After 13 years of service, Choucrallah Abou Samra, CEO of Omnicom Media Group MENA in Saudi Arabia, will leave his position in June. Faisal Shams, currently General Manager of OMD in the kingdom, will assume the leadership of the group’s three offices in the KSA.
Abou Samra has enjoyed a notable career with the group, taking over the management of OMD’s operation in Jeddah in 2003. Since then, he has opened and overlooked OMD’s and PHD’s offices in Riyadh, won significant new accounts and awards, developed the group’s offering and built an impressive and solid network of relationships with key stakeholders.
Abou Samra is leaving both the country and the industry to purse a personal project, joining his family in his native Lebanon. He will, however, continue as a consultant to the group for the rest of the year to ensure a smooth transition.
Faisal Shams, who’s been with the group for close to 10 years, has held various management roles and handled a number of key clients across the region from the MENA HQ in Dubai. He moved to the kingdom last year to lead OMD’s Saudi operations. Under his stewardship, OMD Arabia has enhanced its service offering, from both a talent and technology perspective, and has won several major new accounts. In his new attributions at holding level, Shams will report directly to Elie Khouri, CEO of Omnicom Media Group MENA.
