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Category: People

  • AkzoNobel strengthens management team with two key appointments

    AkzoNobel strengthens management team with two key appointments

    Mumbai: In a bid to strengthen its management team, AkzoNobel India has appointed Neelima Kataria as country HR manager for the India sub-continent and Vandana Krishnia is named new marketing head for the company’s paints business.

    Speaking on the change in leadership, AkzoNobel India managing director Rajiv Rajgopal said they need the leadership of high performers. “To this end, I am delighted to welcome Neelima and Vandana – two very strong leaders who enrich the organization with their sheer breadth of domain expertise, entrepreneurial passion to innovate, cross-sectoral experience and people-centric approach,” added Rajgopal.

    As the new marketing head for AkzoNobel’s paint business in India, Krishnia will spearhead the strategising and execution of a long-term marketing roadmap aligned with the company’s profitable growth ambitions for India. Her key priorities will be to bolster the relationship between consumers and Dulux by strengthening the brand and shaping consumer-centric innovations.

    She joins AkzoNobel after most recently serving as chief marketing and passenger experience officer at DIAL, GMR group. In her professional journey spanning 18 years, Krishnia has driven marketing management, consumer products, pricing strategy, consumer research for organisations including Hindustan Times and State Bank of India among others.

    As country HR manager for AkzoNobel India, Kataria will work closely with the India leadership team and board of Akzo Nobel India towards crafting a meaningful employee experience that augments its business growth ambitions for India. “Among her key priorities will be to drive AkzoNobel’s HR strategic plan to attract the right talent, develop high-performance teams in a fast-evolving business landscape, helm people-centric policies, oversee rewards & recognitions, and embrace employee wellbeing, diversity, and inclusion to strengthen AkzoNobel as an employer of choice,” said the statement.

    Kataria brings with her over two decades of HR expertise and best practices across geographies and industries. Before joining AkzoNobel, she was the head of HR at Apollo Tyres for Asia Pacific, Middle East, and Africa. Previously, has worked in HR leadership and expertise roles at HT Medias, Fullerton Securities, Bharti Walmart, IBM Daksh and TNT Express.

  • Tata Neu ropes in Akash Banerji as head of content & entertainment vertical

    Tata Neu ropes in Akash Banerji as head of content & entertainment vertical

    Mumbai: The Tata Group has roped in Akash Banerji to lead the content and entertainment vertical of Tata Neu app. Tata Digital unveiled its much-anticipated super app Tata Neu earlier this week.

    In this role, Banerji will oversee the entire content vertical, including P&L, product, content creation, and marketing at Tata Neu, as per media reports.

    Banerji was previously leading marketing for Amazon’s mobile business vertical, having joined the organisation in August 2020.

    Prior to Amazon, he worked with Viacom18’s OTT platform Voot. He was with Viacom18 for five years.

    Banerji has more than eighteen years of experience in the technology, marketing, sales/distribution & P&L domains with consumer centric MNCs.

    He served in multiple industries across digital video (Hotstar & Voot), e-commerce (Prime), Slsports (Star Sports) & entertainment (Star Plus) broadcast & CPG (Pepsi, Marico).

  • MobiKwik promotes Anshuman Misra as chief product & technology officer

    MobiKwik promotes Anshuman Misra as chief product & technology officer

    Mumbai: MobiKwik has promoted its senior vice president – product Anshuman Misra to the new position of chief product and technology officer. This new announcement will take place with immediate effect. 

    In his new role, Misra will be responsible for driving ‘product, design, engineering, infrastructure and security’ at the company. 

    “With this change, MobiKwik aims to build the best and most loved fintech product in India,” said the statement.

    “The company has demonstrated exceptional revenue growth in the last few years on the back of BNPL & payments,” Misra said on his promotion. “With our technology first DNA, I am confident we will build a world-class stack to offer the full fintech suite on the MobiKwik app. I look forward to working with our immensely talented product and engineering teams and further hiring creative minds to drive user delight via constant innovation.”

