SINGAPORE – Apart from his current role as Chief Creative Officer, Chris Chiu will now be assuming the position of Chief Executive Officer of Leo Burnett Singapore. The announcement was made today by Jarek Ziebinski, Chairman and CEO, Leo Burnett Asia Pacific.
Other than Chiu, Pawan Bahuguna, the regional business director for Samsung, was also appointed to hold the Chief Operating Officer position. Rachel Xu, previously a senior copywriter was also elevated to Associate Creative Director.
“At Leo Burnett, we believe that creativity is the only competitive advantage in business today. The appointment of Chris, one of Singapore’s leading creative directors, to the role of CEO, demonstrates our commitment to anchor creativity at the core of our agency,” commented Ziebinski.
“Chris’s keen sense of business acumen and pragmatism towards overcoming challenges for clients’ business have been central to his continued success and are key qualities of a CEO,” he added.
In his new role as CEO, Chiu will be supported by Bahuguna, who has a solid track record of setting up and growing digital, CRM, B2B practices, data and marketing automation services in communications agencies for the most of his 17-year career in marketing.
This is not the first creative-turned-CEO in the history of Leo Burnett. There were Judy John in the Toronto office and Tan Kien Eng in Malaysia.
Chiu, who has been across offices of Leo Burnett has laid out his plan for the Singapore office where he has been working for 7 years, “The first is to continue to create work that’s memorable and impactful. Work that people on the street talk about and work that gets results. The second is to create an environment internally that efficiently delivers the first. Again, it’s not just to be efficient operationally, but efficient in structure and casting with the purpose of creating the output we want. Memorable and impactful output that will have people talking.”
In the photo (From L-R): Pawan Bahuguna, Rachel Xu, Chris Chiu.
