MAM
Ashok Lalla quits Mindshare
MUMBAI: Mindshare leader – digital Ashok Lalla has decided to call it a day at the agency. His last day will be 31 May, ending his-seven month stint with Mindshare.
“Yes, he is leaving the agency,” said Mindshare South Asia leader Ravi Rao.
Lalla has close to 19 years experience in the industry and started his career in 1993 with Enterprise Nexus Communications (now Bates 141) as senior account executive. After four years at the agency, he joined Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces as advertising manager in 1997. Two years later, he moved to Times Multimedia where he worked as senior product manager for a year before moving back to Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces in 2001 to take up the post of director internet marketing. He then moved to Euro RSCG as president – digital in 2009 before joining Mindshare in 2011.
Lalla is also the founder, author and curator of the Future of Digital for Brands – a global community of over 2500 brands and marketing and digital experts and enthusiasts from more than 35 countries that shares and creates ideas that shape the future of brands via the future of digital.
Suraj Nambiar heads the digital wing for Mindhsare in the west for the agency while Anita Bhat heads south and Kavita Dhyani was recently brought on board to head the north operations for digital.
Brands
UltraTech Cement appoints Jayant Dua as managing director
Dua will succeed K. C. Jhanwar after his term ends in December 2026
MUMBAI: UltraTech Cement, the flagship cement arm of the Aditya Birla Group, has elevated Jayant Dua as managing director, effective 1 April, 2026.
The company’s board also approved his appointment as additional director, managing director and key managerial personnel, effective 1 January, 2027, following the completion of the current managing director K C Jhanwar’s term on 31 December, 2026, according to a regulatory filing.
Dua will serve as managing director for a four-year term from 1 January, 2027 to 31 December, 2030.
A veteran executive with more than 37 years of professional experience, Dua joined the Aditya Birla Group’s cement business in 1996 and spent nearly a decade in various functional and leadership roles.
Over the past two decades, he has held several profit-and-loss and chief executive responsibilities across multiple group businesses, including insulators, insurance, Century Cement and the chlor-alkali segment. In 2023, he was elevated to lead the group’s renewables and textiles businesses.
Within the group, Dua has received several internal honours, including the chairman’s individual award for exceptional contribution in 2002, the outstanding leader award in 2009 and the leader of leaders recognition in 2022.
He holds an engineering degree from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, an MBA from International Management Institute and has completed the advanced management programme at Harvard Business School.
