Keep up with all the key people movements in the brand marketing ecosystem in Storyboard18’s CXO Moves. Here’s a round-up of the executives who are in, out and in-between.
Lucky Saini
Previous: Vice President and Head of Brand, Meesho
Present: Not known
Lucky Saini, who held the position of a vice president and head of brand at e-commerce company Meesho has quit. Saini—who had joined Meesho in June 2021— had the mandate to lead the team in charge of planning, executing and growing the strategy, experience and voice of the brand. Along with that, he was also responsible for developing and supervising advertisements that promoted the company’s vision through media planning and creative development.
Armed with an experience of 14 years, he has worked at Star TV Network, Autumn Worldwide, Ogilvy & Mather, Manipal Global Education, Flipkart, Dentsu and Vedantu.
Sandhya Devanathan
Previous: Country Managing Director – Singapore; Business Head – Vietnam
Present: Vice President, Meta India
Facebook parent Meta has appointed Sandhya Devanathan as the vice president of Meta India. As per the company, Devanathan, who is leading the company’s gaming vertical for the Asia Pacific (APAC) market, will transition to her new role on January 1, 2023 and will report to Dan Neary, Vice President, Meta APAC. She will also be a part of the APAC leadership team. Devanathan has a international experience of over two decades and has worked at Citi, Standard Chartered Bank, Facebook and is a board member at Singapore Management University and National Library Board.
Nilesh Gupta
Previous: Director – Growth, Meesho
Present: Senior Director – Growth, Meesho
Nilesh Gupta, who serves as the senior director of growth at e-commerce firm Meesho has been given an additional responsibility of managing a team that manages brand building and creative strategy. Gupta takes up the additional responsibility of Lucky Saini who quit last week. Since the last two years, Gupta has been heading the activation and acquisition arm for the company. The company cited that under Gupta’s leadership, Meesho became the most downloaded e-commerce application in the world. Gupta has an experience of a decade and he has worked at Larsen & Toubro, Hindustan Unilever and Kearney.
Abhijit Bose
Previous: Head of India, WhatsApp, Meta
Present: Not known
Abhijit Bose, who was head of the India region at WhatsApp, left the ubiquitous Meta-owned messaging platform recently. Bose, who has an experience of more than two decades, has had stints at Bain & Company, Oracle Corporation, Intuit and Ezetap Mobile Solutions.
Rajiv Aggarwal, who served as the director of public policy at Meta India too stepped down from his position. Shivnath Thukral, who worked as the director of WhatsApp public policy, India, has been appointed as the director, public policy, Meta India (spanning across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp in India).
Manika Juneja
Previous: Executive Vice President – Operations, WATConsult
Present: Managing Partner, WATConsult
The hybrid digital agency from Dentsu Creative India, WATConsult has promoted Manika Juneja as the managing partner. Juneja has over a decade’s experience and has previously worked with Della Adventure & Resorts and TOPSGRUP.
Lakshmi Narayanan B
Previous: Head – Marketing, Asian Paints
Present: Chief Marketing Officer, CEAT Limited
Multinational tyre manufacturing company CEAT Limited has appointed Lakshmi Narayanan B as the chief marketing officer. Narayanan will be responsible for spearheading the marketing initiatives of the company across all Passenger vehicles, trucks and buses in all markets. Narayanan has also had a stint at Samsung.
Rajiv Aggarwal
Previous: Head of Public Policy, Meta India
Present: Head of Public Policy, Samsung Electronics
As per reports, Rajiv Aggarwal is all set to join Samsung Electronics as the head of public policy. Aggarwal has an experience of more than three decades and has worked worked with Indian Railways, Government of Uttar Pradesh and Uber. This announcement came just a fortnight after Meta India’s head Ajit Mohan resigned to join Snap Inc as the President of the APAC region.
Ankit Kapoor
Previous: Head of Category Marketing, Chocolates & Confectionery, Nestle
Present: Not known
Ankit Kapoor who held the position of the head of category marketing – chocolates & confectionery at Nestle, has moved on from the company. Kapoor has an experience of 15 years and has worked across Dabur India, ITC Limited and SC Johnson.
Pawandip Singh
Previous: Chief Marketing Officer, Wildcraft India
Present: Vice President – Marketing, Rapido
Transport company Rapido has appointed Pawandip Singh as the vice president – marketing. Singh has an experience of more than two decades and he has worked across Levi Strauss & Co, Aditya Birla & Fashion Retail and Chumbak Design.
