JWT has revamped its Dubai operation with the appointment of a new executive creative director and a managing director from Shanghai.
Christian Khoury, formerly creative director of Leo Burnett Dubai, has been named executive creative director, while Dutchman Michael Hofstee moves from his position as managing director of JWT Shanghai to take on the same role in Dubai.
Khoury fills the vacancy left by the departure of Russell Heubach, who departed the agency in May after less than eight months in the job. Heubach, who was previously with Publicis Mojo in Australia, had joined JWT last November in order to take over from the Dubai office’s long-term ECD, Chafic Haddad, who has been tasked with turning around JWT Saudi Arabia.
Hofstee, who has 19 years’ experience in advertising, had been with JWT Shanghai for three years prior to his move to Dubai. Before his stint in China he was with JWT Amsterdam for nine years, where he rose to the position of client services director and was a board member.
JWT Dubai has seen some significant changes in personnel over the past few months, with a number of creative teams leaving the agency.
Nobody at JWT was available for comment at the time of writing. JWT was named network of the year at this year’s Dubai Lynx.