WFA makes new appointments to APAC Leadership team

Pratik Thakar, The Coca-Cola Company (left) and Silas Lewis-Meilus, GSK

WFA has revamped its APAC leadership, naming senior marketers from Coca-Cola and GSK in key roles.

Pratik Thakar, Director of Integrated Marketing Communication, Southeast Asia at The Coca-Cola Company, will become APAC Chair for the CMO Forum with Silas Lewis-Meilus, Senior Director, APAC Head of Media at GSK, taking on the role of APAC Chair for the Media Forum.

Both Forums are invitation only, peer-to-peer network, providing global and regional marketing leaders with a platform to exchange insights and experiences in order to better navigate the fast-changing global marketing landscape.

The APAC CMO Forum continues to champion WFA’s flagship initiative, Better Marketing at a regional level to ensure that this people-first framework for marketing leadership resonates with senior Asian and Asia-based marketers. Across bi-annual meetings in Singapore and the yearly CMO Luncheon, more than 100 marketers come together annually to discuss wide ranging issues impacting C-Level marketers, from marketing structures and capability, to partnerships and purpose.

The APAC Media Forum is focused on translating the WFA’s Global Media Charter into reality across Asia’s varied media markets, ensuring that advertisers benefit from a transparent marketplace that can clearly demonstrate how media investment delivers business growth. This group meets three times a year in the region – twice in Singapore and once in Shanghai.

Thakar has assumed a wide range of leadership roles for The Coca-Cola Company over the last seven years having previously worked in senior strategy roles with McCann Worldgroup and Saatchi & Saatchi in Southeast Asia, China and India.

Lewis-Meilus leads GSK’s region efforts to deliver media excellence, having previously worked for McDonald’s in a similar role. He has also worked in senior agency roles in Singapore, London and New York.

These critical appointments will help the WFA continue build its presence across the region and address the many unique challenges that marketers face in delivering responsible and effective marketing in many markets.

The CMO Forum was previously headed by Sam Ahmed, previously with Standard-Chartered Bank, with Lewis-Meilus taking over from Unilever’s David Porter, who has taken on the role of WFA Vice President for APAC. 

“We are very excited to have Pratik and Silas join our APAC team. The WFA’s strength is its members and with two more very senior marketing leaders working alongside our executive team we will be even better placed to ensure we are addressing the issues that marketers in the region need tackled,” said Stephan Loerke, CEO of the WFA.

“WFA has done a remarkable job in APAC so far and as we continue to strive for cutting edge marketing & creativity in this region - we will need to constantly raise the bar. it’s my pleasure to join this purposeful team and add value to the larger marketing community,” said Pratik Thakar, Director of Integrated Marketing Communication, Southeast Asia at The Coca-Cola Company.

“What an exciting time to be in this position with the WFA!  We are truly living in the golden age of media.  Our industry has an amazing opportunity to focus on a spectrum of subjects ranging from renewing the role and value of strategic thinking to the highly technical subjects of data and digital.  I’m honoured to be serving in this capacity where I look forward to shepherding this group’s work in all these spaces, driving improvements in our industry and raising the collective bar for all the WFA members use of media,” said Silas Lewis-Meilus, Senior Director, APAC Head of Media at GSK.