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Havas Media Indonesia appoints Satyajit Sen as CEO
MUMBAI: Havas Group Indonesia has bolstered its leadership strength with the appointment of Satyajit Sen as Havas Media CEO. In his new role, Sen’s mandate will be to accelerate Havas Media Indonesia’s journey of transformation and exponential growth with a focus on collaboration, new business momentum, and building and leading future-ready teams. He will report to Havas Group, SEA, India and north Asia chairman and CEO Vishnu Mohan.
A media and marketing professional with 29 years of experience across leading and challenger brands across verticals, Sen joins Havas Indonesia from Samsung India where led the media management function from 2014. While at Samsung, Satyajit is credited with consistently improving performance and effectiveness of ad spend in turbulent market conditions. Prior to Samsung, Sen was the CEO of ZenithOptimedia Group India where he successfully grew the business, consolidated key accounts and built the performance marketing team from scratch.
Mohan said, “Satyajit’s proven expertise in delivering value across the spectrum of media services encompassing digital, content and data coupled with extremely strong leadership skills will build on what we have already achieved in Indonesia, which has a strong portfolio of media clients like Indofood, Grab, and Godrej and take Havas Indonesia forward in its next phase of growth and expansion. His experience encompassing both brand and agency will be huge advantage in a critical market like Indonesia. I am delighted to welcome Satyajit to the Havas family and I am confident that he will propel Havas Indonesia in its next phase of evolution.”
“This is an interesting opportunity in changing and challenging times. Havas has been a pioneer in integration with its Village model of organisational structure and this multi-dimensional approach to marketing and advertising is exactly what clients are looking for. I am extremely excited to be a part of Havas Group’s futuristic agency model and looking forward to working with the team to start a new chapter for Havas Media in Indonesia,” said Sen.
Sen’s appointment is effective immediately and he is based out of Jakarta.
MAM
‘You packed my parachute’: Avinash Kaul’s farewell salutes Network18’s unsung thousands
The outgoing chief’s LinkedIn post skips the boardroom tributes and goes straight to the security guards, drivers and office boys who kept the machine running
MUMBAI: Most farewell posts by senior media executives follow a familiar script: gratitude to leadership, a nod to the team, a hint of what lies ahead. Avinash Kaul’s is not that post.
Writing on LinkedIn on his last day at Network18 Media & Investments, where he spent nearly 12 years rising to chief executive, Kaul bypassed the boardroom entirely and directed his most heartfelt words at the people furthest from it: the security guard who greeted him before the building was fully awake, the fleet staff who drove him to airports at ungodly hours, the office assistants, the housekeeping teams, and the administrators who, as he put it, “held ten thousand invisible threads so the rest of us could look organised.”
“You packed my parachute,” he wrote. “Every day. Without fanfare, recognition, or ever asking for it.”
It was a striking note from a man who leaves behind a considerable operational record. Kaul joined Network18 managing three channels and exits with responsibility for 20, alongside a publishing business, a growing connected television footprint, and what he says is the highest revenue and highest channel share in the group’s history. He was quick to deflect the credit. “Not because of me. Because of 4,000 people who showed up, every day, in every department, across the country.”
To content teams across India, he issued a reminder that carries some weight given the pressures Indian news media currently faces. “Keep being custodians of trust for 700 million people. That is not a small thing. That is the whole thing.”
To colleagues in revenue and ratings who found him relentless and hard to satisfy, he was unapologetic but generous. “There was never a single moment of ill intent in my heart. Everything I pushed you towards came from one belief – that you were stronger than you knew, and I was not willing to let you settle for less than your real capability.” Those who believed him, he said, flew. Those who did not taught him to be a better communicator. He was grateful to both.
On what comes next, he offered a hint wrapped in metaphor. Something is being built, he said, prepared for “the way you pack a bag before a long climb. Not out of restlessness. Out of readiness.”
In a media landscape that rarely pauses to acknowledge the people who keep the lights on, it was, at the very least, a different kind of goodbye.
