ITV

Category: People

  • Nicholas Lim returns to The Travel Corp as new CEO

    Nicholas Lim returns to The Travel Corp as new CEO

    Mumbai: Global travel company The Travel Corp (TTC) has announced the appointment of Nicholas Lim as chief executive officer, effective 16 August. As the CEO of the company, Lim will focus on the transformation of TTC’s distribution of key brands and report to TTC president Gavin Tollman.

    Lim previously headed TTC Asia as managing director from 2018 to 2020, and before that was president (Asia) for Trafalgar from 2011 to 2018. Prior to his appointment as CEO of TTC, Lim was general manager of Norwegian Cruise Lines in Asia.

    “With a strong management team in place in Asia, we are excited to have Nicholas back to help us lead the change and replicate the fantastic success he has had in the past,” Gavin Tollman said. “As travellers of the world hit the road and take to the skies again, thanks to rising vaccination rates, manageable caseloads and relaxing travel restrictions, we are confident of delivering the most enjoyable, safe, and enriching travel experiences for all our guests.”

    In his new role, Lim will work with each of the global brand executives to execute the brand strategies and set the direction to fuel further growth for the region, in particular the luxury travel market for international outbound leisure travel.

    “I could not be prouder to join the dynamic team at TTC,” Lim said. “As the worst effects of the COVID-19 pandemic ebb, most indicators are pointing towards travel returning with a passion as numerous vacationers want to get away from the confines of their homes and as people look to reconnect and explore new destinations. With the near-universal desire to travel and with borders gradually reopening, we at TTC are excited to meet the soaring demand.”

    TTC’s business is split between its guided travel brands such as AAT Kings, Contiki Holidays, CostSaver, Insight Vacations, Thompsons Africa, Trafalgar; And the luxury brands portfolio has Inspiring Journeys, Luxury Gold, Uniworld Boutique River Cruise Collection, and Red Carnation Boutique Hotels.

  • Dream Sports appoints Dhritiman Biswas as VP-public policy & government affairs

    Dream Sports appoints Dhritiman Biswas as VP-public policy & government affairs

    Mumbai: Dream Sports, which owns fantasy sports platform Dream11, has appointed Dhritiman Biswas as vice-president, public policy & government affairs.

    Prior to joining Dream Sports, Biswas was associated with Reliance Foundation as head of corporate affairs for two years.

    Biswas posted a note on LinkedIn on Wednesday announcing his move. “Joining my Dream run. Game on,” he said.

    Biswas is a government relations professional who brings about two decades of demonstrated experience in government affairs, public affairs, public policy, regulatory affairs, communications & crisis communications, grassroots advocacy, and coalition/industry association management. 

    Previously, he has worked with companies like Asian Paints, Abbott, Walmart, Bharti Retail Ltd (Easyday), and Burson Marsteller.

  • SG Analytics onboards Kulwinder Singh as CMO

    SG Analytics onboards Kulwinder Singh as CMO

    Mumbai: Research and data analytics services firm SG Analytics has appointed Kulwinder Singh as its chief marketing officer. In his new role, Singh will be leading the company’s brand management, digital marketing, public relations, and employer branding initiatives. 

    Singh has more than 20 years of experience in senior marketing, communication, and brand management roles. Previously, he was associated with Cadila Pharma, where he chaired the position of chief communication officer. While he was responsible for the digital marketing and communication strategy, he also led the human resource function at Cadila for a year. Singh has held marketing, brand management, and communication management roles at reputed companies including – Edifecs, Synechron, VenSat, and Tech Mahindra. 

    Singh’s appointment is the latest development in a landmark year for SG Analytics wherein the company grew phenomenally and strengthened its leadership team.

    “I am very excited to welcome Kulwinder to the team. It’s because of SG Analytics’ position as a leader in the research and data analytics space that we’re able to continuously attract top-calibre talent across all functions, from sales & marketing to technology, and from innovation to customer experience,” said SG Analytics founder & CEO Sushant Gupta. “Kulwinder’s experience in building powerful brands and driving our digital marketing efforts will be invaluable to SG Analytics as we accelerate our growth strategy.” 

    The new appointment follows the rigorous hiring plans announced by SG Analytics previously. In addition to this, the firm recently announced a company-wide profit share plan for all its employees, reflecting a unique employee-oriented approach. 

    “I’m extremely excited to join SG Analytics – a people-first company with a fantastic management team and a great vision. My experience in developing strategic brand and marketing programs over the last 10 years makes my role as the chief marketing officer at SGA easy to assume,” said Kulwinder Singh.

  • Channel Factory onboards Alex Littlejohn as MD, APAC

    Channel Factory onboards Alex Littlejohn as MD, APAC

    Mumbai: Channel Factory, the global brand suitability and YouTube measurement programme partner, has brought on board Alex Littlejohn as managing director (MD) to spearhead its growth in the APAC region.

