GroupM has announced that Sameer Singh has been appointed as CEO of its South Asia operations, effective 2 July.
Singh takes over from CVL Srinivas, who has been CEO of GroupM South Asia since 2013 and will be taking on his role of country manager of WPP India (see "CVL Srinivas replaces Ranjan Kapur as country manager for WPP").
Singh joins from Google, where he was director of sales. Prior to that he was global head of media at GlaxoSmithKline. He will be based in Gurguram and report to Srinivas and Mark Patterson, CEO of GroupM Asia Pacific.
“When planning the leadership succession, we found in Sam the perfect candidate who could take GroupM South Asia to the next level," Srinivas said. "We have built a strong enabling environment for our agencies with data centricity, digital leadership and content services. Sam has a track record of driving change at organisations focused on media, technology, brands and ROI. I look forward to working with Sam who has been a client, a media partner and a friend for many years."
Patterson added, “Sam is a unique talent and a great business partner with a fantastic track record delivering growth for market-leading world-class businesses across the globe. He now joins another one, and we are excited, proud and pleased to welcome him to GroupM South Asia.”
Singh said the India market is transitioning to the next level of media sophistication, and he will bring to the table his experience gained while at Google, from working as a marketer and while working in both emerging and developed markets.