Mumbai: Dentsu Asia Pacific has announced promotions of its next generation leaders. As a part of this development, Sharan Jaswal has been promoted to general counsel APAC, Luke Speers to chief people officer APAC, both effective from 1 April. The company further has named Paul Koppelman as chief financial officer for APAC, effective from 1 May.
“Asia Pacific is critical to the future growth of Dentsu and our clients. I am delighted to see the promotions of three executives in the region, bolstering the existing team with exceptional people who have grown through our organisation,” commented Dentsu International global CEO Wendy Clark.
Jaswal brings nearly 20 years of in-house experience with previous roles at ESPN Star Sports and Yahoo!. She joined Dentsu in 2015 as senior regional counsel and has steadily assumed responsibility and respect from her peers, being promoted to deputy general counsel, APAC in 2018. She’s a vocal DEI advocate, founding Women@dentsu in Singapore in 2018 and currently co-leads the women empowerment pillar of dentsu’s DEI strategy in the region.
“Sharan’s a trusted advisor, respected for her strong commercial acumen. She has a proven record of developing and leading our legal teams across South Asia, South-East Asia and Creative businesses in APAC, all while initiating a DEI agenda in Singapore and supporting our global initiatives in the region,” added Wendy.
Luke Speers brings extensive experience from the digital, telecommunications and financial services sector having previously worked as head of people at iSelect, one of Australia’s largest insurance comparators, Telstra and The MitchelLake Group in consulting capacities. He joined dentsu Australia in March 2016 as head of talent, and was promoted to HR Director in August the same year, before being promoted to chief people officer in April 2019 and adding South-East Asia to his remit in 2021.
“Luke’s passionate about people. His exposure to global brands and start-ups across sectors has enabled him to develop expertise pivotal in identifying and securing world-class leaders, building high-performance teams and helping secure the success of some of the world’s most exciting organisations,” commented Wendy.
Paul Koppelman has a track record of delivering transformation and growth, with a strong global outlook. Having worked in Europe and Asia Pacific over his 20-year career, he has held leadership positions in several global companies across banking, technology and media & entertainment.
Wendy said on Paul’s promotion, “Paul is a respected member of the finance community and has proven his strategic and commercial capability as a partner to the ANZ business. His appointment will bring stronger commercial acumen and rigor across the APAC region.”
