BANGALORE: Google Inc. has appointed Richard Kimber as managing director, Sales and Operations, South East Asia. Based in Sydney, Australia, Kimber will manage Google‘s business operations and strategic partnerships across India, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Australia and New Zealand.

"Richard brings exceptional leadership and management experience to drive Google‘s growth in the South East Asian market," said Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, vice president, Asia Pacific & Latin America Operations, Google Inc. "We are committed to continuing our international investment, and proven leaders, like Richard, enable us to execute effectively in this developing region."

Kimber joins Google from the HSBC Group, having most recently served two years as Chief Executive of FirstDirect Bank in the UK, where he increased the company‘s profitability and drove customer acquisitions. From 2001-2004, Kimber served as global head of e-marketing for HSBC and president of HSBC‘s Internet payment subsidiary.

In 2000, he was based in Hong Kong as head of e-business Asia-Pacific and also served as an advisor to the government on internet policy. Kimber originally joined the company in 1998 as managing director of HSBC InvestDirect in Australia, where he led the start-up business to profitability in less than 12 months.