Dentsu Aegis Network replaces APAC media leader

Incessant leadership churn at Dentsu Aegis Network shows little sign of abating as the network announced yet another exit and reshuffle—this time affecting the helm of its APAC media business out of Singapore.

DAN announced that Audrey Kuah, current executive team member and executive director of its APAC media group, will be leaving the network at the end of March "to pursue other opportunities".

In her place, the network is promoting client president Prerna Mehrotra to the role to oversee its media business. This includes its brands iProspect, Carat, Vizeum, Amplifi, Amnet, and Posterscope, which were restructured a year ago to eliminate most APAC CEO roles in favour of one Singapore-led media group. 

“Audrey has been working very closely with Prerna to help drive our strategy, and is keen to see her take over the reins now that the strategy is starting to pay dividends," said Prakash Kamdar, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Singapore in a release citing new wins and renewals like Starhub and Income.

"The time is now right for me to explore external opportunities where I can continue to share my industry knowledge and expertise in a different environment," Kuah stated in the release, "and I am leaving with confidence that the Media business is in the best hands under Prerna Mehrotra.”

With significant changes to DAN's media business in APAC, its leadership has become somewhat of a hot potato. After the January 2019 restructuring, former Carat APAC CEO Jonathan Chadwick was initially tapped for the job with support from Dentsu X's Phil Adrien, but by March he opted to walk away from it.  By the end of March, Kuah was then tapped to fill the role, again with help from Adrien. 

Mehrotra, who was known for delivering on regional cost committments across key clients for DAN after she joined as investment head in 2016, later became Carat's chief client officer. 

“Building a media practice fit for our client’s needs in the rapidly evolving digital environment is our imperative," Mehrotra said in the release. "I look forward to working with the team to continue scaling our media offerings.”

DAN also announced that transition also sees Sunil Naryani and Anshuman Purohit jointly taking on trading and investment roles. Campaign reported earlier that SK Biswas, who had been DAN's Indonesia CEO since 2017, left Indonesia last January after being succeeded by Maya Watono to return to Singapore. DAN also confirmed Biswas is now leaving the business altogether to return to India.

Phil Adrien, a DAN spokesperson confirmed, is now managing director of DAN's Creative & Content Group, one of three pillars that Dentsu has streamlined its business into globally, alongside media and CRM.