JUROR 2011

Tham Khai Meng

Worldwide Creative Director & Chairman
Worldwide Creative Council Ogilvy & Mather, New York

(United States of America)

Tham Khai Meng serves as Worldwide Creative Director of Ogilvy & Mather, the Chairman of its Worldwide Creative Council and a member of the company’s Worldwide Board and Executive Committee. He is considered “One of the world’s most influential people in the communications business,” according to Advertising Age, New York. Khai obtained a BA at Central Saint Martins, and an MA from The Royal College of Art, London. Khai made his first professional mark at Leo Burnett in London and Chicago, before heading to Singapore and progressing to Batey. While there, his work on Singapore Airlines catalyzed Batey’s emergence as a regional leader. In 2000, Khai served as Regional Creative Director and Co-Chairman of Ogilvy & Mather’s Asia Pacific network. This culminated in a seven year run from 2001 to 2008 as Campaign Brief Asia’s number one “Network of the Year.” Khai was awarded Creative Director of the Year for those seven straight years.

Khai joined Ogilvy & Mather’s Worldwide Board in 2005, when Media magazine named him “Regional Head of the Year” in Asia Pacific. In 2009, Khai assumed the duties of Worldwide Creative Director and Chairman of the Worldwide Creative Council at Ogilvy & Mather’s New York City headquarters.

Khai’s career building global brands has received honors from clients and every major award show around the world, including Cannes, D&AD, The One Show, Clios, and London International Awards. He has also chaired the jury panels for these shows. Khai has served on numerous boards including his current appointment to Agencies in Action in New York, a nonprofit coalition working to alleviate hunger. He was asked by Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to sit on his Economic Review Committee, a think tank tasked with finding a strategic direction for Singapore as it migrated from a manufacturing to knowledge-based economy. In December 2009, Khai proudly accepted the President’s Award, one of the country’s most distinguished honors, conferred by Singapore President S. R. Nathan.

In September 2010, Khai attended the World Economic Forum as a panelist for the “Strategists Meeting for Media, Entertainment and Information Industries.” He is the author of The Ugly Ducking: A Cautionary Tale of Creativity. Always one to be prepared, Khai lives in a 19th century firehouse with his family in Manhattan.

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