GroupM, the world's largest media investment company, has announced Pathamawan (Linda) Sathaporn as the new chief executive of GroupM Thailand, effective from May 1, 2022.
Ms Pathamawan becomes GroupM Thailand's chief executive on May 1.
She takes over from Niklas Stalberg, who leaves the network after a decade of service.
Ms Pathamawan crosses over from her current position as chief executive of Mindshare Thailand, where she has held various leadership roles over the past 15 years.
In 2021, Mindshare Thailand received two gold awards, including Campaign Asia's Agency of the Year in both media and digital. It was also ranked the No.1 media agency in Thailand.
"I am honoured to embark on a journey that is both familiar and new -- the purple blood running through my veins has now taken on a shade of blue," she said. "Growing alongside Mindshare the past 16 years, I feel privileged to have witnessed the dramatic evolution of the media landscape which sets us up for new adventures daily."
Ms Pathamawan said she looked forward to fostering talent and helping people flourish in their careers, while accelerating the company's capabilities to continue doing excellent work for clients and bringing to life the company's aspiration to make advertising work for Thais.
She reports to Himanshu Shekhar, whose remit as chief executive of GroupM Indonesia and Vietnam has been expanded to include Thailand.
Mr Shekhar's role has been expanded in terms of geographical coverage.
As chief executive of GroupM Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam, Mr Shekhar reports to Ashutosh Srivastava, chief executive of GroupM Asia Pacific.
Having spent two decades within the GroupM network, Mr Shekhar rose through the ranks at Mindshare, managing the business in volume-heavy India and Indonesia. He was appointed chief executive of Mindshare Southeast Asia from 2014 to 2018.
During Mr Shekhar's tenure at Mindshare, the agency in Indonesia received the gold award at Campaign Asia's Agency of the Year for five years running, while Mindshare Southeast Asia also snagged gold for three consecutive years.
In 2019 he became chief executive of GroupM Indonesia, and in October last year he took on an additional role as head of GroupM Vietnam.
Mr Shekhar said the group's strategy of clustering Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam under unified leadership would strengthen market capabilities and network agility.
"Given the breadth and depth of resources across these three important markets, we will be able to scale our capabilities and solutions to deliver enhanced value for all our clients and partners," he said.
"I am thrilled to work with an illustrious leader like Ms Pathamawan whose depth of field experience in Thailand will undoubtedly propel GroupM's growth."