ZenithOptimedia's MD heads to Havas Media

UPDATE: Havas Media has appointed Jacqui Lim, last managing director at ZenithOptimedia Singapore, for the role of managing director, head of front office and as chief client officer for Havas Media in Singapore and Malaysia.She reports to Melvin Lim, chief executive officer, Singapore & Malaysia at Havas Media. Her role is larger than the merely replacing the duties that Desh Balakrishnan used to hold, Lim told Marketing. She comes on board in October 2014."Her role is enlarged compared to Desh as she assumes the head of front office role which is a Havas Media Proprietary organisation setup that covers four large but related functional groups: Client Leadership, New Business, Strategy & Content  and Marketing & Communications," said Lim.Balakrishnan has moved on to the role of managing director at Maxus.Lim comes to Havas after more than six years in ZenithOptimedia where she held a range of roles specializing in the area of integrated media planning and implementation solutions. She has also worked with OMD Singapore for over two years as associate media director.Adam Hemming, chief executive officer at ZenithOptimedia Group confirmed the exit to Marketing and added that the agency will be looking to replace internally.Lim gave this statement: "We are delighted to have secured the services of, arguably, our media industry’s “Darling”, recognised as one of the most promising women to watch in APAC marketing today! Jacqui is  highly regarded and respected in the media agency circles because of her proven track record of achievements for clients and ability to motivate and lead large agency teams.""Jacqui is a great addition to our team especially in furthering our agency's vision of integrating digital at the core of what we do and marrying the elusive partnership of creativity, technology and data together to develop effective communication plans that today's clients need. And because she is local, she really has deep under-the-skin understanding of consumers which is so essential for true engagement to happen between our clients' brands and their customers."(Image from Marketing's Agency of the Year)