Yves-Michel Gabay, regional general manager of Group M agency MEC MENA, is to leave his post at the end of the month. He will leave Dubai, where he has been in his role for the past 11 years, a couple of months later. French media reports he plans to remain within WPP.

“For the last 11 years Yves-Michel Gabay has made a massive contribution to the development of MEC in the MENA region,” said an MEC representative. “After being part of the senior management team for such a long period of time and a mission completely accomplished, Yves-Michel has decided the time is right to move out of the region and nearer to his family in Europe. We wish him well.”

Gabay’s is the latest high-profile departure from a Group M company. In January Samir Ayoub, Mindshare’s CEO of 17 years, quit, and in November MEC CEO Mohan Nambiar left after 23 years.