Hanley King is chairman, SMG India

King will oversee strategic operations, new business and key clients for SMG India and SMG Convonix.

Based in SMG's Mumbai office, King will report to John Sheehy, president, global operations, SMG.

In his new role, King will focus on key client relationships, new business and commercial operations for the agency.

Malli CR, CEO, SMG India and Vishal Sampat, CEO, SMG Convonix will report to King and will continue to lead daily operations for their respective organisations.

Sheehy says, "Hanley is a consummate professional with a proven track record of delivering results across our globally networked clients. Our recent acquisition of Convonix and our robust digital and analytics practice prove that our operations in India are among our most future-focused. I look to Hanley to work hand in hand with Malli and Vishal to continue to build upon our momentum in India."

Talking about his new role, King adds, "India is a fascinating, fast-paced and constantly evolving market. And that's why it's such an honour to be joining SMG India and working with Malli and Vishal - a team that is so relentlessly focused on the future."

King was most recently global client lead for SMG - APAC, based in Singapore. In this role, he managed multifaceted SMG client teams for Samsung, Mars Wrigley, Kellogg's, Novartis, Bank of America and others across the APAC region.

Before joining SMG, King was CEE president for Universal McCann, where he was responsible for 22 markets across the Central European region with 500 plus staff and billings of close to 1 billion USD. Before this role, he was UM CEO, Czech Republic, and also spent seven years working for media independents and full service communications agencies in his native country, New Zealand.

In his career, Hanley has worked on many global accounts in Asia, Europe and New Zealand spanning FMCG, auto, financial, breweries and telco brands.

For the record, SMG India's client list includes Dabur, Axis Bank, Aircel and Ranbaxy. In 2013, Publicis Groupe acquired Convonix, which it aligned with SMG India. Founded in 2003, Convonix today employs more than 400 digital marketing specialists, making it the largest digital agency in India, serving domestic as well as international clients such as Tata Motors, Reliance Industries, Budweiser, Taj Hotels, DBS, Mahindra Holidays and Tata Global Beverages.