MAM
Advertising Avenues’ Rakshit to receive AAAI Premnarayen award
MUMBAI: The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) will be presenting the AAAI Premnarayen award for outstanding contribution to the industry to Advertising Avenues chairman Goutam Rakshit.
The award will be presented on 21 July in Mumbai. Last year, the AAAI Premnarayen award was given to Lintas India chairman and managing director Prem Mehta.
This award is the most prestigious award the AAAI confers and is akin to being inducted into its Hall of Fame. Rakshit, now joins the ranks of the chosen few who are honoured long before they retire.
Rakshit began his professional career at Cadbury and rose rapidly to head its marketing team. Incidentally, he can take credit for launching the Bournvita Quiz Contest.
After a successful stint at Cadbury, Rakshit joined Clarion Advertising before setting off to start an agency called Advertising Avenues along with Ashok Roy and Gopi Kukde.
Advertising Avenues was one of the hottest agencies in the 80s and has to its credit the path-breaking Onida campaign.
Rakshit has been president of the AAAI and chairman of the Asian Federation of Advertising Associations (AFAA). He played a major role in bringing and helping organise the AdAsia 2003 in Jaipur. He is now chairman of the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI).
Incidentally, 21 July will also be the date when the AAAI kicks off its Diamond Jubilee celebrations with a seminar wherein the opening speech will be given by BBDO Worldwide CEO Andy Robertson.
MAM
Beacon Group appoints Dr Rajesh Patel as Group CEO
36-year healthcare veteran to lead Beacon Diagnostics, Vector Biotek, Biogeny.
MUMBAI: A new chief, a fresh diagnosis and a sharper prescription for growth. Beacon Group has appointed Dr Rajesh Patel as its Group Chief Executive Officer, effective April 1, 2026, signalling a decisive push to scale its presence in the diagnostics and IVD space. Patel steps into the role with 36 years of experience across the healthcare and diagnostics industry, bringing a career shaped by leadership roles spanning sales, marketing, business development and operational strategy. His mandate is both expansive and precise: to steer the group’s overall strategic direction while tightening coordination across its three core entities Beacon Diagnostics, Vector Biotek and Biogeny Diagnostics.
In practical terms, that means driving cross-company synergies, accelerating market expansion and strengthening organisational capability areas increasingly critical as diagnostic players compete for scale in a fragmented yet rapidly evolving healthcare ecosystem. The group is positioning itself to capture unmet demand across chain laboratories, key accounts and standalone labs, segments that remain underserved despite growing diagnostic needs.
The appointment comes at a time when the In Vitro Diagnostics (IVD) sector in India is entering a more competitive and innovation-led phase, with companies focusing not just on product pipelines but also on service delivery, integration and customer-centric models. Beacon’s leadership appears to be betting that Patel’s execution-focused approach can help translate ambition into operational momentum.
Welcoming the appointment, Chairman Dr D K Joshi described Patel’s induction as a strategic move aligned with the group’s long-term vision, emphasising the role of leadership depth in navigating the next phase of growth.
For Beacon Group, the message is clear, in a sector where precision matters, leadership is the new differentiator—and this appointment is intended to set the tone for what comes next.
