Regional communications planning network OMD Middle East this week announced the appointment of Eric Bequin as regional managing director. He fills the post left vacant by Elie Khouri following the latter’s promotion to regional managing director of the Omnicom Media Group, the holding company of OMD, PHD and four strategic business units, OMD Digital, Integral, Fuse and OMD International. Bequin will report directly to Elie Khouri and will manage the network’s development in the GCC, Levant and North Africa.
“This appointment coincides with the next phase of development of OMD,” explains Alain Khouri, chairman of the Omnicom Media Group Middle East, in a press release. “Now that OMD has established its overall leadership in the region, we need to replicate this across all our existing and future markets to provide the most comprehensive service to our clients.”
Bequin’s primary objective is to spearhead the group’s development in North Africa and other regional markets, to streamline its resources regionally to better meet clients’ needs and to drive the development of the OMD brand.
“The success of OMD, as well as that of our operations within the Omnicom Media Group, is largely explained by our attention to identifying, attracting and nurturing the best talent in the industry,” Elie Khouri says. “Eric has shown that he is best equipped to integrate all our local operations further into the regional and global network, while focusing on increasing our footprint. We’re looking to capitalize on his experience in managing a wide and diverse region at the client end of the business.”
In 1999, Bequin joined Goodyear in Luxembourg as advertising manager and in 2004 became the company’s marketing director for EEMEA. He oversaw all marketing communications across five brands and three continents.
“It’s a fantastic time to come back to the region,” Bequin says. “OMD has achieved many great things in the last five years and it’s a great honor to contribute to its next level of development. It’s all about combining international best practice with local knowledge and excellence. My role is to harness both and put them to work for our clients’ benefit, as well as that of our teams.”