The IAS Mentorship Programme is to help develop high potential Singaporean advertising people in their career growth and development through a mixture of mentoring and coaching by some of the most senior management in the industry.
Alrick is the Chief Client Compensation Officer, Asia, and is focused on working with TBWA agencies across Asia to develop and deliver value-based compensation arrangements for our collective and regional clients. Alrick is also the Chief Operating Officer for TBWAGroup Singapore and Malaysia, and is responsible for all finance, IT and HR including: decision support, financial planning and analysis, strategy alignment, operational and financial plans, installation of a measurement system that focuses and motivates the organization, giving insight into how value is created and leading major financial initiatives.
He has been with TBWA for 20 years, of which the last 8 were spent as COO of the Group. TBWAGroup Singapore houses the TBWA, Tequila, Integer, Media Arts Lab and eg+ under one roof, with offerings across all specialties.
Started in the media industry since 1994 with Dentsu, Young & Rubicam. Have worked within a integrated full service agency environment (Leo Burnett, Saatchi & Saatchi) to that of a specialized media agency units (MEC, Mindshare & Universal McCann) Professional experiences accumulated over the past 20 years included assuming lead role in the management of a wide range of local and international brands such as HSBC, APB, McDonald’s , Procter & Gamble, SingTel and Nike. His works was also recognized in local industry media awards such as Singapore Media Awards by 4As and Hall Of Fame by IAS. Currently, he heads the Singapore operation of the CARAT Singapore and took an active role in developing new business growth as well as digitalization agenda of the organisation . Prior to his role in CARAT, he was the Managing Director of Starcom and has led the agency in winning numerous industry accolades (including 1st runner for Agency Of The Tear in 2010 by Campaign Asia and Bronze award for Agency of the year in 2011 by Marketing). Importantly, he believes training and mentoring the younger talents are the best ‘investment’ to secure future return for the communications business.
She has spent many years primarily leading regional and local teams on large FMCG clients such as Nestle, GlaxoSmithKline, Kimberly Clarke, Unilever and SingTel. She has also lived and worked in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore through this time. Having a particular interest in talent development she did a stint as Head of talent and development which resulted in her winning Campaign AP Agency of Year Awards 2013 as SEA Talent Management Person of the Year. She is now General Manager at BBH Singapore, spending half of her time on building client’s brands and the other on helping to manage the running of the office.
As the Chief Executive for Ogilvy Singapore, Chris leads a diverse group of 400 marketing communications professionals. His mission is to evolve the agency into a world class thought leader, creating both local impact and global influence for the brands it manages. Re-invention and innovation have been continual themes for Chris, who has varied experience working in advertising, digital, direct and data. A perfect blend to help formulate the right combination of talent and services essential for modern marketing that clients now require. Chris is a permanent resident of Singapore and has lived here with his family for over a decade.
Group Senior Vice President, Corporate & Marketing Communications
Changi Airport Group
Everyday is a different day for Ivan at Changi Airport. He leads his team in Corporate & Marketing Communications to drive brand marketing, PR, social media, online/offline advertising and corporate reputation programmes for Changi Airport and CAG in Singapore and overseas. They leverage the opportunities presented to us on digital and social platforms to better target their programmes.
Serving more than 60 million passengers each year and over 100 airlines, Changi Airport's stakeholders are many and varied. They have the unique challenge of communicating with them across multiple channels and round-the-clock. In this day and age, being prepared for crisis and issues management is a must.
Prior to joining CAG, Ivan was Deputy Managing Director at the Singapore office of Weber Shandwick. At the agency, his clients included Singapore blue chips as well as IPO candidates. He also supported the pitch by Genting International for the Sentosa Integrated Resort licence.
His career started at SingTel where he was Director (Corporate Communications) for six years following a two-year secondment to Belgacom, the Belgian telco based in Brussels.
Joanne Theseira is a senior integrated brand leader with over 15 years of experience. Prior to joining Publicis Communications, she spent over a decade at TBWA, where as a business lead she led the global and regional brand development for brands like Apple, Visa and the Economic Development Board of Singapore.
Joanne joined Publicis in July 2014 as new business lead for the agency. Her multi-disciplinary background - which includes experience in digital marketing, shopper marketing and integrated brand communications - translates into an exceptional skill in identifying cross-channel opportunities and solutions for clients. She was promoted to Managing Director in 2017, and in addition to managing the agency's client and business relationships, she is also responsible for the Groupe's boutique design and technology consultancy, Nurun.