    In his new role, Littlejohn will be responsible for growing the brand’s existing operations in Singapore and will be tasked with launching the business into the broader APAC region with local offices across SEA and Australia slated for launch in Q4 2021, said the press statement.

    Littlejohn has extensive experience in scaling adtech businesses having held the position of president international for Adconion Media Group for eight years where he was responsible for growing the team from a standing start to over 250 employees across eight European and four APAC markets. Following Adconion’s acquisition by Singtel (SGX), he served at Amobee as senior vice president for APAC.

    “Alex clearly brings years of incredibly valuable experience to Channel Factory and we could not be more excited to welcome him to the team,” said Channel Factory founder & CEO, Tony Chen. “His impressive record and successful wins speak for themselves and we have full confidence in him to lead our business growth across the APAC region in each local market as we increase our global footprint and push the ad industry to be more conscious while we approach a new decade of recovery and regeneration.”

    Littlejohn has been recognised in the 40 most influential people under 40 years in the media and marketing twice, on two continents, and has been awarded multiple times in multiple markets for his contributions to the industry.

    “I am excited to be joining Channel Factory at such a pivotal time for the business,” said Littlejohn. “Our Mission is to build a better Video ecosystem that connects creators, brands, and consumers, and as one of only seven accredited YouTube measurement partners globally, I am excited to further develop the existing Channel Factory operations in the region.”

  • Infectious Advertising appoints Vinu V Krishna as creative head

    Infectious Advertising appoints Vinu V Krishna as creative head

    Mumbai: Infectious Advertising, an integrated independent agency, on Wednesday announced the appointment of Vinu V Krishna as creative head with immediate effect. Krishna was previously associated with Nichemind as creative director.

    Krishna comes with over 15 years of experience as a copywriter having worked extensively on print and digital for brands like The Week, Federal Bank, Google, Yahoo!, Manorama Group, and GMR. He has worked with leading ad agencies like JWT, DDB, and 1pointsize. He has won major awards at AdStars and Big Bang Awards – Bangalore Advertising Club.

    “The hiring of Vinu would easily be one of the most long-drawn recruitments in the history of advertising,” Infectious Advertising, director & co-founders, Nisha Singhania and Ramanuj Shastry said in a joint statement. “We interviewed him in a pub in Bangalore in 2018 and told him we liked him, and he joined Infectious in 2021! But as they say – it’s better late than never. It took a pandemic and WFH to finally get a top Bangalore writer to join us.”

    “Infectious has a legacy of doing cutting-edge work in the digital space since its inception. And the culture nurtured by Ramanuj and Nisha is conducive to do clutter-breaking work,” Krishna said. “Infectious is a place where creativity, technology and data all come together to solve real business problems.”

  • Vedantu appoints Maninder Bali as head of brand marketing

    Vedantu appoints Maninder Bali as head of brand marketing

    Mumbai: Homegrown online learning platform Vedantu on Tuesday announced the appointment of Maninder Bali as head of brand marketing. Based in Bangalore, Bali will report to Vedantu’s chief operating officer, Arvind Singhal.

    In his new role, Bali will further build the brand and bring alive the Vedantu experience at every touchpoint. He will navigate the brand marketing playbook and drive impact at scale for Vedantu, said the press statement.

    Bali is an industry veteran who has 16 years of experience having worked with prominent advertising companies across India and Singapore, including Leo Burnett, Publicis Singapore, BBH, and Open Strategy and Design.

    Welcoming Bali on board, Arvind Singhal said, “His versatile experience will enhance our student-centric approach and strengthen our relationships with our stakeholders, allowing us to deliver excellence across all platforms. I extend a warm welcome to Maninder, and I am delighted to work with him.”

    Speaking about his new role, Bali said, “One rarely gets a chance to craft an entire brand out of a company’s culture and belief system. This is an extremely opportune time for me to be a part of the Vedantu journey. I’m excited to create a brand that becomes a force multiplier for our mission and creates impact at scale.”

  • CRED founder Kunal Shah joins the board of Pine Labs

    CRED founder Kunal Shah joins the board of Pine Labs

    Mumbai: Merchant commerce platform Pine Labs on Tuesday announced the appointment of CRED founder Kunal Shah to the company’s board.

    “Kunal joins a marquee set of investors, advisors, and other visionary board members who are all committed to take Pine Labs to newer heights. Kunal’s deep understanding of the consumer business will be invaluable to us as we explore new opportunities and step into our next phase of growth,” said Pine Labs CEO, B Amrish Rau.

    Shah is an entrepreneur and an investor. He has nearly 100 investments across financial services, consumer, and technology. “An ardent believer in the role of financial well-being in driving progress, Kunal actively promotes and participates in financial literacy, wealth-creation, and female workforce participation initiatives in India and around the world,” the company said in a statement.

