ITV

Tag: appointment

  • Karima Zmerli is Edelman’s new global head – performance & predictive intelligence

    Karima Zmerli is Edelman’s new global head – performance & predictive intelligence

    NEW DELHI: Communications firm Edelman has tapped Karima Zmerli as global head of performance and predictive intelligence for its data and intelligence unit (DxI). 

    In the new role, Zmerli will lead performance and predictive intelligence globally and oversee media buying and marketing strategies for clients. She will be based in New York and report to Edelman DxI global chief data & analytics officer Yannis Kotziagkiaouridis. 

    The hire is part of Edelman’s effort to grow its media, data and technology capabilities as clients adapt to digital transformation and major changes to the media ecosystem, such as the loss of Apple’s IDFA mobile identifier and third-party cookies phasing out.

    Zmerli joins Edelman from the media agency world, as chief data sciences officer at GroupM’s Wavemaker since 2016, where she helped generate over $1 billion in new business. She joined Edelman to help clients adapt to new use cases for data and technology as privacy becomes top of mind.

    “We have to open our horizons and think about the consumer relationship with the brand differently than in a transactional way,” Zmerli said. “Edelman is in a very unique position to understand consumer trust in corporations and brands, a fundamental element to brand strategy and communication.”

    Zmerli is Edelman’s latest hire in a bid to bolster its research and data capabilities, with talent across data science, engineering, software development and performance marketing. Most recently, the firm hired David Bartram Shaw as SVP and global head of data science;  Anjuli Bedi as global head of behavioural science and psychometrics; Tim Hwang as global head of product; Jacob Loban as EVP and US head of performance intelligence; and Matt Sato as EVP

  • Madhu Malhotra joins Edelweiss General Insurance as chief technology officer

    Madhu Malhotra joins Edelweiss General Insurance as chief technology officer

    Mumbai: Digital insurer Edelweiss General Insurance (EGI) has onboarded Madhu Malhotra as its chief technology officer. She will spearhead the technology function at EGI and drive digital innovation in line with the brand’s strategy of transforming the insurance landscape in India through tech driven solutions and offerings.

    Malhotra is an eminent technology leader who brings with her two decades of rich experience across fintech and telecom domains. She has a proven track-record in leading digital innovations, engineering modernisations and transformations and streamlining cloud initiatives.

    Prior to her new role, Malhotra was head of technology at Spectra. She was also associated with Airtel for 10 years and held many leadership positions there. While at Airtel Bank, she led the launch of the first payments bank of India, headed the financial inclusion vertical to deliver large scale customer impact and drove agile adoption and transformation.

    Edelweiss General Insurance executive director & CEO Shanai Ghosh said, “Technology has proved to be a game changer for the Insurance industry, with the potential to transform the entire service ecosystem and enhance customer experience. At EGI, we are well placed to leverage this transformation, given our digital operating model. I am excited to welcome Madhu to be part of our digital journey and lead this strategic business function for us. Her experience and expertise will help build a robust technology function that will help drive our business strategy. I wish her the very best for an enriching career with us.”

    Malhotra added, “As CTO my focus will be to create future ready digital platform and products offering state of the art digital experience and capabilities to our customers. I will strive for a culture of innovation to make the customer experience simple and transparent. I am incredibly excited to play a key role in accelerating this digital journey in the growth of EGI that Shanai has envisioned.”

  • Dukaan.com appoints Mani Karthik as VP – marketing

    Dukaan.com appoints Mani Karthik as VP – marketing

    NEW DELHI: Dukaan.com has appointed entrepreneur, blogger & consultant Mani Karthik as VP – marketing. Prior to this, Karthik held the post of chief marketing officer at Rankz. He is also the founder of BackToIndia, an online community that’s on a mission to help NRIs return back to India.

    Karthik posted the development on professional networking site LinkedIn:

    “Quick update. Will be taking over as VP of Marketing with Dukaan. So kicked about two things. First, working with an amazing team that’s weaving magic and second, helping scale a product that I believe can help India grow with more businesses, more entrepreneurs get online (perhaps even for the first time), from her remotest parts. Proud, excited and happy about this challenge ahead.”