John transferred to Singapore in 2005 from BBH London. Since then, the Agency has quadrupled in size with a mixture of global, regional and local wins, including NTUC Income, UOB, Friesland Campina, IKEA and Nike. Over the period, the Agency has twice won both Campaign and AdAsia Magazines’ Agency of the Year and most recently was runner up in AdAge's Global Office of the Year. John runs the day-to-day business and is responsible for a number of the Agency’s regional and global accounts. He has been in the advertising business for 22 years, having previously worked for Lowe Howard-Spink and HHCL and Partners in London.
Lizi Hamer is the Regional Creative Director, Octagon. Recently she had fun on @GruenHQ, an Australian TV show whose expert panel lifts the lid on advertising, with over a million viewership. Lizi Co-Founded SisuGirls to help build grit in young girls through sport and adventure. Based in Singapore she has been recognised in the Top 20 Women to watch in Asia. Lizi runs SheSays a creative group to support more women into the industry and steers the Women’s Leadership Network, IPG. She’s been quoted to have the ‘creative enthusiasm of a school bus on the way to the zoo’. As a Creative Director, Lizi solves business problems with a creative brain. Over the last 10 years she paved the way for global product launches, disrupted the norm on a budget of pennies, changed laws & excited the social sphere. This year Lizi’s creative ability to tell authentic stories has landed her a heap of metal: Gold & Bronze in Entertainment Spikes, best branded content in BEfest and The Change Awards UK. Lizi Hamer hopes to change the world, one campaign at a time.
A brand experience expert Luke heads up iris across Asia Pacific. With over 20 years experience across Advertising, Brand Strategy, Design, Brand Experience, Digital and Social, Luke has been integral in introducing and growing iris in the APAC the region. Now he enjoys creating ‘participation brands’ with his fearless partners and Clients such as Samsung, Philips and Chang beer. And sneakers.
Senior Vice President, Head of Branding & Strategic Marketing
City Development Limited
After more than two decades in advertising starting as a highly awarded copywriter, Mark rose to become Creative Director of Young & Rubicam in 1998 and Creative Director & Chief Executive Officer of the legendary Batey Ads in 2003.
Over the years, Mark led the creative and brand management of Singapore Tourism Board, Citibank, OCBC, UOB, DBS, Bank of Singapore, Mercedes-Benz, Lexus, SingTel, StarHub, M1, Shangri la, Raffles Hotel, Republic of Singapore Navy and more.
Having checked everything off his advertising bucket list, Mark threw out his paperweights from One Show, D&AD, Cannes, CLIOs, Singapore Creative Circles Awards, EFFIES, New York Fest, AWARD and London International, and crossed over to the client side in 2011.
Today, he heads the Branding and Strategic Marketing as Senior Vice President at City Developments Limited (CDL), Singapore’s most awarded private developer.
A passionate champion of sharp thinking, relevant creativity and business accountability, Mark’s advertising credo is ‘maximum meaning, minimal means’.
Mel embarked on her career in media with an international news agency in Hong Kong, and later with French TV broadcasters in Paris. In 2004, she moved to Singapore to join the media agency world where she handled primarily regional accounts. Mel’s exciting journey with Mindshare Singapore started in 2008, leading a mix of local and regional businesses. She has worn many hats at the company, from Senior Account Manager to Business Director and Managing Partner as well as Head of Exchange. Her success of leading the company’s trading division saw her take the lead of the overall development and strategic growth of the agency as Managing Director in 2015. And, if 2015 was about creating a future-facing agency and setting a framework for transformation, 2016 has been a year of acceleration. Embracing Mindshare’s core values of speed, teamwork and provocation, Mel has built a reputation for developing efficiencies, incubating new business models, and creating new opportunities by growing partnerships. The agency continues without doubt to go from strength to strength!
Patricia was appointed Managing Director of Starcom Mediavest Group Singapore in 2014. Under her leadership, SMG Singapore has won Heineken (Asia Pacific Breweries), Courts, Lion Corporation, Ministry of Communications and Information, National Environment Agency, Land Transport Authority, Infocomm Development Authority, AIA, MSIG, Sports Singapore. SMG SG was also ranked 1st as the top agency in R3's Singapore Business League for 2014 and 2015. With a career spanning more than 15 years, Pat is passionate about helping clients drive their business and brands more effectively. Having worked across multiple global / local brands, Pat sees challenges as rewards to stay ahead of the curve. Pat believes success only comes when there is a focus on talent and developing the next generation of experts. Outside of work, Patricia is an avid traveler. Her passion for travelling fuels her goal to visit and immerse in as many world wonders and different cultures as possible. It is no surprise that researching and planning trips for the family is one of her favourite pastimes.
