MAM
Himanshu Shekhar named as cluster CEO of GroupM Thailand, Indonesia & Vietnam
Mumbai: Media investment company GroupM has promoted Himanshu Shekhar to the role of cluster CEO of GroupM Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. Shekhar became CEO of GroupM Indonesia in 2019, and in October last year, he took on the additional mantle as CEO of GroupM Vietnam. His remit as CEO of GroupM Indonesia and Vietnam has been expanded to include the burgeoning Thailand market.
Additionally, the company has appointed Pathamawan Sathaporn as the CEO of GroupM Thailand. She moves on from Mindshare Thailand’s CEO position where she held various leadership roles for over one and a half decades. Pathamawan assumes the portfolio held by Niklas Stalberg who will be leaving the network after a decade of long-standing service. In this role, she will report to cluster CEO Himanshu Shekhar.
“Both the appointments are with effect from 1 May,” the company said in a statement.
Having spent two decades within the GroupM network, Shekhar rose through the ranks in Mindshare managing the business in volume-heavy India and Indonesia. He was appointed CEO of Mindshare Southeast Asia from 2014 to 2018. During Shekhar’s tenure at Mindshare, the agency in Indonesia bagged gold at ‘Campaign Asia’s Agency of the Year’ for five years running, while Mindshare Southeast Asia also snagged gold for three consecutive years.
“The group’s strategy to cluster Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam under one unified leadership will strengthen market capabilities and network agility,” said Himanshu Shekhar. “Given the breadth and depth of resources across these three important markets, we will be able to further scale our capabilities and solutions to deliver enhanced value for all our clients and partners. I look forward to building pathways for our talents to flourish in their careers and do great work for our clients. Our chief goal is to make advertising work better for people across Southeast Asia.”
“I am thrilled to partner with an illustrious leader like Pathamawan whose depth of field experience in Thailand will undoubtedly propel us into an even more glorious future,” he further said.
As CEO of GroupM Thailand, Indonesia & Vietnam, Himanshu will report to GroupM Asia Pacific CEO Ashutosh Srivastava, the company stated.
GroupM Thailand CEO Pathamawan Sathaporn commented, “I am honoured to embark on a journey that is both familiar and new – the purple blood running through my veins has now taken on a shade of blue. Growing alongside Mindshare for the past 16 years, I feel privileged to have witnessed the dramatic evolution of the media landscape which sets us up for new adventures daily.”
MAM
WPP appoints Estée Lauder’s Anne-Isabelle Choueiri as chief transformation officer
Former Estée Lauder executive to lead operations, technology and culture overhaul under WPP’s three-year growth plan
LONDON: WPP has appointed Anne-Isabelle Choueiri as chief transformation officer in a newly created role tasked with delivering the group’s Elevate28 strategy.
Choueiri joins from The Estée Lauder Companies, where she led enterprise-wide strategic initiatives, including the “One ELC” operating model and major upgrades to enterprise marketing, data and analytics capabilities. She also led the redesign of enterprise technology teams and served on the company’s AI taskforce, driving AI strategy, adoption and value realisation across the business.
At WPP, she will be responsible for designing, implementing and embedding the operating model behind Elevate28, the company’s three-year growth plan unveiled in February 2026. She will lead efforts to improve innovation, efficiency and integration across WPP’s client offerings, with a focus on delivering agile, outcome-driven solutions and measurable growth.
Choueiri will oversee organisational transformation across the group, working closely with product and enterprise technology teams to deploy AI, data and technology to build new capabilities and improve operational performance. She will also work with the people function to embed cultural change, strengthen an agile performance mindset and support talent development across the organisation.
Before joining Estée Lauder, she held senior roles across consulting and digital agencies, including at Accenture, Masaï (a Bain & Company spin-off), and Kearney, with experience spanning strategy, data and digital marketing transformation.
Cindy Rose, chief executive officer of WPP, said Choueiri brings a strong track record of leading large-scale transformation across operations, technology and culture, adding that her appointment will help accelerate the group’s next phase of growth under Elevate28.
Choueiri said WPP’s strategy represents an ambitious opportunity to reshape how the company operates and delivers for clients, adding that she looks forward to building integrated solutions and fostering a culture of innovation and change.
She will be based in New York and will join WPP’s executive committee.
