SINGAPORE — Matt Collette has returned to Edelman to take on the role of vice chair of digital for the firm in Asia-Pacific.

Collette will lead Edelman's digital operations across its 11 Asia-Pacific markets, reporting to regional COO Bob Grove. He joins the firm after previously spending seven years with sister firm Zeno, including almost three years as Singapore MD.

Collette departed Zeno in 2018 to lead Ogilvy's social and content studio in Singapore. His digital leadership role at Edelman comes two years after the firm parted ways with previous digital heads Gavin Coombes and Martin Shaw.

"Matt’s appointment brings a wealth of experience in understanding the convergence of the digital landscape with the broader communications environment," said Stephen Kehoe, who was named Edelman Asia-Pacific CEO earlier this year. "This will greatly benefit our clients as the whole region continues its breakneck speed of digital transformation."

Collette takes charge of a digital function that is among the region's strongest, spanning performance marketing, e-commerce, B2B, digital transformation consulting, influencer marketing, behavioral analysis, analytics, newsrooms and content studios. He will work alongside Jonathan Hargreaves, who oversees Edelman's predictive intelligence capabilities as global vice chair in Singapore.

"His deep knowledge of the digital ecosystem, including existing and emerging social media platforms, advertising and marketing technologies will be invaluable as we continue to develop Edelman’s digital capabilities in APAC," added Edelman global digital chair Thomas Crampton of Collette's hire.