Jos Birken – Chief Executive Officer

Jos. started his career with Unilever in 1986, where he became a Global Marketer. Before that, he studied Law at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, and fulfilled his military service as Officer in the Royal Dutch Army.

After Unilever Jos. switched to Direct Marketing and became Country MD of Experian Netherlands. In 1994 he left Experian to found Claritas Netherlands, creating and operating the largest and most successful household database of its kind, and market leader in its segment. After selling the company to ACNielsen he went on to become CEO of Consodata Asia-Pacific, first in Korea and later in Singapore.

This was followed by stints in executive leadership functions with TNT in China; Experian Marketing Services in Hong Kong, as Head of the Asia Pacific region; Apollo Direct Marketing of Himeji, Japan; and as a Non-Executive Director of various Marketing Services companies throughout the region.

In 2007 Jos. started Marketing Science, providing marketing services platforms to companies across Asia-Pacific. In addition he took up the role of CMO and Group Director for Loyalty and Marketing Services of Korvac, Singapore’s most innovative provider of loyalty and payment services; and from 2012-2014 he served as Honourary Treasurer of the Direct Marketing Association of Singapore.

Since October 2012 he serves as CEO of KatalystM, and since 2010 as Vice-Chairman and Honorary Treasurer of the Direct Marketing Association of Singapore; is a regular speaker on major Marketing conferences across Asia-Pacific; and has published several widely read columns in both Europe (Adformatie, Planet Multimedia, Tijdschrift voor Marketing) and Asia (AdVoice, AdAsia Magazine, Wireless World).