CXO Moves – Page 147 – storyboard18

IndiaCast appoints Piyush Goyal as COO

In his new role, Piyush Goyal will closely work with the operating heads of TV News, Entertainment and Sports businesses of the Network18 Group. He will report into Network18’s Managing Director Rahul Joshi.

In a career spanning over 20 years, Piyush Goyal has worked in leading companies like Star TV, Network18, NDTV and DEN Networks.

MX Player’s Nikhil Gandhi quits the Times-owned streamer

If the deal does go through, Amazon Prime Video's customer base could increase fourfold as MX Player has an estimated 78 million users, while Amazon has around 28 million users in India.

Nikhil Gandhi’s departure from MX Player coincides with the company’s acquisition talks with Amazon.

Dalveer Singh quits WPP-owned GroupM’s Dialogue Factory

Prior to joining WPP, Dalveer Singh was the senior vice president at Reliance ADAG. In 2006, he set out to help Reliance ADAG in setting up a specialized Experiential Marketing Force dedicated to market and category expansion for individual businesses.

Dalveer Singh has been associated with the group for 14 years. He was responsible for shaping GroupM’s experiential marketing agency Dialogue Factory.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz steps down, Laxman Narasimhan assumes leadership ahead of schedule

The announcement of his official appointment has come as a surprise, as Starbucks had previously indicated that the transition would not be complete until the end of March, with Narasimhan assuming full duties in April.

Mullen Lintas appoints L&K Saatchi & Saatchi’s Sharon Picardo as executive director

Sharon Picardo 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.

Sharon Picardo comes with 22 years of experience as a P&L head and brand strategist.

Carat India appoints Wavemaker’s Simantini Ghosh as VP – Content

WPP’s media agency Essence roped Simantini Ghosh 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, which ranged from content strategy, brand solutions, client servicing, video production, the key clients whose mandate she handled were Britannia, Flipkart and Global Consumer Products. (Image source: LinkedIn)

Simantini Ghosh’s last position was as the regional head – South, content at Wavemaker where she led content campaigns along with multiple strategic partners.

Deepali Naair of IBM to join CK Birla Group as group CMO

In financial services, Deepali Naair has held leadership positions with L&T Insurance & HSBC. She has worked with Tata Motors, BPL Mobile, Draft FCB-Ulka; was the marketing manager for Saffola and Mediker at Marico. She headed products and marketing at HSBC Global Asset Management and at L&T insurance she was head – marketing, digital sales and customer service. (Image source: LinkedIn)

A marketing veteran Deepali Naair was with IBM for nearly five years and was serving the company as director, digital sales-India.

CXO Moves: Find out who moved in, up and out at Dentsu, Havas, boAt, GM, Sony Music, and more

Get the full picture on people and their moves on the corporate jungle gym in CXO Moves. (From left to right: Anita Kotwani, Anirban Mozumdar, Vinit Thakkar, Vivek Gambhir, Fernando Machado)

Executive moves in the world of brands and agencies.

Dentsu promotes Anita Kotwani to CEO Media, South Asia; Divya Karani moves on

This announcement closely follows last week’s appointment of Harsha Razdan, Dentsu South Asia’s new CEO, as the business continues to strengthen its leadership team in the region. (From left to right: Anita Kotwani and Divya Karani)

Most recently, Anita Kotwani was CEO, Carat India, a position she has held since 2020. Divya Karani will be transitioning off the media business to pursue personal interests.

Exodus at Disney Star as several executives quit

Catz in his call, did not talk about how the business will be brought to a halt. (Representative Image: Tarik Haiga via Unsplash)

Top execs in the Star Sports team of the Disney Star network have exited. Highly placed sources informed Storyboard18 of this. The exits are likely due to the global restructuring that the network is going through to reduce costs that will eventually lead to layoffs.