MAM
First win for Ad Club prez Raj Nayak: McCann back in Goafest fold
MUMBAI: After a consecutive no-show for the last two years at the Abby Awards and Goafest, the Prasoon Joshi led McCann Worldgroup India has announced that the agency will take part in the 11th edition of the advertising festival.
The move comes close on the heels of the new Advertising Club president and Colors CEO Raj Nayak announcing his intention to make Goafest 2016 more inclusive.
Confirming the agency’s presence at the festival, McCann India Asia Pacific chairman and CEO Prasoon Joshi says, “We will send symbolic token entries to honour the festival in all the categories but our delegates will participate and attend the fest in large numbers. We believe that genuine efforts have been made by the organisers this year to overcome the shortcomings and we also want to partner them in this journey positively. In the future, we will see the festival touching newer heights.”
Last year, though the agency did not participate in the Creative Abby, Joshi did attend the ceremony where he was felicitated by the Ad Club.
On McCann’s participation this year, Joshi further adds, “We take immense pride in our creative product and the decision of participation in award shows is collectively taken by our global/local creative councils. We wish GoaFest the very best.”
Nayak’s intent to make the 11th edition of the advertising festival more inclusive was primarily in relation to reinstate the participation of major creative agencies in the country who had long refrained from attending the Creative Abbys. Word had it that ‘cheerful’ Raj, as the Colors CEO is often called courtesy his Twitter handle, had personally reached out to the respective executives and agency heads to hear and address issues that stood in the way of them and Goafest 2016. Therefore, the recent development with McCann definitely comes as a step forward in Nayak’s “inclusive” vision.
Now it remains to be seen whether other creative heavyweights like Ogilvy and Mather, Leo Burnett and Lowe Lintas will also follow suit and brighten up the spirit of the Abby and Goafest 2016 at large with their participation.
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.