Mohit Gupta
Previous: Co-founder, Zomato
Mohit Gupta, who is the co-founder of food delivery business Zomato has stepped down from his position. However, he will continue to be an investor in the company. Gupta has an experience of more than two decades with roles he held at Marico, PepsiCo International, Zovi.com and MakeMyTrip.com.
Last week, Rahul Ganjoo stepped down as the head of new initiatives at Zomato. Siddharth Jhawar, who served as Zomato`s vice president for global growth too made a move out earlier this month.
Kashyap Gala
Previous: Marketing Director, Johnson & Johnson
Present: Senior Vice President, Pidilite Industries
Pidilite Industries has appointed Kashyap Gala as a senior vice president. In his new role, Gala will scale up business with full P&L ownership. Gala has an experience of more than a decade and has previously worked with Perfetti Van Melle and Colgate Palmolive.
Recently, the Bombay High Court temporarily restrained chemical company Riya Chemy from manufacturing and selling its adhesive ‘R-Seal. This comes after Pidilite Industries claimed that the product’s packaging and name are deceptively similar to its own adhesive, ‘M-Seal’.
Chirag Sangai
Previous: Group Director, Gozoop Online
Present: Business Head, Sociowash
Creative agency Sociowash has appointed Chirag Sangai as the business head of the Mumbai office. Sangai is armed with over 15 years of experience and has worked at fusionNXT, 03pixels, Blink Digital and White Rivers Media.
Ajay Dusane
Previous: Senior Vice President – Marketing, Angel One
Present: Chief Growth Officer, Samco Securities
Online discounting broking firm Samco Securities has appointed Ajay Dusane as the chief growth officer. In his new role, Dusane will be responsible for all growth initiatives for its products and platforms to build its growth momentum. Dusane has an experience of two decades and has worked across Kinetic Engineering, Cummins India and Mahindra Group.
Akshay Saraf
Previous: Vice President – Furniture, Nilkamal
Present: Chief Executive Officer, Springwel Mattresses
Springwel Mattresses has appointed Akshay Saraf as the chief executive officer. Saraf will be responsible for the overall growth of the brand across retail, distribution and e-commerce channels. He will also drive new product launches across categories like mattress, pillows and other home comfort products. Saraf has an experience of more than a decade and has worked across Essel Infraprojects, Digicable Network India and Samsonite.
Tarvinder Pal
Previous: Vice President – eB2B, Nykaa
Present: Chief Product Officer, Bella Vita Organic
Idam House Of Brands-owned personal care brand Bella Vita Organic has onboarded Tarvinder Pal as the chief product officer. In his new role, Pal will be responsible for the brand’s growth right from the stage of conceptualisation to execution of all skincare and fragrance product-related activities. Pal has an experience of over two decades and has worked across MKP Distributors, Alpha Future Airport Retail, Perfume2Order.com, Fashionandyou.com, Snapdeal and IndianRoots.com
Shradha Bhat
Previous: PR and Marcom Manager, The Leela Mumbai
Present: AVP – Marketing, Motilal Oswal Private Wealth
Shradha Bhat has been appointed by financial services company Motilal Oswal Private Wealth to lead the marketing function. Bhat has an experience of 15 years and has worked in the public relations space across agencies like Vaishnavi Corporate Communications, Future Group and Resort Rio.
Ramalingam Subramanian
Previous: Head of Brand, Marketing and Communications, CoinDCX
Present: Not known
Ramalingam S, who was the head of brand, marketing and communications at the cryptocurrency investment app CoinDCX has stepped down from his position. He has an experience of more than a decade and has worked across Tata Consultancy Services, The Coca-Cola Company and Cipla.
Subramanian’s departure comes at a difficult time for crypto companies across the world. After the recent collapse of the FTX exchange, the third largest crypto exchange in the world, centralised crypto exchanges in India are looking to find ways to be transparent about their assets and liabilities.
Alin Choubey
Previous: Associate Vice President, Chimp&z Inc Worldwide
Present: Business Head – North, FoxyMoron
Digital agency Foxymoron has appointed Alin Choubey as the business head of the north region. He will report to Prachi Bali, national head of client partnerships at the agency.
Choubey has an experience of two decades and he has worked across Reliance Communications, Modern Cloud, Vermillion Communications and Herald Digital.
Compiled by Kashmeera Sambamurthy