Impact BBDO announced the appointment of Ghassan Kassabji as the new Chief Growth Officer for MENA based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Kassabji is an accomplished senior executive with more than 30 years’ experience in business development, marketing, advertising, and brand building across the US, Saudi Arabia, UAE, and Lebanon.

Dani Richa, Chairman and CEO Middle East, Africa and Pakistan of IMPACT BBDO Group of Companies, said in a statement, “Ghassan is no stranger to Omnicom. He is a seasoned adman and brings extensive business development and marketing experience to the Impact BBDO Group. Ghassan’s principal focus is supporting the group and our Saudi agencies in building on the positive momentum and further growing our portfolio of clients. This is in line with our ambitions to strengthen and expand our stronghold in the Kingdom where we have had a presence for over 35 years in both Riyadh and Jeddah.”

Prior to joining Impact BBDO, Kassabji led Saudi-owned Extend-The Ad Network’s transformation into a full-service digital creative and media buying agency. Before Extend, Ghassan spent a total of 15 years with TBWARaad across Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE, most recently as Chief Development Officer and also led the digital transformation for Nissan across Africa, Middle East and India as TBWA’s Nissan United Managing Director.

“I am very excited to return to Omnicom and look forward to leading the growth agenda of the Impact BBDO Group while working with an amazing team to deliver integrated Omnicom solutions across the MENA region,” said Kassabji.