects. He joins the agency’s leadership team alongside the heads of strategy, media and management and he will report to managing director Katie Molloy and founder, chairman and CEO John Ford. Meanwhile, Winkler will help lead all the brand identity design and multi-touchpoint brand expression and communication projects for the agency’s portfolio of B2C and B2B clients. She will report to Gillespie. 

Sagar Paranjpe has been named the new managing director of Bonsey Jaden Malaysia. Paranjpe was formerly Malaysia Airlines’ head of brand and strategy and was a creative director prior to that.