Mindshare’s Emerging Markets Group chief executive Ashutosh Srivastava has added Middle East and Africa to his remit, as part of a restructure of the agency’s regional management.

Srivastava, also chairman of the GroupM agency’s Asia operation, will now oversee Asia Pacific, Russia, the Middle East and Africa for Mindshare.

It follows the appointment of Mindshare Western Europe chair Helen McRae as UK chief executive. McRae, who will continue to represent Mindshare on the GroupM Europe board, previously oversaw operations in Africa.

In a further change, Christof Baron will take on the role of chief executive for Central and Eastern Europe, adding to his existing role as non-executive chairman of Mindshare Germany.

On the appointment of Srivastava to oversee the Middle East and Africa, Mindshare global chief executive Nick Emery said: “[He] continues to broaden his scope and influence as all our best people do. 1’m delighted that his influence will now have a direct effect on Asia, Africa and the Middle East. We will be all the richer for it.”

On McRae’s new role, Emery added: “I’m delighted that [McRae] is taking this role as she brings a wealth of regional and client experience to the UK team.

“[She] is a rare talent able to lead intellectually and is a demon shit kicker. Taking the UK role removes a regional layer and makes us faster, more adaptive and links global and national more effectively.

“This a core mantra for us and a trend we have seen across our clients in the last year, with larger market CEOs taking responsibility for the region.”