    Founded in 2020, Dukaan is a ‘do-it-yourself’ (DIY) platform which enables small retailers with zero programming skills to set up an online store. Apart from this, each merchant gets a unique store link on which they can showcase their products or services and further share this link with customers over social media channels.

    The digital start-up that helps local stores to sell their products online had announced in October last year that it has raised $6 million as a part of its seed funding round, co-led by Matrix Partners India and Lightspeed India Partners.

    With Covid2019 accelerating the shift to digital, Dukaan has already onboarded over 2.7 million merchants onto its platform across India since its launch.
     

  • Silicon Valley techie Narayan Gangadhar joins Angel Broking as CEO

    Silicon Valley techie Narayan Gangadhar joins Angel Broking as CEO

    Mumbai: Fintech brokerage firm Angel Broking has roped in Silicon Valley veteran Narayan Gangadhar as its new CEO.

    Narayan has more than two decades of global experience leading technology businesses at top-tier Silicon Valley companies, such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Uber. He brings operating experience leading highly disruptive businesses by driving innovation in product, technology, capability building, and processes automation.

    Gangadhar was head of technology at Uber in San Francisco where he led the company’s core infrastructure, machine learning, data platform, and data science teams of over 650+ employees across the globe. During his tenure, Uber scaled to over 400+ cities globally completing over 14 million trips daily. At Google, he led large product and engineering teams to launch the first set of the search giant’s cloud infrastructure services, such as Compute Engine, Cloud SQL, Container Engines. He also led large teams responsible for developing the overall application infrastructure which power productivity apps like Google Drive, Google Docs, etc.

    Prior to Google, Gangadhar was the general manager and director at Amazon Web Services where he developed the Cloud Database business. He was most recently the founder & CEO of a robotics start-up in San Francisco that develops automated urban mobility solutions

    “The Indian market is at an interesting juncture as more people make technology a part of their daily lifestyles,” said Gangadhar. “As a CEO, my entire focus will be on unlocking superior efficiency for all stakeholders. The overarching objective is to make the product more accessible in the mass market.”

    Angel Broking CMD Dinesh Thakkar said, “Narayan is the right person to lead Angel Broking along its journey as a leader in this industry. He is a well-rounded engineer with great leadership qualities and will add significant value to our existing digital assets. Plus, he will help us realise our aspirations to become a preferred Fintech company in India. With Narayan leading the team, I am sure we will scale new heights in making international standard apps, offering world-class customer experience, and taking best-in-class AI/ML journeys for new and existing customers to understand investing and trading well.”

  • Twitter APAC VP Maya Hari lands global role

    Twitter APAC VP Maya Hari lands global role

    NEW DELHI: Twitter Asia Pacific vice president & MD Maya Hari has been assigned a new global role as VP of global strategy and operations. She will continue to be based in Singapore, and will lead a global team.

    Hari’s commercial role will encompass product strategy, operations, innovation and automation to enable commercial and content partnerships efforts around the world. She has been leading Twitter's APAC business, excluding Japan and South Korea, for the past four years. Prior to this, she was managing director of southeast Asia and India and a senior director of product strategy and sales.

    "In my new role, I am excited to work with him and our other international leaders to grow our businesses around the world and find new opportunities for Twitter to serve the global public conversation,” she said in a statement to the press.

     

     

    Hari has been with Twitter for seven years. She previously spent more than 15 years in the digital media, mobile and ecommerce industries across the US and in Asia Pacific for brands such as Samsung, Google, Microsoft and Cisco.

    Twitter has also elevated Yu Sasamoto to head its unified regional structure that brings the microblogging site’s Japan, South Korea and Asia Pacific operations together. Sasamoto has been leading the social network's Japan and South Korea offices for the past seven years. He will take up leadership of the unified JAPAC region from 1 May, and is set to move to Twitter's APAC headquarters in Singapore. He will continue to serve as the general manager of Twitter Japan and head of Twitter Client Solutions in Japan until his successor is hired in Tokyo. The JAPAC region will cover Australia, greater China, Japan, India, New Zealand, southeast Asia and South Korea.

