Merkle (www.merkle.com), the nation's fastest growing customer relationship marketing (CRM) agency, today announced the hiring of two vice presidents, one in London and one in the company's Shanghai office and the promotion of a third in Shanghai. Ruey-Er Chang was hired as a VP of Client Management and will work out of Merkle's Shaghai office. James Hutchison was also hired as a VP of Client Management, based in London. Raymond Wu was promoted to VP and General Manager of Merkle's China operations for the company's analytics and technology businesses. These moves reflect Merkle's continued effort to increase its international presence in support of its existing multi-national client base.

"As we leverage the company's reputation for providing industry leading CRM solutions, Merkle continues to recruit the most talented individuals in the marketing field to grow our business internationally," said Merkle CEO David Williams. "With Ruey-Er Chang, James Hutchison and Raymond Wu in key leadership positions, we are poised to leverage our existing experiences and relationships abroad."

Dr. Ruey-Er Chang will focus on developing Merkle's presence and ongoing partnership with Dell in the Asian Pacific Region (including Japan). Prior to joining Merkle, she was the Chief Analytics Officer of a large multi-national insurance agency. Before that, she held several senior positions at Citigroup, including Head of Database Marketing/CRM and Analytics for the Asian Pacific region based in Singapore; Managing Director in Global eConsumer; and SVP of International Retail Banking and Cards, and North American Retail Distribution. She also worked at Epsilon, where she managed the company's analytic group, and at AT&T.

James Hutchison brings to Merkle 20 years of marketing experience, including more than 14 years at several IBM locations in Western Europe. Most recently, he served as Marketing Automation lead for IBM Worldwide Marketing Transformation. Previously at IBM, he was Head of Database Marketing and also led Direct Marketing in the EMEA region. His responsibilities at Merkle will include developing a regional presence for Merkle and implementing regional marketing efforts for Dell.

Raymond Wu has also been promoted to VP and General Manager of Merkle's operations in China. He continues to be heavily involved in Merkle's global expansion and has been the lead for developing and managing Merkle's first overseas location in Shanghai. Under Wu's leadership, Merkle has grown to more than 40 employees working from its Shanghai office and expects it to rise to 100 in 2011. He has over 11 years of experience constructing and implementing marketing mix optimization and database marketing solutions. Prior to joining Merkle in December 2004, Wu worked for WPP/Wunderman New York, a worldwide advertising and direct marketing agency.