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Category: People

  • HiveMinds names Manav Khurana business head – marketplaces

    HiveMinds names Manav Khurana business head – marketplaces

    Mumbai: Hiveminds Innovative market solutions, the digital specialist of Madison World, has brought on board Manav Khurana to head its growing marketplace division.

    Khurana is a seasoned e-commerce professional armed with over 12 years of experience across global brands. Before joining HiveMinds, he used to work with BestBuy Canada. He has previously worked with the early e-commerce platforms in India like ShopClues and with brands like Asian Paints and Lava mobiles.

    Commenting on the new appointment, HiveMinds, founder & CEO, Jyothirmayee JT said, “E-commerce platforms, direct-to-consumer platforms, and direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands are changing the consumer landscape. We have built some great AdTech capabilities to help our clients grow on e-commerce and gain market share. And now, we are investing in growth levers for India and International markets. Manav is the right person to lead our expansion across geographies and to develop the team in India and to serve our ever-growing client list.”

    Madison World, chairman, Sam Balsara said, “I am sure Manav will add heft to Hiveminds’ considerable expertise and experience in e-commerce. Most clients are increasing their focus on e-commerce and Manav joins our expanding team to steer it to deliver outstanding results to our clients.”

    On his new role, Khurana said, “This is the best time to be in the Indian digital ecosystem. I am delighted to be leading such an important vertical for HiveMinds. With the unique tech capabilities it possesses, HiveMinds is already ahead in the marketplace growth, I plan to strengthen the team further to deliver spectacular results for our clients in India, USA, & UAE.”

  • Cashfree appoints Vikas Guru as chief financial officer

    Cashfree appoints Vikas Guru as chief financial officer

    Mumbai: Digital payments and banking technology company Cashfree has announced the appointment of Vikas Guru as its chief financial officer, to fuel the next phase of its growth.

    Guru will be responsible for bringing a new level of insight, requisite experience, and strategy to drive the change and build an agile finance function at Cashfree. He will oversee operations, reporting, governance, investor relationships, and management information system. He will also play an active business partnering role within the leadership team to ensure both top and bottom-line targets are met and continuously exceeded, the company said in a statement.

    “As Cashfree embarks on the next phase of growth, we are seeking out accomplished professionals who share our values and work ethics,” said Cashfree CEO & co-founder, Akash Sinha. “We are pleased to welcome Vikas Guru, at a critical juncture of the Cashfree journey. Vikas brings with him extensive experience in conceptualizing and implementing financial processes which are essential for an aggressively growing company like Cashfree. He has led teams across diverse industries and spearheaded finance operations in growth-centric organisations. We are confident that Vikas’s in-depth knowledge of financial planning and analysis, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate development will be invaluable as we continue on our journey to becoming one of the largest players, globally.”

    Guru comes with two decades of experience across sectors such as financial services, retail, banking, and real estate. In a decade-long stint at FINO PayTech Ltd, he led the organisation to achieve scale and profitability. He was featured in the CFONEXT100 as a financial controller.

    “This is an exciting time for Cashfree, and I am happy to join a team of extremely talented people fueling India’s next big story in banking technology and digital payments,” Guru said. “With innovation at its core, Cashfree is one of the fastest-growing fintechs in the country and I am sure that we will continue to create products and services which will benefit the entire ecosystem. I am looking forward to working with the team here in executing its strategic growth plans in India as well as in international markets. Together, we remain optimistic to capture the next wave of growth in the Cashfree journey.”

  • HCL Technologies onboards Jill Kouri as new CMO

    HCL Technologies onboards Jill Kouri as new CMO

    Mumbai: HCL Technologies has announced the appointment of Jill Kouri as its global chief marketing officer (CMO).

    In her new role, Kouri will lead the company’s global marketing programmes to advance HCL’s focus on helping companies reimagine their business for the digital age.

    “As HCL continues to drive its strategy to be the digital partner of choice for global enterprises and reinforce its industry-leading ESG practices, it is imperative to strengthen our marketing leadership,” said HCL Technologies’ CEO & MD, C Vijayakumar. “Jill brings rich experience in areas from purpose articulation and global brand building to demand generation and sales enablement, and we are thrilled to welcome her to our leadership team.”

    Kouri joins HCL Technologies most recently from JLL, where she was CMO, Americas, for seven years. Prior to that, she spent 14 years in senior marketing leadership roles at Accenture.

    “While I was familiar with HCL Technologies at a high level, I was completely in awe of the organization’s rich history, culture, and focus on innovation and entrepreneurial mindset,” Kouri said. “HCL is at a critical point in its journey, having reached the $10 billion revenue mark, and I am excited to lead the efforts to create more widespread brand awareness and affinity, all while driving a very strong growth agenda.”

