Rob Gilby has stepped down from his position as chief executive officer, APAC, dentsu. Gilby completes a stint of two years in the role, having joined the company in September 2022. As CEO dentsu APAC, he oversaw the integrated growth strategy and business execution within the Asia Pacific region.

Confirming the news to Manifest, dentsu stated, “Rob Gilby has stepped down from his position as CEO, APAC, dentsu to pursue new opportunities. Rob has provided significant leadership across our markets, brands and practices in the region and as a member of the Group Executive Management team as we transition to One dentsu. During his tenure, Rob has fortified the leadership team, enhanced core capabilities and aligned with the new Group strategy to offer integrated, client-centric growth solutions from across dentsu’s practices. We are grateful for his contributions.”
 
“As we search for a new APAC CEO, our leaders in the established cluster markets, powered by a strong regional Clients, Business and Function team will work through the Group Strategy Unit, under the leadership of Yoshiki Ishihara, Global Chief Strategy Officer, with the full support of Global President & CEO, Hiro Igarashi, ensuring a continued client-centric approach and progress of the One dentsu performance and growth agenda. We thank Rob for his dedication and commitment to our organisation and wish him success in his future endeavours,” the company further added.

Gilby joined dentsu after a seven-year stint at Nielsen where he was president, APAC.

Prior to that he was CEO and founder, Blue Hat Ventures, an investment and advisory firm in the digital media sector in Asia Pacific. 

In his nearly three decade-long career, he has also held non-executive advisory and board roles with Singapore’s Ministry of Communications & Information, the Infocomm Media Development Authority.