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.
Andrej Karpathy
Previous: Founding member, OpenAI
Andrej Karpathy, who is the founding member of OpenAI and an artificial intelligence researcher, has stepped down from his position at OpenAI. Karpathy began his career at Google as a summer intern and then joined OpenAI as a research scientist. As a senior director of AI at Tesla, he led the computer vision team of Tesla Autopilot.
Hiroshi Yoshizane
Present: Managing director, Bridgestone India
Manufacturing company Bridgestone has appointed Hiroshi Yoshizane as managing director for the India region. Currently, he holds the position of executive vice president – solution business, retail and service business at Bridgestone Tire Solution Japan. Yoshizane will succeed Stefano Sanchini, who took up the position in January 2023 replacing incumbent Parag Satpute.
Ramanathan Balasubramanian
Present: Chief client officer, Ogilvy
B. Ramanathan returns to Ogilvy India as chief client officer. With a career spanning nearly three decades, Ram brings a wealth of experience and a deep understanding of our industry.
Ram’s journey with Ogilvy, started in 1995. He played pivotal roles in Chennai and Hyderabad offices leading to the Mumbai office as the managing partner.
Sunil Gupta
Present: Chief executive officer, Coca-Cola Beverages Africa
Sunil Gupta has been promoted to the position of chief executive officer for Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA), effective from April 1. Gupta succeeds Jacques Vermeulen, who will retire after 28 years of service with the Coca-Cola system.
He has worked across EY, Casio India, Bank of America, Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages and Coca-Cola FEMSA Philippines.
VML
VML, a worldwide brand, customer experience, and commerce agency, has introduced its leadership team in India. The newly appointed leadership team includes: Bhautik Mithani as the chief financial officer, Jyoti Mahendru as the chief people officer and Pinaki Bhattacharya as the chief strategy and client partnerships officer, VML India.
Shishir Mishra
Previous: Director and head – Stellantis Sales & Marketing Synergy – India, Stellantis
Present: Brand director, Citroen India
Stellantis India, an automobile corporation, has promoted Shishir Mishra to the position of brand director for Citroen in India. Mishra began his career as a marketing executive at Onida and went on to work across Ford Motor Credit Company, ICICI Bank, HDFC Ergo General Insurance, Toyota Financial Services India and Banque PSA Finance.
Shruti Gupta
Previous: Head – commercial subsidiaries group, Citibank India
Present: Vice president and head – CRM, India and South Asia, Visa
Visa the global leader in digital payments announced the appointment of Shruti Gupta as Vice President and Head, Commercial & Money Movement Solutions (CMS), for India and South Asia. In her role, Gupta will head Visa’s business and corporate solutions including Commercial Solutions, Integrated Money Movement and Visa Government Solutions.
Virendra Bansal
Previous: Country head (US Operations), State Bank of India
Present: Managing director and chief executive officer, SBI Capital Markets
SBI Capital Markets has appointed Virendra Bansal in a new role. He started his career with the State Bank of India.
Tathagat Jena
Present: Head of marketing, DTC & Online Biz head – INDIA & APAC , HMD
HMD has elevated Tathagat Jena in a new role. He has worked across McCann Ericson, MAA Bozell India, Maxicare Creative Concepts, Lowe Lintas, Ogilvy & Mather, Leo Burnett, The SPA Group and Samsung Electronics.
Vikas Gupta
Present: Managing director and group CEO, VLCC
VLCC announced that its group chief executive officer, Vikas Gupta, will be elevated to the role of managing director and group CEO, effective immediately. Gupta was appointed Group CEO of VLCC in April 2023.’
Gupta was previously CEO of SuperStore by Nykaa, Nykaa Pro, Nykaa International. He was the chief customer and marketing officer at Flipkart. Gupta’s longest stint was with Hindustan Unilever with 21 years spent across Unilever’s global markets.
Souvik Datta
Previous: Creative head – North, McCann Worldgroup
Present: Creative head – West and lead for special projects – North, McCann Worldgroup
McCann Worldgroup has elevated Souvik Datta in a new role. Datta has worked across MullenLowe Lintas Group, DDB Mudra Group, TBWA, Contract India, Creativeland Asia and Contract Advertising India.
Murali S
Present: Chief executive officer, Orkla India
Norwegian Industrial Investment firm Orkla ASA’s subsidiary, Orkla India has roped in Murali S as chief executive officer of Eastern, pure spices and masala brand. Hia role will become effective starting April 1, where he will succeed Navas Meeran.
