DAN's Merkle bolsters APAC team with new senior appointment

Dentsu Aegis Network's technology-enabled, data-driven performance marketing agency, Merkle, has appointed Ted Stites (pictured) as executive vice president, customer experience and marketing technology solutions for Asia Pacific.He will report to Zhengda ‘Z’ Shen, president, Merkle Asia Pacific.Stites will be responsible for the creation, execution, and overall performance of Merkle’s experience and marketing platform business, as well as remaining closely aligned to Merkle’s alliance and software partners. He was most recently the executive vice president of customer experience at Merkle in the Americas. Before that, he was the senior vice president, digital channel optimization where he led the experience and marketing platforms solution and delivery teams.Prior to joining Merkle, Stites created the strategy and insights practice for digital experience agency Siteworx, as well as served as the president of Numeric Analytics, a digital analytics and optimisation firm in the US. He has nearly 20 years of industry experience in marketing analytics, optimization, and automation.The appointment continues the network's investment of Merkle in Asia Pacific, with offices now operating in four markets Australia, China, Singapore and India.“I’m thrilled to be joining the Merkle team in Asia Pacific and look forward to bringing Merkle’s people-based marketing capabilities to the Asian markets — helping clients deliver superior customer experiences and build competitive advantage,” said Stites.Shen said Stites has been instrumental in rapidly growing Merkle’s experience and marketing platform business both in the United States and EMEA over the past three years. He added that Stites' track record of creating and growing strategic relationships with top marketing platform players such as Adobe, Salesforce and Oracle will accelerate Merkle’s ability to service strategic clients at scale."I’m very excited about the market opportunities in Asia Pacific, and I look forward to having Ted join our leadership team to continue the strong growth momentum,” Shen said.“Merkle is a key part of Dentsu Aegis’ acceleration strategy and development in the area of people based marketing in Asia Pacific. As we continue to evolve our performance offering in the region, we also invest in our people, who are essential to unlocking the power of data to create more engaging and powerful experiences," Nick Waters, CEO of Dentsu Aegis Network Asia Pacific, said.