University of Leeds

General Manager at MING Labs  -  Innovation & Digital Products

MING Labs is a global innovation & digital product agency, delivering transformation by combining strategy, research & digital production. Service areas include business design, brand design, service design, UX/UI design, design research, software engineering, Generative AI & startup coventuring.

Global director with responsibility for growth topics (accounts, marketing, BD & service strategy) for MING Labs in Asia & Germany.

Primary focus on Generative AI - building internal playbooks, new customer service offerings & digital products enabled by Gen AI.

MING Labs

Growth Director (Global)

Reporting to founders with overall responsibility for running a digital product team of 20 (user research, strategist, product managers, UX research, UX design & engineering).

Lead team in researching. designing and building innovative digital solutions for the likes of Disney, BMW, Daimler, Lincoln, Logitech and BASF.  

Broader responsibilities across projects, strategy, operations, business development, marketing and financials of the China businesses of two offices (Shanghai & Suzhou). 

Highlights & Milestones:
•	Delivered transformative business growth, resulting in 2019 opening of the second China office in Suzhou
•	Setup multi-layered management structure within China business 
•	Sold and successfully delivered the then two biggest multi-year digital projects in company history
•	Developed product offering & portfolio for global business with focus on research and strategy service offering

General Manager

Shanghai lead digital project manager.

Key responsibility was project & product management for digital innovation across user research, design, UX research & engineering. 

Built expertise in UX/UI design, design research/testing, digital product development and agile project management. Certified scrum master (CSM).

Clients included: Logitech, BMW, Sony, BASF, Daimler, Bosch Mobility Solutions, Mapbox, Panasonic and various early stage start-ups.

Senior Product Manager

6 month secondment to lead the establishment of Kantar Worldpanel's ad-tech/MMM (marketing mix modelling) offerings within Latin American business.

Kantar WPP

Expert Solutions (Data Science) Manager

Delivering strategic consultancy, research, data & insights embedded within major FMCG brands' marketing units.

Key internal responsibilities included development, delivery and strategic positioning of new ad-tech & attribution modeling based products. Managed multi-layered account team as part of responsibilities.

Broader responsibilities for oversight of thought leadership material in China region - including corporate events, press releases, and media appearances.

Highlights & Milestones:
•	Led establishment of digital campaign analytics offering in China.
•	Recognized as a high achiever through selection for the global senior leadership development program.
•	Designed the first client solution to be created in China and adopted by global business.
•	Four consecutive years of strong revenue growth across accounts & products.
•	Managed P&L for beauty U&A service.

Clients included: Unilever, P&G, L'Oreal, GSK & Chanel

Account Director

Account manager with team of three reports for leading beauty & homecare brands in China.

Account Manager

Recruited and developed as part of TNS UK Graduate Scheme. Responsible for insights consultancy servicing while commercially developing a variety of accounts across FMCG markets, both manufacturers and retail clients.

Clients: Marks & Spencers, Sainsbury's, Premier Foods

William Marks