MAM
ASCI secretary-general Manisha Kapoor named VP, ICAS executive committee
Mumbai: Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) general secretary Manisha Kapoor has been appointed to the executive committee of the International Council for Advertising Self-Regulation (ICAS). She will be one of the four vice-presidents on the executive committee. Set up by the European Advertising Standards Alliance in 2008, ICAS is a global platform of self-regulatory organisations (SROs).
Until April this year, ASCI served on the executive committee as a member for a two-year term. Now, Kapoor will play a leadership role on the committee till 2023.
In her role as part of the ICAS leadership team, she will take forward the agenda of self-regulation globally. Some priority areas of ICAS for the next couple of years are:
● To promote advertising self-regulation as an optimal mechanism for consumer protection
● To strengthen ICAS as a global alliance
● To facilitate knowledge sharing among SROs to establish best practices
● To support emerging SROs across the globe
● To monitor global trends in the advertising ecosystem that impact self-regulation
● Work closely with established and emerging digital platforms to make the online space more transparent and fairer for consumers
Kapoor said, “This appointment is a recognition of ASCI’s growing global standing and influence in the narrative of responsible advertising, as well as the importance of Indian advertising industry itself at a global level. This offers us a chance to exchange learnings and best practices. With the Indian advertising industry evolving fast and digitalisation boosting growth, ASCI’s leadership of the ICAS executive committee will add new perspectives to the agenda of responsible advertising.”
ICAS is a globally established organisation with members comprising national and regional SROs, associations and international industry associations representing advertisers, the media and creative agencies, all working to ensure that advertising and marketing communication is legal, honest and decent.
The three other vice-presidents are one each from Canada, the USA and the World Federation of Advertisers. The ICAS president is from the United Kingdom.
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.
