CXO Moves: M&E firms beef up leadership, CMOs move on, and an ad executive exits the industry

Muralikrishnan B

Previous: Chief Operating Officer, Xiaomi India

Present: President, Xiaomi India

Mobile tech giant Xiaomi India promoted Muralikrishnan B to the post of president. His new role will see him responsible for day-to-day operations, services, public affairs, strategic projects. In his previous role, he was responsible for sales, service, and operations, offline sales channels, after sales, logistics, IT product and platforms, customer support quality etc.

He has 20+ years of experience across FMCG and the consumer internet domain, and has been the country manager of eBay India. Muralikrishnan has worked for brands like Asian Paints, Tata Communications, Sify, Jabong (before its acquisition by Myntra).

This is the latest in a series of changes in Xiaomi's leadership structure, amidst increasing scrutiny of Chinese smartphone makers by Indian government agencies.

Dilpreeta Vasudeva

Previous: Head of Marketing Transformation, Financial Services, Bharti Enterprises

Present: Head of Marketing - Business Messaging at Meta (WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger)

Meta appointed Dilpreeta Vasudeva as the head of marketing - business messaging for its platforms WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger. Vasudeva is also the founder of CMO Access, a new-age solution for accelerating growth and embracing transformation. She has also worked at Tata Play and Reliance Industries as the head of digital marketing, and as the head of marketing - Jio Studios. She has also been a part of organisations like Tech Mahindra, Times Internet, and Microsoft Corporation.

Anjana Ghosh

Previous: Director - Marketing and Business Development, Bisleri International

Present: Taking up a strategic role in a new firm

Anjana Ghosh, who had served as the director of marketing and business development at Bisleri International for 16 years and two months, decided to move on. She plans to take up a strategic role where she hopes to build an organization and brands.

During her 16 year tenure, Ghosh was the brain behind innovations on the brand, and the engineering of Bisleri from blue to green. Before joining Bisleri in 2006 as the deputy general manager of sales and marketing, Ghosh had spent 15 years to the steel industry.

Rahul Vengalil

Previous: Managing Partner, Dentsu Isobar

Present: Executive Director, Everest Brand Solutions

Rahul Vengalil has joined Rediffusion Group’s Everest Brand Solutions as the executive director. Based out of Everest’s new headquarters in Bengaluru, he will lead the agency that aims to position itself as a digital-first full service agency.

Vengalil has 16 years of experience with 13 of those years spent in the media industry. He has also worked with brands across categories like automobile, retail, lifestyle, FMCG, e-commerce, travel, hospitality, consumer electronics, IT & ITES, media and entertainment, and real estate.

George Sebastian

Previous: Senior Creative Director, DDB Mudra Group

Present: Executive Creative Director, BBH India

Publicis Groupe’s BBH India appointed George Sebastian as executive creative director. In his new role, he will lead the copy, art and design department at the agency. He will report to Russell Barrett, who is the chief executive officer and chief creative officer of BBH India. Sebastian, who has 14 years of experience has been a part of agencies like Enormous Brands and Grey Group.

Ashish Mishra

Previous: Managing Director, Interbrand

Present: CEO, India and South Asia, Interbrand

Ashish Mishra, who had served as the managing director at Interbrand, a full-service consultancy, has been promoted as the chief executive officer for the India and South Asia region.

Tarvinderjit Singh

Previous: Executive Creative Director, Contract Advertising

Present: Creative Head, Famous Innovations

Famous Innovations appointed Tarvinderjit Singh as the creative head. Singh has more than two decades of experience in the advertising business and has worked in agencies like Leo Burnett, Ogilvy & Mather, Grey Group, Cheil Worldwide, McCann Erickson, TBWA, Rediffusion Y&R, Bates Chi & Partners. He is best known for writing the most viewed commercial in 2017 - ‘Samsung - Service Van’.

