October 18, 2022
SINGAPORE – Mr Warren Fernandez, the editor of The Straits Times, will join global communications firm Edelman as its chief executive for the Asia-Pacific region on Oct 25.
In a statement on Tuesday, Edelman said Mr Fernandez, 56, will join the company’s global executive leadership team and report to its global president and chief operating officer, Mr Matthew Harrington.
Mr Fernandez will be based in Singapore and oversee more than 1,300 Edelman employees across the firm’s 21 offices in the Asia-Pacific region.
He replaces Mr Stephen Kehoe, who left Edelman in June to focus on his family.
The move comes a week after SPH Media Group, which publishes ST, announced several changes to key leadership positions in its newsrooms.
These included the departure of Mr Fernandez, who is also editor-in-chief of the English/Malay/Tamil Media Group (EMTM), to pursue other professional opportunities.
Mr Jaime Ho, 49, who was chief editor at CNA Digital, will take on the role of ST editor.
Mr Wong Wei Kong, 54, who is currently the editor of The Business Times, will succeed Mr Fernandez as editor-in-chief of EMTM.
Ms Chen Huifen, 46, BT’s current executive editor, will be the BT editor.
All three appointments take effect on Oct 26.
Edelman’s Mr Harrington said in a statement: “Warren’s deep understanding of the news and media ecosystem – and his experience transforming a news outlet into an integrated multimedia content platform – will be a tremendous value-add to clients and our own insights and capabilities.
“Additionally, our organisation will benefit from Warren’s longstanding professional and academic interest in politics and foreign policy amid today’s dynamic geopolitical landscape.”
Mr Fernandez, who has been ST editor since 2012, and EMTM editor-in-chief since 2016, said: “I’m very excited to join a firm that I have admired and worked with, as a client and partner, over the years.”
He added: “I look forward to leading the team in Asia-Pacific and working with the industry-leading talent across its global network.”
Mr Fernandez joins several new additions to Edelman’s leadership team in the region, including Edelman Singapore CEO Julia Wei, who joined the firm in September after leaving her previous role as managing partner at AKA Asia.