Starcom MediaVest Group (SMG) MENA announces management changes

Commenting on the new management roles and responsibilities, Blackborn said, "Organic growth and development is a building block of any successful company. At SMG this has always been the case and will continue to be so. We believe in investing in our people and encouraging them to make the leap into more challenging roles. In this particular case, we identified functional areas of expertise to be led by relevant individuals, in parallel to critical operational roles."

PHILIP JABBOUR has been named Group Director, Marketing and New Business development, SMG MENA. Jabbour's vast experience in Starcom is what makes him the ideal choice in defining and executing SMG's new marketing strategy as well as managing the region's focus on new business and market opportunities. Beyond these responsibilities, Jabbour is also going to be part of an executive management team responsible for marketing SMG across EMEA.

HISHAM TANNIR is promoted to Managing Director, Starcom Regional Markets. Hisham is taking operational management responsibility for Starcom markets outside of Dubai (KSA, Egypt, Levant and Kuwait). This new role recognises Tannir's contribution on growing the businesses he handled, including P&G, and gives him further responsibility to manage the business in these markets. Tannir is also going to be part of a newly formed EMEA executive group responsible for Starcom product offering.

TAREK DAOUK assumes the role of Managing Director, Starcom Dubai. Daouk will shift focus from heading planning of the P&G AOR unit to overseeing the entire Dubai operation. Daouk's mix of both youth and experience will be hugely beneficial for the Dubai operation. Daouk will also be overseeing Business Compass to ensure full integration of Starcom's research offering into the core business.

ALEX SABER receives additional responsibilities in the role of Group Trading Director, SMG MENA to his current Regional Managing Director role for Mediavest. Saber will be combining his Mediavest responsibilities with leading on SMG's media negotiations across all suppliers.

KARINE BARAKAT leaves the Dubai office to take on the role of General Manager, Starcom Egypt. With bounds of local and regional experience Barakat's move from Beirut to Dubai and now to Cairo, makes her the ideal local - regional choice in taking the Cairo office, an already successful and leading business in Egypt, into the next level in media agency performance.

Blackborn added, "This being a relatively young market, the norm one may think is that Western markets are always ahead and that we look to them for inspiration and guidance, but the opposite is also true where the local and regional teams here have been instrumental in generating success stories from the MENA network that have been commended and at times used to build our business in more developed Western Europe and North American markets. Recent examples include our critical contribution in consolidating the Richemont business across the Americas & Europe, based on solid MENA experience with our client, as well as showcasing our award-winning MENA Kraft Dream Whip campaign that has attained global recognition within the Kraft world."