Warner Bros Discovery - Ruchir Jain, Tanaz Mehta, Uttam Pal Singh, Sai Abhishek

Warner Bros Discovery announced a new leadership team with the appointment of Ruchir Jain, Tanaz Mehta, Uttam Pal Singh, and Sai Abhishek. Jain will lead as the head of distribution and Eurosport, Mehta is head of ad sales, Singh will lead the kids cluster as its head, and Abhishek will lead the factual and lifestyle cluster as its head.

In his previous role, Jain led finance, strategy and commercial operations for Discovery Networks in South Asia, and overall APAC for direct-to-consumer business. Mehta has 22 years of experience in advertising or media sales, and Singh in his previous stint at Discovery Kids led the team. Abhishek has led original productions, programming, and acquisitions in the past.

Vikram Garga

Previous: Vice President and Head of Strategy, Insights and Analytics, and Innovation, Mahindra & Mahindra

Present: Group Head, Marketing, APMEA, Apollo Tyres

Apollo Tyres roped in Vikram Garga as the group head, marketing for the Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (APMEA) region. In his new role, Garga will spearhead the regional marketing team. His focus will be on the marketing and product strategy for all product categories, dealer programmes, brand positioning and monitoring performance in conjunction with sales.

Garga will be based out of Gurugram and will report to Satish Sharma, president of the APMEA region. The group marketing head is armed with 25 years of experience in providing strategic and operational leadership in FMCG and automotive industry across consumer facing business organisations. They include Mahindra and Mahindra Limited, Castrol India, Colgate Palmolive, Britannia, Johnson & Johnson, and Dabur India.

Arghya Chakravarty

Previous: Executive Vice President - Ad Sales, Entertainment Business, Disney Star India

Present: Chief Operating Officer, Shemaroo Entertainment

Shemaroo Entertainment appointed Arghya Chakravarty as their chief operating officer. In his new role, he will spearhead the overall business operations and steer Shemaroo’s numerous business verticals. In the three-decade long career, Chakravarty has been a part of organisations like Times Internet, Innovative Media, PepsiCo, PepsiCo India, Tata Steel and Asian Paints.

Shobhit Gaur

Previous: Senior Vice President - Digital Head, PHD India

Present: Business Head and Head of Buying, Madison World

Madison Digital appointed Shobhit Gaur as vice president, where he will report to Vishal Chinchankar, chief executive officer at Madison Digital and Madison Media Alpha. Gaur was associated with Madison World from 2017 to 2021 as the vice president. Further, he also led Omnicom Group as the group head. Gaur has 14 years of experience in the digital space and in areas like mobile marketing, digital marketing, social media marketing, online marketing, brand planning, and digital analytics etc.

Sunil Kamath

Previous: Regional Vice President - APAC, Play Magnus AS

Present: Chief Business Officer, Koo

Indian microblogging and social networking site Koo has appointed Sunil Kamath as the chief business officer. His new position will see Kamath lead growth strategies, marketing, business partnerships, monetisation and expansion.

Previously, as a regional vice president for the APAC region at Play Magnus AS, his mandate was building partnerships with various ecosystem players to increase the reach of Play Magnus products. Kamath, who has two decades of experience in the satcom (satellite communications) and mobile internet industry has been a part of organisations like Reliance infocom, and ShareChat.

Apoorva Singh Bais

Previous: Senior Marketing Manager, Category Head, Foods Division, Dabur

Present: Chief Marketing Officer, Mrs Bector Food Specialities (Cremica and English Oven)

Mrs. Bector Food Specialities, cookie and cracker manufacturing company, roped in Apoorva Singh Bais as the chief marketing officer. Singh, who has 17 years of corporate experience, spent 12 years in FMCG marketing, sales, trade marketing with Dabur and ITC.

Abhishek Kumar

Previous: COO and General Partner, Jupiter Capital

Present: Group CEO, Balaji Telefilms

Balaji Telefilms appointed Abhishek Kumar as the group chief executive officer. In his new role, he will be responsible for overall growth and success of the group. Kumar has more than two decades of experience across consumer industries that includes media, technology and e-commerce.

