Edelman Digital makes new hires

Edelman Digital has hired Kim Hoang as managing director and Neil Leslie as creative director for Southeast Asia. Hoang and Leslie will be based in Singapore and report to Gavin Coombes (pictured), president of Edelman Digital Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa and Amanda Goh, managing director, Edelman Singapore.Hoang was most recently senior vice president for the European digital practice at Weber Shandwick, where she led a pan-regional digital team. Prior to this, Hoang was head of digital for McCann-Erickson in the UK and led an IPG initiative to harmonise back-end operations for all agencies under the constituency management group (Weber Shandwick, Jack Morton, GolinHarris, Octagon and FutureBrand).Leslie was most recently with M&C Saatchi Malaysia, where he led creative on the agency’s keystone account – Celcom and the development of the agency’s digital capabilities. He has also worked as a creative director with OgilvyOne and JWT in Hong Kong.Over the course of his 15-year career he was worked with clients such as KFC, Mars, Starbucks, Pepsi, IBM, American Express, Shangri-La Hotels, LVS, Vodafone, Nestle, HSBC, HP,  Nike, Lexus, and Heineken.Coombes said after close examination of the opportunities in Southeast Asia, the agency has opted to unite its digital consultants in the region and create a business greater than the sum of its parts.“Hoang is a multi-office leader who has been tasked to integrate our Southeast Asia offices and has the experience to do so. At the same time, Leslie is a best-in-breed specialist with extensive management and regional experience. The development of multiple offices of scale under Hoang and Leslie’s leadership will be a major benefit to our clients,” he added.Iain Twine, CEO of Edelman Southeast Asia and Australasia, said, “Our new leaders are increasingly coming from creative, digital and advertising backgrounds as part of the ongoing evolution and expansion of what Edelman as a PR firm is able to deliver for its clients.”The addition follow Edelman Digital’s hiring of Janet Dai as managing director of China in June 2013, Max Hegerman as managing director of India in July 2013 and Thomas Tang as director of paid media strategy in November 2013.