Serge Dumont
Omnicom Group Inc. Senior Vice President and President Asia Pacific

Serge Dumont began his professional career as export director for a publicly listed European firm after earning dual degrees from the Sorbonne University in Paris and studying at Taiwan Normal University and the Political Institute in Taipei. At age 25, he founded a market entry consultancy to help Western firms establish themselves in mainland China. Sensing a growing potential, he soon shifted his focus to strategic communications and rapidly acquired a roster of Fortune 500 clients, transforming the company into the market leader.

In 1993 Mr. Dumont sold his company to public relations group Edelman, where he was appointed Group Executive Vice President and President Asia. He left the company in 1998. His unique and pioneering contributions have led the media to refer to him as the ”founder of the communications industry in China.”
Recently Mr. Dumont decided to return to the communications industry. In 2006, he joined Omnicom Group Inc. the world’s leading advertising and marketing services company, as Senior Vice President and President Asia Pacific (www.omnicomgroup.com).

Mr. Dumont is frequently consulted as a high-level advisor by governments and multilateral bodies. For example, he led a team of high-level crisis advisors he assembled to counsel the World Health Organization and the Beijing Municipal Government during the SARS epidemic in 2003. More recently, he advised the French Government on how to involve the Chinese private sector in the Year of France in China, a groundbreaking program initiated by the presidents of China and France.

Mr. Dumont is also deeply involved in philanthropic endeavors and cultural activities. In 2003, as President of the Rotary Club of Beijing, he conceived and organized China’s first high-level celebrity charity event to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS. His leadership was instrumental in constructing an alliance of organizations including the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the United Nations system, the European Union, the American AIDS Foundation, and the China Youth Development Foundation, a leading charitable organization where he has been appointed the first and only foreign member of the Board of Trustees.

In 2004 he established a scholarship fund at China’s prestigious Tsinghua University to meet the mainland’s growing need for qualified communications professionals (www.sergedumontfund.org). Mr. Dumont is also Vice Chairman of the Beijing Music Festival’s international advisory board (www.bmf.org.cn), and acts as the Honorary Representative for China of the Comit Colbert (www.comit-colbert.com),a prestigious organization whose members include the top names in French luxury goods. He also received in 2006 the prestigious title of “Special Representative”for UNAIDS, the joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (www.unaids.org ), and was invited to be a member of the Eminent Persons Panel of the United Nations Silk Road Initiative.
During his career, Mr. Dumont was bestowed France’s highest military and civilian honor, the “Légion d’Honneur” (Legion of Honor) and was named “Chevalier des Arts et Lettres” (Knight of Arts and Literature). He is a “Conseiller du Commerce Extrieur de la France”- France’s Foreign Trade Advisor. Mr. Dumont was also named “Grande Ufficiale” in the order of the Italian Solidarity Star by the Italian government.

Mr. Dumont is fluent in Mandarin, English, and French, and maintains a basic knowledge of Italian, German, and Japanese. In his spare time he enjoys horseback riding, water sports, reading, opera, and music, as well as gastronomy and fine wines.