MUMBAI: Havas Asia Pacific announced the appointment of Kevin Zhang, a seasoned professional with more than 15 years of human resources experience, as Director of Human Resources for the region.

In this newly created role, Zhang will be leading regional talent initiatives across all key brands of Havas including the flagship brands Havas Worldwide and Havas Media. He has also been tasked with developing specific initiatives to attract top talent to the agency while simultaneously creating learning and development programs to retain talent.

Prior to joining Havas, Zhang spent 10 years at IPG in New York as Director, Corporate Human Resources leading global HR initiatives. Most recently, he moved to R/GA Singapore to lead the APAC HR operations. He has also worked as Human Resources Manager with ALLOY Media + Marketing, Dow Jones & Company, and Ogilvy CommonHealth.

As a senior HR professional, Zhang specialises in talent management, talent acquisition, employee engagement, leadership development, performance management, and diversity and inclusion programs.

Zhang will report in to Michael Lelievre, Chief Financial Officer of Havas Asia Pacific and will work closely with the senior Asia Pacific leadership at the group. He will oversee local HR leads in Asia Pacific and will also work closely with the global talent team helmed by Patti Clifford, Havas’ Chief Talent Officer based in New York, and Celine Merle-Beral, Chief Talent Officer for Havas Media based out of Paris.

Commenting on the appointment, Havas Asia Pacific CFO Michael Lelievre said, “Talent is the life-blood of our industry and a key competitive advantage that we have as an agency. Kevin’s appointment demonstrates Havas’ increasing focus on talent. He is a critical hire for the agency and we are quite confident that his extensive experience in the advertising space will make him a big asset for the group.”

 Havas chief talent officer Patti Clifford said, “Asia Pacific is a very important market for Havas and the fast growing nature of the region makes it important for the group to have a strong talent strategy in place. Kevin is a great addition to lead across the Creative and Media groups, further solidifying our Together strategy.”

On his appointment, Zhang said, “Havas as a group has witnessed a huge momentum both globally and in Asia Pacific in the last few years and is in a very exciting phase of its growth. The agency not only has some big plans but also commitment around talent, and I am very pleased to be a part of these plans.”