Sojern, the leading provider of digital marketing solutions for the travel industry, today announced the appointment of Masahiro Ueno as Vice President of Asia-Pacific (APAC). Ueno joins Sojern from BuzzFeed Japan, a joint venture set up by BuzzFeed and Yahoo Japan, where he was CEO. Bringing more than 20 years of leadership experience to the role, Ueno will oversee growth across the wider APAC region including Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, and New Zealand.

Already a familiar face to many in this region, Ueno has significant experience having formerly held CEO and President positions at top companies in Japan including BuzzFeed, Criteo, Become, Overture, and DoubleClick. Ueno successfully grew the APAC Criteo business from four employees to over 250 across six regional offices representing over 20 percent of Criteo’s global revenue. This announcement comes on the heels of a $120 million financing round by TCV in Sojern following rapid growth in the APAC region.

Sojern’s Chief Revenue Office, Stephen Taylor said: “Masahiro has a proven track record of success in APAC. He has clearly demonstrated his expertise in building high performing organisations that combine the right blend of people, processes and technology in a rapidly evolving digital market. We are delighted he will bring his strong leadership, digital expertise, and operational discipline to further accelerate growth and build on the current momentum Sojern has in the region.”

The hiring of Ueno, who will be based in the company’s Singapore office, comes at a time when the APAC travel market is soaring. APAC flight departures are up 9.6 percent in 2018. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council, APAC tourism will double in the coming decade reaching almost $1.2 trillion by 2026. As the industry grows, so will the demand for brands to match travellers with personalised marketing offers, whilst overcoming the challenges of precisely targeting consumers across multiple devices, channels, and platforms.

Ueno commented, “I am excited to join Sojern at this stage of their growth in APAC as this region is predicted to lead global ad spend growth this year. Sojern has the right technology and expertise to provide a truly unique solution that helps travel brands move customers from dream to destination. Sojern’s approach fills a unique gap for travel marketers: its cross-channel approach leverages unique audience data to more effectively drive marketing ROI for travel brands. It’s exactly what the APAC region needs.”

Sojern has in excess of 100 clients across the APAC region including the likes of Scoot and Marina Bay Sands.