Andreas is Star Media Group’s new CEO

PETALING JAYA: Seasoned ad man Andreas Vogiatzakis (pic) has been appointed the new Star Media Group Bhd CEO, and will assume the role starting Aug 13.

The 53-year-old was the former CEO of Havas Media Group Malay­sia, a position he held from August 2016 until his resignation last month.

Andreas was tasked to build and run the media operations for the Havas/Vivendi network.

He grew Havas into a top-tier media agency in Malaysia, winning the most prestigious industry accolade – Campaign’s Gold Agency of the Year – in 2017 and was himself shortlisted for the Agency Head of the Year Award for South-East Asia.

Star Media Group (SMG) chairman Datuk Fu Ah Kiow said the group’s board is confident that Andreas ’ past performance record and vast local and regional experience in the media industry would enable him to lead the management team in implementing its transformation plans.

“The board and the management will give him full support and cooperation to introduce more innovative changes to bring SMG to greater heights,” he said.

Andreas ’ career in Malaysia began in 2006 when he joined Omnicom Media Group (OMG) as the group CEO of OMD and PHD.

Being a firm believer in curating strategic partnerships and turning clients into enthusiastic referral sources and with the help of an amazing team, he re-engineered OMG into an award-winning formidable force that has received numerous awards and accolades, including an unprecedented double gold award for OMD and PHD in 2012 at the Campaign Agency of the Year regional awards.

Born and raised in rural Crete, the largest of the Greek islands, Andreas quit the prestigious Mathematics University of Athens to pursue his passion for advertising at the University of Florida, graduating with high honours.

He kickstarted his career at DMB&B in New York before returning to Greece to fulfil his mandatory national army service in 1991.

Andreas then worked at JWT Athens where he managed the media for the agency’s international clients.

In 1997, DMB&B sought him out again to launch and run MediaVest in Japan.

After a short stint with Wieden + Kennedy Tokyo in 2000 as the media director for Nike, Uniqlo and Ben & Jerry’s, he joined Publicis to merge MediaVest and Starcom, in partnership with Dentsu.

He transformed the Starcom MediaVest Group into a top-tier international media agency in Japan in a short time. Enjoying the challenges of “building”, he later moved to Taiwan at the helm of the MindShare Group, cementing it to be the strongest market leader in the local media scene.

Andreas has conducted numerous high-powered learning sessions for universities, conferences, media organisations and the industry at large.

He has served in several industry associations and boards, as well as many award juries.

He is the treasurer of the Malay­sian Digital Association and has served in the Malaysian Advertisers Association, on the board of the European Union-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce & Industry (EUMCCI) and the Media Specialist Association of Malaysia as president.

He has also served in several industry advisory panels such as Google, Digital Summit Asia, Ad:tech, Asia Pacific Media Forum, Campaign’s Media 360, as chairman of the Brandfest Malaysia conferences and as an industry advisory board member for universities and colleges in Malaysia including Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR), PJ College of Art & Design (PJCAD) and Monash University.

Andreas also has a passion for coaching, mentoring and empowering young minds and professionals to map their life and professional journey and find their own passion for innovation and excellence.

He is a certified professional coach and a certified neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) practitioner.

He was inducted in the Young Presidents Organisation (YPO) Malaysian Chapter in 2008, the International Who’s Who of Professionals in 2009, received the Achievers and Leaders Award in 2012, the Global Brand Leadership Award in 2014 and was mentioned as one of the 100 most influential Digital Leaders in APAC in 2017.