MAM
Group M elevates Ajit Varghese to Maxus Asia Pacific CEO
MUMBAI: Media vet Ajit Varghese has more than one reason to celebrate. He has been going max at Maxus South Asia and his efforts are being recognised in his promotion to CEO Maxus Asia Pacifiic. The elevation, which comes into effect come new year 2014, will see Varghese shifting to Singapore, replacing Neil Stewart who has been sent upstairs as chief client officer Maxus Global.
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Tha announcement was made by GroupM on Sunday 23 September.
Varghese will work closely with Stewart in the transition period of six months, and will report into Group M CEO Asia Pacific Mark Patterson and Maxus Global CEO Vikram Sakhuja
Over the last seven years, Varghese has been responsible for scaling up Maxus in India and South Asia, says the release issued by Group M. Under his leadership Maxus has achieved several distinctions. Maxus now has the best record in the industry in terms of new business wins and client retentions. It is the only media agency in India to be ranked ‘dominant‘ for three years in a row by RECMA for its outstanding overall performance.
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Ajit Varghese: Singapore is going to be his base come 1 Jan 2014
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Led by Varghese, Maxus has also dominated the industry award scene in India and South Asia, winning at Cannes, FOMA, Emvies, Goafest and recently retaining the Mobile Marketing Agency for the second year running at MMA.
GroupM CEO South Asia CVL Srinivas said: “Ajit has been an outstanding leader for Maxus and a great ambassador for GroupM. He combines intellect with a passion for delivering the best value for his clients. He has helped create a very unique culture at Maxus and truly embodies the Maxus spirit. All of us at GroupM are very proud of his achievements and wish him the very best in his new role”.
Maxus Global CEO Vikram Sakhuja said: : “Ajit has displayed exceptional leadership to make Maxus one of India‘s best and biggest agencies. With this promotion, I am very excited that Ajit will now lead Maxus APAC. I have no doubt that with his brand of entrepreneurial leadership, Maxus APAC will scale new heights. “
Ajit Varghese said: “The last seven years at Maxus has been an exciting journey; we have built a strong portfolio of clients, secured their trust, delivered them a world-class product and picked up many accolades along the way. We have worked hard to develop our value proposition, building a Maxus spirit and culture that will help sustain and propel our business in the coming years. I’m now looking forward to learning and contributing more to Maxus and GroupM across the region and am sure the journey will be as exciting and fruitful in the coming years. India obviously continues to be part of my scope and will remain close to my heart”
Brands
Zscaler, Airtel launch India AI Cyber Research Centre
New hub to boost cyber resilience and trusted AI use
NEW DELHI: As India’s digital engine roars ahead, so do the risks riding shotgun. In response, Zscaler, Inc. and Bharti Airtel have joined hands to launch the AI and Cyber Threat Research Center – India, a national initiative aimed at strengthening the country’s cyber defences and accelerating responsible AI adoption.
The centre is designed as a multi stakeholder platform that brings together industry, government and academia. Its mission is clear: protect critical sectors such as telecom, banking and energy, shield everyday digital users, and future proof India’s fast expanding online ecosystem.
India has long been a major innovation hub for Zscaler, with a substantial portion of its cyber research talent based here. With this new centre, that footprint evolves into a national collaboration engine. The idea is simple but ambitious, build in India, for India, and help power the country’s journey towards a secure and digitally self reliant future.
The timing is telling. India is building digital systems at population scale, not just enterprise scale. That scale has widened the attack surface dramatically. At the same time, cyber criminals and nation state actors are deploying AI to scan, probe and exploit vulnerabilities in minutes.
Zscaler’s research arm, ThreatLabz India, reports millions of infiltration attempts every month. These include espionage campaigns linked to regional geopolitical tensions, 1.2 million intrusion attempts from 20,000 sources targeting 58 Indian digital entities, and a rise in zero day exploit attempts across multiple industries.
In such an environment, perimeter based security models are struggling to keep pace. The new centre aims to push a shift towards secure by design systems and Zero Trust architecture.
Its strategy rests on four pillars: protect through real time intelligence, remediate by working directly with government agencies, facilitate adoption of AI driven security and Zero Trust frameworks, and build a stronger cybersecurity talent pipeline through specialised certifications.
As founding members, Zscaler and Airtel will combine global threat intelligence with local network visibility. Zscaler will deploy a dedicated India focused research team and draw insights from its Zero Trust Exchange platform, which processes over 500 billion daily transactions worldwide. Airtel, meanwhile, will contribute deep visibility into IoT and mobile traffic, helping detect suspicious activity faster and coordinate response across the ecosystem.
Bharti Airtel executive vice chairman Gopal Vittal, said the partnership extends Airtel’s commitment to safeguarding customers and the nation’s digital fabric. He added that the collaboration would address challenges unique to the Indian market and encourage secure and confident digital engagement.
Zscaler chief executive, chairman and founder Jay Chaudhry, said India’s digital ambition cannot be secured with legacy firewalls and VPNs. He noted that a modern Zero Trust architecture is essential for a hyper connected world and that the new centre would harness the scale of Zscaler’s global security cloud while empowering a new generation of Indian cyber defenders.
Additional members from critical public and private sectors are expected to join the initiative in the coming months, expanding its scope and deepening collaboration.
In a world where threats travel at machine speed, India’s answer is to think faster, collaborate wider and build smarter.
