Abbott elevates Shefali Singh to head of marketing

MUMBAI: Abbott has handed its marketing reins to an insider. Shefali Singh, who has spent the last four years and five months working her way up through the company, has been appointed head of marketing, based in Maharashtra.

The move caps a steady climb rather than a sudden leap. Singh joined Abbott in 2022 as group product manager in Mumbai, moved into the marketing manager role in August 2024, and has now stepped into the top marketing job as of July 2026.

Her background reads like a masterclass in pharmaceutical brand-building. Before Abbott, Singh spent over four years at Alembic Pharmaceuticals, rising from product manager to group product manager in the cardio-diabeto division, having earlier cut her teeth at Mankind Pharma as a product executive. She also spent nearly three years as an assistant professor at Vishveshwarya Group of Institutions, a detour into academia before she committed fully to industry.

Across those roles, Singh built a reputation around strategy, analytics, product life cycle management and new product development, the unglamorous groundwork that decides whether a drug brand actually lands with doctors and patients.

Abbott’s bet is straightforward: promote from within, hand the marketing function to someone who already knows the company’s products, its people and its pace. For Singh, it is the reward for a decade spent moving steadily up the pharma ladder, one brand at a time.