  • Anand Murty joins DDB Mudra as strategy head

    Anand Murty joins DDB Mudra as strategy head

    Mumbai: DDB Mudra on Wednesday appointed Anand Murty to steer the strategy function for its offices across Mumbai, Bengaluru, and Gurugram. Anand will report to DDB Mudra Group’s national strategy head, Amit Kekre.

    In a career spanning over 18 years, Murty has worked as a marketer with consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser before moving to advertising and leading the strategy product for Ogilvy & Taproot Dentsu. He has led brands such as Sprite, Smartwater, Voltas, Honda, Pernod Ricard, GSK, and Set Wet among others. His last stint was at Taproot Dentsu, where he led the strategy for the agency’s Gurugram division.

    Speaking about the new appointment, Amit Kekre said, “I am very excited to have Anand on board. With him on the team, a revamped strategy structure to suit the agency of the future, I am confident that we are in an even stronger position to fuel the Group’s ambitions and growth.”

    Talking further on his new role, Murty said, “I’m stoked to be a part of the DDB Mudra team. It is an absolute privilege to work with the incredible set of planners that DDB has nurtured over the years. I look forward to building and keeping up the momentum – and loving every moment of it.”

  • Otipy appoints Pranit Arora as SVP – growth and marketing

    Otipy appoints Pranit Arora as SVP – growth and marketing

    Mumbai: Online food business company Otipy on Wednesday announced the appointment of Pranit Arora as senior vice president – growth and marketing.

    In his new role, Arora will be responsible for rapidly growing the network of community leaders, consumers and strengthening Otipy’s growth/marketing playbook which will be implemented across multiple geographies within the country, said the company in a statement.

    Arora has close to a decade of experience in leadership roles across growth and marketing with companies like Reckitt Benckiser, OYO, and GoMechanic.

    Otipy’s founder & CEO Varun Khurana said, “We are in a rapid scale-up phase and plan to double up our community leader base within this year. With Pranit’s rich leadership experience both in startups as well as MNCs we believe he is perfectly suited for driving this goal.”

    On his new role, Arora said, “Otipy is smartly leveraging the community group buying model and building a unique ecosystem of community leaders who are delivering farm-fresh produce and daily essentials at the doorstep of consumers. This creates a new distribution ecosystem that has disruptive potential, especially for the fresh produce category. I am excited about working on this massive opportunity.”

  • Nitesh Bansal takes charge as HTC Global Services new president & COO

    Nitesh Bansal takes charge as HTC Global Services new president & COO

    Mumbai: IT major HTC Global Services on Wednesday announced the appointment of Nitesh Bansal as president and chief operating officer, effective immediately. He was previously associated with Infosys as senior vice president.

    Bansal will be responsible for global sales, marketing, delivery, and operations of the enterprise and report directly to CEO and founder Madhava Reddy, who will continue to drive strategy and direction for the company, according to the official statement.

    In his over 23 years-long career at Infosys, Bansal was responsible for an engineering unit – covering global sales, delivery, marketing, consulting, and strategy functions. He established three billion-dollar business units, worked across geographies and industry verticals, and was also instrumental in some key acquisitions.

    “We are excited to have someone of Nitesh’s caliber and experience to lead HTC Global Services in its next chapter of growth,” said Madhava Reddy. “Nitesh’s appointment reflects our strategy and desire to accelerate our growth and make HTC Global Services a force to reckon with in this fast-changing world, full of opportunities and challenges. Nitesh is a technology visionary with a proven track record of success and execution. He has a strong drive, is customer-focused, with deep leadership capabilities.”

    In his illustrious career, Bansal has served as a member of Global Futures Council for Advanced Manufacturing at the World Economic Forum, national ER&D council of NASSCOM, industry advisory board of Tauber Institute of Global Operations, University of Michigan, advisory committee of SAE India, suppliers board of Open Networking Foundation (ONF), North American Manufacturers Association, and was also an external advisor to American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME).

    Commenting on his new role, Bansal said, “I am very excited about this opportunity and humbled by the trust Mr Reddy and the whole HTC organisation has put in me. The world around us is rapidly evolving and digital technologies are constantly changing the way we interact and consume. HTC with its customer-centric approach and pedigree of high-quality service delivery is at the right place to catapult itself into becoming the trusted partner of choice that can make the digital change happen. I look forward to working with all clients and partners of HTC to achieve this together.” 

  • Criteo appoints Taro Fujinaka as MD – retail media, APAC

    Criteo appoints Taro Fujinaka as MD – retail media, APAC

    Mumbai: Criteo, the global technology company that provides the world’s leading commerce media platform, on Tuesday announced its expansion to offer retail media solutions across six markets in the Asia Pacific region (APAC).  Since its regional launch in Japan in 2019, the Criteo retail media solution is now available in five more markets, including Korea, Australia, South-East Asia, Taiwan, and India.

