Phil Talbot joins DWA board

Talbot resigned from ZenithOptimedia in March after 19 years with Publicis.

David Wood, CEO of DWA, described Talbot’s non-executive director role as a “traditional advisory position”.

Wood expects Talbot to contribute greatly to the company’s expansion plans in Asia, particularly China and Australia, its key growth markets. “He’s done a fantastic job for ZenithOptimedia in both China and Australia, and we’re investing significant time and money in these two markets,” Wood said. 

DWA is also keen to tap Talbot’s wide technology experience with clients including Hewlett-Packard, Oracle and 3Com.

Talbot will be working closely with DWA’s APAC MD John Massey. The DWA board also includes John Farrell, former Publicis Executive, as chairman.

Asia-Pacific currently represents 30 per cent of the agency’s overall business. Wood expects growth in China to boost that significantly.

While many of the company’s clients are headquartered in North America, the agency works closely with regional and local field-marketing departments.

The non-executive role is in addition to Talbot’s current position as CEO of AsiaXpertise, which he launched in September.

Additionally, DWA said that OMD’s Kiaran Geen has joined as managing director for Australia and New Zealand and Amy Slayter, formerly of SAP, Avaya and Nortel, is joining DWA Singapore as client-services director.

In Asia, DWA has offices in Singapore, Bangalore, Beijing and Sydney. Its 150 clients include Cisco, Salesforce.com and Citrix.