Facebook looks to strengthen agency relations with hire of Maxus’ Stewart

In yet another senior agency hire, Facebook has appointed Maxus’ global chief client officer Neil Stewart as its Asia Pacific head of agency. Stewart will continue to be based in Singapore.He will report to Patrick Harris, Facebook’s global director for agency development, and Stewart will lead a team of agency development managers in Asia Pacific, a Facebook spokesperson told Marketing.Stewart was at Maxus for six years.“Neil was a very early recruit into our family and has helped to shape the great agency we are today. He grew the Asia Pacific region at a tremendous rate, has been pivotal in our success and made many, many friends along the way. Everyone here at Maxus thanks Neil for the great work he’s done for Maxus, and we all wish him luck in his new role at Facebook,” Lindsay Pattison, global CEO at Maxus, said.There are currently no plans to replace the CCO role. Lindsay Pattison will work with the senior client leader community within Maxus to ensure the continuation of Stewart’s work, said the agency.“It has been a fantastic six years at Maxus, and we have achieved so much, in an industry that continues to change and evolve so fast. One of the organisations that is driving that change in the way we all connect and spend our time on-line and on mobile is Facebook – so naturally I am delighted to be joining them next year,” said Stewart.Earlier, the social network appointed OgilvyOne’s Peter Riley to head up its Creative Shop division in Asia Pacific.