Edelman hires Maxus’ head of digital

Edelman today announced that it has hired Martin Shaw as performance EVP and appointed Stuart Edwards as COO for Edelman Digital Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa (APACMEA), both newly created roles effective immediately.Shaw joins from Maxus, where he was head of digital for APAC, and will take charge of Edelman Digital APACMEA’s overall paid media offer and key data, analytics and reporting functions.Edwards, former MD of Edelman Digital Australia, will ensure the regional APACMEA business is optimised in terms of both efficiency and integration.Shaw will be based in Hong Kong, while Edwards will be based in Sydney and both will report to Gavin Coombes, president of Edelman Digital APACMEA.“We are embarking on the adoption of a product strategy and the integration of digital and rand talent into consolidated teams and united leadership to accelerate the evolution of our business,” Coombes said.Shaw started his career in the UK as a TV buyer, working on accounts such as Ford and British Telecom. In 2000, he took the plunge into digital media at Mindshare UK, including award-winning work on Volvo S60, Nestle, KitKat and Kellogg's.In 2009, Shaw moved to China for two and a half years where he ran OMD's business development, as well as the key Intel account, before settling in Hong Kong to head up Maxus' regional digital team - first for North Asia, then the APAC region.Prior to Edelman, Edwards worked at Profero, initially as the head of user experience and technology in Australia and then as managing director, Southeast Asia, where he built a multi-office, multi-million-dollar business virtually from scratch. Edwards joined Edelman Digital Australia as MD in 2015.