Programmatic media and technology platform Xaxis has appointed Mickey Zhang as the new managing director for China.

Zhang has over 10 years of digital advertising experience on both the agency and publisher sides and will be responsible for leading the WPP-owned agency’s operations throughout China.

Zhang will oversee the expansion of programmatic offerings in the market as well as taking on the additional responsibilities of managing GroupM’s search and e-commerce and digital developments.

Patrick Xu, chief executive of GroupM China said: “Xaxis has been an integral part of GroupM’s digital strategy since the launch of its China operations in 2012.

“Zhang has been at the helm of GroupM’s award-winning search team in China and will no doubt be a great addition to the Xaxis team,” he added.

Prior to GroupM, Zhang led teams at Google and Baidu, providing integrated search marketing solutions.

Michel de Rijk, managing director, APAC at Xaxis said: “On top of leading our existing on-the-ground team in China, Zhang’s wealth of experience and digital know-how will help take Xaxis to the next stage of our development in China.

The Chinese digital market currently has half a billion users and advertising growth rates average from 30% to 40% each year.