Omnicom Media Group MENA has announced the promotion of Elda Choucair from COO to CEO. Elie Khouri will now concentrate on his role of Chairman and ensure a seamless transition at a time when the holding group has shown substantial growth over the last year.

Elda’s tenure as COO has seen her focus heavily on the group’s response to the impact of the pandemic. She has further demonstrated her leadership talent by successfully addressing both internal and external challenges and played a crucial role in transforming OMG’s regional operations by readying its resources for new and emerging market expectations.

In the last couple of years, the holding’s networks, OMD, PHD and Hearts & Science, have secured impressive account wins and award recognition at the MENA Effie and the Dubai Lynx. They also enhanced their talent pool through skill development and recruitment and deployed several new processes and platforms to respond to challenges with speed, precision and effectiveness.

A 15-year veteran at the group, Choucair held senior account positions at OMD and led PHD for over 10 years. Under her leadership, the regional media planning network grew seven-fold and became a key player in the region. Her success in creating a future-ready positioning for PHD made it a compelling proposition for both staff and clients, recognised by prestigious awards and accolades.

She will continue to report to Elie Khouri, who founded OMG two decades ago and whose career at Omnicom spans over 30 years. In that time, Khouri has stimulated the group’s growth, in scale and service offering. and steered it to a leadership position on a broad range of metrics. The company has long been recognised as one of the best employers in the UAE and a leader in sustainability.

Choucair will now assume the full control of all OMG MENA operations and accelerate their transformation to stay ahead of the curve. She is also an active industry figure, as vice chair of the Advertising Business Group, board member of the IAB GCC, and the IAA UAE Chapter, and a founding board member of the Unstereotype Alliance.

“Elda is a true success story in her own right and has never stopped impressing everyone around her. Her vision, coupled with her pragmatism and attention to detail, means that she knows where we need to go and how to get there,” said Elie Khouri, chairman of OMG MENA. “Her relentless dedication and drive have earned her immense respect. Elda certainly has an impeccable track record of advancing 360° growth, capability expansion and overall excellence at both agency and holding levels.”

“Our regional management’s ability to stimulate growth for our clients, our staff and our agencies in the face of adversity is truly remarkable. Credit goes to Elie who has engineered and nurtured this inspiring culture of course but also to Elda, who’s embraced it fully,” commented Mike Cooper, OMG CEO for EMEA and APAC. “Elda’s contribution to our success in the region to date has proved critical. Her energy, commitment, client skills and professionalism will serve her well in her new role to assure the best outcomes for all our stakeholders and clients. She is the perfect person to take OMG MENA forward.”

“Navigating complexity and ambiguity certainly makes leadership exciting and rewarding in equal measures. Our industry, in the midst of a deep and rapid transformation, provides plenty of both and if we are to make complex simpler and better for our clients, we owe it to them to start with ourselves,” said Elda Choucair, CEO of OMG MENA. “We’ve already had plenty of opportunity to innovate and adapt to new conditions of course so we’re well used to questioning and challenging the status quo. We’re ready for what lies ahead.”

This article was first published in Campaign Middle East