PubliGroupe Chairman and CEO Mr Hans-Peter Rohner announced on June 21 2007, the promotion of long-serving Emphasis Managing Director Ms Monica Woo as CEO of the Custom Publishing unit, one of the group’s four new strategic segments, effective January 01 2008. Ms Woo, who has led Emphasis to remarkable growth since taking the helm in 2003, will take on her new role of driving the ongoing development of PubliGroupe’s Custom Publishing efforts in Asia, the Middle East, and in select European markets.

Succeeding Ms Woo will be Ms Jovita Toh, who has been with Emphasis since 2000 and has contributed to the growth of the company’s publishing and video units. Emphasis Video Entertainment (EVE) has grown significantly since 2003. A media veteran of more than 20 years, Ms Toh will take charge of the day-to-day Emphasis operations and will continue to support Ms Woo in the development of the Custom Publishing business unit.

“It has been a privilege for me to have been the Managing Director of Emphasis, and working within this organisation for seven years,” remarked Ms Woo. “I am really looking forward to my new role as CEO of the group’s Custom Publishing segment, and I am very fortunate to have Jovita taking the reins at Emphasis. She has been an excellent deputy and the group will look to Emphasis to continue to drive custom publishing and as it has done for the past three decades.”

Meanwhile, Emphasis Media has appointed Mr Angelo Gidding as new Publishing Director on January 01 2008. A senior professional with more than 16 years of sales and business development experience in Asia Pacific, Mr Gidding, built successful teams and agent networks across the region. Prior to joining Emphasis, Mr Gidding was with The Economist Group, where he grew the business in Asia. Mr Gidding will head Emphasis’ publishing and
Business Development divisions.

Adding to the new appointments as Business Engineer is Mr Calvin Chiang, who joins Emphasis from Hewlett Packard. Mr Chiang has 13 years of experience in the IT field spanning e-business consulting, system administration and user support and training. He will work closely with Ms Woo, and will supervise the IT function and explore the digital business.

Emphasis has also announced internal repositioning of key staff. Ms Mary Ip, a figurehead for the past 18 years has been promoted to General Manager of Emphasis Video Entertainment (EVE) effective January 01 2008. Ms Ip will be tasked with continued growth of EVE as it gains ground in expanding its content library to include more English language programming.

The task of marketing is charged to Mr Adrian Andaya. Mr Andaya, an experienced marketer who has a background in consumer publication circulation management, is tasked with Emphasis’ branding and positioning, as well as market research and sales support.
“As Emphasis moves into dynamic times in an increasingly competitive environment, we’ll look to a very experienced team to continue building Emphasis in all areas,” commented Ms Toh. “We have a clear mandate and strong support to build up our custom publishing portfolio while expanding our media sales and video distribution services and reach, and our teams in Hong Kong, Singapore, Beijing, Shanghai and Taipei, will be well positioned to deliver.”

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