Nirvik Singh, Chairman and CEO of Grey Group Asia Pacific since 2009, will take on the additional role of Chairman & CEO for Grey Group's Middle East and Africa region.

A 27-year industry veteran of the global advertising and marketing agency headquartered in New York City, Singh has played a monumental role in the growth and development of the network’s comprehensive offerings across Asia, a press release said.

His highly-regarded business acumen has led to numerous additions to the Grey network including RC&M (Rural Communications & Marketing services) in India, Yolk (Interactive & Digital media network) in Singapore, DPI (Shopper), Star Echo (Marketing Services) and ArtM (Integrated Communications) in China, Vinyl-I (Creative Digital agency) in South Korea and nudeJEH (Advertising & Digital agency) in Thailand, amongst others.

In his newly elevated role, Singh will continue to work closely with Jim Heekin, Chairman and CEO, Grey Group, and Michael Houston, Global President of Grey.

Pinaki Bhattacharya is National Planning Director, JWT India

Pinaki Bhattacharya has been appointed National Planning Director, JWT India.

Bhattacharya has been with J. Walter Thompson for over six years now and in his last role as Senior Vice-President and Executive Planning Director, he has been the planning lead on many of the marquee brands in the Delhi office.

With over 20 years of experience, he has worked across diverse categories such as food & beverages, nutrition, confectionery, technology, automobile and durables.

In his role as NPD, Bhattacharya along with Mythili Chandrasekar, National Planning Director, will work closely with Bindu Sethi, Chief Strategy Officer, to champion the just-launched, new JWT way of working – The Pioneering Process”.

Outside of work, Bhattacharya tries to find time to interact with and share his experience with students of management. He is also a keen follower of political developments around the world and a cricket buff.

Soham Bhagnari to develop West business at iProspect India

iProspect India, the digital agency from Dentsu Aegis Network, has appointed Soham Bhagnari as Associate Vice President (AVP) – Business Development. He will drive business expansion across the West region and operate out of Mumbai, reporting to Brijesh Munyal, Executive Vice-President - Operations at iProspect India.

Prior to iProspect India, Bhagnari worked with Clique for five years as Director – Digital and Group M’s Mindshare in Mumbai. Before shifting base to Mumbai, he spent the first four years of his career in Dubai, with stints at Wunderman and the Omnicom Group.

He has worked across varied sectors such as banking, education, auto, entertainment, luggage and web publications in the past.

Bhagnari is supported by Krishna Mothey (AVP – New Business) from Mumbai.

Vani Venkatesh to head Retail at Airtel

Bharti Airtel has appointed Vani Venkatesh as CEO – Retail. Venkatesh will be responsible for driving Airtel’s retail strategy to deliver a seamless experience across retail touch points.

She takes over from Rohit Malhotra, who is leaving after spending over nine years with the company in various senior positions.

Venkatesh brings with her over 19 years of work experience. In her last role, she was responsible for the medical nutrition business at Abbott Healthcare (India).

Prior to that, she worked with McKinsey & Company, where she led projects across industries, helping her clients to plan and implement successful retail strategies.

She began her career with Hindustan Unilever in the Finance division.

Vani is an MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. She is also a qualified CA, Cost and Works Accountant and Company Secretary.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW