Ringier Africa, Asia Pacific get new leadership structure

ITRealms:

… As Stiegeler leads African operation

The Zurich, Switzerland-based entity Ringier with footprint across Africa and Asia Pacific has restructured its leadership with Mr. Leonard Stiegeler as the new General Manager Ringier Africa, even as the former Head, Digital Marketing Agency RDM in Nigeria, Mr. Mark Slade, was elevated to General Manager Ringier Nigeria, reports ITRealms.

Ringier Africa with four dedicated teams each of its business models, namely classifieds, content, e-Commerce and digital marketing said the new leadership took effect from January 1, 2016 in order to further strengthen the implementation of various changes to support the strong growth of its international markets, with additional personnel and international support.

Ringier AG, Corporate Communications, Celine Krapf, in a press statement made available to ITRealms, noted that this new leadership structure follows a successful 2015 with strong growth across all core businesses and countries on both continents of Africa and Asia Pacific.

“The accomplishment of important milestones, including the new market entry in Myanmar, Ringier introduced a new international setup which will ensure further growth in quality and efficiency for future expansions, she said.

To facilitate this, Krapf said, the former General Manager Ringier Nigeria & Head of Ringier West Africa, Mr. Leonard Stiegeler, has been appointed to the new position of General Manager Ringier Africa. While former Head of New Business Implementation Ringier AG, Florent de Rocca-Serra will take the new position of General Manager Ringier Asia Pacific. 

Jessica List, formerly part of Ringiers M&A and Business Development team will take the new position of CFO Africa. Jessica Stiles, former Head of Marketing International Markets becomes CMO Africa & Asia. All of these positions will be reporting into the current CEO Asia & Africa, headed by Robin Lingg, who was elected to the Group Executive Board of Ringier AG in December. 

Julian Artopé, current Director Ringier Africa will pursue an MBA by the end of March after four years of building Ringiers African business on the continent, whereas Mark Slade, former Head of the Digital Marketing Agency RDM in Nigeria, will take over the position as General Manager Ringier Nigeria.

To further support the risen complexity in Ringier’s fast-scaling operations, four dedicated teams were established for each of the African business models Classifieds, Content, E-Commerce and Digital Marketing. Each will consist of a dedicated team supporting their field in Marketing, Business & Operations and Product Development.

Robin Lingg, CEO Ringier Africa and Asia: “With the high speed and growth of our digital business in Africa and Asia, we were in need of stronger support structures to facilitate further aggressive scaling of our business. 

Through this evolution of the organisation I’m convinced we’ll be able to further boost and expand our leading market positions in Classifieds, Content, E-Commerce and Digital Marketing across all our markets. We have a proven and highly experienced team of which I’m very happy to see so much internally promoted leadership emerge. I also would like to thank Julian Artopé, who has been essential for building this organisation on the ground and has been a key part for the success of Ringier”.

 
+Remmy Nweke (ITRealms) +ITRealms DSA  
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APAC Hub expansion key to ICANN commitment to globalization

ITRealms:

The Chief Operating Officer, Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), Susanna Wong Bennett, has said that expanding Asia Pacific (APAC) Hub is key to Ithe organisation's  strategic focus and commitment to globalization, ITRealms reports

She stressed that this development would position ICANN for long-term stability as it continues the work of maintaining a secure, stable and interoperable Internet and cements the vision of having three global hubs to serve the global community.

ITRealms gathered that ICANN announced recently that it has moved its APAC hub to a new office, located in the South Beach Tower in the Esplanade area. The move is in line with ICANN's expanded presence in the APAC region.

The Vice President and Managing Director, ICANN, Asia Pacific, Kuek Yu-Chuang, said, "We knew from the start that the APAC Hub had to play catch-up with the fast-evolving Internet user demographic in the region. To address the needs of the region, we quintupled our staff headcount over the past two years so that we are now able to provide a wide range of services."

 The ICANN APAC Hub was established in Singapore in August 2013 to better serve the stakeholders in this region and recently celebrated its second anniversary, ITRealms learnt

ICANN currently has a 30-strong staff team in the region, providing services such as registry and registrar support, stakeholder engagement, contractual compliance, security capacity building, communications and customer service, as well as support functions such as operations, IT, legal, finance and human resources.

Cyriacus Nnaji/ED,OPs

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ICANN 52 relocates to Singapore, Marrakech now for 2016

… Africans furious

ITRealms:

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) has moved its 52 public meeting Marrakech, Morroco in Africa to Singapore in the Asia Pacific on February 8-12, 2015, reports ITRealms.

ICANN also confirms to ITRealms that the previously Marrakech meeting to be hosted in Morroco has now been rescheduled for early 2016.

ITRealms gathered from ICANN leadership that based on purported community concerns, the next public meeting scheduled for February 8-12, 2015 has to be moved away from Marrakech, Morroco and the Africa continent.

This change in mind has made some AfriCANN’s – both enthusiast and followers of ICANN on the continent; expressed some displeasures, especially considering the economic implication of the relocation of ICANN52 from Africa.

Our sources at ICANN confirmed to ITRealms that owing to what was tagged “community concerns” that would prevent maximum participation at its next global meeting given the ongoing discussions around the IANA Stewardship Transition and ICANN Accountability, allegedly prompted ICANN to postpone the meeting in Marrakech, Morocco and relocated to Singapore on the same dates.

ITRealms reliably gathered that ICANN Board voted to make this decision following the Board discussions and after extensive review of logistical considerations, available options and the community's request for three meetings in 2015 as well as the need to hold a successful meeting.

ICANN, ITRealms learnt, has been in discussions with Moroccan government and relevant authorities and hosting officials as well as the leaders of ICANN's Supporting Organizations (SO) and Advisory Committees (AC).

ICANN maintained that its 52th public meeting will now be held at the Raffles City Convention Center in Singapore, the site of ICANN 41 (June 2011) and ICANN 49 (March 2014).

ITRealms further gathered that ICANN is finalizing arrangement for a meeting website with the new information to be set up shortly. While funded travelers will be contacted by travel support to book for ICANN52 following the regular process.

“The Board has confirmed its intent to hold the first ICANN 2016 meeting in Marrakech, Morocco taking into account the vital role of the African region to the success of ICANN's globalization efforts,” ICANN officials affirmed.

 +Remmy Nweke +Remmy Nweke (ITRealms)  @NGRCommTech @NgComCommission @ITU
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