Khai Meng Tham has been named as the worldwide creative director and chairman of Ogilvy and Mather (O&M) Worldwide.

Tham, a Singaporean, has held the co-chairman and regional executive creative director positions for O&M Asia Pacific since 1999, and has seen the agency become renowned for its level of creative in the Asian region with the agency being awarded Campaign Brief Asias creative network of the year for seven years in a row.

Tham, will divide his time between New York and the rest of the world, continuing to have a supervisory role over Asia.

Shelly Lazarus, chairman and CEO of O&M Worldwide, said:

Khais record speaks for itself. He gets results. He believes in great work that works. And above all, he is an Ogilvy gentleman with brains to his bones.

Tham said:

Im honoured to take on this worldwide role. I believe opportunities abound in these frightening yet very exciting times.

The marvellous thing is that I shall continue to work with Miles Young who will be taking on the new global CEO role in January. Weve been a team in Asia for a long time, and we both reckon that renewing our partnership will make for some spectacular success on the bigger stage.