GOVT Singapore announces appointments and promotions to refresh senior management team

Independent agency GOVT Singapore has made new appointments and grown its senior management team, in an effort to bring new blood to the fore and grow the agency from within.

Phang Mei Jeng, affectionately known as MJ, joins as Managing Director of the agency. Most recently, Phang spent 7 years in Ensemble Worldwide/Mediabrands Content Studio in Malaysia, climbing up the ranks to Managing Director. She also spent 4 years in BBDO Proximity China as Business Director and has worked on a slew of regional and global brands such as PETRONAS, Pizza Hut, Visa, OPPO, Ford, Gillette, Braun, and Toyota. She was named in Campaign Asia-Pacific’s 40 Under 40 in 2018 and also awarded Southeast Asia Account Person of the Year in 2019.

Phang takes over the Managing Director role from Alvina Seah, who will remain as a Partner within the GOVT group of companies.

Kevin Poh has also been promoted from Group Creative Director to Executive Creative Director of GOVT. With close to two decades of experience and numerous local and international awards under his belt, Kevin has spent 7 years within GOVT across two stints. His elevation to ECD follows over 4 years of creative stewardship of brands such as Sentosa, Julie’s Biscuits, Puma and Asahi.

Poh takes over the ECD role from Tim Chan, who will be taking on a new Chief Operating Officer role in The Betterment Group, GOVT’s parent company, alongside longtime partners Leon Lai (CEO) and Aaron Koh (CCO).

New to the fold is also Khoo Kai Qi, who joins as Client Services Director. Across over 13 years, Khoo has gained experiences across local and international brands in agencies such as Publicis, JWT, Tribal DDB Worldwide and recently, Moon Rabbit Singapore. During her time in Tribal DDB Worldwide she was Head of Business (Government) and spearheaded the agency’s foray across numerous government campaigns, including award-winning work for the Singapore Army, Ministry of Communications & Information (MCI), Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), Ministry of National Development (MND) and many more.

CEO of The Betterment Group, Leon Lai said: “Change is the only constant in life, and even more so in our industry. Our move to bring in new blood and elevate stalwarts like Kevin to bigger leadership positions is all about keeping the agency’s energy fresh and dynamic. At the same time, it allows the Co-Founders to spend time pursuing new opportunities for the Group and its agencies. And there’ll be more exciting ventures in the pipeline we’ll share in the coming months.”

Pictured top pic LtoR: Khoo Kai Qi, Phang Mei Jeng, Kevin Poh.
Pictured bottom pic LtoR: Aaron Koh, Tim Chan, Leon Lai.