Pat began his advertising career in 1978 at Fortune Advertising, which was then Singapore's largest local advertising agency. At Fortune, he honed his craft working on accounts like Mitsubishi cars, Ikea and DBS. In 1981 he left Fortune for Ogilvy and Mather where he won his first major award for Philips, becoming the first Singaporean to win in the prestigious One Show. Besides Philips, he also garnered many awards for Carrier, BMW, and Shell at O&M. In 1987, he moved to Y&R where he spent 22 years creating many award-winning and memorable campaigns for brands like Toyota, Lexus, Ikea, SingTel, Epson, Ericsson, Citibank, Singapore Tourism Board, OCBC Bank and many others. 1n 1995, Pat was invited to be the first Singaporean to chair the local Creative Circle Awards, setting the stage for many other Singaporeans to follow.
In 2001, together with Tay Guan Hin, he co-chaired the inaugural Crowbar Awards, which has grown into an international showcase for future stars of the industry. In 1998, he co-wrote the short film OOPS with Mike Miller, which featured at the Sundance Film Festival. In 2005, together with Neil French, Jim Aitchison, and Linda Locke, he was bestowed the honour of Champion of the Creative Circle for his contribution to the advertising industry. In the same year, he was also featured in IDEAS, a book on Singapore’s hottest creative directors. To date, his work has won awards in every major international competition, notably the One Show, D&AD, Clio, New York Festival, London International, Communication Arts and Cannes. Besides winning awards, he has also judged many awards shows including the Cannes Advertising Festival in 2007.
Also in 2007, Pat was voted Singapore’s Creative Director of the Year at the Advertising Hall of Fame Awards. In October 2009, after becoming Y&R's longest serving ECD, Pat founded Goodfellas, an independent boutique advertising agency. Despite his hectic schedule, Patrick finds time to sit on the advisory board of Temasek Polytechnic School of Design, a role he held since 1999. He’s is also a member of the polytechnic’s Board of Governors. In addition to the polytechnic, he sits on the Design Council for the Institute of Technical Education and is the Vice President of the 4As. Throughout his career, he was responsible for many notable and successful public service initiatives such as launching “Captains of Lives” for the Singapore Prisons Services in 1998 to reposition the prison from a place for punishment to a place for rehabilitation. In 2008 and 2014, his problem gambling campaigns reminded Singaporeans on the perils of gambling addiction and in 2012, his campaign to encourage drinkers not to drive to drink was selected by the World Economic Forum as an example of Creative for Good.
In 2013, he helped Caritas Singapore highlight the plight of the poor in affluent Singapore, which encouraged a national debate on the growing income gap. In spite of his love for creating ads, Pat would rather be chasing a football. After all, his proudest achievement wasn’t winning a One Show pencil, but playing football against Bobby Charlton, Geoff Hurst, Kevin Keegan and other soccer legends at the 1991 Singapore International Soccer Sevens.
Richard is President of BBDO Southeast Asia and also Regional Managing Director for Proximity in Asia, Middle East and Africa. He has been part of the BBDO Worldwide Network for 12 years and has been based in Asia since 2008.
He is responsible for leading and developing both Network’s growth, capability, talent, and reputation in the region and works closely with global and regional clients including Visa, Fonterra, ExxonMobil, P&G and Mars/Wrigley.
He is a true Global Marketer with more than 20 years experience gained from working with leading brands and marketers in the United States, New Zealand, Canada and more than 20 markets throughout Asia, Middle East and Africa.
