Grey Group Malaysia ropes in Lubna Khan

Khan, who was strategic planning director at JWT India, will be head of planning at Grey Malaysia.

Grey Group Malaysia has appointed Lubna Khan to head planning. She will lead the strategic and planning function on work across various disciplines that match the agency's 'Famously Effective' global core mandate.

On the appointment, Dheeraj Sinha, chief strategy officer, South and Southeast Asia, Grey says that Malaysia is a critical market for the agency, considering it's ASEAN's second most dynamic country providing conducive environment for growing businesses.

"It's a fast evolving economy and Grey has a strong presence in the market as well as across the region - 2013 marks our 50th anniversary in Asia. We are committed to delivering breakthrough solutions for our client's brands - ideas that make our clients and us famous," Sinha says, adding that Khan has both the ability and the experience to build sharp insights and deliver them in an integrated approach.

"Apart from adding value to our current set of businesses and new business initiatives, her role involves running thought leadership projects and championing our effectiveness agenda. I'm confident Lubna will help us up the temperature of our creative thinking in the market," he states.

On her part, Khan is excited to join Grey. "Culture shifting ideas are at the heart of integrated thinking and inspire all that we create. And a thriving, complex and multidimensional market like Malaysia is, in my opinion, a great environment to bring to life 'famously effective' work," she adds.

Khan was earlier with JWT India, where as associate vice-president and strategic planning director, she managed Nestle's chocolate business comprising Kit Kat, Munch, Milky Bar and Bar One and GlaxoSimthKline Consumer Healthcare's new product development portfolio.

She began her career in advertising in 2007 with Rediffusion-Y&R. She has also been associated with Cheil Worldwide and Wunderman International. Some of the brands Khan has worked on include Samsung, Kao, Microsoft, Nokia, LG and Airtel.

A double master's in psychology, Khan started her career as a cognitive behavioural therapist, where she worked mainly on sexual and reproductive health issues. She worked on change behaviour for living with HIV/AIDS and co-authored a book on strategic communication for HIV/AIDS, which was referred by the Government of India. Khan has been bestowed with WPP's Atticus Awards in 2011.