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Category: People

  • Starcom names Sujatha Maniya as talent management head for SE Asia

    Starcom names Sujatha Maniya as talent management head for SE Asia

    MUMBAI: Starcom Mediavest Group has appointed Sujatha Maniya as talent management head for Southeast Asia.

     

    She replaces Tang Seok Hian, talent management lead for SEA, who left to be a consultant.

     

    Maniya will report into Starcom Mediavest Group Southeast Asia CEO and VivaKi country chair Jeffrey Seah. Her responsibilities include the development of strategic HR business plans, talent management and change management.

     

    Maniya said, “Human Resource as a business practice is in a powerful position to influence business success in 2016, especially as organisational changes and shifting priorities continue to increase in complexity, frequency and scope. Organisations need to apply several strategies to prepare for and more effectively adjust during continuous change and at the core of those strategies are the HR business partners. HRBP’s who improve their skills, maintain partnerships and confidently and competently manage projects they lead, can make these changes, successful realties in their organisations.”

     

    Seah added, “Culture, employer branding and industry outreach become key priorities for HR as each company competes in the space of talent attraction and acquisition. This means that most HR, if not all, will need to sell better, seal strategic partnerships with key players in the industry, and manage talent communities. HR, or organisation coaches as they are, will become a key enabler to help companies future-proof their businesses.”

  • Snapdeal SVP Srinivas Murthy quits; to launch entrepreneurial venture

    Snapdeal SVP Srinivas Murthy quits; to launch entrepreneurial venture

    MUMBAI: Snapdeal marketing  senior vice president Srinivas Murthy has moved on from his role in the company to embark on an entrepreneurial journey.

     

    “The entrepreneurial drive has rubbed off onto me. I’m now moving on to become an entrepreneur myself,” said Murthy.

     

    Not divulging the details of his new venture, Murthy added that he will announce it in the next few months.

     

    “Srini has decided to begin an exciting new journey as an entrepreneur, and while he will surely be missed, I am delighted to see that he is carrying forward the Snapdeal spirit of entrepreneurship,” said Snapdeal CEO and co-founder Kunal Bahl.

     

    This is the second major exit at Snapdeal in recent times after the company’s head of strategy Ranjan Kant quit to join Jabong as CMO.

  • Mindshare Malaysia ups Cindy Chia to general manager

    Mindshare Malaysia ups Cindy Chia to general manager

    MUMBAI: Mindshare Malaysia has restructured the management of the agency by promoting Cindy Chia to the newly created role of general manager, with her new responsibilities encompassing talent and office management, in addition to her existing client leadership role.

     

    Chia has been with the agency since 1999.

     

    Commenting on Chia’s contribution to Mindshare over the years, Mindshare Malaysia managing director Varun Channa said, “Cindy’s is a classic case of nurturing internal talent. She joined the agency in 1999 as a Planner and steadily rose through the ranks over the next nine years to the position of director. She has led some of our biggest, most prestigious global blue-chip accounts and has consistently delivered cut-through communications solutions for these clients. Now she moves into a new phase of her career, where she is taking on other responsibilities related to office management and talent growth.”

     

    Chia added, “I’m truly honoured to be entrusted with this role. This is an exciting time for media because everything is now fluid and adaptive. Through Mindshare’s Adaptive Marketing Framework, we’re in a position to play an even greater role in growing our clients’ business and help them thrive in the “chaos” around. I look forward to add greater value to our clients and to the industry.”

  • Paytm hires ITC’s Varun Khullar as head of partnerships – payments bank

    Paytm hires ITC’s Varun Khullar as head of partnerships – payments bank

    MUMBAI: Paytm has hired former ITC executive Varun Khullar for its payments bank business. 

     

    Khullar will lead the partnerships division and will be responsible for building relationships with potential partners such as insurance companies, banks and non-banking financial institutions.

     

    Prior to joining Paytm, Khullar, an alumnus of IIT Madras and Indian School of Business, Hyderabad, worked with companies like Boston Scientific Corporation, McKinsey & Co and ITC. 

     

    Paytm vice president Amit Sinha said, “We are looking at building a robust leadership team for our Payments Bank business over the next three – four months. Varun’s professional career, his rich experience and demonstrated dynamism in an evolving business eco-system is the perfect combination for us at this juncture. We’re pleased to have him on board to head the partnerships division of our upcoming business.”

     

    Khullar added, “Paytm’s proposed Payments Bankis in sync with the national vision of a cashless economy with greater financial inclusion for all. It is indeed an honour to be a part of this vision. I’m thrilled to come on board at one of the fastest scaling m-commerce and payments platforms in the country and look forward to a mutually successful tenure at Paytm.”

     

    Khullar’s appointment comes three weeks after Paytm brought Amazon India’s Vikas Purohit on board in a similar leadership position for its Payments Bank. The company aims to recruit 3,000 people for the business and has also enlisted the services of management consulting majors, Ernst & Young and McKinsey& Co to help in the rollout.

