Havas Media’s Indonesia CEO departs

INDONESIA - Havas Media Group’s Indonesia CEO, SK Biswas, is leaving the group in early October after serving in several regional and country level roles since January 2009.

The agency has promoted Anwesh Bose, the current MD, to replace Biswas. Biswas did not respond to Campaign Asia-Pacific’s email query on his next move.

Bose joined Havas Media in 2014 from DDB Mudramax India where we was senior vice president heading operations for North and East India. He was the chief growth officer of Dentsu Media in India prior to that.

“Biswas has helped build a very strong platform for the group in Indonesia that forms a great foundation for fast tracking growth in the new economy,” said Vishnu Mohan, CEO of Havas Media, Asia-Pacific.

“Anwesh’s prior experience and success in both India and Indonesia makes him a natural choice for the leadership role and I am certain that under his watch we will further consolidate and strengthen our foothold in this very important market,” he added.

There have been several leadership changes in recent months within media agencies in Southeast Asia.

Earlier in the year, Havas Media hired Andreas Vogiatzakis, the former CEO of Omnicom Media Group (OMG) Malaysia to lead the business there. Ranga Somanathan, previously COO of Southeast Asia and head of global network clients for Starcom Mediavest Group, was appointed to lead Singapore and Malaysia as CEO for OMG.

In March, IPG Mediabrands named Bala Pomaleh as CEO in Malaysia following Prashant Kumar’s resignation as president of world markets and CEO of its Malaysia office. Kumar then went on to join Kuala Lumpur-based Entropia, which positions itself as both an advertising agency and consultancy

Update: SK Biswas joins Dentsu Aegis Network Indonesia as chief operating officer. His remit includes aligning and expanding the agency's capabilities to meet the rapid transformation in the Indonesian market.