4As Malaysia names Andrew Lee president and Aaron Cowie VP

4As Malaysia has appointed Andrew Lee (pictured), as the newly elected president of the organisation.  Lee, is the  managing director of Havas Kuala Lumpur. He previously served for two years as 4As vice president. Aaron Cowie, chief executive officer of TBWA\ Kuala Lumpur, was elected vice president.Lee and Cowie expressed their appreciation for the remarkable contribution by Dato’ Johnny Mun, the outgoing 4As president and council members, particularly in the areas of talent growth, education, professional practice and agency remuneration. Cowie added that the new council will implement improvements to the existing initiatives where necessary to re-energise the industry to be more vibrant.“We need to re-define ourselves as an industry to adapt to the continual changes in terms of technology and the new way of communicating,” said Cowie.The newly elected 4As Council Members include APD Digital Services, Arachnid, BBDO Malaysia, Crush Communications, Ellipsis, Geometry Global, IF Interactive, M&C Saatchi, Naga DDB, and Oxygen Advertising.Meanwhile, Lee vows to hold up the five key pillars of the organisation and provide industry guidance and leadership, raise industry standards and professionalism, foster continuous professional development for the attraction and retention of agency talent, promote commercial creativity and its effectiveness, and serve as the government’s principal information source and advisor on advertising – will remain as the association’s primary goals.“My primary mission is to safeguard the business and creative interests of the 4As members through membership drive, educational opportunities and wider collaborations with our media partners and professional agencies including the Media Specialists Association (MSA), Malaysian Advertisers Association (MAA), Malaysian Digital Association (MDA), Malaysian Newspaper Publishers Association (MNPA) and Malaysian Association of Advertising Filmmakers (PPFIM),” said Lee.Apart from existing outreach programmes with tertiary educational institutions and certification programmes, the 4As will continue working closely with the Institute for Practitioners of Advertising (IPA) UK to arm advertising practitioners with updated industry knowledge, new skill sets and tools.“We have allocated approximately RM50,000 worth of scholarships for full-time employees of 4As member agencies as part of our commitment in raising industry standards and professionalism by fostering continuous professional development,” said Lee. “We strongly encourage industry practitioners, especially entry-level executives, to optimise the available resources provided by the association to hone their skills.”The election of the new 4As Council was held at the association’s Biennial General Meeting.