Grace Blue Opens New Asia-pacific Office

Global executive search firm Grace Blue today announced the opening of a new office in Singapore to join its locations in London and New York. Grace Blue Asia will work with media, creative and advertising agencies and major networks across the Asia-Pacific region to fill key leadership positions and provide further support for the increasingly commonplace global search briefs.

Michael Maedel, former president of JWT Asia-Pacific and an acknowledged expert in leadership in the region, will spearhead the new Asia office as he joins Grace Blue as executive chairman. In the role, he will work with Grace Blue to bring together the very best leadership teams in the region.

Partner Helen Duffy has also relocated from London to work directly in Singapore. Her responsibility will be to drive the success of the new office and ensure that the Asian creative and media sectors understand everything that Grace Blue has to offer and what sets it apart.

Grace Blue is a global specialist in leadership and has placed many of the current CEOs, senior strategists and other leaders in the advertising, marketing and media sectors. Juliet Timms, CEO Europe & Asia, comments: “The Asian media and creative sectors have vast potential but there’s a real gap in their ability to find the best leadership candidates. They’re crying out for the kind of sophisticated executive search that has become commonplace in Europe and North America.

“Opening there is the next stage of our evolution as a global business – not just finding exceptional leaders for agencies in the region and for Western businesses moving into Asia, but offering greater access for global organisations to the pool of remarkable talent in places like China, Singapore, India and Australia.

“Our new office will help us work with the biggest names in the region and beyond. In particular, Michael knows the issues and challenges of leadership in the Asia-Pacific market better than almost anyone and is the ideal person to guide us through this incredible new opportunity.”

Michael Maedel adds: “Asia-Pacific is a widely disparate region, with different approaches to marketing and media, but the common threads are enormous potential for growth and a lack of enough world-class leadership talent.

“Grace Blue Asia aims to leverage the company’s existing European and US experience to better answer global briefs and help businesses in the region find the very best people to fill their senior management positions. These days, leadership in the creative economy is a global business.”