VMLY&R appoints first chief growth officer in Asia

VMLY&R has promoted Camellia Tan to the newly created role of chief network growth officer in Asia. In this role, Tan will be responsible for the planning, design and execution of VMLY&R’s growth strategy for Asia, focusing on new and existing markets in line with key network client opportunities. She will also ensure that the company is prepared to operationally support existing and new businesses by way of building, buying, and integrating capabilities.

Prior to this, Tan was managing director of VMLY&R’s network development in Asia for four years during which she set up the ecommerce practice in Southeast Asia. She also grew the agency’s Caltex remit from regional brand AOR to become the network's integrated lead agency—this included digital transformation covering data, marketing automation and experience design. Tan also played a big role in integrating capabilities during the company’s merger with Geometry by creating offerings for shared clients including subscription commerce, data-driven marketing, and service design.

Tan is a veteran at both VML and Young & Rubicon prior to the companies’ merger, and climbed the ladder from a senior account director role in 2010. In her new role, she will be based in Singapore reporting into Yi-Chung Tay, CEO of VMLY&R Asia.

Tay noted in a statement that the agency had experienced "robust growth" over the past three years because of its focus on integrating, building out and acquiring capabilities to drive clients' growth. In addition, he said the agency had built a "great culture" for innovators and marketers to collaborate and grow together.

"With Camy having been in the thick of this growth, she’s the ideal choice to maintain this momentum, continuing our focus on growth and our ever-expanding capabilities," Tay added. 

VMLY&R recently underwent a leadership revamp with Tay being promoted to CEO for Asia and Hari Ramanathan to CEO for South Asia, Southeast Asia and Japan. Tripti Lochan, meanwhile, was moved to a global role as capability development officer, based in Singapore.