    Misra joined the fintech company in May 2021. Over his 18+ years of journey in the industry, he has worked with several companies including Hike Messenger, Microsoft, IBM, Quark, Spice etc. 

    MobiKwik CEO, co-founder and managing director Bipin Preet Singh appreciated Misra for his efforts at the company. “Anshuman has done phenomenal work in building product leadership for the business. He spearheaded the UX refresh of MobiKwik Zip, making it the most loved BNPL product. His zeal for continuous improvement has led to elevation in our core technology and infrastructure,” said Singh.

    He further added, “Our next growth frontier is to become a digital bank for Bharat fulfilling all the financial needs of 500 million Indians. As we embark on this growth journey, Anshuman and his team will play a key role in translating our vision into reality.”

  • Xiaomi India CMO Jaskaran Singh Kapany moves on

    Xiaomi India CMO Jaskaran Singh Kapany moves on

    Mumbai: Xiaomi India chief marketing officer Jaskaran Singh Kapany has moved on from the company.

    He had joined the Chinese smartphone company in April last year. As CMO of Xiaomi, Kapany led all marketing initiatives across the company in both the smartphone and smart TV segments which continue to be a hyper-competitive market in India.

    According to the industry sources, Kapany has not announced his next assignment yet.

    Prior to joining Xiaomi, he was associated with companies such as Paytm, ICICI Prudential, Lowe Lintas and others.

  • Aditya Mehendale promoted as national creative director at Schbang

    Aditya Mehendale promoted as national creative director at Schbang

    Mumbai: Digital marketing agency Schbang has promoted Aditya Mehendale as national creative director, according to his LinkedIn profile.

    In this new role, Mehendale will oversee the creative products in India for the agency. He will be also responsible to maintain synergies across both North and South zones in India.

    He joined Schbang as a creative strategist six years ago. He was earlier the creative director of the agency. 

    Mehendale crafted various communication strategies for brands such as Fevicol, Amazon Prime Video, Ashok Leyland, Mattel, Castrol, Jio, and Raw Pressery.

    “Aditya is a brilliant creative mind and has proven time and again his ability to understand the customers’ requirements and translate them into a fine creative product,” said  Schbang’s founder Harshil Karia, as quoted by media reports. “The work that Schbang has done over the last seven years has had his touch on it. I am delighted with the celebration, it’s a growth story that means a lot to us. We wish Aditya all the best in this new role,” he added.

    Speaking on his new role, the media reports quoted Mehendale saying, “It’s been awe-inspiring to be part of a journey that has taken us from being a fledgling agency seven years ago to one of the most dominant independents in India. “As I step into the big shoes of overlooking our entire India creative portfolio, I thank Schbang for its unshaken faith and confidence in me and intend to do my best to strengthen our position as an India-born creative powerhouse.”

  • Rediffusion elevates Pramod Sharma to national creative director

    Rediffusion elevates Pramod Sharma to national creative director

    Mumbai: Rediffusion has fostered its creative leadership by elevating Pramod Sharma to the position of national creative director. He earlier served as executive creative director at the agency’s Mumbai office.

    In his new role, Sharma will lead the creative team and drive the next phase of growth for multiple brands under the Rediffusion umbrella with a focus on further cementing the creative value proposition across all disciplines – creative, media, health, digital and design, said the statement.

    Sharma joined Rediffusion seven years ago and has played a pivotal role in some of its acclaimed work, especially for State Bank Of India, SAB TV, Parle Products, PGIM, Exide, TVS Tyres, Shyam Steel and creation of investor education campaigns for Nippon India Mutual Fund. This is his second innings at the agency.

    He has been credited with the creation of the iconic ‘Tata Motors Ace Gold Campaign.’