    Shah has been an advisor to the board of Bennett Coleman & Co Ltd (Times of India), the chairman of the Internet and Mobile Association of India, and an advisor to Sequoia Capital India. Before CRED, Kunal founded Freecharge.

    “The pandemic has catalysed behaviour change among consumers, merchants, and institutions that will drive the fintech sector,” Kunal Shah stated. “Shaping this transformation for the benefit of all stakeholders is a collective responsibility. Pine Labs is a player in digital payments adoption and joining its board is an opportunity to contribute to the ecosystem.” 

  • Albino Mascarenhas joins Pyxis One India as HR head

    Albino Mascarenhas joins Pyxis One India as HR head

    Mumbai: Pyxis One, a global startup that provides AI infrastructure for marketing and business growth, has appointed Albino Mascarenhas to lead the human resources division in India.

    In his new role, Mascarenhas will work closely with the startup’s leaders to drive strategic talent management initiatives and disseminate the growing startup’s core values and culture, said the organisation in a statement. “One of his immediate responsibilities will be to lead the talent acquisition efforts for the community of AI experts that Pyxis One is building within the organisation. This community comprises AI researchers, scientists, and engineers from across the globe,” it added.

    Mascarenhas comes with 19 years of people management experience having led human resources at ZEE5 & Komli Media and managed the West and South region for Times Internet Ltd in the past.

    Speaking about the new appointment, Pyxis One’s APAC CEO Neel Pandya said, “I’m truly excited to have Albino onboard with us at Pyxis One. It’s an enormous step towards quickly and efficiently bringing in quality talent to Pyxis, and with Albino driving our people agenda we’re sure to scale even faster.”

    Commenting on his new role, Mascarenhas said, “I am thrilled at the prospect of scaling and driving growth at Pyxis One. I look forward to working closely with the leadership team to outline a successful people’s strategy, and drive successful initiatives.”

  • Mother Sparsh appoints Himanshu Chandel as head of marketing

    Mother Sparsh appoints Himanshu Chandel as head of marketing

    Mumbai: Baby & mother care brand Mother Sparsh has announced the appointment of Himanshu Chandel as head of marketing and growth. The on-boarding of Chandel is aligned with the brand’s vision to achieve a landmark feat in the D2C space by clocking 10 times growth in the website sales, it said on Monday.

    In his new role, Chandel would spearhead the brand’s overall marketing & growth strategy along with analytics to focus on product innovation.

    Mother Sparsh co-founder and CEO Himanshu Gandhi asserted that the appointment of Chandel is also “in sync with the brand’s next growth chapter that majorly is around building the world class brand that thrives in a digital-first world”. “Speed, precision, and timing will play a major role in our next phase of growth journey, as winning customer loyalty and improving customer lifetime value are sacrosanct for us,” he added.

    Prior to Mother Sparsh, Chandel has been instrumental in scaling a number of brands such as Pipa Bella – now acquired by Nykaa, Homescapes Europa Ltd and Passion Gaming, which registered multi-fold growth in terms of user acquisition under his leadership. He has served as a senior-level executive across different segments like gaming, dating & matrimony, e-commerce, cryptocurrency, and BlockChain.

    “We intend to scale Mother Sparsh to being a 100 crore brand by FY ’23, and alongside other prerequisites, we are committed to enhancing brand loyalty among the consumers,” said Chandel. “The key growth lever for us would be placing end consumers at the centre of the overall strategy while we would strongly leverage retention marketing strategies along with advanced mar-tech stack. The brand would continue to scale acquisitions with the right set of the marketing mix.”

  • Madison Media promotes Abhik Banerjee to COO, Madison Media Plus Delhi

    Madison Media promotes Abhik Banerjee to COO, Madison Media Plus Delhi

    Mumbai: Homegrown media agency Madison Media on Monday announced the promotion of Abhik Banerjee to chief operating officer (COO), Madison Media Plus to lead its Delhi office.

    Banerjee, who joined Madison Media in 2012, has 17 years of experience in the industry. Over the last nine years, he has played a key role in Madison Media’s Mumbai office and led accounts such as Asian Paints, Abbott, and Leibherr, amongst others.

    “Abhik, who has been acclaimed as a ‘Client leader of the Year’ in our industry awards a few years ago, personifies the Madison spirit of undying client orientation, innovation, passion and executional brilliance,” said Madison Media & OOH –  partner & group CEO, Vikram Sakhuja. “It is very satisfying when we can promote our internal talent to handle new challenges. I have full confidence in Abhik taking our Delhi office to new heights.”

    Banerjee added, “I am excited and look forward to adding value to the organization with my new role and additional responsibilities. I am thrilled to take on the challenges and opportunities it will bring.”