Raj Gupta from Wavemaker APAC has been appointed as National Chief Strategy officer for UM Australia after a detailed National and International search.
Prior to this Gupta was the APAC Chief Strategy Officer of Wavemaker. He had been with Wavemaker (formerly MEC) for over 15 years and was part of the “strategic foundations” for the agency’s APAC operations over the past 10 years.
He will join UM’s senior leadership team and report to CEO Fiona Johnston.
In UM Australia, Gupta would be leading the national strategy for the agency, and tasked with bringing his “unique” level of human, data and design thinking to the role.
“At this time of change at pace in our communications world, it is vital we offer clients as much counsel and perspective as we can on their businesses and media investments,” Johnston says.
Gupta, has a background in digital and data, having led the transformation projects for clients’ digital and data acceleration initiatives, including Citibank, Chanel and Colgate-Palmolive.
“Too much of our professional world has become reactive, or even schizophrenic, and so we need to respond at pace but also protect solid brand and business ideas if they are to resonate beyond constant noise. Certainly UM is widely respected for its strategy-driven performance and I am looking forward to the new role,” Gupta said.