Maria Leow joins iris worldwide Singapore as business director including talent development

iris Worldwide has appointed Maria Leow as Business Director reporting to Craig Mapleston, Managing Director of iris Singapore.

As an accomplished veteran, Leow (pictured) joins iris with over 20 years of experience in advertising and marketing management. In her role as Business Director, she will take the lead in the growth of key strategic accounts, including SK-II and Shell. In addition, Leow will take on the role of talent attraction and development for iris across APAC.

“Maria comes to iris at a really important time in our growth. As a proven senior account handler, she’ll be driving the success of some of our most important accounts. And with her wealth of experience and leadership success, Maria is ideally placed to help us attract the best talent and work with our staff across the region to help them get the most out of their experiences at iris,” said Mapleston.

Leow’s commencement at iris comes at a time when the agency’s innovative new career management program, Myris, is in full swing. In a major departure from traditional line-manager led career development, Myris empowers staff to take control of their own careers – establishing their own personal brands, promises, goals and training agendas.

“I am very pleased to be part of the iris Worldwide family. People are at the heart of every business; I could feel the great energy, synergy and ownership the team has taken in this dynamic agency,” said Leow. “I look forward to leveraging on my experience in the advertising and marketing sectors to bring iris Worldwide to greater heights.”

Prior to joining iris Worldwide, Leow’s agency work experience was at both ends of the spectrum; from MNCs including Ogilvy, JWT, Y&R, Grey Worldwide to local creative hot shops such as BATEY and Monsoon Advertising where she held a variety of management roles. Over the course of her 20-year career, she has worked with clients such as Oracle, Kodak, Nike, Singapore Airlines, Chevron Global Lubricants and Nokia. When it comes to work philosophy, she believes attitude is the key to making an impact and difference. Besides an emphasis on being analytical, meticulous and organised, Leow also believes in being attuned to the expectations and interactions with the team with a people-oriented leadership style.