French media veteran succeeds Michelle Ko at MEC China

Guinot (pictured) will report to Stephen Li, MEC’s Asia-Pacific chief executive officer, and Bessie Lee, GroupM China chief executive officer. He will also  join MEC’s Asia-Pacific executive committee.

A French national, he boasts 23 years of cosmopolitan experience in the media industry, including with 4A agencies.

Guinot was most recently managing director of MEC Russia, having spent nearly five years in that role. There, he oversaw the rise of MEC from number six in the market to number one, winning over US$250 million of new business in the last 18 months alone, the agency said.

Before venturing out to Russia, Guinot  was with MEC's UK headquarters, where he was managing partner in the global solutions team. He ran accounts including DaimlerChrysler and Danone across Europe for three years.  Prior to his career at MEC, Christian worked as deputy managing director and global account director at MPG France for seven years, and before this, he was with Euro RSCG.

“In Christian, we are extremely fortunate to have someone with such strong skills and reputation within our company,” Li said. “Christian has done a fantastic job at MEC Russia and understands the opportunities available in a growing economy, I’m delighted that he’s accepted the challenge to take China to the heights it deserves.”

MEC China's client portfolio include Chanel, Mercedes-Benz, Colage, and DHL.

Guinot replaces Michelle Ko who is stepping down, and will relocated back to her home town in Hong Kong at the end of this year, she will be rejoining GroupM Aspire Asia-Pacific, the learning and development team, as regional director focusing on North Asia.

Maree McDonough, managing director, Aspire, GroupM Asia Pacific, said that talent development continues to be one of the group's top priorities. This is therefore a newly-created role, expanding the current team.

Ko was named president of MEC China in January 2010, joining from the GroupM regional Aspire team. Prior to this position she was managing director of Mindshare Shanghai for six years.

Reported in October, another long-serving MEC veteran Thomas Nolsoee, from Denmark, has relocated to MEC China to take on the newly-created role of chief strategy officer.