Manulife hires former Mindshare exec as Singapore CMO

Walker confirmed the new position to Campaign Asia-Pacific ahead of the company's official announcement tomorrow. She departed Mindshare, which she joined in 2014, earlier this month and started at Manulife yesterday.

The role, reporting to Naveed Irshad, president and CEO, is a "refreshed" one with a new remit, according to Walker, who said she is not directly replacing any individual.

She will oversee all marketing functions, including customer-centricity, communications and analytics, and will focus on driving brand recognition and customer engagement. As part of this, she will lead the development and implementation of digital and data-analytics strategies. She will also play a role in the Manulife and DBS Regional Bancassurance Partnership, which was was announced in April.

Walker has more than 20 years of experience in industries including telecommunications, insurance, health and travel. In addition to stints at Telstra and iiNet, she served as head of marketing for Bupa Australia (then called MBF) from 2004 to 2008, where she led marketing for the company's insurance, wealth-management and retirement products.

"I'm thrilled to be joining Manulife at such an important time," she said. "The business is ambitious and the calibre of the senior leadership team is impressive."

GroupM company MEC manages media buying for Manulife in Singapore, and Walker said she looks forward to staying connected to "the GroupM family". 

Mindshare has not yet provided a comment about filling Walker's former role.