    Hari commented: "We are delighted that Yu-san will be stepping into this expanded role—it is a testament to everything he's achieved at Twitter to date, leading Japan to become among our largest revenue markets globally."

  • Akhil Almeida is new head of marketing at Aegon Life

    Akhil Almeida is new head of marketing at Aegon Life

    MUMBAI: Digital life insurance company Aegon Life has onboarded Akhil Almeida as its head of marketing. In this role, Almeida will be responsible for heading the company's branding, communication, and other digital marketing functions. 

    Almeida has more than 16 years of experience in various sectors of marketing that include media + OTT, e-commerce, tech, FMCG, auto, and BFSI. Before joining Aegon Life, he has worked in companies like Mahindra Group, Ignitee, VJive Networks, Kia Motors, and Citi. 

    Almeida said that Aegon Life is all set to revolutionise the insurance buying experience. 

    "We’re on a journey to radically enhance the insurance buying experience – combining innovative and relevant products, consumer-centric experiences at the right price. We’re leveraging data and consumer insights to support product development and sales efforts, increase awareness, and market innovative products," he added. 

    Aegon Life managing director & chief executive officer Satishwar Balakrishnan said, "Akhil is a highly skilled leader with experience in leading marketing initiatives for consumer-led brands in India. He has closely studied consumer preferences and evolving digital behaviours, which will help us develop strategies to reach our target audience, keeping the brand essence alive and agile. We look forward to the expertise he brings to the table, which will help us in enhancing Aegon Life’s positioning as India’s first and only fully digital life insurance company."

  • BookMyShow restructures senior leadership to bolster India operations

    BookMyShow restructures senior leadership to bolster India operations

    KOLKATA: Ticketing platform BookMyShow has rejigged its senior leadership, as the company strengthens its India management team across key business verticals.

    As part of the new structure, Anil Makhija will be in charge of scaling live entertainment operations as COO – live entertainment & venues, taking over from Albert Almeida who will head brand partnerships to nurture strategic and like-minded partnerships for BookMyShow in the journey ahead.

    The restructuring will help drive the next phase of growth and expansion for the company, further streamlining the core areas of the business, as BookMyShow doubles down on building a holistic platform for its customers, going forward, the company stated in a press statement.

    A veteran in the industry, Makhija joined BookMyShow in 2013 to lead ground operations and service delivery, while also overseeing deployment of new technologies across all physical events. Heading BookMyShow’s award-winning customer experience force along with ground operations at the firm, Makhija and his team have successfully enabled the use of technology to enhance the entire user experience until the last mile, on-ground. In a natural progression of his role here on, he will lead the operational strategy and execution of all live entertainment experiences across music, comedy, theatre, sports, live performances and more, bringing the complete range of touch points including experience fulfilment, production, venues and service delivery all under one roof.

    Almeida joined BookMyShow in 2018 to set the stage for the firm’s live entertainment business and shape its growth. In his new role, Almeida along with his team will focus on building strategic brand partnerships by unlocking the strength of BookMyShow’s critical assets – its premium IPs, vast community and the power of the platform.

    Further, BookMyShow’s foray into the streaming business with the transactional-video-on-demand model BookMyShow Stream will be helmed by Ashish Saksena, COO – Cinemas bringing all things movies, under one umbrella. Saksena has been leading the company’s cinemas business with continuous screen additions across the length and breadth of the country, expansion of BookMyShow’s POS business at cinemas in towns beyond metros, overseeing the growth of F&B as an able contributor to the vertical along with newer revenue enhancement measures within the movies business for the company, through long-term, marquee partnerships with production houses across the world and India.

    After playing an instrumental role in creating and building BookMyShow’s brand value over the last eight years, as also spearheading the effective utilization of the firm’s analytical capabilities to cement the firm’s leadership position in the entertainment ecosystem, Marzdi Kalianiwala will take on the role of senior vice president – Product & Design. He will drive the brand’s product strategy and innovation roadmap in line with consumer needs.

    Additionally, Mahesh Vandi Chalil has been made senior vice president – technology, wherein he will scale the firm’s technological prowess and strategic approach to development and delivery.

