Every leadership appointment marks a new chapter for an organization. But look closer, and these moves can also reveal where businesses are placing their next bets.
Through Asia Leadership Moves, NewInAsia highlights notable executive appointments across Asia and explores what they tell us about the priorities shaping the region’s business landscape.
This edition stretches from Japan and Southeast Asia to South Asia and the Middle East. Across the eight appointments, one theme stands out: companies are putting leadership behind expansion, AI, specialized talent, stronger supply chains, and new ways of reaching customers.
Highlights
Maria Medvedeva
Managing Director, Middle East, Skyro
Skyro has appointed Maria Medvedeva as Managing Director for the Middle East as the fintech company prepares to expand across the region, beginning with Saudi Arabia.
A former senior Mastercard executive, Medvedeva will oversee Skyro’s regional expansion, including building local teams, developing partnerships, navigating regulatory requirements, and adapting its consumer finance and SME offerings for GCC markets. Skyro has already established an office in Riyadh as it prepares for its Saudi market entry.
NIA Insight: This appointment is more than a leadership change — it puts an experienced payments executive at the center of Skyro’s next geographic bet. Having built its business in Southeast Asia, Skyro’s move toward Saudi Arabia highlights a growing flow of fintech models, expertise, and capital between Asia’s emerging digital economies.
J-Wing Teh
Senior Director of Silicon Design Engineering, AMD
J-Wing Teh has been appointed Senior Director of Silicon Design Engineering at AMD, strengthening the company’s engineering leadership as demand for high-performance computing and AI infrastructure continues to grow.
J-Wing brings more than two decades of semiconductor experience, including over a decade at both Intel and Altera with leadership across silicon design, IP development, engineering methodology, and product development. Prior to his latest appointment, he served as Director of Silicon Design Engineering at AMD.
NIA Insight: The global AI race is also a race for semiconductor engineering talent. J-Wing’s progression into a more senior silicon development leadership role reflects the growing strategic importance of experienced chip-design leaders as companies compete to turn rising AI computing demand into next-generation hardware.
Motoi Shimakawa
Market Head, Nestlé Japan
Motoi Shimakawa has assumed the role of Market Head at Nestlé Japan, bringing experience across sales, marketing, digital transformation, e-commerce, new business development, and global roles at Nestlé’s headquarters in Switzerland.
He takes the helm as evolving consumer expectations, demographic shifts, and the need for innovation create both challenges and new opportunities in Japan.
NIA Insight: Shimakawa’s cross-functional and global experience reflects the value of leadership that combines global perspectives with deep local understanding as Nestlé looks to its next chapter of growth in Japan.
Munas van Boonstra
Managing Director, Asia Pacific, TLC Worldwide
TLC Worldwide has appointed Munas van Boonstra as Managing Director for Asia Pacific as the customer engagement and loyalty specialist looks to accelerate its regional growth.
Formerly Managing Director for Southeast Asia at Monks, van Boonstra will oversee operational delivery and business performance across Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Australia.
NIA Insight: As brands compete for increasingly fragmented consumer attention, customer loyalty is becoming a regional growth challenge rather than simply a marketing function. TLC’s APAC appointment points to the need for leadership that can translate global engagement strategies into very different consumer markets across Asia Pacific.
Mateus Barros
CS Head of Product Supply Asia, Bayer
Bayer has appointed Mateus Barros as CS Head of Product Supply Asia, strengthening supply chain leadership across its Consumer Health business in the region.
Barros brings nearly two decades of experience spanning supply chain management, operations, business transformation, and commercial leadership. Before taking on his new Asia-wide role, he served as CS Cluster Division Head for East Asia and Pakistan.
NIA Insight: In Asia’s complex operating environment, supply chains are increasingly a source of competitive advantage rather than a back-office function. Bayer’s appointment reflects the importance of leaders who can connect product availability, resilience, and operational execution across diverse markets.
Tom Weaving
Managing Director, Southeast Asia, Quantcast
Quantcast has appointed Tom Weaving as Managing Director for Southeast Asia, tasking him with driving revenue growth and expanding the company’s presence across the region.
Based in Singapore, Weaving brings more than a decade of experience in programmatic advertising and sales leadership, including nearly eight years at The Trade Desk. His mandate includes supporting the regional rollout of Quantcast’s Q+ autonomous performance advertising solution.
NIA Insight: AI in advertising is moving from experimentation toward commercial deployment. By pairing Southeast Asian growth with the rollout of an autonomous advertising platform, Quantcast’s appointment signals how adtech companies are increasingly asking regional leaders to do two things at once: grow markets and accelerate AI adoption among customers.
Aisha Siddiq Sulehria
Senior Manager Learning (VP II), Askari Bank
Aisha Siddiq Sulehria has been appointed Senior Manager Learning (VP II) at Askari Bank, strengthening the bank’s focus on learning, leadership development, and organizational capability.
She brings experience across learning strategy, capability development, leadership training, talent management, and organizational development. In her new role, she will lead enterprise learning initiatives and support the development of future-ready talent across the organization.
NIA Insight: Banking transformation isn’t only a technology challenge. As financial institutions digitize operations and rethink customer experiences, their ability to continuously reskill employees becomes equally important. Appointments focused on enterprise learning suggest that talent capability is increasingly being treated as infrastructure for transformation.
Namit Agrawal
Director – Strategic Marketing, South Asia, Salesforce
Namit Agrawal has been promoted to Director – Strategic Marketing, South Asia at Salesforce.
With more than 17 years of experience, Agrawal has worked across marketing strategy, SaaS go-to-market initiatives, and product launches. In his new position, he will take on a larger strategic marketing mandate across one of the region’s rapidly evolving enterprise technology markets.
NIA Insight: As enterprise technology becomes more crowded — particularly around AI — product capability alone isn’t enough. Salesforce’s move highlights the growing importance of regional go-to-market leadership that can turn global technology narratives into relevant business cases for customers in South Asia.
Final Thoughts: Where Asia Is Placing Its Leadership Bets
Across these eight moves, the signals are clear: companies are investing in AI, regional expansion, resilient operations, and the people needed to turn strategy into execution.
From semiconductors and fintech to consumer goods and banking, the roles may differ — but each offers a glimpse into where businesses across Asia see their next opportunities for growth.
Asia Leadership Moves will continue tracking the executives behind those shifts — and what their appointments tell us about where the region is heading next.
Highlights
Read the Chinese article here.
