LEGO APAC Marketing Director Rohan Mathur Exits for Fractional Leadership

Rohan Mathur has stepped down as marketing director for India and emerging Asia at The LEGO Group, ending an 18-year corporate career across LEGO and Procter & Gamble. He leaves to pursue AI training, keynote speaking, and fractional leadership, taking the same exit ramp as at least three other senior APAC marketing leaders in the past two months.

That pattern is the real story here.

A Departure, and a Pattern Behind It

Mathur joined LEGO in 2016. In his final two-year role, he led marketing across 10 markets: India, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam. He drove a twofold increase in topline growth across the region and created the Playground campaign, which LEGO later exported globally. His LinkedIn exit post said he had "stepped out to build something of my own," positioning himself as a "crossroads navigator" for brands facing growth challenges, rejuvenation, and AI adoption.

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Within weeks of his exit, Peilin Lee departed Nespresso Singapore after seven years to launch a leadership development venture, Steff Yong left foodpanda Malaysia on April 13 after overseeing brand, growth and quick commerce strategy, and Philip Chau exited Sun Life Asia in March, citing "the recent surge of AI" as influencing his timing. All four pivoted to advisory or entrepreneurial roles. None named a successor immediately.

This is not a coincidence. This is a structural shift in how Asia's most experienced marketing leaders see their futures.

The Advisory Economy Is Winning the Talent War

Russell Reynolds data puts talent competition as the top challenge for 71% of APAC regional leaders, versus 56% globally. Meanwhile, APAC CEO departures hit 87 in 2025, a 26% year-on-year increase and an eight-year high for the region. The marketing function mirrors this churn: CMO tenure at S&P 500 companies has fallen to 4.1 years globally, and 23.8% of brands surveyed by Marketing Week cut the senior marketing role without any replacement.

The alternative these executives are choosing is a fast-growing one. The global fractional executive market was valued at US$5.7 billion in 2024 and is projected to reach US$19.1 billion by 2033. In Singapore alone, the pool of listed fractional leaders more than doubled to 500 in under a year. Korn Ferry finds that 32% of APAC marketing professionals say the desire to be "more future-fit" is a top reason they might leave their current role.

What LEGO Isn't Saying

LEGO has already posted the replacement listing for the Marketing Director, India and Emerging Asia role. It is also building out Our LEGO Agency APAC, an in-house creative and marketing unit. In December 2025, it hired Fiona Huang, former managing director of dentsu Creative Singapore, as business partner director alongside APAC head of creative Primus Nair. The brand is consolidating creative capabilities internally while simultaneously losing proven regional marketing directors to the advisory economy.

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The official narrative is one of capability-building. The structural reality is that LEGO, and much of APAC's marketing industry, is losing its most battle-tested talent to a career model it cannot easily compete with. A fractional or advisory role offers experienced executives autonomy, flexibility, and access to AI-era opportunity on their own terms. Corporate marketing directorships, even well-resourced ones, increasingly cannot match that offer.

Over 60% of APAC organizations expect hiring conditions to worsen in 2026, the highest negative outlook globally. With departures like Mathur's arriving in clusters, the talent war is already being lost in the marketing suite.