Google strengthens SEA leadership to accelerate AI-driven growth

Google is reshaping its Southeast Asia leadership structure to better support businesses navigating the region’s rapid AI adoption. As digital platforms like Search and YouTube increasingly power consumer connections, the company is enhancing local expertise and cross-market collaboration to help clients innovate more efficiently.

Farhan S. Qureshi, formerly country director for Google Malaysia, has been appointed regional director, business and operations for Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, and frontier markets.

In a LinkedIn post, Farhan emphasised his focus on driving growth in these dynamic markets: “I am honoured to step into this role leading a new cluster dedicated to maximising opportunities across these incredibly dynamic markets. The innovation and growth potential here is truly inspiring, but we recognize that capturing it demands a specialized approach rather than a one-size-fits-all model.”

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He added, “To ensure our clients get the best results, we are focusing entirely on empowering our local leaders. My role is to support and scale their success by helping our teams move beyond local limitations, providing them with access to regional scale, faster innovation, and the specialised resources they need to win.”

Farhan further highlighted that this approach “focuses on enabling agility to capture new opportunities and drive sustainable growth in an AI-driven future,” while working closely with in-market leaders in Philippines and Thailand, whose local expertise is critical to delivering results.

According to Google, the expansion also includes two other recent appointments: Prep Palacios as country director in the Philippines and Rafael Scislowski as country director in Thailand. "This leadership evolution underscores Google’s continued investment in Southeast Asia and its commitment to aligning the right teams and talent with the region’s most important customer needs," the company shared. 

Central to this move was Ben King’s appointment as managing director for Google Malaysia and Singapore, reported by A+M last month. King will oversee the recently expanded SEA agency and partner function, which now goes beyond media agencies to include creative, creator, tech, and platform partnerships. The unified structure is designed to foster synergy across teams, enabling faster deployment of Google’s AI-powered solutions while sharing best-in-class strategies and vertical expertise across markets.

King has passed his previous APAC responsibilities to global and multi-market teams. Previously, King served as managing director, Google Singapore, APAC agency and industry relations, where he led a team supporting agencies and clients to grow their businesses online. His role encompassed initiatives with positive impact on the Singapore community, including skilling, SME digitisation, and sustainability.

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