MAM
Former dentsu exec Gautam Mehra joins ProfitWheel as co-founder
Mumbai: Gautam Mehra, dentsu International’s former chief data and product officer – APAC, has announced that he will be joining the recently announced SaaS platform ProfitWheel as co-founder along with Vivek Bhargava and Aman Khanna.
ProfitWheel is a product company focused on creating a customer data-led marketing intelligence platform for the new direct-to-consumer world.
“Gautam and I have worked together for over a decade, and I am delighted to have him on board as a co-founder,” said Vivek Bhargava. “Under his leadership, we will have an increased focus on driving tech innovations and building new products that will enable true intelligence in the mar-tech ecosystem. His past experience of solving a problem local to each market and driving a global product-led solution is precisely what we intend to deliver at ProfitWheel.”
Mehra had joined dentsu Group in 2014 as business head – social media division at iProspect Communicate 2. In his last role at dentsu International (previously dentsu Aegis Network), he spearheaded the programmatic and data segment for the group in the region. He also built DMC (dentsu Marketing Cloud), the proprietary data insights to activation stack for dentsu.
“I am driven by building products that solve large business challenges, and this feels like the right time to build something new, as ad tech reinvents itself,” Mehra said on his new role. “With ProfitWheel, we are focused on solving the biggest problems for D2C brands on effective customer acquisition, enhanced profitability, marketplace expansion, and growth in the most privacy-compliant manner.”
Brands
Boeing appoints Barun as head of FP&A for global engineering function
Seasoned finance leader to steer budgets and strategy across global centres
BENGALURU: Boeing’s finance cockpit has a new pilot, and he is no stranger to turbulence or transformation. Boeing has appointed Barun as head of FP&A for global engineering, placing him at the centre of financial strategy for its worldwide engineering and technology operations.
Based in Bengaluru, Barun steps into a role that is as expansive as it is critical. He will serve as the primary finance lead for Boeing’s Engineering and Technology Centers globally, working closely with executive leadership to shape financial decisions, manage complex budgets, and design scalable finance processes that support the company’s growing engineering footprint.
In a note announcing his move Barun said, “I’m excited to share that I’ve joined Boeing Global Engineering. This opportunity is incredibly meaningful to me not just from a professional standpoint, but also for what Boeing represents globally.” He added that he looks forward to contributing to an organisation that continues to shape the future of aerospace and innovation.
Barun’s mandate spans strategic financial leadership, operational oversight, and stakeholder engagement. From directing large-scale budgets and schedules to influencing long-term organisational goals, the role blends financial discipline with business foresight. He will also lead cross-functional teams and partner with finance colleagues worldwide to support engineering programmes across geographies, including India.
The appointment caps a long stint at Juniper Networks, where Barun spent over a decade, most recently as finance senior manager. There, he led FP&A for global product business units and G&A functions, driving budgeting, forecasting, and long-range planning. He also played a key role in enterprise-wide transformation, including spearheading an Oracle to SAP ERP migration and building advanced analytics capabilities using tools such as Tableau and SAP Analytics Cloud.
His earlier career includes finance leadership roles at Sony India Software Centre, Cognizant Technology Solutions, and Mphasis, where he focused on financial planning, governance frameworks, and operational efficiency across global delivery centres.
A chartered accountant from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, Barun brings nearly two decades of experience across financial planning, digital transformation, and analytics-led decision making.
His appointment comes at a time when global engineering operations are becoming increasingly complex and distributed, requiring sharper financial oversight and agile planning. With Barun at the helm of FP&A for engineering, Boeing appears to be tightening its financial playbook as it looks to scale innovation with discipline.
