Arrivals | Departures

Ten years after selling Hamlarick Media to Aegis, Richard Halmarick announced he will stand down from his role as CEO Asia South for Aegis Media Asia Pacific. Since taking on the South Asia role in early 2005, Halmarick has been a strong force within the Aegis group, expanding its offering around the region and overseeing some high-profile account wins including the lucrative global Tourism Australia account. Hamlarick said he's off to pursue personal interests, which funnily enough could include expanding his small alpaca farm in rural Australia. A South Asia CEO is expected to be announced within a month. Another departure from the senior ranks of media agencies was the surprise resignation of MindShare Hong Kong marketing & business development director Jamie Lord. Ashutosh Srivastava, MindShare Asia Pacific CEO, stressed Lord was not pushed from the agency, but instead decided to leave for personal reasons. Lord has relocated back to Australia for now. Yet another senior manager to leave for - you guessed it - personal reasons was Starcom Worldwide veteran Mabel Leung, who spent close to 13 years with the media buying agency. Starcom is yet to announce a successor. Moving briefly into the advertising world and Saatchi & Saatchi wasted no time announcing a replacement for Jim O'Mahony, who left to the company in late January. Taking over from O'Mahony is former chief marketer at Wendy's International, Ian Rowden, who takes the title of chairman & chief executive officer Saatchi & Saatchi Asia Pacific. The research industry also saw its fare share of movement this past month with research companies around the region continue to rework their operations as competition heats up and clients needs evolve. Taylor Nelson Sofres merged its Hong Kong and Singapore operations and promoted Wade Garland to MD of the combined group. Garland, currently Hong Kong MD,  has added Singapore to his brief with Singapore MD Grant Bertoli taking management of Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines. The Nielsen Company also relocated Chris Morley as MD Nielsen Marketing China in a bid to expand the company's retail and consumer research business around the region. Morley, formerly MD of Nielsen Vietnam, reports to Mitch Barns, president of Nielsen China.