Austen zecha
Chairman

Austen holds a BA and MA from Stanford. He began as a journalist in Malaysia, then worked on the staff of the late Robert F. Kennedy before joining Exxon and later Mobil in New York City.

Austen launched his first agency in 1971 in Hong Kong. In 1974 he formed PTM Communications in Malaysia and later sold it to JWT Malaysia. In 1976, he started AMC and was instrumental in the "spinning out" of its two other agencies Edelman Public Relations in 1983/84 and Saatchi & Saatchi Malaysia in 1988/89.

He formed Integrated Strategic Communications (ISC) in 1994 with a team led by Dawn Morais Webster. In 2001 he formed TBWA-ISC in Malaysia. That same year ISC bought into the agency in Honolulu.

Austen served as the 1995-96 Worldwide Partners' Asia-Pacific Chairman before becoming Chairman for the entire group, the world's largest independent network of agencies.

Austen is a member of the Board of Advisors of Chaminade University's Hogan Entrepreneurial Program.