  • The Social Street names Deepak Singh as chief creative officer

    The Social Street names Deepak Singh as chief creative officer

    MUMBAI: Media agency start up The Social Street has appointed Deepak Singh as its chief creative officer. He will be based out of Mumbai and will report to Social Street founding partner and chairman Pratap Bose.

     

    Bose said, “I am thrilled that Deepak is joining us! Deepak is one of the most decorated art directors and one of the finest art talents we have in our country. Easy-going, light-hearted and humble to the core, he’s proof that looks can be deceiving. Because deep beneath that unassuming persona lies a hunger to keep raising the bar, only to topple it over. I wish him the very best and look forward to seeing some path breaking creativity from him!”

     

    Singh added, “I feel advertising now is much more than just TVCs, print and radio. That’s why with time we should change and try to explore bigger things. Pratap has a clear vision about his plans for The Social Street and knows why he was hiring me, which gives me more confidence. I think the next generation of advertising is much more than mainline advertising and that is what attracts me to shift, and I feel I can do more challenging things now. Digital, outdoor, interactive, activation makes advertising much bigger and more interesting. I am really looking forward to do some great work for The Social Street. My mainline experience will bring new solutions to clients’ problems.”

     

    In his 15 years of professional pursuits, Singh has over 400 national and international awards to his name and has worked with agencies like Leo Burnett, Grey Worldwide, McCann Erickson, DDB Mudra and Dentsu. 

     

    “I really enjoyed working with Bose at DDB in the past and I am very fond of his humble and simple nature and way of looking at things. I always wanted to work with him in the future and I am happy he chose me for this position. I know there are a lot of challenges and learning for me, but I think this partnership with Social Street will add a new dimension to my career,” Singh added.

  • IAMAI names FreeCharge’s Kunal Shah as new chairman

    IAMAI names FreeCharge’s Kunal Shah as new chairman

    MUMBAI: The Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has named FreeCharge co-founder and CEO Kunal Shah as its new chairman.

     

    The move was necessitated following Nishant Rao’s move to join Freshdesk as global chief operating officer, from LinkedIn.

     

    The Association has also named CCAvenue CEO Vishwas Patel as the new treasurer. Saavn Vinodh Bhat co-founder, president & chief strategy officer remains the vice-chairman of the association. 

     

    Shah co-founded FreeCharge in August 2010 with the aim to build a business that turned recharges into rewarding experiences for its consumers. In April 2015, FreeCharge was acquired by Snapdeal. Post acquisition, FreeCharge continues to be an independent entity under Shah’s leadership.

  • Dentsu India elevates four execs; eyes No. 2 rank by 2017

    Dentsu India elevates four execs; eyes No. 2 rank by 2017

    MUMBAI: Dentsu India is set to move towards version 3.0 of its India story.  The company has a two-fold aim to transform the creative reputation of the Dentsu brand in India, bringing it into the top 5 and contribute towards the objective of taking the Dentsu Aegis Network towards an ambitious No. 2 position by 2017.

    In line with this, the roles of four key professionals in the India leadership team of Dentsu have been upgraded.

    The current CEO of Dentsu Creative Impact Group and national planning director (Dentsu India – North) Narayan Devanathan has been promoted with immediate effect to the newly created role of Dentsu India group executive & strategy officer.

    In his role, Devanathan will be the chief steward of the Dentsu brand in India, ensuring consistency of vision and output, in line with Dentsu’s global philosophy of good innovation. He will also play the role of an integrator with the other members of the Dentsu Aegis Network, both within and outside India, helping leverage the power of the network.

    In addition, he will continue to helm the two specialist units of Dentsu Mama Lab (dedicated to connecting brands with mothers meaningfully) and Citizen Dentsu (dedicated to connecting brands with social purpose).

    Dentsu Marcom branch head Harjot Narang has been promoted with immediate effect as the company’s president. In recognition of Narang’s contribution to the agency’s turnaround over the last four years, and his continued drive to catapult the agency to be counted among the top 3 agencies in the Delhi / NCR market, Narang will be charged with driving the pace of growth at Dentsu Marcom.

    Dentsu Creative Impact brand head Amit Wadhwa has been promoted with immediate effect as the agency’s president. 

    Over the last four years, Wadhwa has grown from heading the account management function to overseeing the branch’s operations, and has grown the agency from strength to strength. His charge, with more autonomy, will now be to transform the creative reputation of the agency while achieving never-before scale.

    Dentsu branded agencies India group CFO C.P Arora will have an expanded role in the Dentsu Aegis Network in India as well. He will now, in addition to his existing responsibilities, take charge as Dentsu Aegis Network India (North) CFO.

    Commenting on the developments, Dentsu Aegis Network, South Asia chairman & CEO Ashish Bhasin said, “We are now at the forefront of our next phase of growth in our creative agencies and it is important for us to recognise the excellent talent pool that we have within the network and give them more autonomy to better service our clients. Narayan, Harjot, Amit and C.P. are amongst the best that we have in the network and I am sure that, they will drive the Dentsu Creative Agencies to new heights and help Dentsu Aegis Network become the second largest agency group in India by end-2017, overturning for the first time the existing ranking which has historically been in place for over 80 years in India.”

