Chief creative officer Ali Shabaz departs from Grey Group Southeast Asia

Ali Shabaz, chief creative officer of Grey Group Southeast Asia, has left the agency following a seven-year long tenure. Marketing understands he will be taking on the role of CCO at Grey Group Middle East. In his new capacity, he will be reporting to Nirvik Singh, chairman & CEO, Grey Group Asia Pacific, Middle East, & Africa.Prior to his exit, Shabaz was overseeing offices in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. His extensive career spans over twenty years across three markets, India, Middle East and Singapore.  He has worked on various big brands that include Visa, HSBC, Sunsilk, KFC, FedEx, ICI Paints, Qatar Airways, Pizza Hut, SilkAir and Glaxo Smith Kline.(Read also: Creative Catch-Up: Grey Group’s Ali Shabaz)Prior to his role, Shabaz (pictured) was associate creative director of JWT Singapore in 2005. He was promoted to creative director within a year. In 2008, Shabaz rose to the position of executive creative director. He also worked at BBDO Singapore for a period of five years.Marketing has reached out to Grey for more comments.Most recently, Grey Group also hired a slew of creative talents. Mans Tesch, as chief strategy officer for Grey Group APAC, Marthinus Strydom as global creative leader, Team GSK at Grey Group Singapore, and Neil Cotton, who takes on the dual role as global strategy director for GSK and chief strategy officer for Grey Group Singapore.This was in a bid to bolster its leadership core in Asia, with a special focus on Grey Group Singapore.Last year, the agency returned the controversial Bronze Lion that it won at Cannes for its I-SEA app following widespread criticism. The app created much buzz during its launch on multiple news sites, but was called out online by technology bloggers for being unable to live up to its promise. According to a press statement from the agency, the reason for the return was due to “unfair, unrelenting attacks by unnamed bloggers” and also to ensure “there is not even the hint of impropriety or question” of its integrity.