    “In the past year, our focus has been to build a strong business foundation, strong client partnerships and bring back Rediffusion’s past glory,” Rediffusion managing director Sandeep Goyal said. “We want to focus on building great brands and elevate the agency ranking to the top five, therefore it is imperative for us to re-establish a strong creative reputation to maximise our ability to create work that works and wins for our client partners. Pramod is a great creative leader who has worked closely with me at Dentsu too. He will closely work with me, Navonil Chatterjee, Kalyani Srivastava and Rajendra Gupta to take the agency to higher pinnacles.”

    “At Rediffusion, as we head into our 50-years celebration, there is a huge amount of energy and enthusiasm,” Sharma said, about his new role. “We have been hiring some very fine talent over the past year. More recruitments are in the pipeline. We are looking at a whole lot of new-age formats that clients desire, and we deliver. Rediffusion 2.0 is about customer joy at every touchpoint of the brand’s journey. My job is to make creatives that bring happiness and satisfaction to our clients’ consumers through messaging that is cut-through and highly memorable.”

  • Ruchi Mathur named as CGO at Mindshare India

    Ruchi Mathur named as CGO at Mindshare India

    Mumbai: Mindshare, the flagship agency from GroupM on Wednesday announced the elevation of Ruchi Mathur as chief growth officer (CGO) for India, with immediate effect. She will be based out of Gurugram and report to Mindshare South Asia CEO Amin Lakhani.

    Mathur, who was previously head of client leadership at Mindshare North & East, will now be responsible for expanding growth metrics for Mindshare through new business development and unlocking growth opportunities within existing businesses, said the agency in a statement.

    “Along with Mindshare, she will closely work with the GroupM leadership to scale in partnerships, capability offering, and drive Mindshare’s good growth agenda,” the agency further added. 

    “Ruchi is a passionate leader and has a proven record of driving excellent business results within the Mindshare group, in the North and East especially. She is instrumental in boosting operational efficiency for helping our clients achieve their objectives,” commented Amin Lakhani. “With more than two decades of media expertise, Ruchi brings in a unique set of perspectives and skills that will help hone our strategic direction and grow our organisation. I am looking forward to her continued contribution within the system and am confident that with her expertise, we will continue leading towards client delight.”

    Speaking on her role, Mathur said, “At Mindshare, our aim is to continuously focus on strong and sustainable ‘Good Growth,’ while creating an impact for our brands, consumers, and the society at large. I would like to thank team Mindshare for believing in me and look forward to this opportunity to continue transforming our client businesses.”

  • Carat India onboards Sayami Podder as AVP – strategy

    Carat India onboards Sayami Podder as AVP – strategy

    Mumbai: Carat India, the media agency from the house of dentsu India has announced the onboarding of Sayami Podder as associate vice president (AVP) – strategy. 

    In her new role, Podder will be spearheading strategic thinking for the agency. She will also offer insights to the existing agency clients across the West and South regions. She will report to Carat India CEO Anita Kotwani, said the agency on Wednesday. 

    “Talent today is the key differentiator that clients look for. Our core focus is to always ensure that we have the best talent that comes on board and joins the Carat family,” commented Anita Kotwani. “Sayami’s diverse expertise across data & analytics, research, communication planning and media strategy, is certainly something that will drive growth for the clients. We see her as the ideal team player to lead Carat’s vision of ‘Designing for People’ in the West & South markets.”

    Armed with more than 12 years of experience, Podder is specialised in brand, media & communication strategy, consumer research, and market mix modelling. She has worked across a wide range of categories including FMCG, beverages, fashion, BFSI, e-commerce & manufacturing. She has helped brands strengthen their market shares by developing effective communication and media investment strategies, leading to exponential business growth and measurable outcomes.

    Prior to joining Carat India, Podder was with Mindshare India where she led strategy for brands like Ultratech Cement, Castrol, SBI Life, ICICI and Kellogg’s. She has also worked with significant retail brands like Pantaloons & Max Fashion and new-age brands like Upstox, Byju’s & TCS Ion, to name a few.