His areas of expertise include new business initiatives, venture capital investments, strategic partnerships, sourcing acquisition opportunities, deal closure, transaction structuring, commercial due diligence, divestment and leading mergers and acquisitions (M&A). He has worked in media houses like NDTV, IBN 7, Network 1 Media, Sahara Samay, and Asianet News Media and Entertainment. He also worked at the head of corporate development at Snapdeal.

Achint Setia

Previous: CXO and Head, Marketing & Social Commerce Business, Myntra

Present: Chief Revenue and Marketing Officer, Zalora

Achint Setia recently joined Zalora Group, an e-commerce platform on fashion, lifestyle, and beauty with a strong presence in Singapore, the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. Setia will be based out of Singapore. In his new role, he leads the revenue, P&L for the regional cluster. Plus, he is also responsible for driving the marketing function of the group. Earlier this year, Zalora had partnered with the Flipkart Group-owned Myntra to bring its private labels to India.

Armed with 18 years of experience, he has been a part of organizations like Microsoft, McKinsey & Company, and Viacom18. At Myntra, he helped in scaling the brand, helped in the growth of customers and platform, and developed the marketing strategy.

Atul Singh

Previous: Group President, Asia Pacific, The Coca Cola Company

Present: Executive Vice Chairman, Raymond

Indian branded fabric and fashion retailer Raymond has appointed Atul Singh as the executive vice chairman to the board of Raymond. Raymond is going to mark its centenary year in 2025.

As the group president, Asia Pacific, he led Coca-Cola's growth engine and the fastest growing group in volume during the past few years. He directed five business units, supervised operations in 36 countries. He has also been a part of Colgate-Palmolive for a decade.

Ayesha Ghosh

Previous: CEO, Taproot Dentsu

Present: Managing Director, Wieden + Kennedy India

Independent global advertising agency Wieden + Kennedy has appointed Ayesha Ghosh as the managing director for the India region. Ghosh, who will be based out of Mumbai will partner with Santosh Padhi, the CCO of the agency. Padhi had founded Taproot with Agnello Dias, and the agency was later acquired by Dentsu. He left last year to join W+K. Ghosh was previously with Taproot Dentsu where she served as the chief executive officer. Her stint there lasted six years.

She joined the agency in 2016 as the general manager and helped in driving considerable business growth and profitability. She helped in building the agency’s design offering, shaped the strategic approach to creative work, and structured the talent base or agency culture. Before joining Taproot, Ghosh has been a part of agencies like Contract Advertising, Grey Worldwide, Trikaya Grey, and PSL McCann Erickson.

Deveshi Chugh

Previous: Regional Business Head, APAC, Publicis Media

Present: Managing Partner, Asia Pacific, Wavemaker

Deveshi Chugh was appointed by Wavemaker as the managing partner for the Asia-Pacific region. Chugh, who is based out of Singapore, has more than a decade experience, and has worked in GroupM’s Mediacom as a senior manager for APAC - Haircare, Team P&G.

Raja Naeem

Previous: Deputy General Manager and Marketing Communications Lead, Nissan Motor India

Present: General Manager- Brand Marketing Head, Citroen India, Stellantis

Global automaker Stellantis appointed Raja Naeem as the general manager - brand marketing head, Citroen India. He has 17 years of experience across categories including automobiles (core domain), FMCG and telecom.

He has worked in advertising agencies like Ogilvy & Mather, McCann Erickson, and Bates 141. At General Motors and Datsun India, he led the organizations as the brand manager and marcom lead. His core competencies include customer experience, brand strategy, digital marketing, online reputation management (ORM), budget management and forecasting; working knowledge of market research and training.

Mehul Kapadia

Previous: Global Head of Marketing, Large Enterprise & Public Sector, Vodafone Business

Present: Chief Growth Officer, Locus

Technology company Locus roped in Mehul Kapadia as its chief growth officer. In his new role, he will scale up the organisation with focus on marketing, strategy, and growth initiatives.

