Dentsu Hong Kong CEO Pauline Chu to retire

Pauline Chu, CEO dentsu Hong Kong, has announced her retirement, leaving the business at the end of November.

Chu has had a long and successful career, spanning nearly 35 years working with some of the world’s leading brands in banking, telecoms, retail and FMCG in Hong Kong and China. After graduating, Chu entered the industry as a media research specialist before joining Ogilvy in 1989. She specialised in Media Planning for the rest of her career, working at BBDO and McCann Erikson before joining Carat in 2006. In 2008 she had the opportunity to move to Guangzhou to be MD, Colgate China Media at MEC, spending two years turning round a struggling business before being lured back to Carat to take on the MD, Carat Hong Kong role in 2010.

Chu drove an award-winning culture and during her time as MD for Carat, led the business from being at the bottom of RECMA’s quantitative rankings and into the top five. She also had a similar success rate with RECMA’s qualitative rankings. In 2015, Pauline was promoted to CEO, dentsu Hong Kong and took a broader role across the business. Over the past five years she has been focused on integration, transformation and simplification, aligned to the ‘Power of One’ strategy. She leaves a blueprint to enable the long-term, sustainable growth of the business.

With the planned simplification of the business, the Hong Kong Leadership team will continue to lead their lines of business however will take on broader responsibilities. Cheuk Chiang, CEO Greater North will also play a greater role overseeing the market with a focus on ensuring stability and continued growth.

Pauline Chu, CEO, dentsu Hong Kong, said: “I have had a long and successful career and now feel the time is right to step away and take time to consider what’s next. I have spent most of my career at Carat and dentsu, and I look back fondly at the challenges and the successes we have had as a team. We have so many talented people working together with clients who are looking to push the boundaries, no more so than this year and I look forward to seeing a great many more successes out of the agency. But for now, I am looking forward to spending more time with my family and progressing my plans to move abroad.”

Ashish Bhasin, CEO, dentsu APAC said: “Pauline has never shied away from a challenge and has an impressive number of accolades to prove it. She is a respected leader and leaves behind a great legacy in the Hong Kong market, one that the team can build upon and drive greater success for our people, clients and business. I’d like to thank her for her long-standing contribution to the business and wish her a happy, healthy retirement.”