Gax is the Co-Founder and Creative Director of breakaway agency manghamgaxiola. In a daring move, the former Ogilvy Executive Creative Director and Group CEO, Stephen Mangham left the flagship Singapore office to start their own agency. They opened their doors with over 25 million dollars in billings. Making the errant agency Singapore’s biggest, smallest startup. The native Californian has been in Singapore for twenty years. During that time, he’s worked as the Executive Creative Director for Bates, Batey, FCB and Ogilvy. He only left Singapore once to work at famed Goodby Silvertein and Partners in San Francisco. Gax was the very first winner of the Creative Director of the Year Award in the 2006 Hall of Fame Awards. His work has won medals in Cannes, D&AD, The One Show and Effies. The last two creative awards he won were coveted D&AD Yellow Pencils. His five year old agency has since joined the Dentsu Aegis Network and added mcgarrybowen to their name. manghamgaxiola mcgarrybowen are not the biggest name in advertising, but close
Rosalynn is the Managing Director of the Dentsu Aegis Network in Singapore. Under her remit, she is responsible for steering the operations across all eight network brands in Singapore, which include Dentsu, Dentsu Media, Dentsu Mobius, Carat, Isobar, iProspect and Vizeum. Rosalynn has over 25 years' Asian and European work experience across multiple industries including Advertising, fast food, alcohol & spirits and aviation. With the last twelve years in senior management positions, Rosalynn was at DBS Bank as Managing Director, Head of Marketing for Consumer Banking.
Prior to that, Rosalynn spent five years in Tiger Airways and was Managing Director of Tiger Airways Singapore. Here, she was part of the team responsible for taking the airline public. Rosalynn was also Deputy Managing Director at Leo Burnett Advertising from 2003 - 2005, and Marketing Director, Yum Restaurants International in Asia and the United Kingdom. Rosalynn graduated from the National University of Singapore in 1989 with a Bachelor of Business Administration, majoring in marketing. Rosalynn is an avid sports person and played competitive squash while at school. Over the last ten years, she switched her sporting passion to golf and served for two years as Lady Captain at one of the Singapore golfing clubs. Her passion for golf has also driven her to study and pass the Royal & Ancient Golf Rules Exams Level 1. Besides golf, Rosalynn enjoys her wine seriously. To help with her wine appreciation, she has completed Level 1 of the Court of Masters Sommeliers course. Good wine goes with good food so needless to say, her appreciation of food is in tandem with wine.
I began my career writing television commercials and print ads. About 6 years in, I moved to the digital side, because I believe that brand engagement should last longer than 30 seconds. After over a decade in advertising, I moved to Google, to build my favourite brand from the inside. I aim to bring together human insights, data insights, brand strategy, culture, content, technology and design in my work.
Seema’s 20 years’ work experience ranges from integrated communications to discipline specific- Above and Below-the-line Advertising, Digital, CRM, Shopper Marketing. She has worked across blue chip clients like Unilever, Mastercard, Economic Development Board of Singapore, DBS, Nestle, Singapore Airlines and P&G. At R3, she is responsible to work with CMOs on translating their marketing efforts into business results. She is passionate about training and now has an expanded role to include talent management and trainings across R3 offices.
Shabirin Ariffin, or ShaB, as he is more commonly known, has been in marketing for over 15 years covering a diverse range of industries from retail, broadcast media, telecommunications.
Presently, he is in the payments industry with NETS, as their Head of Strategic Marketing & Communications. He oversees brand, marcom, digital, social and creative responsibilities for both their B2C and B2B audience. Prior to this, he was with Singtel, Mediacorp and Capitaland.
Serene brings almost two decades of marketing experience for some of the most well-loved brands in the world, such as Singapore Airlines, Singapore Tourism, Hilton, Sony and BMW.
She managed Singapore Airlines globally for over a decade, covering campaigns used in 40 countries; from Brand to aircraft, destination, class launches, to events, design of SIA collaterals and even internal communications for service excellence. For Singapore Tourism Board, she led a team that launched over 20 campaigns for 10 countries in Asia Pacific, including its first ever advocacy programme during SG50.
Currently she manages Leo Burnett Singapore, whose clients include SK-II, BMW, Performance Motors, Abbott, Hilton, Pan Pacific Hotels Group, Sony, Maybank, and the Orchard Road Business Association.
Guan started his career with West Coast LA agency Kresser/Craig after he graduated from the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. He joined Saatchi & Saatchi Singapore at the height of its success, producing award winning work for Toyota, Navy and P&G under the stewardship of David Droga. The next stint was with Leo Burnett as a CD, during one of the agency’s most prolific times which saw its best creative achievements as one of the hottest Asia Pacific agencies by Campaign Brief Asia Rankings, and winning prestigious blue chip accounts like P&G, Singapore Air Force and SingTel.