    “The consumer journey is no more linear, and the media ecosystem is constantly evolving to accommodate our new age audience. Carat is already known for its strategic thinking and integrated approach,” stated Sayami Podder. “With my expertise in data science and creative thinking, I am looking forward to building an insight-led strategy that will generate incremental and sustainable growth for our clients. I am delighted to begin this new journey under Anita’s dynamic leadership and contribute to Carat’s growth story for India.” 

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  • Vikram Lalvani appointed as Sterling Holidays MD & CEO

    Vikram Lalvani appointed as Sterling Holidays MD & CEO

    Mumbai: Leisure hospitality brand Sterling Holiday Resorts on Monday announced the appointment of Vikram Lalvani as the new managing director and CEO of the company, effective 1 April.

    After seven years of overseeing various strategic responsibilities at Sterling, which included – customer engagement, revenue maximisation, hotel sales and resort operations, Lalvani succeeds Ramesh Ramanathan, who will now continue to guide the company as its chairman.

    As CMD for Sterling since 2011, Ramesh Ramanathan has been instrumental in steering the company’s turn-around and making it profitable and establishing the Sterling brand in the Leisure Holiday space, said the company in a statement. “Over the past decade, Sterling has expanded its footprint from 10 resorts to over 38 resorts with over 2,500 rooms, spread across hills, beaches, jungles, rivers, heritage, pilgrimage and drive-to locations pan-India,” it added.

    “I am extremely pleased with the appointment of Vikram to lead Sterling towards newer avenues. I look forward to working with him toward our common vision of making Sterling the top leisure hospitality brand in India,” said Ramesh Ramanathan. “On behalf of the board and the team, we are confident that Vikram’s vast experience in the hospitality industry will be a huge advantage for us. His energy, passion and eye for detail will also boost the team in delivering exceptional services and make Sterling the preferred brand for our guests. I congratulate him and wish him all the best for his next chapter.”

    In his previous role as COO, of Sterling Holidays, Lalvani has been responsible for strengthening the preferred partners’ network, launching new revenue-focused projects, and spearheading the expansion plans across the country which now includes 38 plus resorts in operation and many more in the pipeline, according to the company.

    Commenting on his new role, Lalvani said, “I am honored to be given this responsibility. We will continue on the growth path set for us and drive to double our inventory and footprint to over 5,000+ rooms by 2025. With focus on digitisation, we will bring innovation in services for our guests and create a unique place for Sterling in the leisure space. I look forward to further strengthening the brand and building market leadership in the coming years.”

    Lalvani has over 25 years of leadership experience in hospitality, leisure and ITeS industries with proven expertise in revenue maximisation and technology solutions. In the past, he has held crucial positions in companies such as The Indian Hotels and Sutherland Global Services.

  • Hrishikesh Shende joins RP Sanjiv Goenka Group as COO – sports

    Hrishikesh Shende joins RP Sanjiv Goenka Group as COO – sports

    Mumbai: Hrishikesh Shende has joined Kolkata-based multinational conglomerate RP Sanjiv Goenka Group as its chief operating officer – sports, according to his LinkedIn update.

    In a career spanning 17 years, Shende is a sports industry professional with experience in brand marketing, consumer product marketing, sports market, sponsorship sales, and contract negotiations. Under RP Sanjiv Goenka Group, he will be managing the sports brands Lucknow Super Giants (IPL franchise), RP-SG Mavericks (table tennis), and ATK Mohun Bagan Football Club.

    His previous assignment was sports lead at RoundGlass, an Indian NGO based in Punjab. He was associated with adidas for eight years and was business director sports – emerging markets before he moved on from the sports giant in 2021. He also had a stint with IMG Reliance as general manager – football. Prior to that, he was working at Liverpool Football Club.

    Shende has completed his MBA in the football industry from the University of Liverpool and LLB from Government Law College, Mumbai.