MAM
Big Street appoints Bagai as national sales head, Saxena is regional business head, west
MUMBAI: Reliance Broadcast Network (RBNL) is strengthening its out of home vertical Big Street with new key appointments.
The company has appointed Vivek Bagai as national sales head, while Naveen Saxena has come on board as regional business head west. Both Bagai and Saxena will report to Big Street business head Ashwin Padmanabhan.
As part of his new portfolio, Bagai will be responsible for sales and revenue generation for the company’s out of home business. An IIM – Calcutta post graduate, Bagai comes with over 17 years of experience in the areas of business operations, sales & marketing, customer relationship management and distribution management.
Prior to big Street, he was Bharti Airtel GM sales for the Lucknow and Gorakhpur zones. He has also worked with Reliance Infocomm as cluster head in West UP and ExxonMobil Lubricants as regional manager (East).
Saxena, on the other hand, comes with 13 years of experience in marketing and sales in leadership positions.He was with Peacock Media, an out of home and multi-platform lifestyle media agency.
Padmanabhan said, “Vivek comes with a rich experience in sales working with organisations with expanding inventories across geographies, enabling him to drive teams in a synergised fashion to achieve desired results. Naveen will be a huge asset to our business with his excellent track record and deep know-how of the industry. We are confident that they will lead the teams into the new chapter of BIG Street’s growth.”
Bagai added, “I am looking forward to this new assignment and am excited about joining RBNL. I believe the organisation is on the fast track to success and I would love to be a part of this growth as an active participant. They are looking at new horizons of growth and I hope that through my knowledge and experience, I will be able to contribute to this growth.”Saxena said, “It is a great opportunity to work with Big Street and I am thrilled about my new role. I believe I can use my experience for the expansion and growth of the business and look forward to a great innings with the company.”
Brands
Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen to step down after 18 years in role
Board begins CEO search as Narayen prepares to move to chair role
SAN JOSE: After nearly two decades at the helm, Adobe’s long-serving chief executive Shantanu Narayen is preparing to pass the baton.
The company announced that Narayen will transition from his role as chief executive officer once a successor is appointed, ending an 18-year run that reshaped Adobe from a boxed software seller into a global cloud and AI powerhouse. He will remain chair of the board following the leadership transition.
Adobe’s board has formed a special committee to oversee the succession process, led by lead independent director Frank Calderoni. The committee will evaluate both internal and external candidates.
“Shantanu’s leadership has been instrumental in Adobe’s transformation and in positioning the company for the AI-driven era,” Calderoni said in a statement. “As we begin the next phase of succession planning, our focus is on identifying the right leader for the company’s next chapter while ensuring a smooth transition.”
In a note to employees, Narayen described the moment not as a farewell but as a pause for reflection after a long journey with the company.
“I love Adobe and the privilege of leading it has been the greatest honour of my career,” he wrote, adding that he will continue to work closely with the board over the coming months to ensure a seamless leadership change.
Tributes from the technology industry quickly followed the announcement. Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella congratulated Narayen on what he described as a “legendary run” at Adobe.
“Congrats Shantanu, on a legendary run at Adobe! You’ve built one of the most important software companies in the world, and expanded what’s possible for creators, entrepreneurs, and brands everywhere,” Nadella wrote on LinkedIn.
“What has always stood out to me is the empathy you’ve brought to the creative process and the example you’ve set as a leader. Grateful for your friendship, mentorship, and for all you’ve done for Adobe and for our industry.”
Narayen’s career at Adobe spans nearly three decades. He joined the company in 1998 as vice president and rose steadily through the ranks before becoming chief executive officer in December 2007.
During that time, he orchestrated one of the most significant reinventions in the software industry. In 2013, Adobe made the bold decision to abandon traditional boxed software sales and move its flagship creative tools such as Photoshop to a subscription-based Creative Cloud model. The shift initially rattled investors but ultimately transformed Adobe into a predictable recurring revenue business and a case study in digital reinvention.
Narayen also pushed Adobe beyond creative tools into the world of marketing technology and data-driven customer experience, spearheading acquisitions such as Omniture and Marketo. Those moves helped build Adobe’s digital experience division and broaden its reach far beyond designers and photographers.
The numbers tell the story of that transformation. When Narayen took over in 2007, Adobe generated roughly $3 billion in annual revenue. Today the company reports more than $25 billion. Over the same period, its workforce expanded from around 3,000 employees to more than 30,000.
In recent years, Narayen has steered Adobe into the generative AI era with the launch of Adobe Firefly, aiming to keep the company ahead in a rapidly evolving creative technology landscape.
Born in Hyderabad in 1963, Narayen studied electronics and communication engineering at Osmania University before moving to the United States for a master’s degree in computer science from Bowling Green State University. He later earned an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley.
Widely regarded as one of Silicon Valley’s most steady and effective leaders, Narayen has earned multiple honours during his career, including India’s Padma Shri in 2019.
For Adobe, the upcoming leadership change marks the end of a defining chapter. For Narayen, however, the story is far from finished. As he told employees, the company’s next era of creativity, powered by AI and new digital workflows, is only just beginning.
