Racha Makarem has been appointed as Regional CEO of Starcom. She will take on her new role as of January 1st, 2019.
Previously, as Head of the Analytics & Insights Practice and more recently as Managing Director of the Data Science Practice, Makarem takes on Starcom leadership to continue to build on the winning momentum of the agency to deliver against the increasing demand for data and an actionable people-based ecosystem.
Makarem’s focus has been towards the future, where the market will be tomorrow, how consumers will want to engage, and how best each brand can elevate their consumer experience, reads the press statement.
Her passion for the industry and consumers has led her to collaborate closely with industry bodies to enhance and set measurement guidelines and principles. She is currently a board member at IAB MENA, and was a technical consultant with JIC for audience measurement in the region.
“…In a world of rapid change, I am confident that Racha will fuel more transformation into our clients’ businesses and help them overcome their challenges,” says Alex Saber, Chairman of Publicis Media in MENA. “She is an inspiring leader with a strong history of creating highly engaged teams. I look forward to working with her to continue the exceptional growth of our Starcom business.”
Commenting on her new role, Makarem says: “Over the past 15 years, my expertise has been in helping our clients solve complex business problems from the lens of the consumer, mining data and delivering actionable insights. Previously, as the head of the Publicis Media Data & Science Practice, my role was to build this expertise across our network and client teams, fueling Marketing Transformation in an age where data is prevalent. As the largest Agency in MENA, Starcom has always been at the front of the market, incubating businesses and practices to solve for the dynamic world in which we operate. In my role as CEO, I will accelerate this momentum, ensuring that we continue to shape the industry. My priorities, leading Starcom, the Human Experience Company are; to work closely with our clients to create real solutions that accelerate their growth, to leverage actionable data and technology to deliver marketing transformation, and to invest in our people who will drive the capabilities around data, technology and performance to propel the growth of our clients business in today’s digital economy. We have never faced a more dyamic time to be in our business and I’m excited to be at the helm of Starcom, leading into tomorrow.”
Makarem will report into Steve Parker, CEO of Publicis Media in MENA and Alex Saber, Chairman of Publicis Media in MENA.
