Hires & Promotions: Amazon, Omnicom Group, OMD Worldwide, Viacom18, NetApp, Godrej Consumer Products, Ingram Micro, Google

Quick look at new hirings, promotions and people movements this week

Amazon India Appoints Rashi Goel As Head Of Marketing

Amazon India has appointed Rashi Goel, former director of marketing and consumer communications at Nestle, as its new as director of marketing. As per her Linkedin page, she joined Amazon in September.

Goel ended her stint of four years with Nestle in October. She had joined Nestle in April 2017 as Director - Marketing and Consumer Communications India, replacing Chandrasekar Radhakrishnan, who had moved to the company’s Switzerland headquarters. She was given the additional responsibility as Business Executive Officer - Breakfast Cereals, Souhth Asia in February 2021. 

Prior to joining Nestle, Goel was the CMO at The Kraft Heinz Company India, where she handled brands like Complan, GluconD, Heinz Tomato Ketchup and Nycil. Previously, she had also worked with Givaudan PTE, PepsiCo, Coca Cola, Unilever, and L’Oreal. 


Omnicom Group Elevates Florian Adamski As CEO & Daryl Simm As President

Florian Adamski has been named CEO of Omnicom Media Group, while Daryl Simm has been named president and chief operating officer of Omnicom Group.

Simm has been the chief executive officer of Omnicom Media Group (OMG) since 1998, when he joined the company. Simm will report directly to chairman and CEO John Wren in his new post at the holding firm, where he will supervise Omnicom's business activities. Adamski formerly served as CEO of OMD Worldwide, where he oversaw personnel and resource reform. Now, Simm will be succeeded by Adamski. 

John Wren, Chairman and CEO, Omnicom Group said, “Daryl has been instrumental in developing our media network since its inception. He has been a driving force behind the growth of award-winning, full-service media agencies like OMD, PHD and Hearts & Science, as well as many other businesses that are major contributors to Omnicom’s success.” 

“Florian provided the strategy, vision and tactics that led OMD to become today’s industry-leading, global media agency. His ability to attract top talent, implement new technologies and collaborate across the group has led to major business wins and retention that resulted in continuous business growth," he added.


George Manas Elevated As CEO- OMD Worldwide

Omnicom Media Group's OMD Worldwide has appointed George Manas as its Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately. Manas succeeds Florian Adamski, who was elevated to CEO of Omnicom Media Group.  

As CEO, Manas will lead OMD's worldwide strategy, operations and capabilities, as well as work with clients from some of the world's most iconic brands. Throughout his 17 years in media, performance marketing and CRM, Manas has continuously challenged legacy models and successfully built new approaches guided by the creative application of talent, tools and technology.

"At Omnicom, we place considerable emphasis on succession planning. Florian and I have long agreed that George would be the right person to take the helm of OMD Worldwide," said Daryl Simm, President and COO, Omnicom Group

Manas previously served as Chief Media Officer of OMD U.S. In this role, he stewarded the U.S. rollout of OMD Design, OMD's proprietary approach that harnesses the power of Omni, Omnicom's open operating system that helps marketers orchestrate better outcomes. Prior to OMD U.S., Manas served as President of Omnicom Media Group's performance unit, Resolution Media.

Florian Adamski, CEO of Omnicom Media Group added, "Tech development has radically re-organized marketing. George has proven time and time again his ability to reimagine and rise to new challenges, contributing to OMD's strength over the past 4 years. There is no one better able to accelerate the outcome-driven work we are doing for our clients and develop an even more magnetic place for the best talent."

Mandy Walis will fill Manas' previous role, taking on the title of Chief Operating Officer of OMD U.S. As COO, Walis' responsibilities will include leading the transformational vision and operational management of the agency, working alongside and reporting into OMD U.S. CEO John Osborn. In addition, Walis will oversee the agency's Business Transformation Office, which houses specialized capabilities focused on delivering speed, agility and efficiency across OMD's end-to-end workflow. 


Viacom18 Sports Appoints SonyLIV's Amit Kumar Sinha As Head Of Pricing & Revenue Strategy

Amit Kumar Sinha has joined Viacom18's sports division as Vice President and Head of Pricing and Revenue Strategy. Sinha left Star earlier this year to join SonyLIV as Head of Pricing and Revenue Strategy.

