Havas Group restructures Asia-Pacific leadership

Havas Group is changing the structure of its organisation in Asia-Pacific, simplifying its management reporting lines for media and creative leadership teams. 

Consequently, Havas Group APAC CEO and chairman, Mike Amour will be stepping down from his regional role and will leave the company by mid-October after period of transition. Havas Group leadership teams in Greater China and Australia will now report directly to global leaders in New York and London.

Vishnu Mohan, Chairman & CEO Havas Group India/South East Asia will remain in his current role, but India will report to global media and creative leadership through him. Other APAC-level support staff will remain in place as will the other current sub-regional and market leaders:

• Mason Lin and Karl Wu, chairman and CEO of Havas Group Greater China
• Anthony Freedman, chairman and CEO of ANZ
• Havas Japan and Korea led by Toshio Naka and Joseph Rhee respectively

While Japan and Korea are relatively small markets for Havas, their reporting structure was not specified to Campaign. 

Chris Hirst, global CEO of Havas Creative, and Peter Mears, global CEO Havas Media said in a statement that the decision was made in order to connect media and creative leadership more directly to local APAC market teams. 

Havas Group stated APAC continues to be of huge strategic importance to its business and it is committed to further develop its presence in this region.

"Over the past couple of years, we’ve been strategically investing in our Asia Pacific region with a specific focus on key acquisitions and partnerships in China and India," Hirst and Mears said.  "We’ve also been working closely with Mike Amour on how best to organise the region in terms of servicing our clients and fostering continued growth and innovation." 

Hirst and Mears thanked Amour for his contributions over the past years and wished him every success for the future.

“It has been a privilege to help drive the Havas Village strategy across this complex region, and to see how that plus Vivendi’s world-class capabilities can make a real difference to our clients’ businesses," said Amour in the statement. "I wish Chris and Peter continued success as they take Havas Group to new heights”.

Amour joined Havas in October 2016 after serving as Asia-Pacific president of Starcom Mediavest Group. On his appointment, Havas Creative's global CEO explained they needed someone of his calibre to drive the agency's ambitious expansion plans in the region.