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.
Susanne Franz
Previous: Senior director global brand communications & CX, Audi
Present: Global chief marketing officer, Volkswagen
Volkswagen has named Susanne Franz as global chief marketing officer. She has worked across Kia Motors, Suzuki Motor Corporation, Alfa Romeo, SEAT and CUPRA.
Ankit Desai
Previous: Marketing director, Hershey India
Present: General Manager South East Asia, Australia, New Zealand, The Hershey Company
The Hershey Company has elevated Ankit Desai in a new role. He started his career with The Kellogg Company.
Heeru Dingra
Previous: Chief executive officer, WATConsult
Heeru Dingra bid goodbye to Dentsu India after a stint of nine years. She has worked across ICICI Bank, Citi and Indiabulls Group.
Nikhil Sharma
Previous: Managing director, Perfetti Van Melle, Vietnam
Present: Managing director, Perfetti Van Melle, India
Nikhil Sharma has been roped in by Perfetti Van Melle India as the managing director.
Nick Priday
Previous: Global chief financial officer, Dentsu Group
Nick Priday, who served as the global chief financial officer, has moved on from Dentsu. He has worked at Ernst & Young too.
Ayyappan R
Previous: Senior vice president, Flipkart Group, chief executive officer, Cleartrip
Ayyappan R has moved on from Flipkart. He started off at Siemens and went on to work across ITC and Myntra.
Ruchir Dave
Previous: Senior director, Apple
Present: Head – audio division, Apple
Apple has promoted Ruchir Dave as the head of the audio division. He started his career at the Applied Research Lab, Penn State University, and went on to work also at Cisco.
Aline Santos Farhat
Previous: Chief brand officer and chief equity diversity and inclusion officer, Unilever
Aline Santos Farhat has moved on from Unilever. She started her career with Unilever as global senior vice president – laundry.
Venu Nair
Previous: Advisor, Shoppers Stop
Present: Chief of strategic partnerships and omnichannel, Myntra
Myntra has onboarded Venu Nair in a new role. Nair has worked across Arvind Mills, Arvind Worldwide, Aditya Birla Nuovo, Marks and Spencer, Tata Trent and Westside.
KVS Manian
Previous: Whole time director – corporate, institutional and investment banking and wealth management, Kotak Mahindra Bank
Present: Joint managing director, Kotak Mahindra Bank
KVS Manian has been appointed as joint managing director with effect from March 1, 2024. He will spearhead the growth of wholesale bank, commercial bank, private banking, asset reconstruction division and wholesale credit. He will also continue to have oversight over the institutional equities and investment banking businesses of the Group.
Manian started his career with Kotak Mahindra Bank as group head – consumer banking.
Rajeev Mantri
Previous: Managing director, chief financial officer, India and Cluster Finance Head, South Asia, Citi
Present: Executive president and chief financial officer, Bandhan Bank
Bandhan Bank has appointed Rajeev Mantri in a new role. He has worked in companies such as Diageo, Standard Chartered Bank, Mashreq Bank and TransUnion CIBIL Limited.
Tarun Chhabra
Previous: Vice president and mobile networks India head, Nokia
Present: Country manager, Nokia
Nokia has elevated Tarun Chhabra as the country manager. He has worked across Siemens India, Motorola India, OMC Power and Samsung Electronics.
Samyukta Ganesh Iyer
Previous: Vice president and head of marketing, Kaya Limited
Present: Sephora chief experience officer, vice president & head of marketing, Reliance Brands
Sephora has appointed Samyukta Ganesh Iyer in a new role. Iyer has worked across Grey Worldwide, Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints, Lumiere Business Solutions, Parle Agro and Baskin Robbins.
Abhishek Shetty
Previous: Chief marketing officer, Stader Labs
Present: Marketing lead – Swiggy Instamart & Pvt Brands, Swiggy
Swiggy appoints Abhishek Shetty in a new role. He has worked across Emirates Trading agency, Honeywell Middle East, Saatchi & Saatchi, MiD Day Infomedia, BESTSELLER, celio India and Sony Pictures Networks India.
Jaibeer Ahmad
Previous: Chief transformation and growth officer, Havas India
Jaibeer Ahmad has moved on from Havas India, as confirmed to Storyboard18 by the agency. Ahmad has worked across Lowe Lintas and Partners, Ogilvy & Mather, Draft FCB Ulka, Rediffusion Y&R, Samsung Electronics, Saatchi & Saatchi, J. Walter Thompson Company and Cheil Worldwide.
Avik Sarkar
Previous: Regional marketing lead, Middle East, Turkey, Africa, Kellogg Company
Present: Business head – emerging markets South East Asia and South Asia, Mars
Mars has appointed Avik Sarkar in a new role. He has worked across Parle Agro, Emami and ITC.v
Archana Vohra
Previous: Sr director global business group Mid Market and SMB, Meta
Present: Managing director – payments and commerce, Asia Pacific, Google
Google has roped in Archana Vohra in a new role. Vohra has worked across New Delhi Television, Adlabs, Times Internet and Amazon.
Maria Martinez
Previous: Chief operating officer, Cisco
Maria Martinez has moved on from Cisco. Her departure has been announced amidst layoffs at the technology company. She has worked in companies such as At&T Bell Labs, Motorola, Embrace Networks, Microsoft and Salesforce.
Kunal Jerath
Previous: Associate general manager, Bennett Coleman & Co
Present: National marketing head, RedFM
Kunal Jerath will lead RedFM as national marketing head. He has worked across Madison Communications and Dainik Jagran.
Parminder Singh
Previous: Chief commercial officer/Chief Digital Officer, Mediacorp
Present: Chief operating officer, Tatler Asia
Tatler Asia appoints Parminder Singh in a new role. He has worked across HCL, Apple, IBM, Google and Twitter.
Mazen Bahnassy
Previous: Associate business director – influencer marketing, MENA, iCubesWire
Present: Influencer marketing – lead, iCubesWire
iCubesWire has promoted Mazen Bahnassy in a new role. He started his career at Al Hilal Bank and went on to work across Emirates NBD, SempreInter.com, Vamp, Dmenta and ArabyAds.
Navin Gupta
Previous: Managing director, South Asia and MENA, Ripple
Present: Chief executive officer, Crystal Intelligence
Crystal Intelligence has roped in Navin Gupta in a new role. He has worked across Citigroup and HSBC.
Compiled by Kashmeera Sambamurthy
Read More: CXO Moves: Exec movements across McDonald’s, Ogilvy, VML, OpenAI, Genpact, HMD and more