OMD China confirms five senior departures

The departures include China CFO Ian Lee, GM of OMD Beijing May-Peng Chong, GM of OMD Shanghai Joanne Law, country digital head Lawrence Wan and business director Manfred Tsang who works on the McDonald's account.

Chong and Law have been with OMD China for ten years and eight years, respectively, while Lee and Tsang have both been with the company for five years. Wan moved to OMD China from Hong Kong in 2008.

"Our clients have been informed; we need to manage our expansion and make sure there is no negative impact," said Ip.

"Our management team is very close knit and they leave on good terms. We have a contingency plan in place, both to manage our growth and the challenge of finding new talent in China."

Ip said that the departures are all managed structural changes with replacements already identified or in place.

"A direct replacement for May-Peng will be on board from June 21, while Joanne will be indirectly replaced by an expanded executive team in Shanghai," she said.

She added that both Chong and Law were leaving for personal family reasons.

A replacement for Wan is expected to be in place by 21 June, while the company's new CFO will start on 1 July.

According to one source, OMD has been on an aggressive hiring spree in China in recent years to match its sharp growth in the country.

"OMD has hired many senior staff from other agencies in response to the high demand for senior agency talents in China," the source said. "Many clients in China prefer agencies to have senior executives with China experience on hand, instead of waiting for the agencies to train them. This can lead to staff being put under a lot of presssure."