Staff Reporters
Apr 26, 2022

John Riccio named president of Merkle APAC

Riccio expands his remit from ANZ and replaces Zhengda "Z" Shen who retires in July.

John Riccio
John Riccio

John Riccio has been named president of Dentsu's Merkle in APAC, which includes Greater China, Southeast Asia, India, as well as Australia and New Zealand (ANZ). He replaces Zhengda "Z" Shen, who has announced his retirement, effective July 1.

Riccio will continue in his existing role as CEO of Merkle’s ANZ region. He has a background leading customer experience consulting, most recently as experience consulting partner, APAC, for EY. Previously, he held partner positions at PwC in Australia and Asia, and at IBM in the UK.

“John’s extensive regional and global leadership experience will further enable and drive growth and success in this critical region for the business," said Michael Komasinski, global CEO of Merkle. 

Riccio said he was impressed by Merkle's technical expertise and agile approach: “I am excited to expand my ANZ role across the broader APAC region, supporting our clients who have entrusted us to create distinctly better experiences and relationships with their customers across all key technology platforms.” 

Riccio’s promotion coincides with the departure of Z Shen, who is retiring after more than two decades on Merkle’s executive leadership team. Komasinski noted that Shen was instrumental in growing the APAC business from $5 million in one market to $150 million across ten markets, with over 2,000 employees. 

Source:
Campaign Asia

Related Articles

Just Published

15 hours ago

Agency Report Card 2024: Mindshare

Mindshare faced significant setbacks in APAC in 2024, losing nearly a billion dollars in client business and falling out of Campaign's top 20 rankings, highlighting the need for strategic renewal.

16 hours ago

2025 Cannes Contenders: Dentsu APAC leaders place ...

From the grippingly serious to the hilariously eccentric, three Dentsu creative and product leaders across APAC give their nods to award-worthy work that may win a Cannes Lions next week.

17 hours ago

'Media isn’t a commodity. Treating it like one is a ...

Ruben Schreurs tells Campaign why litigation, platform volatility, and outdated media models are distorting decision-making—and why advertisers need to focus less on adjacency panic, and more on strategic clarity.

18 hours ago

WPP never seized control of its destiny under Mark ...

Departing CEO had some notable successes, but the company has struggled.