David is one of several Singaporeans who made it to the global leadership level. He became a Global Leadership Board Member and Asia CEO of DDB Worldwide, the global marketing agency group. David has taken up the calling to build HCLI as a leading brand across Asia and joined the organisation to shape its business growth and brand marketing.

David was the creative mind and leading voice of DDB in Asia, helping to build some of the best marketing work in the region. He offers deep expertise in marketing, creativity and innovation, having created new revenue models and award-winning work across key industries: Financial Institutions (DBS, UOB and Blackrock), Education (Singapore Institute of Management), Food and Retail (McDonald’s, Unilever, Courts and DairyFarm), Telco (StarHub, M1, Tencent, Oppo and Vivo), Aviation (SATS and Changi Airport Group) and Government (Singapore, Hong Kong).

David started his career with A.T. Kearney in management consulting. Over a 25-year career, David became the Asia CEO of DDB Worldwide, the global marketing agency group. He was the first Asian appointed to the DDB Global Leadership Board and is one of the most awarded marketers in Asia, having won 55 Effies and 117 Marketing Awards. Founder of the Singapore’s Effie Awards, David was inducted into the Singapore Advertising Hall of Fame and received the IAS Lifetime Achievement Award for his work and contributions to the industry.

David’s passion in talent development is evident in his history of shaping a golden generation of marketing practitioners, planners, writers, creatives and executives – some of whom became client marketers and agency leaders across the region. He taught at the Human Capital Leadership Institute and SIM, and is Advisor to RocSearch, a global research company.