MUMBAI: BBC Advertising, part of BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of UK pubcaster the BBC, has announced the appointment of Katy Xu as regional director for Hong Kong and Greater China.

Xu will be responsible for BBC Advertising’s business in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, Philippines and China, and starts with immediate effect.

Xu will be based in Hong Kong and report to senior VP sales Asia Sunita Rajan.

She joins BBC Advertising from Eurosport Asia Pacific where she was regional account director (Greater China, Thailand and Singapore) for two years.

Previous to that, Xu was regional sales manager for both Greater China and South East Asia at Microsoft Advertising, and regional account director (Asia Pacific) for MTV Asia. She has also held sales roles at Lycos Asia and ChinaQuest Software.

Key achievements over her past 12 years of international media background have included helping major Chinese brands such as Haier and Huawei launch their first ever international advertising campaigns - Haier sponsoring MTV Asia Awards in 2006, and Huawei (device) sponsoring the broadcast of London 2012 on Eurosport.

Rajan said: "With vast experience in both pan regional TV and digital, having worked with global media companies such as Viacom, Microsoft Advertising Solutions and most recently Eurosport, Katy is well poised to drive growth for our business from these markets with her expertise in multi-screen and content solutions Ad Sales and her added knowledge and fluency in Mandarin."

Xu said, "I am delighted to have joined the BBC Advertising team, and am looking forward to working with businesses in Hong Kong and Greater China to promote their goods and services alongside some of the world’s best, most watched and most trusted content."

She moves into the role vacated by Michael Rees, who has relocated to Singapore as BBC Advertising’s regional director for Singapore, Korea.