SINGAPORE — Havas Media Group Singapore has elevated Russell Lai to Chief Commercial Officer, reporting to Jacqui Lim, who recently expanded her role as CEO of Havas Media Group SG, to take on an additional title as Chief Growth Officer of SEA & North Asia of Havas Group.
In his new role, he will be overseeing the media offerings and commercial priorities of the group, covering 2 agency brands: Havas Media and Arena Media. His elevation to the group function comes after a strong and steady track record of client retention, service diversification, and business growth over the last two years in high-growth categories such as fintech, digital banking, gaming, and other e-commerce clients.
Lai recently celebrated being with the agency for seven years, seeing through the growth of the agency which has won a consecutive streak of Marketing Interactive’s Media Agency of the Year since 2016. Lim shared that the promotion is a well-deserved recognition for Lai’s contribution to the agency’s evolution journey. “With the speed at which the industry is evolving across media, data, content, entertainment, and web 3.0, it is paramount to identify strong and agile leaders that have their pulse on the market trajectory. Someone who will lead the navigation of these complexities together with clients, partners, and internal teams to deliver augmented customer experiences and business accountability in the coming time ahead. Russell has proven to be the progressive leader of choice to chart this growth path for the group.
“I am very proud of the growth strides we have accomplished in the last seven years and thrilled with the opportunity to accelerate our growth. As Chief Commercial Officer, I will continue to focus on future-proofing, empowerment, and collaboration in order to build and strengthen Havas Media Group’s position as a leader in the local media industry. I truly believe our best days are still ahead,” Lai said.