“Happy to be at the core of the Industry — Sportainment. Looking forward for exciting times in #ViacomSports. Thank you to #sonyliv #SPNI, for making me part of an esteemed team. #gratitude #humbled. Big thank you to all well-wishers!” he said in a LinkedIn post.

  

Sinha was AVP, Product & Revenue Strategy at Star, where he worked on Hindi GEC, Hindi Movies, and Sports Product & Revenue Strategy. He was also in charge of developing and achieving the Star Sports Cricket portfolio's revenue targets. He was also in charge of product pricing for a variety of Series/Events, as well as Customer Strategy, which included digital.

In his over 15- year-long career, Sinha has also worked with Bloomberg UTV, ZEEL, and ETV Network. During the last fifteen years, he has been involved in strategising and planning for various business functions besides marketing & promotion of programmes/events, distribution strategies, and handling research among others. 


NetApp Appoints Varun Parwanda As Marketing Head For India/SAARC

NetApp has appointed Cisco's Varun Parwanda as Marketing Head for India/SAARC. At Cisco, he was Marketing Manager — Public Sector & Enterprise.

“I am pleased to welcome Varun Parwanda to the NetApp family. Varun joins us as Marketing Head for India/SAARC and brings with him rich experience in marketing, having worked with leading technology companies,” Puneet Gupta, Vice President & Managing Director, NetApp India/SAARC, said in a LinkedIn post.

“I had the privilege of working with Varun earlier and was amazed with his creativity, thinking and strong execution skills. Here’s wishing Varun all the very best in his new role, which I am sure will bring along lots of success, happiness and fun,” he added.


Godrej Consumer Products Promotes Somasree Bose Awasthi To CMO

Somasree Bose Awasthi has been elevated as Chief Marketing Officer of Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL) (CMO). Somasree has worked at GCPL for over two decades, having started as a management trainee in 2003 as part of the Sara Lee business.

She formerly headed marketing for the homecare category at GCPL, which includes well-known brands such as Good Knight and Hit in the household insecticides area, Godrej Aer in the air fresheners section, and Godrej Ezee and Genteel in the fabric detergents category. Her responsibilities included developing the homecare category's strategy, long-term brand vision, and directing strategic marketing activities.

She spearheaded product introductions such as Godrej aer pocket in the air-freshener area, Cinthol deostick, Hit anti-roach gel, Cinthol's male grooming line, Godrej Protekt's powder-to-liquid handwash, Mr Magic, Good Knight Gold Flash, and others. She just developed the Godrej ProClean home hygiene brand.


Ingram Micro Promotes Naved Chaudhary To Marketing Head, India

Ingram Micro India has appointed Naved Chaudhary as its new Marketing Head in India, effective 1st November 2021. 

Naved has over 20 years of expertise in Marketing Communications & Brand Management, and has demonstrated his adaptability in managing a variety of enterprises. Prior to joining Ingram in 2012, he worked with Luminous, Wynncom, Hamdard, DS Group, and other companies. He has a lot of experience launching new products and establishing teams from the ground up.

Sailajanandan Nayak (SN) has joined the Global Marketing team as the APAC Head of Modern Marketing, and Naved has moved up the ladder to take over this responsibility. SN will focus on building the Technology Solutions company through unique content and effective digital marketing activities in his new job. Most recently, SN headed marketing efforts in India where he was instrumental in unifying the marketing teams across different business units into a full-stack internal marketing organization. 

Commenting on the development, Naved Chaudhary said that he is looking forward to the new assignment and would make sure to carry the good work done in the area of Marketing. New-age solutions would be high on the agenda apart from being more relevant to the Industry and channel. 2022 would be a year to look forward to new innovations and activations.


Google Appoints Apurva Chamaria As Head Of Partnerships Solutions, Startups & Venture Capital

Apurva Chamaria has been appointed Head of Partnership Solutions, Startups, and Venture Capital at Google India. Prior to joining Google India,  Chamaria worked for Tech Mahindra, RateGain, HCL Technologies, and other companies.

Chamaria announced his departure from Tech Mahindra in a LinkedIn post, and he has now updated his LinkedIn page with his new work profile with Google India.

"Yesterday was my last day at Tech Mahindra. I had the good fortune to work with fantastic leaders at Tech Mahindra. We collectively transformed the company and grew the share price from 700 Rs to 1600 Rs in a short span of 12 months. Watch this company as there is a lot more good to come from this amazing leadership team!," wrote Chamariya in his LinkedIn post.