Truecaller Strengthens Leadership Team With New Appointments In Brand and Marketing

Truecaller has appointed Ketan Bharati, as Vice President of Global Marketing Operations, Ashwani Sinha as Vice President of Global Brand and Raj Mukherjee as the Head of CRM The expansion of the marketing team is a strategic move to strengthen and support the ongoing brand expansion and capitalise on the multiple growth opportunities ahead.

As Truecaller continues to make communication safer for its users and braces itself for new innovations in the product the new team members will lead the brand management function and will report to Kari Krishnamurthy, Chief Commercial Officer based in Stockholm, Sweden.

Ashwani Sinha moves to Truecaller from Ogilvy, where Ashwani headed the Pernod Ricard business helping its iconic brands break new ground and lead the strategy function for BMW, helping the ultimate driving machine hold its own in a chauffeur-driven luxury car market. He has been instrumental in championing growth for some of the world’s most valuable brands, building solid partnerships with all stakeholders and mentoring future leaders.

 Ketan Bharati joins Truecaller from Group M (WPP) where he spearheaded multiple projects and was responsible for leading the planning and investments in media for partners. Ketan comes with a career spanning over 15 years in the industry with a rich experience of building media strategy, broadcasting, product & revenue strategy across brands like Vodafone, Star India  & Reckitt Benckiser.

Raj Mukherjee joins Truecaller from Unacademy after a short sabbatical. Raj was assistant vice president of customer experience at Unacademy where he was responsible for developing customer experience strategies, content management, process innovation and trust & safety. He has also worked with brands like PhonePe and LinkedIn in the past.

Strengthening and realigning the existing talent in the organisation, Manan Shah, earlier Director of Marketing for Truecaller India will now be leading marketing efforts across India and South East Asia. Both the regions are pivotal for Truecaller’s growth and will be headed by Manan who has been with the brand for close to 6 years and has 18 years of work experience in the brand and marketing industry.

Welcoming the new talent on board, Kari Krishnamurthy, Chief Commercial Officer – Truecaller, stated: “ I am extremely happy to have excellent leaders coming on board. It perfectly aligns with our ambition of making our brand much more stronger globally. I also believe Manan's role of handling South East Asia should take our best practices of success in India to replicate in this growth market.”

Dentsu APAC Appoints Chief Technology Officer for Top Technology Executive Role

Dentsu Asia Pacific has named Christina Lee as Chief Technology Officer, effective April 4, 2022. In her role, Christina will be responsible for providing overarching technology strategy, industry-leading capabilities and solutions to enable business growth and drive day to day operations through transformational business and technology initiatives. Based in Hong Kong, she will report directly to Dominic Shine, Global CTO and will be part of both Global and APAC senior management teams.

Bringing with her over two decades of senior leadership experience in Information & Digital Technology, Christina has a strong track record of consulting and industry experience in strategy, business transformation, business partnership, vendor management and solution delivery, as well as aligning and advancing IT as a tool and driver for business of Fortune 500 multi-national brand companies.

Prior to joining dentsu, Christina has held senior leadership roles at Kering Group as APAC Chief Information Officer and L’Oréal as South Asia Pacific Chief Information Officer, where she led IT for the most strategic and complex region and successfully established the tech organisation strategy for APAC. 

Christina sits on the judging panel for Case competition, Enactus Singapore, a community of student, academic and business leaders committed to using the power of entrepreneurial action, and served as a Mentor during her leadership at Kering Group.

Dominic Shine, Global Chief Technology Officer, dentsu, said, “Christina is a committed leader who is passionate about organisational design, understands the problems that will be faced during hyper-growth, and is energised by solving these problems. She brings with her strong experience and a successful track record in driving significant transformational change through technology across organisations, as well as in the delivery of data and digital products. I look forward to having her on the team.” 

Christina said, “I have ambition for technology to be a champion of change for brands and businesses to optimise their business practice, and also be a strategic partner to help business to get maximum benefits from the data and technologies. Dentsu values technology and innovation at the heart of its culture and I could not be more excited to be working together with this incredible, high performing team of technology professionals.” 

GoalTeller names Pankaj Fitkariwala as Co-Founder

GoalTeller has roped in Pankaj Fitkariwala as a Co-Founder at GoalTeller.

Prior to joining GoalTeller, Pankaj was the COO of Avendus Wealth and Finance. In his illustrious career spanning more than two decades, Pankaj has also worked with IIFL Wealth (where he was senior managing partner and managed various functions including operations, technology, legal, compliance, risk, accounts and finance), Barclays Bank, ABN Amro and Kotak Mahindra Group.

“Pankaj brings with him years of wisdom and experience in this industry, which will immensely help GoalTeller enhance its vision in democratising financial advice. We are certain that he will play a great role in helping us be scale ready in future” said, Vivek Banka and Abhisek Puglia, Co-Founders at GoalTeller.

"I am thrilled to join Goalteller and be a part of its vision. Having worked in this industry for 2 decades, the importance of bringing financial planning to the masses cannot be overstated " said Pankaj on this occasion.

Havas Worldwide (Creative) appoints Jigisha Chawla as EVP, Gurgaon

Havas Worldwide has appointed Jigisha Chawla as Executive Vice President, Gurgaon. Jigisha will report to Manas Lahiri, Managing Director, Havas Worldwide (Creative) and will work across key clients of the Gurgaon office.

Manas Lahiri, Managing Director, Havas Worldwide (Creative), said, “With the exponential growth of the Gurgaon unit, we are focusing on beefing up our senior leadership and our product. Jigisha will play a pivotal role in enhancing and strengthening our client relationships and widening our product portfolio.”

A seasoned advertising and communications professional with over 20 years of experience, Jigisha’s expertise is ingrained in traditional advertising with knowledge of its tenets in brand building with a good understanding of new-age media and the importance of technology to create meaningful brand stories.

“I am excited to begin this new inning with Havas Worldwide (Creative). Over the last couple of years, Havas Group India and all its units have completely turned around and have built a new perception in India. The agency is going through a fantastic momentum, and I am looking forward to making a meaningful impact in this growth story”, said Jigisha.

Jigisha has spent a major part of her career with Ogilvy and has managed several marquee brands and led key client businesses across diverse categories, including MNCs, Government, Non-profit organisations, and Healthcare businesses of Ogilvy Delhi. She has led many integrated teams to success, including multiple Effie awards, and brings substantial global project management experience on board.