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’ve moved jobs, got bigger roles, switched industries and more.
Anita Kotwani
Previous: Chief executive officer, Carat India
Present: CEO – South Asia, Dentsu
Dentsu has promoted Anita Kotwani as the chief executive officer of the South Asia region. In her new role, Kotwani’s responsibilities will include leading all of Dentsu’s media businesses across South Asia. This includes looking into the affairs of Carat, iProspect, Dentsu X, Posterscope, and media investment arm Amplifi. Kotwani will be stepping into Divya Karani’s shoes who is stepping down from her position for personal reasons. Armed with an experience of over two decades, Kotwani has worked across Dainik Bhaskar Group and Mindshare India. Further, she has an extensive background in media management for consumer durables, financial services, FMCG and MNC brands.
Anirban Mozumdar
Previous: Chief strategy officer, 82.5 Communications
Present: Chief strategy officer, Havas Creative India
Havas Creative India has announced the appointment of Anirban Mozumdar as chief strategy officer. This is closely on the heels of the appointment of Tarun Jha as the chief executive officer. In his new role, Mozumdar will lead the strategy function of Havas Creative India. He will also ensure an effective implementation of Havas Group’s Meaningful Brands framework for brand and business solutions. Mozumdar has an experience of more than two decades and has worked across Rediffusion DY&R, Leo Burnett, Mudra Communications, Publicis India and Chlorophyll brand & communications consultancy.
Sharon Picardo
Previous: Senior vice president, L&K Saatchi & Saatchi
Present: Executive director, Mullen Lintas
Mullen Lintas, the creative agency of the MullenLowe Lintas Group, has appointed Sharon Picardo as the executive director and head of Mumbai operations.
Picardo brings in 22 years of experience as a P&L head and brand strategist. She started her career as a management trainee with FCB where she worked for 15 years and her last role was as the general manager. She has worked with other leading agencies like DDB and L&K Saatchi & Saatchi leading the charge for a wide spectrum of brands. Picardo has also worked with cross-functional teams for brands like Tata Motors, Amul Parle, Big Bazaar, Renault, Diageo, NPCI, ICICI Bank, Bharti AXA, among others.
Deborah Wahl
Previous: Global chief marketing officer, General Motors
Deborah Wahl will be stepping down from her position on March 31. Wahl is armed with an experience of more than two decades and has worked across Ford Motor Company, Mazda North American Operations, Toyota Motor Sales & Marketing Corp, PulteGroup, McDonald’s USA and Cadillac.
Read More: CXO Moves: HUL’s new CEO Rohit Jawa, Tarun Jha joins Havas, Dentsu appoints Harsha Razdan, and more
Deepali Naair
Previous: Director, Bengaluru Digital Sales Centre & Digital Sales Centre Growth (JAPAC), IBM
Present: Group chief marketing officer, CK Birla Group
Deepali Naair, director, digital sales-India, IBM, has been roped in by the Indian multinational conglomerate CK Birla Group as its group chief marketing officer (CMO). Company sources have confirmed to Storyboard18. She was with IBM for nearly five years. Naair comes with over two decades of experience in sales and marketing across consumer and finance brands.
In the past she has served as CMO for IBM in India and South Asia. Before IBM, she led marketing and digital at IIFL Wealth group of companies. She was also a non-executive member of the Board at IIFL Wealth Finance. She started her career as a senior officer at Tata Motors. Later on, she moved to BPL Mobile Communications as a manager and looked after the marketing operations and later held the position of group head account planning at FCB Ulka Advertising. She was a marketing manager at Marico and a consultant at EMM Group.
Deepak Krishna
Previous: Associate creative director, Schbang
Present: Senior creative director, Hybrid Communications
Integrated communications and consulting agency Hybrid has appointed Deepak Krishna as the senior creative director. Krishna has an experience of more than a decade and has worked across Religare, HDFC Life, Adventura Media and Accenture. His work spans across brands like Xiaomi, Betty Crocker, Sujata Gold, Pillsbury, Haagen-Dazs, Tata Tea, Diageo, Infosys, Domino’s, Myntra, Unacademy, Redmi, cultsport, Housing.com, Reliance Foundation and more.
Vinit Thakkar
Previous: Chief operating officer, Universal Music India
Present: Managing director, Sony Music Entertainment India
Sony Music Entertainment India has appointed Vinit Thakkar as the managing director. He steps into the shoes of Rajat Kakar, who will step down at the end of March. In his new role, Thakkar’s responsibilities include overseeing the company’s operations, collaborating closely with regional and global teams to strengthen SME India’s strategic partnerships. This is also followed by identifying new growth opportunities for its artists. He has an experience of over two decades and he has worked at Titan Industries and Citibank in previous stints.