    The company appointed Taro Fujinaka as managing director, retail media, APAC. In this role, Taro will work to drive the regional retail media ecosystem and deliver value to Criteo’s customers and partners as they continue to utilise retail media.

    The solution enables retailers and marketplaces to generate new revenue from their brand partners. Brands can also reach shoppers at the digital point of sale and have complete visibility into the impact of media spend on product sales. This has proven instrumental in providing an optimal user experience, with shoppers able to receive relevant ads on the retailers’ own websites, while they shop conveniently online, said the company in a statement.

    “We were quick to expand our retail media offerings here in Asia, a key growth market for Criteo. In Q1 this year, our retail media business grew 122 per cent year-over-year, and we are excited to see increasing demand for our technology, especially here in Asia,” said Criteo’s EVP & general manager, growth portfolio, Geoffroy Martin. “A key component of our commerce media strategy, retail media is also an addressable market expected to grow quickly. According to McKinsey, Retail Media is a $17B market today, excluding Amazon and China, and will grow at a 22 per cent CAGR to $32 billion in 2024.”

    Since joining the team in March, Taro has worked with the team to drive awareness and adoption across the region. “As brands prepare for the post-cookie world, Retail Media will play a pivotal role in empowering brands who seek new addressable media opportunities in the evolving identity landscape. Combining a highly differentiated ad inventory with unique first-party data, we are confident that its availability and the strengthened capacity of our regional team will help with driving the industry forward in the years to come,” said Taro.

    Globally, Criteo’s retail media solution powering over 100 retailers and 120 agency customers, and it is expected to drive nearly $700 million in media monetisation for retailers and $3.3 billion in product sales for brands in 2021, the company said.

  • OMD India names Udhayakumar Pashupathi its Chennai head

    OMD India names Udhayakumar Pashupathi its Chennai head

    Mumbai: Media agency OMD India on Monday announced the appointment of Udhayakumar Pasupathi as new lead at the company’s Chennai office. Pasupathi will report to OMD India chief client officer Sulina Menon.

    Pashupathi commands 12 years of diverse and prolific industry experience. He spent nine years at Mindshare where his most recent role was that of cluster lead in Bangalore. Pashupathi was previously associated with Lodestar UM,  where he worked as a planner, team lead, strategist, and media consultant.

    Commenting on the new appointment, Sulina Menon said, “We’re extremely pleased to have someone like Udhaya, with his experience and expertise, join our Chennai team, and are confident that we will benefit greatly from the insights he brings to the table. I’m especially excited about the growth journey ahead and look forward to collectively pursuing a host of new opportunities.”

    OMD CEO India Priti Murthy said, “All of us at OMD are eagerly looking forward to Udhaya’s fresh new perspectives combined with the rich repertoire of industry knowledge he’s gathered over the years. There are some exciting growth avenues ahead, and we can’t wait to unlock them together.”

    Speaking about this new assignment, Pasupathi said, “It’s been over a decade of experience, learnings, and leadership in the realm of media strategy & planning, and surely there’s no better place to mark 12 years than OMD. With its vast global network and its growth-driven environment, I’m delighted to be in a space where together we quite literally make better decisions, faster!”

  • Rupeek appoints Jimit Shah as associate director, PR & communications

    Rupeek appoints Jimit Shah as associate director, PR & communications

    Mumbai: Homegrown FinTech startup Rupeek has appointed Jimit Shah as its associate director – PR and communications, with effect from 29 July. Shah was previously associated with ZEE5 as its PR and communications lead.

    At Rupeek, Shah will be leading the integrated PR and communications mandate along with a team of PR professionals working with him.

    Shah is a communication professional who comes with 12 years of experience in PR, corporate communications, reputation management, brand strategy, and crisis management. He has been part of both agencies as well as the corporate side of the business. He has had stints with agencies like Madison PR, Mullen Lowe Lintas Group, Adeventurez. Prior to ZEE5, he was part of the marketing communications team of Star Sports at Star India. 

  • KKR appoints Binda Dey as chief marketing officer

    KKR appoints Binda Dey as chief marketing officer

    Mumbai: Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) has appointed Binda Dey as KKR and Knight Riders Global Franchises’ new chief marketing officer (CMO). This would be her second stint with the company after having served as head of marketing in 2015-16. 

    In her new role, Dey will oversee all aspects of marketing – brand, content, digital, licensing, and merchandising, for all initiatives in Indian Premier League, Caribbean Premier League, and USA cricket.

    Prior to KKR, Dey worked with Red Chillies Entertainments as head of marketing and creative development for over five years. Her past stints also include Star India, Starcom, and DDB Mudra Group.