Chow will report to Jesse Lin, CEO of McCann Worldgroup Greater China, when he gets in the seat at McCann Shanghai on 2 May.
Chow's final day as Shanghai managing director at Young and Rubicam was last Friday, after a six-year stint since 2007. At his ex-agency, he focused on the Colgate-Palmolive account serviced by the dedicated WPP operating unit, Red Fuse Communications, that was set up in September last year. Red Fuse merges the account teams at Y&R, Wunderman, VML, MEC and GHG
It is understood a replacement for Chow has been lined up at Y&R, but cannot be announced at the present time (due to "internal bureaucracy", according to industry sources who prefer to remain anonymous).
Lin said Chow's knowledge of the business is across a wide range of traditional, digital and integrated communications, one of the main reasons why he was hired.
At McCann, he will work closely with clients such as L'Oréal, Bank of Communications, Sanlitun and Fujian Nanping Nanfu Battery as well as drive operational excellence between the agency's creative and account teams.
Born in Shanghai, Chow holds a MBA degree from the Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California.