Merkle has announced the promotion of Steve Yurisich as chief executive officer for Australia and New Zealand.
Yurisich takes over from John Riccio, who is moving into a dedicated role for the company’s Asia-Pacific business.
Yurisich first joined the customer experience management company in March 2022 in the role of chief growth officer and has been instrumental in establishing the client leadership strategy over the last year.
This has included developing and executing the strategies and frameworks necessary to strengthen Merkle’s net-new and organic growth at scale and form stronger partnership alliances across the region.
Riccio stepped into the dual-hatted chief executive officer role in April last year and oversaw the development of the Merkle brand across both ANZ and APAC, including the recent acquisition of Aware Services to further bolster Merkle’s Salesforce and data practice offering.
Michael Sullivan, the director at Aware Services, will step into the role of chief growth officer for Merkle ANZ.
Patricio De Matteis, dentsu ANZ chief executive officer, said of Riccio: “John has done a brilliant job leading the Merkle brand in both the ANZ and APAC regions since April 2022. With momentum building, it is now time to have a dedicated leader in each region.
“John will move into the APAC role in May, and we’re excited to announce Steve Yurisich will be stepping into the role of CEO for ANZ. Steve has been an integral part of our leadership team and will continue to play a key role in helping us build Merkle as a leading customer experience and transformation business.
“With this, we’re also excited to be appointing Michael Sullivan as our new chief growth officer for Merkle ANZ, which is a brilliant opportunity for us to further integrate the Aware and dentsu teams,” De Matteis added.
Yurisich commented: “I’m thrilled to be stepping into the role of CEO for Merkle ANZ and leading such a passionate team of craft specialists.
“It has been a fantastic 12 months leading the growth team, building deeper connections with our existing clients while creating new pathways for Merkle to expand,” said Yurisich.
Meanwhile Riccio took to LinkedIn and said: “With Merkle’s momentum building in the region, now is the time for me to step fully into the APAC CEO role. The timing couldn’t be better as we have rounded out the full complement of the Merkle ANZ leadership team.
“It’s been an amazing 12+ months leading the ANZ business, and we’ve achieved so much, aligning the business into one truly integrated team, enabling us to deliver exceptional outcomes for our clients.
“I’m delighted that Steve Yurisich is stepping into the role of Merkle ANZ CEO. Steve has been integral in making the ANZ business stronger than ever.
“I know he will be a brilliant leader, supported by Michael Sullivan who will be taking on the chief growth officer role. I can’t wait to work with Steve and Sully as we firm our positioning as the leading customer experience company in the region,” Riccio added.
The changes will come into effect from 1 May 2023.
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Top image: John Riccio and Steve Yurisich