Up the ranks: Benjamin Roberts is now VP – talent management APAC at Essence

- With input from Aditi Sharma

Effective April 2018, Benjamin Roberts has joined media agency Essence as VP of talent management APAC, overseeing Singapore, India, Korea, Japan, Australia and Indonesia.

In this new role, Roberts will report into Jennifer Remling who is the global chief talent officer based in San Francisco.

"Essence is experiencing fast growth in the region with Google as our largest client. Under the inspirational leadership of Kyoko Matsushita, the future is exciting," he told Human Resources, adding that his priority is to continue Essence's strong growth in the region whilst building, developing and attracting new talent.

When asked what prompted his decision to join Essence, Roberts said: "Apart from the great culture and wonderful people at Essence, one of the main reasons is their open book culture of transparency, experimentation, and long-term value creation through learning.

"With an ability to bridge analog and digital realms with data to reduce waste and close the measurement loop, Essence is there to make advertising more valuable to the world. If you are interested in becoming an Essential, please don't hesitate to get connected with me."

Based in Singapore since 2014, Roberts moves over from Publicis Communications, where he was global talent acquisition and mobility leader, prior to which he was chief talent officer worldwide at Saatchi & Saatchi. Roberts is an accomplished talent management professional with over 16 years experience in business partnership, recruitment strategy, and more.

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