Vivek Gambhir
Present: Chairman, boAt
Homegrown audio and wearables brand boAt has promoted Vivek Gambhir as the chairman. Sameer Mehta, who is boAt’s co-founder will step into the role of the chief executive officer and managing director. Gambhir’s responsibilities will include continuing to guide the leadership team on matters of strategy, organisational development & culture, and future growth roadmap. He has an experience of more than two decades and has worked across Bain & Company and Godrej Group.
Simantini Ghosh
Previous: Regional head – south, content, Wavemaker
Present: Vice president – content, Carat India
Dentsu’s media agency Carat India has appointed Simantini Ghosh as the vice president of content. Ghosh, who is armed with an experience of more than a decade started her career at Radio Mirchi. From there, she moved to Radio City India as a management trainee for the branded content, and then rose to head as the key account manager for the same department. WPP’s media agency Essence roped her in as the business executive and in a span of five years, she held various positions. Her last position was as the associate director – content and innovation.
Her skill set includes content strategy, brand solutions, client servicing and video production. Some of the key clients whose mandate she has handled include brands across various categories such as Britannia, Flipkart and Global Consumer Products.
Charles Victor
Previous: Chief operating officer, Saatchi & Saatchi Propagate
Charles Victor has stepped down from his role as the chief operating officer at Saatchi & Saatchi Propagate, L&K Saatchi & Saatchi’s digital agency. Prachi Bali had joined the agency earlier this year as business head and executive vice president. Victor has over two-decades of experience and has worked across JWT, L&K Saatchi & Saatchi, and Publicis Beehive.
Emily Yri
Previous: Senior marketing director – APAC, PubMatic
Present: Vice president – international marketing, PubMatic
International online advertising company PubMatic has promoted Emily Yri to the position of the vice president – international marketing. In her new role, Yri will look into the management of marketing for PubMatic in Europe and the Middle East. This is followed by running the APAC regional marketing operations.
Salil Nath
Previous: Regional sales manager – North, Central and East India, Bangladesh and Seychelles, Etihad Airways
Present: General manager – Indian subcontinent, Etihad Airways
National airline of UAE, Etihad Airways has promoted Salil Nath as the general manager for the Indian subcontinent. His responsibilities include looking into commercial activities across a key cluster for the Etihad network within the central region – India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives & Seychelles. Nath, who has an experience of more than a decade has worked across Kingfisher Airlines and American Express Global Business Travel. He started at Etihad Airways as regional sales manager for Central India.
Neha Kathuria
Previous: Head of global marketing, LTIMindtree
Present: Chief marketing officer, Infogain
Software platform engineering company Infogain has appointed Neha Kathuria as the chief marketing officer. Kathuria, who will be based out of London, her mandate will include spearheading Infogain’s brand, demand generation and communications functions. Further, this will include driving the strategic brand vision and creatively lead marketing ideation and execution. Kathuria has an experience of more than a decade and has worked across Idea Cellular, Infosys, Genpact and Mindtree.
Satyajit Deb Roy
Previous: Senior Director – Sales at Sharechat MOJ Takatak, Mohalla Tech Private Limited
Present: Revenue head – advertisement, Bobble AI
Conversation media platform Bobble AI has brought in Satyajit Deb Roy as the revenue head – advertisement. Roy has an experience of more than two decades and has worked across Mudra Communications, Afaqs, ESPN Digital Media India and JioSaavn.
Anand Mugad
Previous: Vice president, DBS Bank
Present: Chief marketing officer, Ayekart
Integrated supply chain and finance startup Ayekart has roped in Anand Mugad on board as the chief marketing officer. Mugad has an experience of over two decades and has worked across Nestle, ICICI Bank and Axis Bank.
Fernando Machado
Previous: Chief marketing officer, Activision Blizzard
Present: Chief marketing officer, NotCo
NotCo, a plant based food tech company has appointed Fernando Machado as the chief marketing officer. Machado, a globally renowned CMO, has an experience of over two decades and has worked across Unilever, Burger King Corporation and Restaurant Brands International.
Bharat Arora
Previous: Country manager – India, Taboola
Present: Head of performance platforms – Asia Pacific, Tyroo
Bharat Arora has been appointed by Tyroo, an AdTech growth platform as the head of performance platforms. In his new role, Arora will consolidate the existing native and Comet business at Tyroo to onboard new publishers and cater to partner success across the company’s operating regions in Asia Pacific. Arora has previously worked at Indian Express, Business Standard, Times Group, Madhouse, Cheil India, Bharatiya Janata Party, Sizmek and Amazon.
Compiled by Kashmeera Sambamurthy