Pratik Pota

Previous: CEO, Jubilant Foodworks

Present: CEO & MD, Eureka Forbes

Consumer durables maker Eureka Forbes appointed Pratik Pota to the post of a chief executive officer and managing director. He will start on August 16. With the transformation specialist Pota at the helm, Eureka Forbes, best known for its vacuum cleaners and water purifiers, will be stepping on the growth pedal.

Aabhinna Suresh Khare

Previous: Chief Marketing & Digital Officer (Continues), Bajaj Capital

Present: + Head of Strategy (Elevation), Bajaj Capital

Aabhinna Suresh Khare has been given an additional mandate as the head of strategy at Bajaj Capital. Khare will drive the end to end marketing and digital transformation for the group.

Manish Darji

Previous: Executive Creative Director, DDB Mudra Group

Present: Head of Art - West, DDB Mudra Group

DDB Mudra appointed Manish Darji as the head of art where he will lead the design mandate for the agency’s west office. He will report to Pallavi Chakravarti, creative head - west. In his new role, Darji will explore applications of craft in digital, data, entertainment, and content. His appointment reinforces the Group’s commitment to craft at a time when visual storytelling is at its evolving stage.

Darji, who has two decades of experience, has worked in agencies like McCann Worldgroup, Ogilvy & Mather, Bates141, Rediffusion Y & R and DDB Mudra Group on leading brands like Coca-Cola, NDTV, Big Bazaar, Volkswagen, Marico, Viacom 18, and Mondelez.

Amit Saxena

Previous: VP Revenue (National Head) - Zapr Small Segments, Zapr Media Labs

Present: Head of Digital and Data Lead, Red Fuse Communications

Red Fuse Communications, an integrated global WPP client team dedicated to serving Colgate-Palmolive worldwide, has appointed Amit Saxena as the head of digital and data lead. With 18 years of experience in the areas of business planning, go-to-market (GTM) strategy building, sales, revenue management and people management, he has worked at media houses like Dainik Jagran, NDTV, and News18 India.

KFC - Samir Menon and Moksh Chopra

Samir Menon and Moksh Chopra have been promoted to the position of the managing director and general manager where the former will look after the regions of Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan, Turkey and India. Chopra will focus on Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Maldives.

Menon and Chopra have been associated with KFC India for over a decade now. Chopra in his previous position led brand strategy and communication, e-commerce, product innovation and public relations (PR). Menon’s specialties include corporate strategy, business planning, corporate finance, cost reduction, team management, project management, problem-solving, and consulting.

Pawan Sarda

Previous: Group CMO - Digital, Marketing & E-commerce Business, Future Group

Pawan Sarda, who headed Future Group as the group chief marketing officer and looked after the digital, marketing, and e-commerce business, quit the company. He had strategized and managed group wide digital and marketing initiatives including digital commerce for all retail formats.

Prior to joining Future Group, he worked at Tata Housing and Development Company as the head- marketing and product development (domestic and international market) - Tata Value Homes. Armed with more than two decades of experience, he worked at Pantaloon Retail India for six years and nine months and first joined Future Group as the chief marketing officer for Home Solutions Retail India (HSRIL), and was promoted to head of marketing for Big Bazaar.

In 2010, he became the CMO for the group where he provided strategic direction to retail brands and built long term business goals.

Jigar Rambhia

Previous: National Director and Head of Sports Business, Wavemaker

Present: COO, Sporjo

Sporjo, a company that trains candidates for a career in the Indian sports industry, appointed Jigar Rambhia as the chief operating officer. Rambhias spent over 14 years at Wavemaker. Rambhia had joined the WPP Group-owned agency as a business director and in his past role. He closed the biggest sporting deal when he signed Janalakshmi Financial Services as the financial services partner for the BCCI.

Compiled by Kashmeera Sambamurthy