Next up, Guan took on a regional role at Grey Worldwide KL/SG running GSK and won accounts such as Genting and Maybank. In 2005, Guan joined J. Walter Thompson as Southeast Asia ECD and was later promoted to the additional role of Global ECD for Unilever’s Lux. Since then, he has held global creative leadership roles for Abbott Nutrition, Shell Advance and Rimula/Rotella out of London. Additionally, he’s tasked to lead regional clients like Johnson and Johnson.
In 2008-2009, he played a critical role in the Asia Pacific Creative Council to achieve Network for the Year in both Adfest and Spikes Asia. In 2010, Guan became the first Singaporean to serve as a Cannes Outdoor Jury President. He was also the first Asian to serve as a D&AD Jury Foreman and was the second Asian to ever chair a CLIO jury. An engaging speaker and judge, Guan has frequently been invited to shows such as the APAC Effie, Cannes, One Show, NY Festival, Spikes and Adfest.
Guan devotes the same passion and energy that goes into his work into mentoring young talents in Asia. He was instrumental in setting up the Singapore Crowbar Awards, AdFest’s Young Lotus, and the Award School Asia, which has worked assiduously to foster the nurturing of budding talents in this region.
Terri is Vice President, Marketing and Insight for BBC News in Asia Pacific. Her remit includes providing Consumer and B2B Marketing and Research support for BBC World News (24 hour Pay TV channel) and BBC.com where she’s led several award winning projects and campaigns. Before joining the BBC, Terri was Vice President of Marketing in National Geographic Channel for Asia. Based in Hong Kong then, she oversaw the Asia’s Consumer and B2B Marketing activities for the award winning channel as well as the launch of FoxCrime TV channel in Singapore. Prior to joining the broadcast industry, Terri spent numerous years in reknown advertising agencies in Singapore including BBH, DDB and Saatchi & Saatchi. Terri is a Board Member of Marketing Society (Singapore Chapter) since 2016.
Tripti has been with VML Singapore since 2005, and leading the agency as Chief Executive since early 2008. During this time, VML has expanded in the South Asia region, opening offices in Mumbai, New Delhi, Jakarta and Kuala Lampur. Tripti has been the driving force behind VML’s expanded capabilities in business transformation, steering the organization to become the leading integrated digital marketing agency in the SEA & India region. In her executive leadership role, Tripti consults on client businesses including Kelloggs, ICICI, 3M, Wendy’s, Revlon, and Castrol. Regularly sought for opinion on all matters digital, Tripti judges award shows and speaks at diverse conferences including keynotes at ad:tech, and CrowdSourcingWeek Global. Tripti has worked extensively in Asia, the Middle East, and in the US leading teams and helping client businesses to harness the power of the digital medium. A graduated from the Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra with a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electrical and Electronics, Tripti spends her free time with her husband, their two children and Zorro their labrador. She enjoys reading, running and yoga.
Mei Wai’s passion is to nurture and build platforms to continually breed new brand marketers in Singapore and to raise the bar on creativity and innovation. She has served as IAS’ Vice President for about 7 years and the Chairman for the Advertising Hall of Fame for 2010- 2013. Mei Wai also champions her beliefs in driving best practices in marketing communication in the region via active jury participation, leadership and speaker at Asia’s key marketing forums and networks in the past decade.
Valerie spent the last 20 years building brands through integrated creative solutions for the likes of Hewlett-Packard, Procter & Gamble, Singapore Airlines, HSBC, Burger King, VISA, Singapore Tourism Board, Changi Airport, Central Provident Fund, Shell and many others. In 2010, Valerie was made the first female chairperson in the history of the Creative Circle Awards Singapore and went on to judge at Spikes Asia 2011, Cannes Lions 2011 and 2014, D&AD 2012 and 2015, Clio 2013, One Show 2015 and London International Awards 2013. Most if not all, for the cyber jury. Over the years, she has made her mark at Cannes, One Show, London International, Effies, Golden Drum, Spikes Asia, Adfest and the Webby’s. Under her leadership, JWT Singapore picked up the Best Of Show award, at Creative Circle Awards 2012. That same night, they were also awarded Digital Agency of The Year and the Grand Prix for Digital/Mobile. For all her achievements, she was awarded Singapore’s first Digital Creative Director of The Year award at the 2011 Advertising Hall of Fame event and she continued to defend this title again in 2012. She has also been voted as one of Singapore's Most Influential CD for 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015 by the IAS.