  • Wipro names Abidali Neemuchwala as new CEO

    Wipro names Abidali Neemuchwala as new CEO

    NEW DELHI: Information technology services provider Wipro has appointed Abidali Z Neemuchwala as the new CEO.

     

    Prior to this, he was group president and chief operating officer of Wipro for the past nine months. At present, he is not on the board of Wipro.

     

    A Tata Consultancy Services veteran, Neemuchwala worked for 23 years in leadership roles.

     

    The Bangalore-based Wipro said current CEO TK Kurien will become the executive vice chairman and will be a member of Wipro board till March 2017.

     

    A spokesperson of Wipro told Indiantelevision.com that the aim was to ensure smooth transition of executive powers to the new CEO.

     

    Neemuchwala will handle the mandate to take Wipro through the next phase of growth.

     

    Wipro chairman Azim Premji said, “As executive vice chairman, Kurien will enable Abid by leveraging his deep relationships with customers and chart out a new technology roadmap for Wipro.”

     

    Premji said Neemuchwala has effortlessly assimilated into the culture and ethos of Wipro in his nine months as the group president and chief operating officer.

     

    Kurien will continue to report to Premji and will remain a member of the Wipro Board until 31 March, 2017.

     

    “I am convinced that we are well positioned to seize new opportunities in today’s marketplace. I look forward to working with the thousands of Wiproites to take our company to greater heights,” said Neemuchwala.

     

    Both Kurien and Neemuchwala will be on the Board of the company. Both these appointments are effective 1 February, 2016.

     

    Neemuchwala came to Wipro as the group president and COO from 1 April, 2015 from TCS, He has been handling the service lines of global infrastructure services, business application services, business process services, and advanced technology solutions. He will also head business operations; the geographies comprising Continental Europe, Africa, and LATAM; strategic engagements, advisor relationships as well as the marketing function.

     

    An Electronics & Communication engineer from NIT, Raipur, with a Masters in Industrial Management from IIT, Mumbai, Neemuchwala has experience in business and technology operations, process, and consulting.

  • GroupM Malaysia names Robin Bach Kolling as head of Connect

    GroupM Malaysia names Robin Bach Kolling as head of Connect

    MUMBAI: GroupM Malaysia has appointed digital strategist Robin Bach Kolling to the recently revamped role of head of Connect.

     

    Bach Kolling has moved into the new role from the Netherlands where he has been in the digital industry for the past 15 years. As head of Connect, he will be responsible for overseeing all of GroupM’s paid digital media services, including Search, Performance, Paid Social and the agency’s rapidly growing Programmatic services.

     

    In the Netherlands, Bach Kolling has covered all corners of the digital field including content, social media, mobile, e-commerce, performance marketing and programmatic buying. He is an experienced digital strategist and has headed several digital units in previous roles. His last position before moving to GroupM was head of digital at strategic media agency M2Media, where he also was responsible for building the new programmatic specialist unit.

     

    GroupM Malaysia CEO Girish Menon said, “Our shared digital services were earlier hubbed under the brand name Interaction. Earlier this year, we restructured and grouped all paid digital media capabilities under the newly created umbrella of Connect. As the digital marketing space becomes increasingly complex, we recognise the need to build deep specialisations, but also synergise across these verticals to provide clients with as seamless a digital journey as possible. This is Robin’s key responsibility.”

     

    Bach Kolling said, “By having all biddable digital media consolidated in Connect we can provide synergy for our clients to fully adapt to the demands and opportunities of the fast emerging real-time media era. We can guide our clients in the opportunities that data-driven marketing can bring by combining our extensive shared digital experience with innovative tech solutions to reach our client’s business objectives. Connect will continue to focus on securing a ‘brand safe’ environment in the programmatic landscape by building Trusted Marketplaces with quality inventory from premium publishers. With the resources of GroupM and the capabilities of Connect and Xaxis, we will be able to maintain our market leader position in Malaysia by adapting inventory to the highest viewability standards and by pro-actively preventing ad fraud, which will clearly stay a fast growing industry challenge. As an industry we definitely have some exciting times ahead.”

  • Madison Media Plus appoints Anita Bose as COO

    Madison Media Plus appoints Anita Bose as COO

    MUMBAI: Madison Media Plus has appointed Anita Bose as chief operating officer. Bose will be responsible for driving the agency’s Delhi office.

     

    Madison Media and OOH group CEO Vikram Sakhuja said, “Today, business cycles have shortened, brand plans are more fluid, and the media environment is in a much greater flux. A person like Anita has the unique skills to lend stability to chaos. I look forward to Madison Media Plus rising to new heights under her leadership.”

     

    “It is an honour to be associated with Madison Media and work with accomplished industry veterans like Vikram Sakhuja and Sam Balsara, together. I am looking forward to empower the Delhi team so that we become an unbeatable winning team – committed & united, driven by client & industry needs – known to provide services that set industry standards,” added Bose.

     

    Prior to joining Madison Media Plus, Bose spent 13 years at WPP and GroupM agencies like Mindshare as business director, Team LG and MEC North as general manager. She has also had stints with agencies like Starcom MediaVest, FCB Ulka and McCann Erickson.