Merkle’s John Riccio expands ANZ role to APAC

Riccio succeeds Zhengda “Z” Shen, who is retiring after 22 years with Merkle.

Dentsu today announces the promotion of Merkle ANZ CEO, John Riccio who expands his role into Asia Pacific as President, Merkle APAC. Merkle is dentsu’s leading technology-enabled, data-driven customer experience management (CXM) company with over 2,000 experts in ten markets in the region.

With more than 25 years’ experience leading major digital businesses and strategic programs, John is recognised as a specialist in helping clients transform the way they respond to market change and engage consumers. He is an expert at leveraging emerging technologies that support sustainable growth and scale, and he will play a critical role in leading the growth and evolution of Merkle APAC while continuing his current role as CEO of Merkle’s ANZ region. John has an extensive background leading customer experience consulting, most recently as experience consulting partner, APAC, for EY. Previously, he held partner positions at PwC in Australia and Asia, and at IBM in the United Kingdom.

Angela Tangas, CEO dentsu ANZ commented: “As we strive to deliver total experience outcomes for clients and partners as the most integrated marketing services company in ANZ, a core tenant of our growth strategy is building Merkle as ANZ’s leading customer transformation partner. John is well placed to drive our ambitious growth through this expanded remit – a win for us, our clients, partners, and the broader APAC community.”

Speaking on his appointment, John Riccio commented: “Since joining Merkle, I have been impressed by the forward-thinking, agile approach the company takes in the experiences delivered to its clients and employees,” said Riccio. “I am excited to expand my ANZ role across the APAC region, empowering brands to create distinctly better experiences and relationships with their customers across all key technology platforms.”

“John’s appointment is further proof of dentsu’s commitment to accelerating the growth and performance of our customer experience consulting, data, digital transformation, and B2B services across the region,” said Michael Komasinski, Global CEO, Merkle