MAM
BBDO India gets Ritu Sharda as senior executive creative director in Delhi
MUMBAI: BBDO India announced Ritu Sharda as the new senior executive creative director in Delhi. Sharda joins the leadership as part of the reputed team behind the globally acclaimed ideas such as Ariel ‘Share the Load’ and Whisper ‘Touch the Pickle’. In her new role at BBDO India, Sharda will be looking to lead a strong creative team and bring in her creative flavour to existing accounts such as 7 Up, Quaker Oats, Mirinda, Zandu, Wrigley’s, SC Johnson and Exxon Mobil. She will also be responsible for leading the creative standards for new businesses based out of Delhi.
BBDO India chairman and CCO Josy Paul commented, “We are thrilled to have Ritu Sharda leading the creative culture and product of BBDO in Delhi. Ritu is a transformational artist, poet, writer, social observer, and an internationally recognized builder of big brands. Her sensitivity to the truth and power of advertising as a change agent in society is what makes her super special. Our highly talented Delhi team will benefit greatly from her creative energy and inspired leadership.”
Sharda has worked with an impressive array of brands through her career so far. Prior to joining BBDO India, Sharda led the creative work on brands such as Sony Bravia and HCL in her role as executive creative director at ITSA Brand Innovations. She also marked her directorial debut with films for Sony Bravia. Her creative influence spans agencies such as McCann, Publicis India, DDB Mudra and Contract. Her compelling work and ideas have contributed significantly to brands like Aviva, Coke, HP, Microsoft, MasterCard, Dabur, Samsung, Maggi, HBO, McDonald’s, Nestle to name a few. Her immensely popular campaigns for Maggi and Coke have earned her major acclaim and recognition in the industry. And her diversity of ideas have won major metals and honour at Cannes, GoaFest, Effies and One Show.
On joining BBDO India, Sharda says, “I am super excited. I met Josy a couple of months back and it was an absolute delight and things have clicked beautifully from there on. I love the kind of work BBDO is doing. The time, the place, everything feels just right.”
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.
