Design Bridge & Partners names new APAC executive VP and chief growth officer

Design Bridge & Partners has appointed Alexandra Cerruti (pictured right) as its executive vice president of APAC, and named Benedict Gordon (pictured left) as APAC chief growth officer.  

Based in the agency's Singapore Studio, Cerruti oversees all markets in Asia Pacific, excluding Greater China which is led by her counterpart Nikki Lin. This includes a primary focus on Southeast Asian countries, India, Australia and New Zealand. 

In this newly created role, Cerruti will lead and drive the commercial success of Design Bridge & Partners in the region. This involves developing and executing a comprehensive growth strategy, cultivating strong client relationships, fostering creative excellence, and building a high-performing team.  

As a Design Bridge & Partners veteran, she will also be working closely with the agency's global CEO John Morris and the leadership team in Singapore to ensure they’re delivering transformative brand experiences for clients and maximising opportunities across the region. 

With over 15 years of experience in the strategic brand design industry, Cerruti first joined Design Bridge & Partners as client manager in 2013. During her tenure at the agency, she led the Design Bridge Singapore studio in a professional, motivating and inspiring way to ensure the future growth of the business and the people within it. 

In a conversation with MARKETING-INTERACTIVE, Cerruti said her role is a newly defined position with a specific focus on driving accelerated growth and commercial operations across the region. “This allows us to be even more strategic and responsive to the evolving needs of our clients in this dynamic market.” 

She will be spending a significant amount of time traveling throughout Asia Pacific to meet with clients and support her teams in key markets such as India and Indonesia. “This allows me to stay closely connected to the diverse needs and opportunities across the region.” 

“I’m deeply grateful to our former APAC chairman Mark Budden for his mentorship over the past 12 years—his leadership has shaped both my journey and our agency’s success in Asia Pacific. It’s an honour to carry forward his legacy as we continue our ambitious expansion in the region. Our focus will be on delivering transformative brand experiences while fostering a collaborative team culture that attracts and develops the region’s brightest talent,” Cerruti said. 

“Asia Pacific is a strategically important market for Design Bridge & Partners, and I'm thrilled to be at the helm as we embark on our next phase of growth. We're seeing increasing demand from brands who recognise the power of strategic branding and design to differentiate themselves in a competitive landscape. I'm committed to ensuring that we continue to deliver exceptional value to our clients and help them achieve their business objectives,” she added. 

On the other hand, Gordon rejoins Design Bridge & Partners as its APAC chief growth officer. Based in Hong Kong, he will oversee the regional brand strategy in the consumer branding space within APAC, with focuses on the Greater China region. 

“I think we're seeing a lot of a lot of activity in terms of Chinese brands, looking at either regional or sort of international expansion, so that that is going to be one key area of focus, but, we're not going to be restricted in terms of kind of the locations where we have office locations,” Gordon said. 

Gordon first joined Design Bridge & Partners as Asia CEO in 2018. After that he chose to co-found Phoenyx Spirits, a brand-led spirits company that owns and operates revived heritage brands, repositioned as super-premium category disruptors.   

When asked why he rejoined the agency, Gordon said Design Bridge & Partners is a great platform with some really talented people across the region. “At Phoenyx Spirits, I've revitalised and relaunched to heritage spirits brands, [...] but it feels like the right moment for me to come back into the branding space full time so my brands will continue to exist and hopefully be successful.” 

He took his existing client Lee Kum Kee as an example, a local brand with a big footprint in mainland China and the rest of the Asia region, with growing ambitions in North America and in other international markets. “So we are based here, and we are able to work with their leadership team to help try and realise some of those ambitions through leveraging the brand.” 

Both Cerruti and Gordon report directly to John Morris, global CEO, Design Bridge & Partners. This reporting structure reflects the strategic importance of the Asia Pacific region to Design Bridge & Partners' overall global growth strategy. 

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