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.
Somasree Bose Awasthi
Previous: Chief Marketing Officer (India), Godrej Consumer Products Limited (GCPL)
Present: Chief Marketing Officer, Marico
Somasree Bose Awasthi has been appointed as the chief marketing officer by Marico, a multinational consumer goods company. Awasthi will also serve as the executive committee member at the company.
Prior to this, Awasthi worked at Godrej in various capacities for over 18 years.
Debabrata Mukherjee
Previous: Chief Marketing Officer, United Breweries
Present: Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer, Emami Agrotech
Emami Agrotech, a part of business conglomerate Emami Group of Companies has appointed Debabrata Mukherjee as the chief marketing and strategy officer. In his new role, he will head the company’s marketing operations across verticals like edible oil, spices, soya chunks and bakery fat.
Mukherjee has an experience of more than two decades and he has worked across Hindustan Lever, Coca Cola (Indian and the Korean, and SouthWest Asia branch) and HT Media.
Mass Layoffs at Meta
Meta Platforms Inc, the parent entity of social media platform Facebook, sacked over 11,000 employees and is set to extend the freeze it has imposed on new hiring. This is 13 percent of the company’s workforce.
This is the first major round of layoffs at Meta, and is being considered as the most drastic one since Facebook began in 2004, reflecting a sharp slowdown in the digital advertising market due to the economic downturn. It is still unclear how these layoffs affect Meta’s India business, and how many employees in the country are impacted. Meta has about 300-400 employees in India.
Mitali Srivastava Hough
Previous: Co-founder and Managing Partner, Utopeia Communicationz
Present: National Planning Head and Partner, Famous Innovations
Mitali Srivasatav Hough has been appointed as the national planning head for the Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru offices of the independent creative shop Famous Innovations. She also joins as a partner to the agency, and in her current role, she will also lead the strategic planning for Garage, the digital and content agency from the group.
Armed with an experience of 22 years, Hough has worked across Zee News, Mindspace Communication Consultants, TBWA\India, Ogilvy & Mather and DDB Mudra. She is also the co-founder of ad agencies Utopeia Communicationz and The Equal whose specialties lie in CSR solutions.
Kaushik Datta
Previous: Head of Art, Executive Creative Director, Leo Burnett
Present: Executive Creative Director, Cheil India
Advertising agency Cheil India has appointed Kaushik Datta as the executive creative director. In his new role, Datta will be responsible for raising the art and design quotient for brands and be involved in bringing tech into communication.
Datta has an experience of more than two decades and has worked at Ogilvy & Mather.
Recently, Leo Burnett’s Canadian branch strengthened its senior team by appointing Danielle Zablocki and Leo Janusauskas, senior art directors; London Choi, senior copywriter; Kyle Scotland and Jason Sweeney, associate creative directors.
Shahbaaz Mohammed
Previous: Marketing Manager, Marico
Present: Head of Brand Marketing CultSport, cure.fit (cult.fit)
Shahbaaz Mohammed has been appointed as the head of marketing at cure.fit, a health and fitness company. Mohammed, who has an experience of a decade has worked across ConAgra Foods, AIESEC, Mapro Foods, ITC Limited and Zydus Wellness.
Rayomand J Patell
Previous: Chief Creative Officer, Idealake
Present: Not known
Rayomand J Patell, who served as the chief creative officer at Idealake, a digital agency, has stepped down from his position.
Patell has an experience of 27 years and he has worked across Everest Young & Rubicam, SSC&B Lintas, Contract India and Havas Worldwide.
Prasad Gade
Previous: VP Digital Branding & Business Development, AmbiTech Healthcare
Present: Head of Marketing, iThrive
Health and wellness startup iThrive has appointed Prasad Gade as the head of marketing. In his new role, Gade will be responsible for handling the overall marketing strategies and brand positioning. This will be followed by handling sustainable growth and advanced marketing innovations.
Gade has worked across Chandan Tech Solutions, Study IQ Education, and is also the co-founder of Xoomclass and Cre8Gre8.
Sameer Sankhe
Previous: India Head, Digital Transformation Consulting, Salesforce India
Present: Chief Digital Officer, Genesys International
Sameer Sankhe has been appointed as the chief digital officer at Genesys International, surveying services company. In his new role, he will be responsible for digitising the existing business and building new products such as 3D digital twin, which is an enterprise metaverse. This is followed by building an API-driven revenue stream for clients in India and abroad, and further providing leadership for the transformation of overall business.
Karan Rajpal
Previous: Brand and Digital Lead, Dalmia Bharat Limited
Present: Director of Marketing, EnableX
EnableX, a cloud-based, real-time communication platform has appointed Karan Rajpal as the director of marketing. Rajpal will be responsible for driving all marketing initiatives, communications and public relations for the company.
Rajpal has an experience of over a decade and he has worked across Supreme Metal Industries, Havana Bath Fixtures and Accessories, New Global Indian, Aviva, JLL and HCL Technologies.
Abhishek Ajmera
Previous: Head Of Sales and Partnerships, UNext learning
Present: Chief Sales and Marketing Officer, Univo
Abhishek Ajmera has been appointed as the chief sales and marketing officer at Univo, online programme management company. Ajmera has an experience of over a decade and he has worked across Info Edge India, Minglebox Communications, Aspiring Minds and Magicbricks.com.
Compiled by Kashmeera Sambamurthy