MAM
FCB onboards Dheeraj Sinha as group CEO India and South Asia
Mumbai: FCB announced today important leadership succession news for its India and South Asia operations. After eight incredible years leading FCB Group India to historic success, current group chairman & CEO Rohit Ohri is moving into a new global role as FCB global partner. Succeeding him is Dheeraj Sinha, who will join in November as group CEO India & South Asia, reporting directly to FCB global CEO Tyler Turnbull.
This news comes on the heels of a momentous 2022 for FCB Group India, having been named Adweek’s International Agency of the Year for purpose-driven work that drives business results for clients on a global scale. Over the last six years, the agency has won 32 Cannes Lions and over 100 creative awards globally, launched several high-profile campaigns that have transformed its creative reputation in India and beyond, won many large Indian and global multinational clients, and grown revenue by high double digits year over year. FCB Group India also acquired a majority stake in FCB Kinnect, the region’s leading digital-first creative agency, and recently launched FCB/SIX, its digital media, CX and performance offering, in the market.
“Since Rohit joined FCB eight years ago, FCB India has seen tremendous success under his leadership. It was time for his next challenge, and while we can’t thank him enough for all that he has done for the agency, I’m excited to have him join our global team to put his valuable experience to work for some important upcoming projects,” said Turnbull. “Together, we have found his successor in Dheeraj — an amazingly talented, creatively focused and driven leader who understands the economic power of creativity.”
“The last eight years at FCB Group India have been truly amazing. My mandate was to transform the creative reputation of FCB in India. By nurturing culture and cultivating talent, we’ve been able to deliver creative excellence consistently since 2018. I’m enormously grateful to my fabulous India team for the creative and business success we have seen. Our partnership with our clients has been our true strength in this creative transformation journey. Further, with the acquisition of Kinnect and the launch of FCB/SIX in India, I believe we are now uniquely poised to power our creative work with data and technology. I’m delighted to now work on the strategic priorities of our global network with Susan and Tyler as FCB Global Partner,” said Ohri.
Following an extensive search conducted in partnership with Rohit for his successor, FCB felt Sinha was the right fit to lead the group’s next chapter. Sinha joins the agency from Publicis Groupe, where he currently serves as CEO of Leo Burnett South Asia and chairman of BBH India. While there, he led the business transformation across Leo Burnett, Leo Burnett Orchard, BBH, Publicis Business and Publicis Health. Under his leadership, Leo Burnett transitioned from a mid-tier agency to a leading agency in India and almost doubled its size, with 30 per cent of its revenue driven by new clients such as PepsiCo, IKEA, Airtel, Spotify and many others. Leo Burnett was India’s #1 and Asia’s #2 agency at Cannes Lions 2023. He has also held several other leadership roles throughout his career, including Chief Strategy Officer of South & Southeast Asia at Grey Group, where he fostered a culture of strategy at Grey APAC.
“Dheeraj is a strong advocate for the power of creativity, with a proven track record of transforming businesses. His experience driving revenue for iconic creative brands and agencies is exactly what we needed to help fuel our next chapter of success in India,” commented Turnbull.
“I’m delighted to welcome Dheeraj into the FCB family. He is a dynamic leader brimming with new ideas. I believe he has the right capabilities and mindset to take FCB Group India to newer heights,” said Ohri.
“I am so excited to be leading the next phase of narrative for FCB in India and the region. I believe that with data and technology at its service, creativity is the greatest force of our times. The true power of our industry is in maximizing business opportunities and solving for human problems using creativity. I love the perspective at FCB about creativity as an economic multiplier. The agency has had a great run in the country, with very strong partnerships with the best clients, and has been one of the most respected agency brands. I look forward to working with the global leadership at FCB under Susan and Tyler, to continue to build FCB in India and the region as the most creative company, helping our clients maximize the opportunities and leaving the world a better place at the same time!” remarked Sinha.
