Serge Dumont
Serge Dumont with OOC award, 2007
Serge Dumont Awarded OOC, 2007
Born(1960-02-00)February , 1960
Tunis, Tunisia
NationalityFrench
Occupation(s)Entrepreneur, businessman, philanthropist

Serge Dumont (born February 1960), is a French businessman and one of the pioneers in China’s corporate and marketing communications industry.[1][2] From 2006 to 2018, he served as Omnicom Group Vice Chairman and Chairman, Asia Pacific, and ran Omnicom's Greater China business unit.[3]

Career and early life

A French citizen born in Tunisia, Dumont graduated from the Sorbonne University in Paris. He holds dual degrees in sociology and oriental languages and civilizations, and has studied at the Taiwan Normal University] and the Political Institute in Taipei.

In 1985 he moved to Hong Kong and Beijing and established China’s first joint venture communications and government relations consultancy, Interasia.[4] The company acquired a roster of Fortune 500 clients[5] and became a market leader. In 1993 Dumont sold Interasia to the world's largest PR group, Edelman. He was appointed Executive Vice President of the Edelman Group, President of Asia and sat on the Global Board.[6]

From 1998 to 2006, Dumont concentrated on PE activities, as well as strategic advisory and philanthropic work. In 2006 he joined Omnicom Group and in 2011 was appointed Vice Chairman of the Omnicom Group and Chairman Asia Pacific. One of his key responsibilities was directly managing the fast-growing Greater China business unit by developing business strategies for all Omnicom activities and building relationships that expanded the group’s operational footprint globally. He reported to John Wren, the Chairman and CEO of Omnicom Group. In 2018, he left Omnicom to focus on philanthropic and investment activities.[7][8]

Advisory work and philanthropic activities

Dumont has been involved in philanthropic and government advisory work in the areas of education and public health. In 2006 he was named a Special Representative [9] for UNAIDS, the joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS.[10] He led a team of experts who advised the Beijing Municipal Government and the World Health Organization during the SARS crisis of 2003.[11]

In 2004, with the Tsinghua University School of Journalism and Communications, he founded the first scholarship fund aimed at developing qualified professionals for the marketing communications industry.[12] He has also set up partnership programs with Fudan University and the China European International Business School (CEIBS).

Since 2003, he has served as Conseiller du Commerce Extérieur de la France (France’s Foreign Trade Advisor).

He currently sits on several boards including the Advisory Board of the Tsinghua University School of Journalism and Communications,[13] and the boards of Synergos [14] and recently stepped down from the Corporate Advisory Board of CEIBS and the board of trustees of the China Youth Development Foundation on which he served for many years. Since 2013, he has been a jury member and in 2015 became a nominating committee member of the Prince’s Prize for Innovative Philanthropy, a global initiative of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation and the Paris-based Tocqueville Foundation. In 2019 he was invited to serve on the jury of the David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership award 2020.

Publications

In 2003, Dumont co-authored, the first book to analyze the brand strategies of the top Chinese companies who were expanding internationally.[15]

Honors and awards

HRH Crown Prince Philippe of Belgium makes Serge Dumont an Officer of the Order of the Crown.

His contribution to society has been recognised through honors and awards from a number of national governments and international organizations. In 2008 he received a Gold Medal from UNAIDS for "outstanding contributions to the AIDS response".[16] In 2011 he received the Holmes Report’s Asia-Pacific Lifetime Achievement Sabre Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement.[17] In 2014 he was honored by the China Advertising Association for Outstanding contribution to the advertising Industry. In 2015, Serge Dumont was named by Debrett's among the top 100 most influential people in Hong Kong.[18] In 2016, on the occasion of the APAC Cristal Awards, an Outstanding Merit Award was given to Serge Dumont.[19]

Other honors and awards include the following:

Notes

  1. ↑ 'The Father of PR in China - one PRO's pioneering tale' PR Week - February 15, 2002, p. 16
  2. ↑ Alain Peyrefitte. La Chine s’est éveillée. ISBN 978-2213599571 Fayard, 1996, pp. 285-286.
  3. ↑ Omnicom Group Forms Greater China Business Unit PR Newswire - June 17, 2011.
  4. ↑ Guo, Huimin (18 November 2011). "New challenges of 'glocalization'" China Daily. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
  5. ↑ 'Schmoozing into China' The Economist Intelligence Unit Business China - July 8, 2002
  6. ↑ Franz Wisner. Edelman and the Rise of Public Relations. ISBN 978-0-9787522-0-0 Eight Communications, 2012, p. 75.
  7. ↑ "Asia-Pacific PR Pioneer Serge Dumont Steps Down From Omnicom". The Holmes Report.
  8. ↑ "Omnicom Announces Serge Dumont Steps down as Vice Chairman, and Chairman, Omnicom Asia Pacific". PR Newswire.
  9. ↑ Peter Piot. "No Time to Lose: A Life in Pursuit of Deadly Viruses". ISBN 978-0393063165 - WW Norton & Company, 2012, pages 352, 359
  10. ↑ "Omnicom Senior Executive Serge Dumont appointed UNAIDS Special Representative" UNAIDS Press Release. 6 September 2006. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
  11. ↑ Kerstin Leitner, When only the sky is the limit. ISBN 978-1291613926 lulu.com, 2013, pp. 252-253.
  12. ↑ "Scholarships for future journalists" China Daily. Page 8, 27 May 2008.
  13. ↑ "Board of Advisors" Tsinghua University School of Journalism and Communication Website. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
  14. ↑ Synergos Synergos Board of Directors
  15. ↑ Gilmore, Fiona; Dumont, Serge (2003). Brand Warriors China. Profile Books Ltd. ISBN 978-1861976994.
  16. ↑ "UNAIDS recognizes leaders in China’s AIDS response" UNAIDS Feature Story. 17 September 2008. Retrieved 1 July 2012.
  17. ↑ "Serge Dumont to Receive Lifetime Achievement SABRE In Singapore" Holmes Report 16 October 2011. Retrieved 27 June 2012.
  18. ↑ "Hong Kong 100, People of Influence - Media - Advertising, Marketing, PR and Broadcasting" Debrett's 9 November 2015. Retrieved 8 February 2016.
  19. ↑ "APAC Cristal Awards - Merit Award" APAC Cristal Awards 24 March 2016. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
  20. ↑ Palazzo Chigi: Il Presidente del Consiglio, Romano Prodi, ha conferito l'onorificenza "Stella della solidarietà" a Serge Dumont Governo Italiano - August 29, 2006

References

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