    BookMyShow founder & CEO Ashish Hemrajani said, “In its 21 year long journey, BookMyShow has been through its share of black swan events that have significantly changed not only the way we run business, but also the underlying consumer experience. However, with every such unpredictability, BookMyShow has only bounced back stronger and more ready to face the next big challenge. Without a shred of doubt, our tenacity is driven by the unwavering loyalty of millions of consumers who have stayed with us through the ups and downs of these past years and equally so, by a visionary leadership team that has always been one to think ahead of time and prepare for it today. This latest structural shift in BookMyShow’s leadership is an example of this foresight and one that will be our bedrock as we continue to future proof ourselves while moving forward swiftly, in a constantly evolving world of entertainment.”

  • Hershey India onboards Rajeshwari Jayaraman as general manager – marketing

    Hershey India onboards Rajeshwari Jayaraman as general manager – marketing

    NEW DELHI: Hershey India has appointed Rajeshwari Jayaraman as general manager – marketing (category lead).

    "Excited about this journey… Onward and upward," she wrote on professional networking site LinkedIn on her new role.

    Jayaraman joins the company from Nivea, where she was serving as senior product manager for around two years. She has more than 10 years of experience in the FMCG industry across personal care and foods categories.

    Prior to joining Nivea, she also worked with General Mills for around four years as associate marketing manager. In the past, she has had stints with Cavinkare and Marico.

    Rajeshwari pursued her MBA in marketing/marketing management from SP Jain Institute of Management & Research.

  • HUL’s Deepika Bhan to lead Tata Consumer Products’ packaged foods biz

    HUL’s Deepika Bhan to lead Tata Consumer Products’ packaged foods biz

    NEW DELHI: Tata Consumer Products (TCP) has roped in Deepika Bhan as the new president of the company’s packaged foods division in India. The appointment will come into effect from 27 April 2021.

    Bhan joins TCP from Hindustan Unilever, where she was global brand director – haircare for south Asia. She has had varied stints in sales, customer marketing, media, brand and category/ P&L roles in her career during which she has led large teams across brands and portfolios. She has also worked with PepsiCo and Tata Motors.

    “We are delighted to welcome Deepika on board to lead our foods portfolio. We aspire to build this business through agility, innovation and strengthening our brands, and Deepika will lead us in this exciting growth phase,” said Tata Consumer Products MD & CEO Sunil D’Souza.

    TCP's foods portfolio includes brands such as Tata Salt, Tata Sampann and Soulfull. In India, the company has a reach of over 200 million households, along with an annual turnover of Rs 10,000 crore with operations in domestic and international markets.

    “I’m looking forward to being part of this journey as we build the foods business on the base of the strong leadership position and iconic brands that the company has created. I’m particularly happy to be a part of the Tata Group- an organisation which is purpose-led and built on strong values,” Bhan stated.

    The announcement comes days after the consumer goods major appointed Puneet Das as president of its packaged beverages business in India and south Asia.

  • Namit Prasad joins L&K Saatchi & Saatchi as SVP- planning

    Namit Prasad joins L&K Saatchi & Saatchi as SVP- planning

    NEW DELHI: L&K Saatchi & Saatchi has onboarded Namit Prasad as senior vice president, planning. He will be based out of Mumbai and will report to chief strategy officer Snehasis Bose.

    Prasad joins the agency post setting up a start-up involved in building an enterprise development platform based on an original creativity algorithm. Prior to that, his last agency stint was with Famous Innovations where he was strategy head.

    “Over time and managing various categories and roles, Namit possesses a rare combination of fluid and strategic acumen in seeking and owning solutions that impact business growth. He is a great fit in our team of explorer-strategists, missioned to find the sweet spot between consumer need gaps X technology X clients’ business growth. I am looking forward to working with him and adding fresh spark to the agency’s entrepreneurial DNA," Bose said.

    “As an enterprise builder myself, L&K Saatchi & Saatchi’s business focus – closely working with brands with an entrepreneurial mindset and contributing to growth beyond just communication – interested me hugely. With my kind of experience, I hope to bring in a bit of ‘Baniya Branding’ mentality, wherein all branding efforts are tightly aligned to business objectives. While of course ensuring creative flair and the inventive possibilities of integration," Prasad added.