Sinha joins FCB officially in November and will work closely with Ohri to ensure a smooth and seamless transition across the agency’s many offices, people, clients and partners in India.
Brands
Tessolve lands a semiconductor veteran to drive its next big push
Ravi Kumar Chirugudu, who started his career at ISRO and has spent 35 years building chips and companies, joins the Bengaluru-based firm as president and chief operating officer
BENGALURU: Tessolve has never been shy about its ambitions. The Bengaluru-based engineering services firm already counts 18 of the world’s top 20 semiconductor companies among its clients, employs more than 3,500 engineers across 12 countries, and last year pocketed a $150m investment from TPG. Now it has hired the executive it believes can turn those assets into something bigger. Ravi Kumar Chirugudu, a 35-year semiconductor veteran who once built satellite payloads for ISRO and has since scaled engineering organisations across three continents, joins as president and chief operating officer, effective immediately.
THE MAN AND THE MANDATE
The appointment is, by any measure, a serious hire. Ravi Kumar Chirugudu comes to Tessolve after senior leadership stints at HCL Technologies, Altran and Wipro, where he managed large profit-and-loss portfolios and oversaw cross-regional teams. Over the course of his career, he has been instrumental in bringing more than 1,000 new products to market across the high-tech, energy and manufacturing verticals. Before the private sector claimed him, he began his working life as a scientist at the Indian Space Research Organisation, contributing to research and development in charge-coupled device technology and satellite payloads, a foundation that shaped everything that followed.
In his new role, he will lead Tessolve’s global growth strategy: expanding its engineering capabilities, deepening customer relationships and accelerating innovation across semiconductor and high-performance computing domains. The brief is broad, but the context is specific. Tessolve operates in the $550 billion global semiconductor market, and its recent moves, the acquisition of Germany’s Dream Chip Technologies and the TPG funding round, have sharpened both its reach and its expectations.
Srini Chinamilli, co-founder and chief executive of Tessolve, is characteristically direct about why Ravi Kumar Chirugudu was the choice:
“As we scale our global semiconductor and system engineering capabilities, Ravi’s appointment marks an important step forward. As global semiconductor demand continues to accelerate across industries, it is creating significant opportunities across the semiconductor lifecycle, from design, packaging, validation and systems integration. Ravi’s deep knowledge and leadership in this ecosystem brings the right mix of industry expertise, customer connect and execution capability, which will play a key role in strengthening our position as a trusted global engineering partner and reinforcing our market leadership.”
THE NEW ARRIVAL SPEAKS
Ravi Kumar Chirugudu, for his part, frames the move in terms of timing and culture, two factors that veteran executives tend to weigh as heavily as title or compensation:
“I am happy to join Tessolve at a time when the industry is rapidly evolving towards more complex, AI-driven systems. What stands out to me is its strong people-first culture and its commitment to bringing value to its customers. The strength of its global team, combined with its deep expertise in semiconductor innovation and next-generation product engineering, creates a solid foundation to build differentiated, scalable solutions. I look forward to working closely with the team to drive strategic growth and strengthen its role in shaping the global semiconductor ecosystem.”
The reference to AI-driven systems is not incidental. The semiconductor industry is in the midst of a structural reshaping, driven by the insatiable compute demands of artificial intelligence. For engineering services firms like Tessolve, which offers end-to-end capabilities from silicon design to packaged parts and invests in high-performance computing, high-speed interfaces, photonics and 5G, the moment is both an opportunity and a test. The company says it is well positioned to capture the next wave of industry growth. Ravi Kumar Chirugudu is now the person who has to prove it.
He came in from outer space, literally, and spent three decades learning how the semiconductor industry works from the inside out. Now Tessolve is betting that accumulated knowledge can help it cross the next frontier. In the $550 billion global chip market, the gap between ambition and execution is measured in engineering hours and leadership quality. Tessolve has just gone shopping for both.