Murali has a stint of over three decades in the arena of telecommunications and consumer goods sector. He has led leadership roles at Vodafone Idea and Blow Past where served as senior vice president and operations director.
Priya Rege Jaggi
Previous: Head – consumer marketing, Instagram and Facebook app
Present: Associate director – marketing, McDonald’s
Priya Rege Jaggi has joined McDonald’s as associate director of marketing. She has worked across Facebook, Instagram, Cipla, Immunoboosters, Clean & Clear, Neutrogena, Stayfree and Listerine.
Vidya Rao
Previous: Chief information officer, Genpact
Present: Chief technology and transformation officer, Genpact
Genpact has elevated Vidya Rao in a new role. She has worked across Blue Chip Computer Consultants, Infosys, Wipro, Cambridge Technology Partners and Accenture.
Sneha Iyer
Previous: Creative director, 22feet Tribal Worldwide
Sneha Iyer, who led 22feet Tribal Worldwide as creative director has stepped down from her position. She is currently serving her notice period.
Iyer, who began her career at Draft FCB Ulka, moved to McCann Worldgroup as art director. Then, she moved to The Design & Print Lab, TBWA\Media Arts Lab, TBWA\Worldwide and Kulture Shop.
Arpit Srivastava
Previous: Senior general manager, Cars24
Present: Head of brand, Cars24
Cars24 has elevated Arpit Srivastava as head of the brand. He has worked across HCL Technologies, Sony India, Bennett Coleman and Co and Samsung India.
Nachiket Deshpande and Sudhir Chaturvedi
On February 13, information technology company, LTIMindtree said it is unlikely to extend the term (which will end next year) of Debashis Chatterjee, the company’s chief executive officer. To fill in the position, LTIMindtree has identified two internal candidates for the top job.
Nachiket Deshpande, chief operating officer, and Sudhir Chaturvedi, president, are touted as the top contenders for the CEO position. This is because the board prefers to have an insider who could handle the responsibilities of the position, stated the report.
Jignesh Shah‘
Present: Head – media and digital marketing, Adani Wilmar
Jignesh Shah is leading Adani Wilmar in a new role. He has worked across Vadilal Icecream, YERA Glassware and Wagh Bakri Tea Group.
Jayathirtha Mukund
Present: Head – investor relations and chief risk officer, Allied Blenders and Distillers
Allied Blenders and Distillers Limited has appointed Jayathirtha Mukund as head – investor relations and chief risk officer. The organisation is in the process of an initial public offering.
Prior to joining ABD, Mukund was associated with Raymond Limited, Reliance Communications Ltd., Adventity Global Services, Vodafone Essar Ltd, Stratcap Securities (India) and Zuari.
Nilesh Malani
Previous: Chief marketing officer, Polycab India
Nilesh Malani has stepped down from his position at Polycab India. He has worked in companies like Asian Paints, Castrol India and JSW Steel.
Vandana Kapur
Previous: Country head – human resources, Agilent Technologies
Present: Vice president – human resources, Carlsberg Group
Carlsberg Group has roped in Vandana Kapur in a new role. She has worked across Probe Qualitative Research – Indian Market Research Bureau, Manford Coretech, DSM Anti Infectives, DSM Sinochem Pharmaceuticals and Centrient Pharmaceuticals.
Gaurav Gokhale
Previous: Chief operating officer, Endemol Shine India
Present: Head of special projects / strategic initiatives – digital, Viacom18
Viacom18 has roped in Gaurav Gokhale in a new role. He has worked across Tata Consultancy Services, Arthur D Little, The Boston Consulting Group, Nimbus Communications and Star TV Network.
Vaibhav Nagpal
Previous: AVP – content acquisition and licensing, Hungama
Present: Head – partner relations and music acquisition, Warner Media
Warner Music India has appointed Vaibhav Nagpal as the new head of partner relations and music acquisition. He has also worked at One97 Communications.
Jasmeet Arora
Previous: Vice president, Paytm
Present: Chief growth officer, Indifi Technologies
Indifi Technologies has appointed Jasmeet Arora in a new role. He has worked across Citifinancial Consumer Finance India, American Express Banking Corp, Pine Labs and PayU.
Compiled by Kashmeera Sambamurthy